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Showing posts from January, 2021

Don't optimize for flexibility forever

This is a pattern that I've observed in myself and many of my peers: to make decisions that, in some ways, decide the least. That allow you to stay open to the most options, that allow you to stay maximally flexible. For instance, I decided to major in computer science instead of chemical engineering because, even though I didn't love either, I thought computer science would leave more kinds of job options available to me.  Optimizing for flexibility forever feels like, even though you're moving, it's in many random directions. So you ultimately still end up pretty close to where you started. And to put it bluntly, if you try to stay open to everything, you'll be a prisoner to your external circumstances forever.  If you find yourself in this situation, my advice would be to take a small step, any step, the smallest step you can—but intentionally. Take a step for some reason that matters to you, and that reason doesn't have to be perfectly right or coming from a