I have always had a problem saying “no” to things. In the back of my mind, I want to focus and work on a few things that help me specialize, yet there’s this generalist in me that wants to do more and take up every opportunity. I struggled with this the most during my undergrad years, when I joined a bunch of student clubs and groups because I wanted to try everything out. Then I took a bunch of classes, then a bunch of research projects, then I joined a startup, and I never wanted to miss out on a single day.
I am graduating this year, and over the last four years, I have tried a lot of things to figure out prioritizing the things I have in my life. Talking about one of them in today’s letter. I have this strong sense of tradeoffs for everything. Sacrificing one to achieve another.
For me, I like to think I choose the more difficult path because I genuinely believe it helps me get an unfair advantage. However, when the difficult path is an uncertain one, I am often inclined to take up the easier option. The uncertainty exudes a much greater sense of risk than difficulty.
But recently, I have come to think that this action of not choosing the uncertain path is the riskiest in itself because I am simply not acting based on first principles. So, the question comes to how I should explore the unknown to understand whether there is any actual risk behind it.
Introducing House Money
Poker players know what I’m talking about. House money is a cognitive bias where players are willing to take greater risk with the money they have won than their initially invested amount. This is because the money won gives a sense of extra money they can play with that is not their own but belongs to the house (casino).
People are concerned with the money they have earned and invested rather than the profits they have played and won. There’s the perception that this extra money is not theirs (although they have literally won it.) However, it is key to note that every buck counts the same, doesn’t matter if you earned it or won.
This is really intriguing to me because of how simply a cognitive sense (or a different perspective) helps take greater risks more easily. Why don’t we apply this to other important things in life that we are uncertain about? Like time.
Setting Time as House Money
Time is a real unknown. Sometimes it’s fast, sometimes, it’s slow. We don’t really know how much we have, and yet, it is always lacking.
Thinking about time as house money, what if at the end of your life, you got a year extra to live? A year that was never supposed to be there, but you still got it. How would you spend that extra year?
Being someone who wants to learn everything out there, I would just go out and explore things. I will try out new things without the urge to become an expert. I would make music, surf on the largest waves, make a film, etc. I won’t spend time grinding for a highly reputed job or earning promotions. I would spend all my time in pursuit of exploration. In the end, there’s so much out there, and I want to experience most of it, if not all of it.
But who’s giving you that one extra year right? You don’t even know how long you have. But it is good to think about it.
Now, one thing that I realized out of these thoughts is how less I would care about money and reputation if I did not care about the unknown number of years I have to live. It’s interesting how money is what we run after when time is the most valued currency. We should think about the best way to spend time rather than money.
The Most Valued Currency
The answer is simple. Society.
We spend time on getting the best grades, attending the top universities, and working on the most challenging jobs with the best talent in the top company with the most competitive pay and benefits. But it doesn't stop there, does it?
There’s still more to achieve, get those promotions, become an executive, start a happy family, and then pursue what is best for the family. You just spent the most of your most-valued currency on things that you would probably never pursue if you were not caught in this never-ending rat race towards an unknown finish line.
You do all of this because this is the safe and proven way of success. But is it really your success? Or is it a success only to show people and society? Except, you still want to achieve more, and you don’t know where to stop.
It’s ironic how the safe way is also towards an unknown, and it’s not certain you’ll be happy the closer you get to the unknown.
This unknown that you are trying to achieve is also what pushes us to keep choosing what will make us more successful in the eyes of society. We think building a stronger resume and earning enough to afford all we want is the best way. We don’t ever want to explore the unknown because it is too much risk, and again, you are only pursuing another unknown by keeping on the safe side.
Choosing the Path You Want
I think I have talked a lot about unknowns. And the truth is no matter whether you choose the safe or the riskier path, you will never know what status or what amount of wealth you want. All you know is there are things you want to try and explore in life.
It is the unknown that makes the journey truly interesting. So, why don’t we stop thinking about what we have achieved from someone else’s point of view and invest in experiences? No one knows the days, months, and years you will live. But spend whatever time you have like it is a little extra that’s not yours, just to spend on what you like. Take a few months, a year, or more to spend that extra time without the expectation of achieving anything but an unknown experience.
👋 Thank you for spending your time on what I had to say. Truly grateful for you.
Liked what you read? Let me know with a hit on the like button. Don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter and share.