6 ms·
I did not expect to read the whole thing through but I guess I just did. It's fascinating the inner struggle of someone so successful yet who still feels the n
by tekkk 7y ago
I did not expect to read the whole thing through but I guess I just did.
It's fascinating the inner struggle of someone so successful yet who still feels the need to find something bigger to accomplish, a higher mountain to climb.
I feel for him, since life is not easy for most of us and he purposefully tries to make it harder for him. But I also think, that the meaning he so desperately wants can come from other things than just building bigger companies with bigger stakes. There's always a bigger stage play, a bigger house to build or company to create.
For me art is quite enjoyable, as there are no specific limits to your proficiency or rules to play by (well there are some very good guidelines). It just is what it is to amuse you, make the time go a little faster and perhaps amuse other people too. Or friends, children and family in general, relationships that aren't bound by status or money but by mutual enjoyment of each other's company.
Maybe what Peter needs to do is just go away for a while and travel the world, and find out what it actually means to be human in broader sense. Just put everything on hold and go somewhere, with a fake name if you must and just hang out with random people and experience their reality for a while. It isn't the end-goal to have "made something" but the trip to get there, even if it sounds like a cliche. I'm sure he could too find something satisfying that isn't just building companies. Or maybe I'm wrong, as I've never met the guy and don't know him personally. And building a more meaningful and successful company must sound like fun too. It's just that is not all that there is.
- codesushi42 7y agoThat is what makes ambitious people successful. They always want more and never stop wanting more. Those who are content with settling don't have the drive to make it.
- Retric 7y agoI think HK Rowling is a solid counter to that argument. Success is far more about leverage than drive. Drive is still extremely useful, just not the root cause for success.
- ska 7y agoTwo points perhaps worth considering: 1) Defining "success" as "made a ton of money" is reductive and probably not very useful 2) Many (most?) successful people are ambitious, but lots of ambitious people do not succeed, at least by their own standards
- codesushi42 7y agoWriting novels while you're dirt poor and riding a train to your low paying job does not count as "drive"? I would love to hear your definition of "drive" then.
- Retric 7y agoBy her own words she took five years to write the first book, but mostly wrote it while unemployed at coffee shops. Ignoring her later success, most unemployed people sitting around coffee shops writing are considered to have low drive. I mean if you think she qualifies that’s fine, but kind of lowers the bar to irrelevance.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- cjrp 7y agoThere's writing aimlessly, and then there's successfully writing a coherent book. The latter is very difficult.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- poseidonist 7y ago> That is what makes ambitious people successful. No, that's the myth sold to you. If hard work made you successful some guy who busted his ass for 50 years would be president instead of a dude who was born obscenely wealthy.
- whamlastxmas 7y agoPeter is clearly not the type who can travel for fun or really enjoy it the way most people do. He has no "off" switch. I would guess if you spent any real time with him he'd probably come across as fairly abnormal.