“He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other.” -Francis Bacon

My Hottest Take

It is my hottest take: the hardest part about unsolicited advice isn’t giving it… or even getting it. 

The hardest part is discerning between the advice that only sounds good, and the advice that will actually help you make the right decisions. 

And if you’re a people pleaser, it’s even harder. 

Decisions, decisions…

I remember being seventeen, and feeling paralyzed in this endless matrix of possibilities that was my life after high school.

What would I study? Where would I apply? Which friends were doing what? Could I succeed in that field? Was I smart enough? Would I get in?

Then, on top of the endless list of questions I didn’t have the answer to, it seemed everyone else wanted to provide an answer for me. 

Of course, it came from the best place, but how on earth was I supposed to sift through it all and get to a meaningful answer?

It was then, that as a seventeen-year-old about to get thrown into the “real world”, that I learned something crucial: you can’t take everyone’s advice. 

I mean, it’s literally impossible. 

“Do what you’re good at” was often at odds with “study something that will keep the doors open”. 

“Choose the safest option” conflicted wildly with “go where you will find your ‘tribe’”.

“Relax, and savor the last months of high school” opposed “study hard for your A-level exams”.

I was perplexed, and the illusion that I could somehow make everyone happy made me feel even worse about not achieving it. 

Fast forward years later, and I’m pretty happy with my decisions. 

So my advice for anyone getting the deluge of unsolicited opinions?

Learn how to decide what advice to take, because not all of it applies in your specific context.

“I was perplexed, and the illusion that I could somehow make everyone happy made me feel even worse about not achieving it.”

Who can give you good advice?

Generally, my first instinct is to consider the source of advice. 

Ask: Does the person giving this advice have experience that backs up what they’re saying?

If you’re applying to medical school, and someone practicing medicine gives you advice, their opinion is probably more credible than someone who instead studied accounting. 

Similarly, if you’re having a baby, maybe it would be wise to take parenting advice from your mother rather than your aunt who never had children. 

Maybe a person with incredible mobility and energy at seventy-six years old will have some good health advice, compared with a thirty-year old who is out of breath just walking up the stairs. 

Consider whether the person giving you advice is speaking out of turn, or even out of judgment.

Are they jealous of you? 

Do they worry about how your failure will reflect on them? 

Is there a way in which they live vicariously through you, and need you to satiate their regrets?

Do they love you, and want you to not make a terrible mistake?

Once you know that even someone with good intentions can give bad advice, take the time to really think about how heavily to weigh what another person thinks. 

Making Space

I used to make big decisions loudly, seeking constant reassurance, even from strangers. Even when I “knew” my decision, I didn’t allow myself to move into action. Not truly. 

I would second-guess and ask for yet another opinion, even though I was really only hoping for more permission to pursue the choice I already wanted to make. 

Instead, here’s what I should have done, and what I do now, whenever I make an important decision: pause. 

No, don’t bring it up in conversation with your friends at brunch. Don’t call your mom at 3am to get her opinion. 

Not yet, at least. 

Wait a few days, a week or two. 

Let the feeling of your choices settle in your body. Are you excited? A bit nervous? Does it fill you with dread? 

Sometimes the feelings conflict, and sometimes they tell you everything you need to know, but regardless, at least now you know where you stand, how you feel.

Let that be your North star, because, after all, this is your life. 

Some of the WORST advice I’ve ever gotten

Now, let me tell you some advice I’ve gotten in my own life that sounded good at first, but ended up being confusing and misleading at the time. 

#1: “Be realistic.”

What counts as “realistic” is subjective, and often, the advice to “be realistic” just reinforces acting from a place of fear. 

Building the life of your dreams takes courage. 

…So don’t worry too much about being “realistic”.

Instead, take the biggest risks when you’re young and unencumbered with dogs, kids, and a mortgage! 

If you fail, you still have the flexibility and time to start over again. 

(WARNING: In a different context and for a different person, maybe this is great advice.) 

#2: “Speak your mind.”

Sometimes you don’t know what on earth you’re talking about. 

