Life as a long-term bet

In my early twenties, ambition can feel like punching a sandbag and seeing no change in the boss’s health bar. After enough blows, I stop and ask what I should change. What matters most?

Thinking calmly and acting differently is hardly unique to me. I am willing, though, to choose something difficult that I believe is right, stay with it for a long time, and revise my approach until it works. I have watched peers do things carelessly and limit their chances. Skill is not the only path to success—luck and other factors matter—but relying on those seems rare. Even people who have done well can make poor choices next time.

In a sense, everyone is making bets. Students pursuing postgraduate degrees bet on the value of another credential. Civil-service applicants bet on stable work over decades. Buyers taking out a mortgage bet partly on a local economy over the next thirty years. Different choices lead to different lives. I do not want to accept the popular choice without thinking again about what my future depends on.

In 2022, when I first tried NFT products, I often felt taken advantage of. I decided to learn enough to participate more seriously. Over the following year I read technical books on blockchains and put some of my own money into the market. I could not have known what that would bring. Later, I converted some of what I learned into money that helped pay for a trip to Japan, one of the most comfortable journeys of my youth.

A smaller example came at the company’s annual event today. I had introduced myself hundreds of times before, so I knew even a short introduction mattered. I went on stage, kept it light and humorous, and told everyone our group would win first place. An hour or so later, our group won best performance and I won an individual award as well. I took home the prizes I had liked most.