whatever you want to do in life if you want to make money from it you will need to jump
through some hoops that's adult life that's how it's different from a movie
there's no way to cut out the boring parts the parts where you're in line on hold with customer
service or waiting for a form to come in the mail taxes let's not forget about taxes life is filled
with these little hurdles that don't define a life outright but if you allow yourself to trip
over enough discouraging you from continuing then ultimately it will if you want anything
say to write a bestselling book what you're really saying is i want to start a business and with all
businesses there is bureaucracy involved one doesn't write a book or start a blog and earn
instant fame and wealth it takes work it takes time and strict adherence to the rules of money
and what is money but a game with many players you need to access platforms request different
assets and perform administrative tasks you feel like you're going in circles
wasting time doing things that aren't important after all you're a professional writer you should
be writing not messing around with some sales page or negotiating with contractors
this always reminded me of the game zelda where you need to accomplish minor tasks
talk to characters you have no desire to talk to buy material you don't really want smash open a
few pots here and there so that you can reach your real goal which is to save the princess or
something when you have a professional pursuit you will find these mini tasks at every stage
it's tricky because these hoops and hurdles make you want to stop and say
i don't need to do this for work i can just do this for fun
but that's just an impatient part of you talking writing is fun creating your art is fun jumping
through hoops and dealing with bureaucratic [ __ ] is not but great things happen when you're
able to support yourself and reach more people a lot can be done alone in your office as a writer
but as soon as you need to reach a wider audience and you want to make money from them you need to
interact with people and be a part of society the same way plumbers bakers and teachers are
unfortunately society operates like an old clunky machine it's slow it malfunctions it jams and
freezes it's frustrating but that's the way it is and a little surprising that it even works at all
even if you repair one part there are so many others on the verge of breaking attempting to
fix this machine will only distract you from your purpose and so we must learn to live with it
there is this great passage from david foster wallace's unfinished novel the pale king that
has helped me a lot whenever i felt stuck behind a hurdle too drained and impatient to jump over it
goes like this i learned that the world and men as it exists today is a bureaucracy this is an
obvious truth of course though it is also one the ignorance of which causes great suffering
but moreover i discovered in the only way that a man ever really learns anything important the real
skill that is required to succeed in a bureaucracy i mean really succeed do good make a difference
serve i discovered the key this key is not efficiency or probity or insight or wisdom
it is not political cunning interpersonal skills raw iq loyalty vision or any of the qualities that
the bureaucratic world calls virtues and tests for the key is a certain capacity that underlies all
these qualities rather the way that an ability to breathe and pump blood underlies all thought
and action the underlying bureaucratic key is the ability to deal with boredom to function
effectively in an environment that precludes everything vital and human to breathe so to speak
without air the key is the ability whether innate or conditioned to find the other side of the road
the picayune the meaningless the repetitive the pointlessly complex to be in a word unborable
it is the key to modern life if you are immune to boredom there is literally nothing you cannot
accomplish
you