So have the grace to at least know when you don’t know what you’re talking about. 

In those cases, keep your mouth shut and listen.

(WARNING: In a different context and for a different person, this is the exact encouragement they need.) 

#3: “Stray from the crowd.”

Figure out why the crowd is going that way before straying. 

I mean, there is probably a reason. Once you know the reason, then decide whether to rebel. 

After all, conformity pays sometimes.  

…And don’t worry- there’s still lots more opportunities to stand apart.

(WARNING: As everyone’s moms’ have recited at least once, “If So-And-So jumped off a bridge, does that mean you would too?”) 

#4: “Forgive and forget.”

When people show you who they are, listen. 

Don’t constantly put yourself back in the same situation to be hurt again. 

Even if it isn’t as extreme as blocking, asking or manufacturing space from someone so that you can heal is not petty. 

It’s protecting your peace, which is more important than maintaining a connection that is hurting you. 

(WARNING: In a different context and for a different person, it might pay to let go of a grudge.) 

#5: “No pain, no gain.”

Actually, sometimes you’re making your life harder than it has to be, and the “pain” is completely unnecessary.

Sometimes pain is just pain and sacrifice is just sacrifice. 

We often expect suffering to be paired with delayed gratification, but there are a lot of cases when the two are not tied at all. 

Worse yet, sometimes making life “hurt more” can even sabotage your success and happiness. 

(WARNING: In a different context and for a different person, it will pay to push yourself outside of your comfort zone to discover what you didn’t even realize you were capable of.) 

#6: “Never give up.”

There are times when breaking up, getting divorced, quitting your job, saying no to a commitment, and letting people down is actually better.

Why?

Because it means saying “yes” to what’s actually right for you when the time comes.

Let’s not make it “never” give up or “always” give up, but rather, know when to give up.

(WARNING: Sometimes it’s best to persevere through a struggle.) 

#7: “Be as productive as possible.”

Being fully immersed in “life” is often inefficient.

However, paradoxically, these inefficiencies can make life more full in the long term. 

Spending less time responding to emails in the evening could mean you are less “productive”, but more present with your family. 

Taking time to read and have a cup of tea means you’re not on Instagram keeping up with the reels your mom is sending you, but it also means you get to sit outside with your dog and an army of potted herbs, and breathe in fresh air. 

Every time you spend your time doing a task, you are choosing to not be doing something else. 

Think about what you would rather say no to, because if you don’t, the world will make the decision for you.

When we measure our life worth against a metric that prioritizes being busy over being truly alive, we end up sacrificing our humanity. 

And in the end, what is all the productivity for if you can’t embrace the part of life that is actually about “living”?

(WARNING: Pay your bills.) 

“Every time you spend your time doing a task, you are choosing to not be doing something else.”

#8: “Try to assimilate so you can make friends.”

Don’t change who you are just to hold onto friends who don’t even care about you that much.

People will respect you and be attracted to you more if you lean into your flavor of weird rather than away from it. 

And in staying true to your weirdness, you will attract even cooler, more aligned friends.

(WARNING: This means you still have to go outside and talk to new people.) 

Take Ownership Of Your Decisions

I’m under no illusions that it’s incredibly scary to lead a life that doesn’t follow the cookie-cutter mold society has laid out for us. 

It’s scary to think you might make a huge, irreversible mistake that dooms you for all eternity. 

Wandering away from the “normal” path that all your childhood friends are taking is lonely. 

It’s so easy to second-guess yourself, to feel despondent when your unprecedented courage is met only with suffocating doubt.

The archetypal hero’s journey tells us that once we slay the dragon, we are meant to ride off into the sunset living happily ever after. 

However, real life is more messy than that, and the certainty that you made the right choice is not something that comes all at once. 

It’s slow, it’s gradual, it’s a pendulum swing from one day to the other. 

But when you take ownership of your decisions, and of what advice to consider when you make them, you will know that regardless of whether you make the biggest mistake, or unlock the highest bliss, the decision will belong fully to you.

