I originally started writing a post that was titled ‘Optionality’. It was meant to capture (and what has proven more drastically so in NY) the immense breadth of options that we are subject to in our lives - people, relationships, jobs, meals, clothing, spending, values, worries, beliefs, anti-beliefs, music, routines, diet, etc etc etc. Undending list. A peek into any one option unveils hundreds of sub-options same insidious decision-making process. Optionality is great, to an extent.
Marc Andreessen has written:
“The world is a very malleable place. If you know what you want, and you go for it with maximum energy and drive and passion, the world will often reconfigure itself around you much more quickly and easily than you would think.”
I believe this to be true. Given a long enough time horizon and strong enough conviction, I’m still convinced in one’s ability to achieve anything they truly, genuinely want (which is very different from doing something because it is cool/others are doing it).
That said, the optionality stands in its way! The classic Paradox of Choice maintains that the multitude of options requires more energy and effort to make a decision and ultimately leaves one feeling unhappy with the decision. I’ve also felt this true - every time I’ve moved to a new city (now on my fourth), I’ve appreciated the new while simultaneously second-guessed some of the decisions and tradeoffs. Plus, the tradeoffs of decisions compound - most of the charts that Tim Urban posts give me chills, but I’ve found this one profoundly resonant (and chilling).
My family (again, all practicing doctors) was equally shocked as they were impressed by the velocity at which I could, in the same job, pack my bags and move across coasts (~3 months from initial musing to one-way flight). I do think, that at least in certain job types and roles, the world can be extremely malleable given the right level of effort and will. But the difficulty exists in finding truthful conviction - taking in the accumulated skills, opportunity costs, time horizon, and journey ahead to finally achieve that outcome. These decisions exacerbate with age and the opportunity costs do compound.
Most of the large decisions I make are intuitive - they creep on me, until the feeling of not pursuing (regret) it would outweigh the difficulty of going after it.
So?
I thought I’d write out a few things (I think) I want to do. Hopefully, I will find a path to obtaining them or realizing they’re not worth the squeeze.
Sachit’s (Living) Arbitrary List of Things He Wants to Do
- Run a marathon (likely NY, Chicago, or Berlin)
- Work in a restaurant (line cook, etc)
- Work More Closely With, or In, Product
- I’ve been working in a GTM capacity for the last 3+ years. Ready to dip my toes into the innards of what makes GTM such a fun one
- Learn to DJ and Produce Music (and play once in public)
- Recently bought a Novation Launchkey Mini and some inexpensive speakers
- Launch an app, website, or service that generates >1k MRR
- Less about the money, and more about learning about building something society values. I also am convinced the cost of launching a functioning prototype is down to a few hours of AI prompting and fine-tuning (update: this seems like a worthy side quest)
- Dunk
- I’ve dunked once in my life in ninth grade and it’s been downhill since. Old man mode
- Keep Writing
- I don’t have a metric for this because I’m sure I will feel if I have slowed considerably
- Host a (and hopefully more) dinner party(ies) for my friends
- Lifelong skill!
- Fluently learn either Spanish or Hindi (ideally both….)
- I was somewhat versed in Spanish in high school until I forgot everything. I do think there is a massive market for an AI-derived language learning platform. Tools like Eleven-labs on top of some core prompts could create a dynamic, individualized lesson plan
(Update - March ‘22: Feeling more bullish on this one, seeing patterns emerge to support this thought)