You want to be unique.
Why?
First, you’ll get paid.
If you’re creating “unique value”, nobody else can. Since that value doesn’t without you, “you” are adding a lot of value to society.1On the other hand, if somebody else can create the same value, you’re not adding much.
Also, because only “you” can create it, you’ll capture(=profit off of) most of the value, without competition. Being unique is having a personal monopoly.
Second, you won’t have to play status games.
Internally, your ego will be mostly unbothered, because you’re always going to be #1 in your category(being “you”).2You’ll be the only person in the category. Even if there are other people, they can’t beat you by copying you. If not, you’re not unique.Externally, you don’t have to “climb above the ranks” to meet great people. Anyone will want to see you for your own unique thing.
Third, it’s meaningful.
“Unique” means “significant”. If you’re doing what everyone else is doing, you’re insignificant. Your movie is plagiarizing other movies…with varying details here-and-there.
.
Independent Path
To become one-of-a-kind, you have to take an independent path.3The more unique the path, the more unique the outcome (generally).4“It’s your road, and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.”[/mfn] Only you can create your independent path. Nobody can “guide” you.4People may assist you, you can cooperate, but nobody’s going to hold your hand (from the beginning to the end).5“Mentorship” only works if the destination isn’t new. (people could be in bad places and are just trying to recover) (or to explore the philosophy of life) This is about new destinations.
It means you’re choosing events others haven’t chosen; you’re doing things others haven’t done before.6You can’t read a book, watch a tutorial, or take a lesson to do it.
If the events are unique enough, it’ll feel like they don’t lead to anything; it’s certainly impossible to predict what the upcoming events will be.7Every major event will be a turning point and compound its uncertainty.But, here’s the catch: one event will inevitably lead to the next.
The world is full of possibilities. If you keep moving and searching, you’ll bump into all kinds of possible events around you.8This is especially hard in the beginning. The more you explore, the easier it becomes. In fact, successful people end up with the problem of ‘excess’ opportunities, the need to say “no”.
The future is infinitely uncertain.9Uncertainty is what we’re actually afraid of. But it’s something you actually want.Your long-term predictions(plans) will fail.10Hence, I’m not a fan of long-term planning. (I’ve tried so many times…)But…
.
You’ll Get What You Deserve.
Eventually. The law of large numbers is valid.
Through near-infinite events across a long period of time, no single event would be significant enough to change the “level of good” of the outcome.
You “know” that things will turn out good, as long as you deserve it.11Unless you’re catastrophically unlucky. Most likely, accidental death (cutting timeframe short).
You just don’t know “how”. In the hindsight, you can’t see beyond the immediate future. But the next dot(event) will appear, and their connections will be obvious in retrospect.12You can only connect the dots looking backwards.
You have your own, unique gravitational pull. For every dot you arrive at, you will attract the dots surrounding you. The more attractive you are, the more dots you will attract, and from afar.
Remember, there are infinite dots in this infinite universe.
.
So
The objective is to…
…constantly iterate13with each iteration, you acquire new knowledge/abilities that improve the likely outcome of the next event.and hold yourself from pressing the “stop button”, until you get what you deserve.
No single event is a “true failure” if the overall outcome is a success; it’s only when you “end” on a failure it becomes a “true failure”.14Hence, knowing when to quit(take the knowledge/abilities into another topic) or persist is vital. That judgement also has to be your own.
.
Judgement
How do you know if you’re being delusional about what you’re doing?15Whether to persist, or quit?Judgement. Good judgement is vital to not waste time.
The problem is that judgement is impossibly difficult. Perhaps you’re not questioning enough. Perhaps you need to be delusional at some points. Perhaps you should take a step back…or two steps forward. There’s no golden rule.
There’s no other way: You have to build your own judgement.
No advice is a direct substitute for your own judgement. For one, there is a contradictory version for every piece of advice. That’s because advice is contextual.
The more fittingly contextual a piece of advice is, the better it will be. Simultaneously, as you narrow down the contexts (to your own circumstance), there are less of them available. An extremely unique path has 0 relevant advice.
Don’t rely on other people’s judgement16in regards to your independent path. Others don’t know better. Even if it works in the short term, it doesn’t work in the long term. The early mistakes are opportunities to build better judgement.
The only principle is to constantly try new things. More iterations, better judgement.17Even this doesn’t necessarily apply.The more things you try, the better you’ll know if a certain method is effective (for whatever you’re doing).18You’ll even get a better sense of “how much time is needed to know if something is effective.”
Accumulate small failures & compound improvement. “Success is a byproduct of learning.”
“Blind hope” is precisely the worst approach. “Thoughtlessly doing the same things over and over” guarantees (eventual) failure.191. What you’re doing now isn’t the best way to do it; even if it is, it won’t be in the future (because you change). 2. You wouldn’t’ve built any judgement, so you won’t have it when you (inevitably) need it.
If you walk blindfolded, you’ll eventually trip over, or go backwards. Walk with your eyes open–and blink at times.
.
Related Posts
Questions & comments are welcome!
4 thoughts on “Independent Path”