Allowing people to change

Here is another gem from Derek Sivers. To extend his point, all our opinions, beliefs (and the meaning we give to life) are subject to change. If our projected meaning or beliefs change, our outlook changes, and our actions change.

In that case, isn't it only fair that we allow others the freedom to change as well? To give people a second chance? To not pass lasting judgement based on one-off incidents?

Newton's first law only applies when there are no external forces. Our world is full of external forces. It does not make sense to assume constancy by default. Of ourselves, or of others.

What is the meaning of Life?

We know it's 42, but what is the right question?

Here is some food for thought from Derek Sivers. Nice analysis, and I agree. He says,

"Life has no inherent meaning. Nothing has inherent meaning. Life is a blank slate. You're free to project any meaning that serves you. You're free to do with it, anything you want."

The meaning of life, then is within you - not outside. There is no absolute / inherent meaning in life, only what you project onto it.

The natural question now is how do you know what "serves you" or what you "want"? We want so many things, often conflicting things. We want different things as time progresses. The meaning that serves me now will not serve me forever. What if your future meaning is incompatible with your present meaning?

The inherent assumption in all this discussion is that a life with meaning, is more fulfilling than a life without meaning. If that is so, what about a life with meaning that keeps changing? Is that so bad?

My approach is this:

Widen your options, talk to people, and pick a meaning that makes sense now based on your current perception of life. A meaning that you think will hold true for you in the foreseeable future. And then set a tripwire - 2/5/10 years from now depending on how long term you feel the meaning will be.

Write down the meaning, this is your answer to life. Don't doubt it, go live it! Until the tripwire is triggered. At which point, repeat the process. Decide on a meaning you want to live by, based on your current situation, and go live it. Until the next tripwire!

Life now becomes a collection of sub-lives each with their own meaning. The right question then is

"What is your meaning of life, at this point in time?"

My answer? "8128"

Open, Conscientious, and Disagreeable

I recently read that, of the Big5 personality traits, the ones that distinguish an entrepreneur are

- "Openness" (to new ideas)
- "Conscientiousness" (ie. willingness to work hard towards a goal) and
- "Disagreeableness" (willingness to not conform, and be ridiculed)

It struck a chord with me. I think these are nice "rules of thumb" to evaluate a startup culture!

The total time available in a day..

is directly proportional to the amount of work you do.