March 18, 2023

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Question Mimetic Desire, Inversion, Solid On Vision, Flexible On Details & More

At a glance

Welcome to the new friends of the A Players newsletter who have joined us since last week!


An exciting personal announcement:

Alongside my Cousin, Casey, and close friend, Isaac, we've created a new AI Media brand called Koalapalooza. We'll be sharing the highest signal news, tools, ideas, and more in AI. All in 5-minutes or less daily. Overtime, we'll be producing more content to demystify and make AI more accessible to non-technical folks. 

If you're interested to check it out, you can sign-up here


This Week: Career Principles You Need To Find Work That Feels Like Play

Question Mimetic Desire

Mimetic desire is our tendency to inherit desires from other people—such as family or celebrities.

Simply put, we want what other people want.

To find your ideal career, start with honestly asking yourself whether your current role was a mimetic choice.


Inversion

Next, ask, “what do I want my career/life to look like in 20 years?”

When you determine what you want in the end, it's easier to see the set of possibilities that can get you there.

Ask what you value most. Ask what careers will enable that.


Solid on vision, flexible on details

Once you’ve got clarity on what you want in the future, have an open mind to how you get there.

Long-term goals are great, but you also want to account for randomness—the spontaneous opportunities life throws.

Don’t be wedded to one path.


Explore to Exploit

Another way to think about this is to explore then exploit.

Explore = Gather data points from exposure to new areas to determine your interest & talents.

Exploit = Use knowledge of exploration to go deep on highest leverage points.


Local vs. Global Maxima

Once you’ve explored, what to exploit?

Find your global maximum and take the path that leads there—even if it means taking a backward step.

This is the path that you’re excited to get out of bed for in the morning—something that feels like play.


Finding what you love to do is not just a cliche

he path that makes you excited is your global maximum because when you love something, you’re naturally motivated to do more of it.

When this is true, you’ll put in more hours and outperform over a long enough period of time.


There you have it, career principles you need to find work that feels like play.

I hope you found these as helpful as I have.

Stay curious,

Alex

P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

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🔗 Favourite links of the week 🔗

  1. Make your point and get out of the way
  2. A Founder's Guide to Writing Well
  3. Writing well 

See you again next week!

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