Over the last couple of years, I've experienced a complete transformation and reawakening of my own curiosity and desire to do challenging things in life and work. While similar to my early career enthusiasm, this feeling is deeper, more powerful, and likely sustainable.
I believe the best way to describe this shift is as a shift from legible ambition to illegible ambition. The reason so many people cling to default metrics of success is that other people understand them. Legible ambition is a story that your parents can tell their friends. We fear not having such legible ambition means we will be cast out of our modern work-centered culture.
Illegible ambition is personal, hard if not impossible to describe to others, and might not lead anywhere impressive, sometimes for years. But it is also immensely powerful. Illegible ambition is about connecting to who we really are and doing work in a state that friend and fellow internet weirdo David Perell perfectly describes as "hearts on fire."
Paul Millerd