> I personally believe most people reach their optimum lifestyle subconsciously
I somewhat agree with this. I think as people are exposed to different roles and tasks over time, they will take to some more easily or enthusiastically than others, and the skills they build will result in them doing more of that kind of work in the future.
What I find fascinating, however, is that people arrive at things subconsciously in two very different ways. Either it's something they enjoyed at every step along the way, or it was painful at first, but they didn't feel like they had a choice, and eventually they reached a level of proficiency where they enjoyed it and pursued it willingly. These are both thoroughly haphazard ways of choosing what to pursue in life, passively following the path of least resistance like water flowing downhill through whatever terrain happens to be in front of it.
But you can intentionally pursue things that life doesn't put in front of you. One thing people do consciously rather than subconsciously is look at something they find cool and think, "Wow, that looks amazing. I want to learn how to do that." And they don't concern themselves with the fact that it isn't fun at first and nobody is forcing them to do it. They motivate themselves with the end goal. That takes active, conscious effort.
For example, the passive way some people get into web development is that they make a really simple web page with an h1 element containing their name and think, "Neat." Immediate gratification. They change the color. "Cool!" More immediate gratification. And they get passively swept into learning web development.
But there are other people who first get excited looking at a really beautifully designed site on the web. They think, "Wow, that is amazing. I want to be able to do that." So they make a simple web page with an h1 element containing their name, and they think, "This is shit. This feels bad to look at, and I feel bad that I made it." But they struggle through the learning process because they keep the end goal in mind. They keep thinking about how amazing it will be to make something great.
Beautifully put! I just realized I've been on both sides of that. Younger me tended to be the first case you described. Older me seems to tend towards the second case. Perhaps because I am highly conscious of my time now and don't give myself much time to play.
I somewhat agree with this. I think as people are exposed to different roles and tasks over time, they will take to some more easily or enthusiastically than others, and the skills they build will result in them doing more of that kind of work in the future.
What I find fascinating, however, is that people arrive at things subconsciously in two very different ways. Either it's something they enjoyed at every step along the way, or it was painful at first, but they didn't feel like they had a choice, and eventually they reached a level of proficiency where they enjoyed it and pursued it willingly. These are both thoroughly haphazard ways of choosing what to pursue in life, passively following the path of least resistance like water flowing downhill through whatever terrain happens to be in front of it.
But you can intentionally pursue things that life doesn't put in front of you. One thing people do consciously rather than subconsciously is look at something they find cool and think, "Wow, that looks amazing. I want to learn how to do that." And they don't concern themselves with the fact that it isn't fun at first and nobody is forcing them to do it. They motivate themselves with the end goal. That takes active, conscious effort.
For example, the passive way some people get into web development is that they make a really simple web page with an h1 element containing their name and think, "Neat." Immediate gratification. They change the color. "Cool!" More immediate gratification. And they get passively swept into learning web development.
But there are other people who first get excited looking at a really beautifully designed site on the web. They think, "Wow, that is amazing. I want to be able to do that." So they make a simple web page with an h1 element containing their name, and they think, "This is shit. This feels bad to look at, and I feel bad that I made it." But they struggle through the learning process because they keep the end goal in mind. They keep thinking about how amazing it will be to make something great.