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Dear Millenials, The World Hasn’t Changed: Paying your dues is still how you achieve success
When it comes to greatness and career success, premature ejaculation is a trap.
When I was younger, I was too impatient. I thought you must do everything as soon as possible and that speed was a virtue. Want to start a company? Go for it. Want to write a book? Start writing it today. Want to create a show and interview famous people? Start before you’re ready. This impatience was reinforced by self-help book authors and gurus online, causing me a great deal of stress and agony.
Yet, most people I know who became successful early — and I am not talking about those you see in the media, the Zuckerbergs of the world, but the people I actually know in my life — are stuck with their premature success forever. Kevin Kelly calls this concept “premature optimization” and, unfortunately, it’s not getting enough resonance in our culture of hustlers, “go-getters”, and 20-year-old billionaires.
My generation looks at profiles in Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Forbes, see the glorified 18-year-old TikTok billionaires and think to themselves, “If they can, so can I.”
Well, yes and no. (I know I sound like a douche by saying this, but bear with me.)
