Paul Millerd Quotes

Most suffering with work comes from people overly identified with the stories and narratives they’ve cooked up about what a good, successful, or even “normal” person is supposed to be doing with their adult life.

Most people’s desires come into conflict with these stories by the late twenties.

Then there is a choice

1. Ignore the feeling: my path until I was 32

side effects include: drinking, cynicism, health challenges

2. Face it: when I quit my job

Side effects include: triggering old friends with new questions you are asking, self doubt, uncertainty, excitement that’s hard to share

Neither path is ideal but almost everyone is happier eventually on path 2

Why?

Because it forces you to rewrite your narrative. It helps you see that your story isn’t fixed and you can rewrite it again. You’ll be able to notice the “stuckness” much earlier next time it emerges (it’s inevitable in life)

You don’t need grit to live a full life

I don’t know what the future is going to look like and that’s okay

my toxic trait is thinking i can fix every hustle bro and turn them into a poet

authors will search for every marketing tactic in the book in order to sell a book instead of actually just writing a banger

for a small portion of people, grinding harder is probably right

for most people, grinding less is ideal. working in sprints, designing for a more sustainable pace.

but those who grind want the best for you, they are just shocked you forgo so much shareholder value

rejecting the default path should be a phase

2-3 years max, you almost certainly have to go through this phase, being against your former self

in some ways this is defending you from going back, bootstrapped confidence

but its not a good stance long-term

If you’re not able to laugh at yourself much much much more after doing any form of content online, you’re definitely doing it wrong

Make having mediocre work goals normal again.

You are a writer

Embrace the artists way

Don’t sell your creations as raw material for a large company’s balance sheet

Embrace the artists way

You are a writer

I’m ok with people winning without suffering.

Goals are mostly a waste of time.

Having an aim or direction of a different future you want to create? or idea of where you don’t want to be? Great

Leave your OKRs at work. Dream bigger

Powerful technology that shifts our imagination will also change our beliefs about work

We all either end up completely off the internet or tweeting cliches at the end of this don’t we

We may never keep up with the current reality of work. The weird period where everyone danced to the same story is over. Now it’s just perma weird.