Lucian@going2paris.net
Life

Charlottesville, Virginia
May 23, 2020
My mother sent me this cartoon from the New Yorker sometime in the early 1980s. (Don't worry - this is not a copy of the one she sent me - I copied this one from a Pinterest post.). Hmm, I wonder what message she was trying to send? My mother was pretty good with the subtle messages. I wouldn't be surprised to find out there were subliminal messages painted into my childhood bedroom walls - "obey," "don't break the rules," "be a good boy," "obey (again)." I guess I finally figured out in the past three years that money is some people's life report card, but I'm playing a different game with a different definition of success. Perhaps I'm rationalizing because I never made it to the Show?
I'm not going to share every Arthur Brooks' column but I think the following is a good one for young people - including those of us who are older but young at heart. I do think that he leaves out a couple of key points: (1) it is ok to fail so long as you rebound and learn from the experience and (2) "success", however you define it, is a function of talent, hard work and luck (and as my man Daniel Kahneman says (paraphrasing), great success is a result of talent, hard work and a great deal of luck).
What advice would you give to someone starting off in their career?
4 Rules for Identifying Your Life’s Work