Oddbean

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a Billionaire. Not saying I would have become one; there’s luck, and fiat ring kissing, and star alignment involved to make that possible and unconsciously I decided years ago that wasn’t a game I wanted to dedicate my life to. Instead I accepted becoming a comfortable millionaire. That’s the level of luck and fiat ring kissing and star alignment I was willing to take on for the life I decided I wanted to live. A level where I never have to bend over for anyone. Where I can walk away from anything, anytime. In which I’m beholden to no-one and can tell anyone to go fuck themselves and my life won’t meaningfully change for good or bad. My status won’t push humanity to interplanetary status. It won’t reinvent the wheel nor discover Bitcoin. It won’t lead me to be written into history books. But it will allow me to teach the next generation what not giving a fuck looks like. And I’m ok with all of that. I would have needed to make very different decisions 15 years ago to really go after this for which I didn’t have the foundations then to do it and I see now I likely would have been the self-destructive type had the overwhelming odds against me succeeded. I chose right for me. Others will be more ambitious though. The world needs people who want to win the race of life as much as it needs people like me to accept they’re not going to be the winners. Because we can’t all win, winners need people to defeat and that’s nothing to do with fiat - that’s just how progress works. I haven’t yet found what I really want to win at but I know that when I do, I will. Because I’m not the type to throw in and see what sticks on any old moonshot to defeat dreamers; I won’t throw my life away for just any idea, but when I do commit I know that I will succeed. I’ve concluded that you don’t need to invent Bitcoin or be in the history books though. You need to push your family forward and setup the next generations to succeed such that they’ll empower the ones with both the will and capability to really shoot their shot. Generational wealth is like doubles in pool. Setup the next shot, block your opponents, make sure that when your team comes to the table next they have the best shot to play and if they’re capable then make sure they’re the ones to go for the jugular. Don’t try to be something you’re not. Play the long game. Play for others on your team to win.