Imagine

You just won the lottery. It might be the best feeling of your life. Millions of dollars, what do you even do? Party? Shopping Spree?

Why not everything all at once? Pure Bliss.

Then you sleep

Next day, you do it all again. And again. A month goes by, you're still drowning in money you have no idea how to use. What do you do now?

You don't feel as happy anymore. You're used to the money. You start comparing yourself to other people who won the lottery, or are super-wealthy, and realize that your life actually just sucks. I mean, you have a million dollars, but they have a billion. You can barely afford a private jet, I mean, you're essentially impoverished atp.

Life is a treadmill

Everytime we accomplish something, or push ourselves forward in life, whether that be through winning the lottery, acheiving a six-figure job, getting into a dream school, or even dropping out to make a yc b2b saas, our standards for comparison increase.

I mean, let's say you get into Penn. Everyone you're going to meet at Penn, goes to penn. You move to SF, and everyone you meet is building the next big AI slop tool. What I'm saying is that the standards just get higher. Ask anyone at a top school, or a top job if they think that they're "exceptional", 99% of people will say no, despite them all being driven and incredible workers.

This is called the Hedonic treadmill. And it's the reason capitalism even works. It forces you to never stop working, to never stop comparing yourself to others, to always find weakness inside you, and to keep maximizing shareholder value. But really, is the goal of life to live on this treadmill? What do we even gain out of comparison?

What is the point??

Why would you want to subject yourself to this life of misery and comparison? Sure, living on the treadmill might make you rich, but is that really the end goal? What about fulfillment? What about doing what you really enjoy? I believe that if you're cracked, money will follow, so who tf cares at that point?

These systems we surround ourselves in, they're just social constructs. I mean, this is kinda corny, but like you have free fuckin will. Nobody can force you to do anything. Why do we force ourselves into this comparison race with others, instead of chasing our own dreams while appreciating and learning from others?

We purposefully put ourselves inside these systems - from school to the 9-5 office to college applications, where we're reduced to numbers, extracirriculars, and a trauma story. Why not just like do your own thing?