It’s always a little bit risky to write something personal that will inevitably come across as something other than humble. Especially when it’s also mixed with something that comes across very first-world-problemy. Mind you that showing that one can do a little bit of calculus isn’t a testament to being a genius or anything like that. The examples the story describes might as well be equivalent to something more obviously creative in nature that isn’t bound by the constraints of time, like amateur painting or music making might be. (Professional mathematicians or physicists would agree that a hypergeometric series doesn’t even scratch the surface of “difficult” mathematics.) There are real geniuses in the world having extraordinary intuition being extraordinarily productive and have something to show for it. This is not that.

I posted this because I was reminded of it after reading pg’s Bus Ticket essay—which to me was more about discovery than it was genius. When you have 10+ hours a day, 7 days a week, with no dependents and no job, there’s a lot of room to follow interests, as petty/useless/insignificant as they may be, and frequently if you spend that much time, you’ll discover new things or make new connections.

The conclusion of the story maybe is obvious in retrospect: that doesn’t happen (as easily) if you have a job (or family or partner or ...), even if your work is in an area you ostensibly love. You won’t have the same space to dive deep in areas that you choose, and you may not reach the same level of creative zen. It’s not something I realized going into the job market over a decade ago, and I think it’s a worthwhile consideration for people who value not being preoccupied with what time it is.

(For those expressing concern, don’t. Or those taking away that I’m not doing something that I like or following my passions, I am. I still do the things I like to do, but I don’t sacrifice everything else in life to focus on them exclusively. It remains to this day that that has its costs and benefits.)