You Didn't Choose What You're Good At
The Time Will Pass Anyway
I wrote this article months ago, but I never published it. It’s been sitting in my drafts. After a brief review, I’ve added a few thoughts, but it’s not dissimilar to what’s on my mind right now.
I’m back, by the way.
From my notes:
Many eventually come to the realization that life goes on no matter what one does to try to improve.
Time will pass whether you did what you set out to do or not. No matter how well you plan for the future, you, too, will eventually die. In 100 years, virtually nobody will even know you existed.
Almost every essay I’ve read on this topic concludes by saying that you should live in the present and “just do it.” I don’t think it’s that simple.
Life is chaos. You should try to live however you see fit, but that alone won’t make you happy. You don’t have perfect access to information for decision making. In fact, most of life’s decisions could be left to random chance, and it wouldn’t affect the outcome that much.
I don’t think you can make people care about anything.
I once overheard a phone call between a young woman and one of her friends on an NJ transit train. She was on the phone discussing how, despite years of community college, she couldn’t get her GPA higher than 1.7. No credible institution will grant a degree with a GPA of less than 2.
She decided to persist, however, and I wonder why. Americans like the story of someone that overcame adversity, but if you’re studying as hard as you claim to be and can’t even manage a GPA of 2.0 at a community college, higher education is not for you.
This isn’t a value judgement — there isn’t anything wrong with not having an academic aptitude. There are plenty of jobs in this economy that do not involve these skills. Yes, on average university educated people earn more money throughout their careers, but you don’t need to go to university to earn a decent living in the United States.
I grew up in a nice suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. All of my neighbors were working class people who had started their own businesses. The family across the street had a painting business. The people who lived in the adjacent house had a commercial plumbing business.
I don’t know the numbers, but I’m quite sure these families earned more than my immigrant parents did working professional jobs.
I hope the girl on the train changed course and found something that she had an aptitude in instead of trying something that will never work for her in any meaningful way.
Best case scenario, she barely passes her course. What will that get her? A mediocre corporate job? She will never be able to compete with most of the people in that environment.
It would be like if I, somebody who’s not particularly tall and with unremarkable athletic ability, decided to become a professional basketball player. Absolutely no chance.
Everything I do is an intellectual pursuit, not because I sat down and decided that that’s what I should do, but because that’s what I naturally fell into with respect to my aptitudes. I actually have a chance of a decent outcome.
I think being in the 75th percentile of something is enough. It would be great to be one of the best in any particular field, but it’s essentially outside of your control.
You should try to find something that you’re good at but not necessarily a master of. What you shouldn’t do is go into something where you’re one of the least capable - you will struggle.
At 27, I’m finally settling into what I’m good at for the long haul. Even if I’m average in the two pursuits I’m currently active in, I think that I’ll be okay.