This is similar to something I’ve thought about recently, which is that one option for a highly impactful person looks basically like having their head down and studying for many years, getting into a conventional position, and using the skills they’ve acquired and the leverage in that position for good. I think this is underemphasized and I wonder if that is just because it seems less exciting and different.
Anecdotally I’ve observed some people taking long leaves from college/talking about dropping out (edit: I took a leave from college and it was very beneficial for me! And dropping out might make sense for some people.). There is sometimes a mood of “classes don’t matter.” But I think they often do.
I also think optimizing too much too early can be bad. Some of my most useful classes weren’t what I would have expected them to be before I took them.
This is similar to something I’ve thought about recently, which is that one option for a highly impactful person looks basically like having their head down and studying for many years, getting into a conventional position, and using the skills they’ve acquired and the leverage in that position for good. I think this is underemphasized and I wonder if that is just because it seems less exciting and different.
Anecdotally I’ve observed some people taking long leaves from college/talking about dropping out (edit: I took a leave from college and it was very beneficial for me! And dropping out might make sense for some people.). There is sometimes a mood of “classes don’t matter.” But I think they often do.
I also think optimizing too much too early can be bad. Some of my most useful classes weren’t what I would have expected them to be before I took them.