I turned 30 this year. By now I know this: I will probably never be rich, famous, attractive or powerful. I will never reach the pinnacle of sports, entertainment, academia, politics, or business. No Olympic Medal, no Oscar, no Nobel Prize, no Prime Ministership, no billion-dollar wealth is coming my way.
Really, I am decidedly average. My life will be like the lives of most people. Like most normal people, I am completely O.K. with that. Those megalomanical fantasies are dangerous in any case, for they are like a mirage, if you chase them, you’d be forever doomed to a life of that chase; your thirst for riches, fame, glamour or power would never be quenched. And even is able to fulfill those desires by any some means, it would likely not be like how one thinks it would be like. We as humans have this neat little psychological quirk: we quickly get accustomed to any set of circumstances, and the desires which we think would deliver us happiness are replaced by a set of different desires. How would it feel, internally, to be rich, famous, attractive or powerful? Probably not very different as it does to not be those things. Thank goodness for that.
I should probably instead work at eliminating any desires I have. That would probably be good for me.
But I have a few ambitions that I still harbour. Before I shuffle off the mortal coil, I would like to: (1) build a company, (2) write a novel, and (3) have a happy family.
Because this post is career-related, I just want to sketch out what I want from the first of these goals. If not riches, fame, power or glamour, what do I want out of building a company? Obviously, I would like it to solve a real problem in the world and create jobs and serve customers and make a difference in the world. That goes without saying. But apart from that, what would my ideal venture achieve for me, personally? What would success look like for me?
Success for me would not be, for example, a billion dollar exit, delivering me a short-lived spell of corporate power, a modicum of fame, and some riches. Success would not be a destination, on reaching which, I will feel I have “made it”. The only thing one becomes on reaching a destination is a “has-been”.
Instead, what I would want from any venture is a life of continued meaning and play in the present. Something which ensures for me financial security, autonomy, creative self-expression and inner fulfillment. Something which allows me to work with people whose company I enjoy and whose respect and admiration I am able to earn.
Belongingness is the feeling my ideal job would take care of. Belongingness to a community, a community which does for the creative potential of academics, philosophers, mathematicians, artists and computer scientists what an institutition like Y Combinator did for entrepreneurs.1 A community that has social events where I am able to flourish and live an eventful, spirited life. 2
Finally, my ideal job would also allow me to (1) be part of playful creative projects, such as those produced by improv troupes or comedy collectives3, (2) do something in mathematics, computer science and philosophy education for kids (3) to improve the lives of those on society’s margin: the poor, old and the infirm.
It looks like a case of asking too much. And it very likely is. It is probably too idealistic, unrealistic, deluded, midguided and a recipe for failure and disappointment.
But I would still like to try.
Something like the The Chelsea Hotel, or Or British secret societies: The Apostles or The Bloomsbury Group or The Lunar Society come to mind. The English gentleman’s clubs like The Hawks Club, and institutions like Cumberland Lodge are also alternative models of the same idea. The community would have socias in the spirit of Penny Universities, or the culture of coffeehouses in Oxford or French Salons. Some communities which are similar, but in different ways: Math Circles, Dynamic Land, Recurse Centre, Interintellect, LessWrong, Openmaster. ↩
Some people who lived lives like this are Andre Weil or Gore Vidal or Stephen Fry or AJ Ayer ↩
Examples: Upright Citizens Brigade, The Cambridge Footlights, The Oxford Imps, Fry and Laurie, Mitchell and Webb, All India Bakchod, College Humour ↩