There is this classic Tyler Cowen line for figuring out how attractive you are. He said you take the average rating of all your partners, shave a little off and you’ll have yours.
Brian Clark used this logic earlier in the week. Copyblogger, for him, was a success not because it made money but because people take his phone calls.
So how do you figure out how important you are? Take the average importance of the names in your email inbox and phone log, shave a little off and that’s your answer.
Show me a man who isn’t a slave; one who is a slave to sex, another to money, another to ambition; all are slaves to hope or fear. I could show you a man who has been a Consul who is a slave to his ‘little old woman’, a millionaire who is the slave of a little girl in domestic service. And there is no state of slavery more disgraceful than one which is self-imposed. Seneca Letters from a Stoic
I disagree with Seneca, I don’t think that self-imposed slavery is the worst thing ever. What’s worse is not knowing what you’ve submitted to – not realizing that you’re chained to transactions or other people’s egos or fashion or whatever.
I’m disappointed in my enslavement to self-doubt, resentment towards those that I dislike, at the power that the favor and approval of certain people hold over me – that I haven’t let a call go to voicemail in months. I’m proud that when I set deadlines, commitments or quotas that I am utterly compelled to fulfill them. That whole “daimon“ thing isn’t a horrible master.
Seneca ignores the distinction between ignorance and submitting to something bigger than yourself. The honest and practical reality: Figure out what you’re beholden to and decide consciously if you’re at peace with it. If you are, then by all means continue. If you’re not, you should at least end the delusion of your own agency.
I never thought I’d be in a position to do this but I think it is the only way. I’ve been getting a lot of emails asking really open ended questions that I don’t have time to answer individually. I also know that I’ve been vague in describing what I am doing and why I left school. I can’t answer everything obviously but I’ll do my best to clear up as much as possible.
You guys can email me or post in the comments and then I will respond later in the week with a big post. Hopefully I can turn it into a FAQ or a bio section to save time. I am totally happy to answer specific or personal questions but when they are things like “What are you doing?” it leads me to believe that I skipped an explanation somewhere.
Also, to the person that sent an Amazon Giftcard to my email address. Thank you. I never expected things like that to start happening.
