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The impact merge - Joe Carlsmith

joecarlsmith.com · 1,301 words · saved by 2 readers

Against hitching together your desire to accomplish things and your desire to do good.

Lots of people want to do big things — start a big company, write a bestselling book, participate in an important project. I’ll call this the “accomplishment desire.” Often this is centrally tied to social status; the relevant type of “bigness” is highly correlated with what would seem cool at, e.g., a college reunion. But it also mixes in richer values. Maybe someone wants to be a famous musician; but they also often want their music to be good, and expressive of who they are. This desire is also tied to meaning — to wanting to have done something, mattered, lived a life of consequence.…

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