Don’t Optimize Prematurely — Make Yourself Happy First

Chasing early success will only make you regret it.

Kevin Kelly talks a lot about the concept of premature optimization. It’s a concept from biology and evolution of species, and it’s the key to becoming successful and realizing your potential.

The central idea is this: species evolve by adapting to the changing environment. But if you evolve too quickly, you might optimize prematurely. They evolved for one kind of environment, but while they were evolving, the environment changed. Hence, such species end up being on the false ‘summit’ of optimization.

Think of Sex Pistols once being the top punk band in town, only to become extinct a few years later. Kodak didn’t account for digital media. Neither did Nokia predict that people would buy expensive, minimalistic phones with a fruit-shaped logo.

People, just like animal species and organizations, can optimize prematurely.

You can see this in:

1. A young man trying to make money as fast as possible instead of exploring his options, traveling, and wasting time.
2. Someone setting themselves high expectations and stupid rules like, ‘becoming a millionaire by 25’ or ‘retiring at 30’. Such goals and expectations will almost always break your heart.
3. Marrying too quickly.
4. Getting in debt too quickly (mortgages, credit cards, student loans, etc.).
5. School graduates going straight to college instead of taking one or two ‘gap’ years to figure out what they really want to do in life.

In short, premature optimization means doing things too quickly.

I used to think that there’s nobility in being the earliest in everything. I would be the youngest employee, the youngest entrepreneur, the youngest author, the youngest producer — you name it. I wanted it fast.

And I got burned by this impatience and more than once. I lost money (a lot of it), I lost friends, I lost businesses and partners. But most importantly, I lost time chasing these things, when I could have enjoyed life.

It’s not that all is lost for me, I am still (almost) 22. But when I look back to the last 3–4 years, I realize that I could have spent them differently.

I could not have optimized for making as much money as possible. I could have waited where I rushed. I could have enjoyed the time instead of trying to ‘fake it until you make it.’

Because the truth is, I didn’t need any of that. I didn’t need the money, the fame — all of those things I chased. I was insecure, and I thought that I had to ‘make it’ as fast as possible.

I could have spent those 3–4 years pursuing my interests, not trying to prove something to someone. A part of me is full of regret.

But another part is grateful for having all of those experiences because they taught me something crucial.

Don’t Optimize Prematurely

I will repeat this one more time: Don’t optimize prematurely.

When you’re young (18–30), full of energy and ambition, the impulse is to run and get it. You’re probably insecure. You’re probably full of desire to show the world you mean something. Or is it to your dad?

You should do the complete opposite. And that is — nothing.

Waste time. Travel. Explore. Read whatever you can get your hands on. As soon as it stops being enjoyable, drop the book and go buy another one, there’s always another one.

Experience things, try things, break things — and learn: about yourself, the world, and others.

Don’t think about the money (yet). Don’t think about productivity (yet). Don’t think about yourself as an adult (yet). Don’t think of yourself as a ‘provider’ (if you’re a man) and a ‘mother’ (if you’re a woman) if you don’t have kids yet.

Enjoy being young on this planet. All the great things happen now.

There’s no rush. You will have time for all that ‘serious’ stuff later. You will.

You will always make more money. You will always have the time and inclination to ‘become’ somebody important later on.

You will always be able to optimize for productivity — whether it’s in your thirties, forties, fifties.

Just like nature, life has three seasons: spring (from 0 to 30), summer (from 30 to 60), fall (from 60 and onward). And you don’t reap the harvest in spring.

Nature teaches us a valuable lesson: Everything comes in its own time.

So what do you do right now? Optimize for happiness.

Most Important KPI

I am the guy who spends every waking hour thinking about what I am meant to do on this planet. And yet, it seems to me like I’ve never asked this question.

Because every time I did, deep inside, I had expectations — I wanted the money, I wanted the fame, and I wanted to know how it will all work out.

The truth is, you don’t. And if you find yourself with a pen and paper, asking yourself questions like:

• What do I want to do?
• What do I like doing?
• What am I genuinely interested in?

Make yourself a favor: have no strings attached. Ask these questions, and imagine that no matter what you answer — there won’t be money, success and prestige involved. Put that out of the equation entirely.

I’ve studied carefully and remotely a bunch of successful people. Most of them had no idea what they were doing when they started out. And those that became great (Paul McCartney great) — were the ones that optimized for happiness first.

Paul didn’t know what he wanted to be when he grew up; he just played his guitar all the time. And look where it got him.

So don’t optimize prematurely. And don’t optimize for money or success, especially early on. You don’t need any of that. Chances are, you have nobody to provide for when you’re young except yourself. And it’s good to learn to be happy with very little.

Optimize for happiness. Make yourself happy first from doing what you love. Waste time. Enjoy being young.

Let success (if it comes) be a by-product. And if it doesn’t happen, then, well, just fuck it. That’s not the point of life anyway.

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