How to figure out what you want

All the money in the world won't give you back your 20s. Some things only youth can experience. Don't waste it.

My favorite people are multi-dimensional.

Bodybuilders who run.
Runners who write.
Writers who build startups.

They don’t let fake labels
constrain what they do.

They’re real, raw, & relentless.

Society will tell them to fit in.
Be normal. Pick one thing.

But they know “fitting in”
was never really an option.

Because just like in Tetris,
when you fit in, you disappear.

Nobody talks about the middle.

The part where excitement fades and progress stalls. Where the work feels endless, the wins feel small, and the finish line isn't even in sight.

The middle part is where most people quit, not because they couldn't do it, but because they thought it wasn't supposed to feel this way.

But this is actually where the growth happens. Push through.

One day, this chapter will be the part of the story you're most proud of.

“It’s just a word.”

Oh, you mean the backbone of society as we know it?

Focus.

How to figure out what you want

The other day, I was talking with a friend who was in the middle of trying to decide what he wants his college major to be.

He was throwing out all these different options: accounting, marketing, finance, business analytics. He didn't know which one to choose and he was stuck in “analysis paralysis.”

I asked him, "Well, have you tried any of them?"

He said no.

This isn't a knock on my friend. He's super smart and driven. It's just that most of us never try things outside of school. We don't experiment. We don't go out and test what we like and don't like. We study hard, do homework, get good grades, and stop there. But how can you expect to know what you like if you've never tried anything?

That's like walking up to a buffet and trying to decide what you'll enjoy by staring at the trays instead of sampling something.

Philosopher Alan Watts once said, “A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts. So, he loses touch with reality and lives in a world of illusions.”

You need data. And the best way to get data is to try a bunch of stuff. To experiment. To wander. As Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, said, "Action produces information. If you're unsure of what to do, just do anything, even if it's the wrong thing. This will give you information about what you should actually be doing."

Look, I get it. Trying something and having it not work out is scary. Nobody likes to fail. Nobody wants to look stupid or waste their time. But I would encourage you to reframe how you think about failure entirely.

Instead of seeing yourself as someone who failed, see yourself as a mad scientist running experiments. Scientists have hypotheses. They test them, then evaluate the results. Then they double down on what works and cut what doesn't.

When a scientist runs an experiment and the hypothesis is wrong, that's not a failure. It's information. A data point. It tells them something they didn't know before, which makes the next experiment better.

When I first started out, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I literally googled "how to make money online" and picked the top result. It didn't work. So I focused on making myself better.

I started working out, reading self-help books, and watching online business videos. I figured getting in shape, increasing my energy levels, expanding my mind, and collecting knowledge couldn't hurt my chances of becoming successful.

Eventually I found copywriting, went all in, built an audience, and when the beehiiv opportunity showed up, I was ready for it. None of it was planned. It was all the result of taking action and letting each step open the door to the next one.

Opportunities multiply as they are seized. If you don’t know what to do, do something. Learn a skill. Go to the gym. Read books. Expand your network. Grow an audience. Be at the plate, ready to swing, so that when the right opportunity comes, you're ready to capitalize on it.

Until next week,

Jay “👨🏻‍🔬🔬🧪” Yang

Author of You Can Just Do Things & Work With The Best

Ps. Saturdays

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