How important is it to do something you’re interested in? Do we give it too much power or not enough. As it often goes, it depends.

Second, what is Social Darwinism and why does this economic theory that is discredited bear so much resemblance to the way society thinks today about success.

Finally, a recommendation for an hour of music videos that tell a story of someone’s struggle with depression.

What Am I Interested In?

I agree with Oliver Burkeman’s idea that you should write about what you find interesting.

These days, happily, I’m almost always successful at interrupting this futile exercise in second-guessing and reminding myself that there’s only one question that really matters: what would it genuinely interest me to write about? Because for one thing, if I’m not exploring my true interests, I’m not sure why I’m doing any of this in the first place. But also because, time after time, this is the approach that actually seems to work. Navigating according to my own interest reliably has the effect of generating the most useful, appealing or relevant writing I’m capable of producing.

I also think that he speaks to the malaise people often feel in their jobs in the next paragraph.

I think there’s a broader principle at play here. When you’re procrastinating on a project, wondering why your outwardly successful career doesn’t feel as vibrant as it could, or feeling stuck on a difficult life-choice, it’s worth asking if you’ve forgotten the importance of building your days, as far as you’re able, around what actually interests you.

So much of many people’s work is doing a bunch of shit they don’t care about just so they can eat.

While I agree, I also disagree though. In my writing, the thing I do for me personally that some others like I think I should follow my interests. Following my interests instead of choosing a niche because it’s most profitable and then sticking with it even when I’m bored of it is a recipe for burnout.

But our work I think we often fall into the trap that our work should be fun. It’s only in recent generations where people started to think that their job should be fulfilling and bring self-actualization. There was a time where a job was a job, and then you did other things outside of your work that interested you. It’s hard to stick to that idea now when so many people around you are showing you their highlight reel and how “fun” their job is while you do stuff you’re not interested in.

I’d say that most of my job isn’t all that interesting currently. WordPress work is fine, but I no longer love the platform and dislike many of the decisions being made in the technology, let alone the dumb stuff Matt has been doing.

It’s also easy to fall into the mindset that if you follow your passion you’ll never work a day in your life. But work is sometimes just a bunch of crappy things you need to do. Heck I love my wife, and sometimes dealing with her is a bunch of crap I’d rather not deal with and don’t care about but have to force myself to care about because she does care about it.

So, in your personal interests…follow what interests you. Write the things you’re passionate about. Just don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your life isn’t fulfilled if every moment isn’t filled with stuff that interests you.

Sometimes you do things just because you need to make money to eat.

Social Darwinism

I came across social darwinism in The Affluent Society and I see strong ties with it and the current thoughts around a “self made” person.

Social Darwinism believes that the strong should see their wealth increase while the weak should see their wealth and power decrease. They believe their is a biological link between success and thus those without success should have less opportunity to pass on their genes.

In other words, your genes matter and if you have good ones you’ll work harder and get more. You deserve more because you’re better.

I’ve discredited the myth of self-made success a few times. I’ve read entire books that discredit merit as a key factor.

In short, if you suffer from scarcity you don’t have any capacity to think beyond your immediate needs. It’s hard to just get through the day, let alone think of some amazing other thing and execute it so you can have millions. You can see this in the eyes of a frazzled parent as they struggle to remember to get out of their pajama’s when the kids are sick.

Almost every “self-made” person out there had funds from their parents or their friends. They may say the grew up poor, but what they really mean is that they were likely middle class, or upper middle class, and now they’re fabulously wealthy so they were relatively poor in comparison.

If you want to learn how much scarcity affects us and what we’re able to accomplish read Scarcity then think that with so many people struggling just to get by we likely are not even seeing the best and the brightest at the top. They don’t have the money to try. That goes for most fields.

The best athletes…their parents can’t afford to keep them in sports. The smartest people, can’t afford the schooling required to show how smart they are.

Instead of seeing the best, we’re seeing the best rich people.

Twenty One Pilots – The Story

I came across the last song first as I let YouTube play random music videos and realized that there was something I missed. Well last weekend my kids and I sat down and watched the whole story from Twenty One Pilots.

The short version is that this is a story about depression and Clancy trying to escape the city of Dema, which represents depression. The long story is really long.

What I think is amazing is that this story is spread across multiple albums and has a coherent hour long music video arc. I think my favourite song is Paladin Strait so I’ll share that with you.