Paul Millerd Quotes

the fundamental principle of staying excited as a writer: write the stuff you want to read

Self publishing is just entrepreneurship

Maximizing your potential doesn’t seem to be a good aim in life. Especially as a primary one. I also don’t think this is something you can ever achieve

The path that feels exciting and great to be on is also filled with a lot of unmapped territory. This writing and publishing path feels good because there are just so many things I’m not that good at or want to get better at.

I suspect the arrival fallacy is wrong

We just have so many people repeating this after being disappointed because they know they can harvest it for likability

My experience with my books: finishing them was delightful and feels better over time.

You can arrive but you have to point at an arrival destination you actually are aligned with

the success of a path does not make a path valid

any path is valid and worth trying

“Everyone in society can’t do this!”

Is not the dunk you think it is

If everyone went to the same McDonald’s in NYC at the same time things would fall apart.

The plurality of human weirdness is a fact of life we can count on.

You’re just projecting your own fears

Almost everyone who enjoys their work goes out the way to bring others behind them along

Many still at war with their relationship with work aim mostly upward always seeking more approval or validation

beatin yourself up because you arent productive or doing things is probably one of the clearest signs that someone will eventually hit an intense period of burnout

may take years, but almost always happens

the most useful thing to do with how-to content is to completely ignore the advice and try something new

contribute new knowledge to the world. try random approaches. do the opposite

we are at the beginning of infinity of possible life paths and how we spend adulthood

theres a widespread tech skepticism of prestigious paths in things like law, consulting, banking etc.

feels more like east coast envy than good critiques. many of these are great jobs, people learn a ton, and end up leading many companies (including tech ones)

most people who aren't wired for these paths, or approach it cynically, or try to play optionality dont actually last that long or eventually find a more stable regular sort of job

i think for the most part the critique is less about these jobs and much broader in that more people dont seem to do interesting things path wise even if they have wealth and income earlier in life

most traditionally published books should come out one year earlier

some fresh ideas seem to work despite timing, but many are just too out of date by the time of publishing

You can’t choose your interests.

For some the desire for money does seem powerful enough to supersede interest but most this probably isn’t strong enough.

The choice then is to surrender to your path or force fitting yourself into what a system wants

Creativity dissolves cynicism