I am rich and have no idea what to do with my life

Table of Contents

• Mindset: Meaning > Money

• Life Skill: Rule of 100

• Career Advice: Enmeshment

• This is Cool: VR in Court

• Bonus: AI Detectors Don't Work

MINDSET OF THE WEEK
Meaning > Money

This is one of those posts that you need to share with young people to read for themselves. The full post from Vinay, not just the teaser screenshot I have below.

It’s not long; you can turn it into a class discussion or personal reflection in their portfolio afterwards.

I do this as often as I can with the young people I coach. Have them consume the content first hand vs. the paraphrased version coming from me.

It hits different when it comes from the person who has lived experience.

Put yourself in your students shoes. The adults in their life have told them that money won’t make them happy, that it’s not what life is all about.

Should they listen?

Do their parents, teachers, or favourite newsletter writer have the kind of ‘don’t have to work again if I don’t want to money’ that qualifies them to speak from authority?

The majority of adults don’t.

It’s like taking swimming lessons from someone who’s never left the shallow end.

I appreciate your opinion, but on this one, I’m gonna ask someone who can walk the walk.

In this case, someone who has some f u money.

Luckily, these stories aren’t all that uncommon. Person works really hard, ‘makes it’, realizes for themselves that money wasn’t the goal, and then strives to tell the world about it.

Vinay was one of the cofounders of Loom (free for students & educators by the way - I use it daily as a communication tool).

Loom sold for $975m, so Vinay likely took home a couple hundred million after everything was said and done.

This isn’t one of those cautionary Ebenezer Scrooge types of stories.

Vinay didn’t turn his back on family/friends. He didn’t hurt anyone, or corrupt his values in pursuit of money.

It’s actually less of an anti-money story, and more of a pro-meaning story.

He made money, but lost his purpose when he sold his company.

And I can understand why.

After 10 years of waking up every morning, driven with intent to do important, hard work, and being recognized for it, the challenge is gone. And to no fault of his own.

In fact, he technically won. This is the end game so many of us are chasing. A big pay day.

There’s nothing wrong with money. Make it. Make lots of it. It’s a wonderful tool to improve the lives of the people and causes you care about.

Just know it’s not everything.

Money solves money problems. But it doesn’t create purpose or meaning. And it certainly can’t buy it.

Here’s a snippet from Vinay’s post.

Turns out Vinay is far from alone.

There’s actually a term for to describe situations like this; it’s that common.

So what’s Vinay to do?

Eudaimonia is at the core of what Stoicism is all about btw. It is something that you can only strive for internally. Money is irrelevant in its pursuit.

We’ll save my love for Stoicism for another day. Wild that I haven’t written about it in here yet.

If you find yourself in a similar situation - payout or not (because as we’ve learned it’s not about the money) - here’s what Steven Bartlett recommends you do to find your new north star, and sense of purpose/meaning.

ps. for another wonderful take on the value of meaning, do yourself a favour and pick up a copy of Viktor Frankl’s "Man's Search for Meaning".

He was a holocaust survivor and psychiatrist that argued (and you’ll understand why once you read the book) that the primary human drive is not pleasure, but the pursuit of meaning.

LIFE SKILLS
The Rule of 100

This is what I’m doing with this newsletter.

I don’t care too much about the numbers right now.

I care about getting the reps in.

💡 Reps. Reflection. Repeat.

Building the habit is the hardest part for me. I’m focused on that, and that alone right now.

We’re at 15/100.

1 was the hardest. Always is.

Same is true for my new You Do What!? content series 👀 

Yesterday’s 2min clip with Milly from Generalist World was a good one 👇️ 

CAREER ADVICE
Stop Asking People What They Do For Work

Learned a new word today: enmeshment.

I was guilty of this. Tying my identity to my work.

I was fired from a job in my early twenties.

I had just spent a year cold calling and was ready for something new. I got wind that a startup I knew about was hiring their first sales reps for a new revenue opportunity they wanted to explore. I had a warm connection to one of the founders, and got the job.

And at first, it was awesome. Catered food every day, stocked fridge, cool modern office right downtown, and a sexy product.

There were only two of us, along with the VP of Sales trying to figure it all out. It felt new, exciting, and refreshing. We were building the plane as we flew it.

That excitement was short lived.

After a few short months, it was clear to everyone that this new revenue stream was a failed experiment, so they let the sales team go.

I was embarrassed. And pretty bummed out.

I was still figuring out who I was as an adult. I didn’t know what that identity consisted of, but I was pretty certain that ‘employed’ was part of it.

Luckily, my unemployed era was short lived. It had to be. I had rent to take care of, and no family safety net to fall back on.

In hindsight, timing wise, it was one of the best things to happen to me. My next role was at myBlueprint, where I was introduced to this world of helping young people make more informed decisions about their futures.

10 years later, we’re still here. And it feels like I’m just getting started.

But at the time, after being let go, it didn’t feel like that. So I can relate to this idea of enmeshment.

I like to believe that has since changed. That if it all went away tomorrow, I would have enough conviction in who I am, and what I enjoy outside of my work to fulfill me.

But let’s not test that theory 🙏 

The good news is that this may be less of an issue for younger generations.

You can play a role too. By asking better questions.

💡 At that next networking event, instead of going on default and asking someone what they do, mix it up. Pattern disrupt.

Ask them to tell you about something they are excited about right now. 

They’ll be confused at first. Then they’ll light up. I do it on almost all my zoom calls now.

And let’s be honest. You don’t really care about what they do for work, you just don’t know what else to ask.

Now you do 🤝 

THIS IS COOL
VR in Court

Remember during covid when everything, including court, went virtual. And that lawyer accidentally turned on a cat filter and couldn’t figure out how to turn it off?

That was one of my favourite covid memories.

This is nothing like that.

It’s pretty cool actually, and what I expect could be a sign of things to come.

The defense attorney contracted a company to recreate the scene of the crime in virtual reality, so that the judge could get a better sense of what the defendant was experiencing, and why he felt justified to act in self defense.

Watch the 1 min video here to see what he’s seeing.

My thinking… if it works in court, could it work in the kitchen?

I’m thinking of using this tech to help my wife Meredith better understand how to move her dirty oatmeal bowls from the counter into the dishwasher.

No other strategy has proven successful 🙈 

BONUS
Friendly Reminder: AI Detectors Don’t Work

I know AI didn’t write his post… Don’t need an AI detector for that. AI has spell check & grammar built in.

I think what he was trying to say in that second sentence was ‘when researchers secretly added AI-created papers to the exam pool: We found that 94% of our AI submissions were undetected…’

And on average the AI scored better!

AI detectors are not reliable.

We have to figure out a new way to assess. You can look at that as a challenge or an opportunity. Choice is yours.