Learning to Pivot [Explicit]

I think there's this notion that you have when you're at Stanford that the world is your oyster, and to a large extent it is, right? It is something that you can take advantage of because there are so many opportunities and so many opportunities to contribute. But I also think there's this notion that life is going to be up and to the right, you know, the same as startup returns are. And you're going to go and you're going to get the perfect job after you graduate, and you're going to have figured out what you want to do. And I think what's the most beautiful about finding your superpower and also finding out what you're really called to do is that it's a really messy process. And if you want, you can be methodical about this messiness. I haven't read that much of Designing your life, but I read sort of 20% of it, enough to get the gist. And I think that the idea of testing out different areas and deciding which one of them is going to be most suitable for you is a really good one. The problem is that when you find out that an area isn't the area that you want to go into, you have a moment where you have to pivot. And pivots, they're not easy if you're a startup. They're probably just as hard, if not harder, if you're a person. And I think pivot is a nice word for what this feels like. I prefer Ben Horowitz's wifio acronym, which stands for we're fucked, it's over. Tina told me I could swear, and it feels like we're fucked. It's over. Right? It's a really harrowing moment where you think, I was on this path and this is what I was going to do, and this was going to be my identity, and, oh, crap, it did not work out. What am I going to do now? And those moments feel the scariest. But they don't mean that you're doing it wrong. They mean that you're doing it right. They mean that you tried something so hard that you really could get a great insight into whether it was right for you or not. You gave it a solid go. And this applies to all aspects of your life. And then when you're able to pivot from that and say, okay, what do I learn from this? And how does it make me stronger? That's where the biggest growth opportunity happens, is it happens in those moments. One of my favorite meditation teachers says that in meditation, the actual part of Meditating is when you figure out that you're screwing up and your mind is getting off in your thoughts and then you bring yourself back to your thoughts meditating. And that is life and that is learning too. In the we're fucked, it's over moments where you're realizing that you've screwed it up and you need to find another path and what's that path going to be and how are you going to get there? And so Stanford makes a lot of things really easy for us. I definitely felt like Stanford was a nice and easy and safe environment. And the real world can be that way, but it also can be more challenging and endurance and perseverance help, but so does an attitude of willing to learn through whatever life throws at you and being willing to pivot through those moments. Thank you.

I think that's. Yeah, I think that's awesome. And the way I would, the add on to that I would say is don't take it so seriously. Like, life is a game. And I find when I was here I was so worried about what was next and was I maximizing everything and was I improving my 1% a day and was I going. And I just, the more I go through stuff, the more I just kind of like let go a little bit. And it doesn't mean you don't work really hard and it doesn't mean you don't learn a ton of stuff and it doesn't mean you don't go through really hard stuff, because that's absolutely right. Like the more of those you go through, the more fun it is at some level and at some point you begin to embrace the suck and just like, you know, this is hard and we're fucked, it's over. And oh, wow, okay, I feel that that's comfortable. I'm there again, like, what do I do next? But it's like, enjoy it, just go through it and have fun and relax a little bit. That doesn't mean go smoke weed in Tahoe all year, but that's not as bad as cursing, right?

No.

Okay. And it's legal. It's legal. That's okay. No, but that's not to say don't work hard, don't try to excel all these things, but just enjoy the whole thing and realize that there's a bit of chaos to this all. And I've read just enough chaos theory to know the name. And it's true, it makes sense. Everything's kind of chaotic. And you can be the most put together, planned out, methodical, intense type a person. And the optimal Stanford student, genetically engineered Stanford student. And it won't all work. And that's okay. Like, the most interesting. Some of the best things I've done in my life have been things I did merely for the reason that it seemed like it would create a good story. And, like, sure enough, it did create a good story, but it actually turned out to be really fun and memorable, whether or not I ever told that story to anybody.