Thoughts on life, work, and opportunities

Since the start of the year, I’ve been think about what I do for a living, and how I’ve got to where I am. There’s no clear answer to that question (although ‘do fun things’ will probably figure highly), but two pieces from the last week have resonated with me.

First up, Rackspace’s Rob La Gesse:

I’ve seen salespeople that seem to have so much more “luck” than their peers, but I don’t believe in luck. I know this person just did a little bit more than someone else, and probably a long time ago. And it is hard to connect those things, but as a manager of humans that I love to death, I pay a lot of attention to what they do – and how they help me win.

And they mostly do it by building upon an incredibly deep library of past deeds. Over time, that makes you a trusted resource. And then, all of a sudden, things start happening that people may talk about in terms such as, ‘She is just blessed”, or “What a lucky shit he is”.

Again, I don’t believe in luck.

…and then there is Y Combinator’s Paul Graham:

Few people know so early or so certainly what they want to work on. But talking to my father reminded me of a heuristic the rest of us can use. If something that seems like work to other people doesn’t seem like work to you, that’s something you’re well suited for. For example, a lot of programmers I know, including me, actually like debugging. It’s not something people tend to volunteer; one likes it the way one likes popping zits. But you may have to like debugging to like programming, considering the degree to which programming consists of it.

The stranger your tastes seem to other people, the stronger evidence they probably are of what you should do.

If you’re ever looking for an answer to that trusty question of life, the universe, and everything, I think these two thoughts are really good places to start.