Published 2026-02-23
Tags: #life-reflection
There were times in my life when I choose to work on things that are “impactful”. I wonder how much of that is status-seeking, rather than me really believing and feeling inspired to work on the problem.
A recent reading from Alexey Guzey touched on this point wonderfully.
Anyone who decides to do or not to do things based on their impact is bullshitting themselves; and anyone who tells you to do things because they’re high-impact or not do them because they’re low-impact is bullshitting you.
So what should we do with our lives? I wrote recently that I’m probably literally the worst person in the world to be asking this question, but my conclusion– at least for now– is pretty straightforward:
Do what you must (obviously).
Do what you love (because otherwise life’s not worth living anyway).
That’s it.
Richard Feynman also had a similar reflection
Physics disgusts me a little bit now, but I used to enjoy doing physics. Why did I enjoy it? I used to play with it. I used to do whatever I felt like doing — it didn’t have to do with whether it was important for the development of nuclear physics, but whether it was interesting and amusing for me to play with.
Maybe going forward I’ll be a bit more selfish and prioritize things that are joyful and exciting to me. Who knows, I might end up making more “impact” than if I have half-heartedly chased after it.
Update: I get to use this concept here when I am reflecting about work.