competition

growing up, we are taught that competition is good. it builds character. it is necessary. good marks make you feel important; low marks make you feel inferior. the whole system trains you to obsess over competing with someone else.

in college, the game gets bigger, but everyone is still chasing the same grades and the same goals. then you enter the tech world and realize the game has grown again. the cage just got more expensive.

everyone is chasing the same milestones:

• a $300k-a-year remote job
• getting into yc
• raising venture money

it is pure mimetic desire. we do not want these things because we care about them. we want them because everyone around us is chasing them.

competition makes you fight over the same prize instead of finding what is uniquely yours.