How to Prepare for Nothing?

Almost every career and education question on Quora is something like this:

“Should I do X?”

Where X is get a mentor, or study business, or go to grad school, or raise money, or research this industry, etc.

Rarely is there a specific goal.  The questions are asked as if someone can tell you whether X is “good” or “bad” in the abstract.  Occasionally there is a goal, like “Should I study business if I want to open a restaurant?” but even here, the mere asking of the question reveals that there is no clear connection between the end desired and the thing being considered.  If you don’t even know whether X will help you get there, or you don’t even know where “there” is, why are you even asking?

This is how people treat college.  Hardly anyone knows why they are there.  They will weakly tell you it’s to buy the signal that will help them get “a job”, but in the real world “a job” doesn’t exist.  Specific jobs do.  Most don’t know what kind of work they want, and almost none have ever bothered to check whether or not a degree is a requirement or the best route to get it.  It almost never is!

Most people aren’t looking for the best way to get from A to B, or even from A to discovering what B might be for them.  Most people are looking to be given queues on what other people will think is normal.

Seeking normal is a mind killer.

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Isaac Morehouse is the founder and CEO of Praxis, an awesome startup apprenticeship program. He is dedicated to the relentless pursuit of freedom. He’s written some books, done some podcasting, and is always experimenting with self-directed living and learning. When he’s not with his wife and kids or building his company, he can be found smoking cigars, playing guitars, singing, reading, writing, getting angry watching sports teams from his home state of Michigan, or enjoying the beach.