On happiness, job security, and the best way to learn
Issue #013
Hard pill #1: You can’t be happy if you always wish for more
The things you don’t have are not the reason why you are unhappy. You are unhappy because you are not thankful for the things you already have.
Read that again.
Most people never look at what they have right now. They just lament for the things they don’t have.
Remember: No therapist can heal your mind if you are relentlessly ungrateful.
So whenever you feel sad, sit down, look around you, and count all your blessings.
Of course, you’ll see many imperfections. But there is a beauty in imperfect blessings. Your phone with cracked display. Your clothes which are not fit. Your body that your relatives always joke about.
It’s not faking the happiness. It’s accepting the reality and finding happiness in everything you have. Everything.
Hard pill #2: Your academic exellence will not secure your job
Your 5.0 GPA can’t secure your job if you have:
Immoral behaviours
Awful communication
Poor team collaboration
Most only care about how good they score in exams, not how good they interact with people. But that's vital to grow in your career. Often more vital than academic excellence.
Build your character. Build your network. Build your career. In that order of priority. Most easily skip the first two, then scratch their heads why they suck at their careers.
Bottom line: Your academic excellence helps you get a job. Your character helps you secure it.
(NOTE: I’m not talking about AI replacing your jobs. That’s a hard pill for another day).
Hard pill #3: You don’t learn everything, then start. You start, then learn why it did or didn’t work
Dan Koe, author & entreprenuer, on the best way to learn:
The best way to learn is the opposite of what we're taught.
You don't learn everything, then start. You start, then learn why it did or didn't work. You start with minimum viable knowledge, then experiment, then succeed or fail, then study to understand why.
People dumber than you tend to run circles around you because of this. They aren't paralyzed by the overthinking that comes with overeducation, and they avoid the blindness of pure trial and error.
With tough love,
Abzulez