“…if you can tell the difference between good advice and bad advice, you don’t need advice.” – Laurence J. Peter

Thought to Action

1. Track Energy, Not Interests: For one week, note what gives you energy and what drains it. Patterns reveal more than labels.
2. Run a Passion Experiment: Choose one small action that tests a curiosity (not a career decision). Give it a deadline.
3. Separate Skill From Identity: You don’t need to be “good” at something for it to matter to you.
4. Design a Tiny Version of the Dream: Ask: what would the smallest, cheapest version of this life look like right now?
5. Let Passion Be Built: Treat interest as something you cultivate, not something you wait to discover.

Sources

No external sources were used for this post.

The post The Comprehensive List Of The Worst Advice I’ve Ever Gotten appeared first on Green Also Green.

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Oh but sweetie, that’s not for people like you…

Let’s start by stating something we all know to be true: everyone has a “vibe”.

The “tech bro” vibe, the “artsy fartsy” vibe, the “dorky” vibe, a “gamer” vibe, a “sporty” vibe, a “boss babe” vibe, and the list goes on. 

We had certain associations as kids maybe. 

Perhaps you were the kid who got straight A’s, and your family pinned onto you their hopes and dreams of raising a future doctor. 

Maybe you were a rebel, and sculpted your identity around denim and black nail polish. 

Were you “not good at math” or “not sciencey”? Did teachers chuckle condescendingly when you announced your dreams to travel the world and backpack across Asia?

Some of us didn’t do intense extracurricular sports as kids, so for the rest of time immemorial, we are simply “not athletic”. A decade later, when you start training for a marathon and taking creatine, the peanut gallery is alive with chatter.

We struggled with a single physics class in college, so gave up on becoming engineers. The whole class was white males with vitamin D deficiency anyway. You have melanin and XX chromosomes. Is it a sign?

Once, when frying an egg, you set the fire alarm off, so you decided “I’m just not a good cook”. Someone ate your innocent first attempts at some “easy, 30-minute” casserole a lady on Instagram made, and everyone thought it was too salty. 

So you put away your apron and never stepped foot in the kitchen again. It’s just not “your thing”.

Don’t change your mind.

But what happens when you decide that despite almost failing Algebra I, you want to build a rocket ship? 

Yes, you burnt that egg once when you were thirteen, but now you want to make a frittata to impress your snobby friend who only cooks recipes from the New York Times.

The “vibe” that once seemed almost predetermined- that seemed so entrenched in how other people saw you that it became you for a bit- becomes a prison. 

But Sofia, you’re a writer!

This is what happened to me. 

I have always been a writer, a crepuscular moody introvert whose creative juices come alive between midnight and 3am. 

Guess which ungainly middle schooler with a skirt down to her ankles once made her short stories about murder, betrayal, and “no-one-understands-me”-ness?

Yeah, it was probably (always) me. 

Ever since I was little, this was simply how I made sense of the world. 

It was not through human conversation, but through effusive journal entries, a pile of unfinished drafts in my Google Drive, and reading books way past my bedtime.

So naturally, the societal algorithm destined me toward either law, journalism, or eclectic writerly isolation. 

As such, my loved ones were perplexed when I started talking about nanotechnology, coral reefs, seagrass, and mycelium bricks. 

It didn’t fit my “vibe”. 

I was an error message everyone rushed to debug. 

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” -Henry David Thoreau

In Denial

How does one reckon with being naturally interested in all the wrong, mismatched things?

Well, usually it’s through denial. 

So I swung around, leaning into different molds I thought would satisfy my curiosity and leverage my skills, feeling more and more like I didn’t quite belong anywhere. 

In fact, it took years until I finally found the right balance between my interests, and became comfortable with resisting the prison of other people’s assumptions of what you “should” be. 

Now, I have no problem with being both the scientist and the artist, with being a Renaissance woman, with being at the intersections, with defining my career from the ground up. 

What I Learned From Having Mixed Vibes

#1: There are ways to say “I don’t know” without sounding like a loser. 

When I was in high school, at that stress-induced time when everyone was applying for university and announcing their ambitions to proud (or disappointed) audiences, I felt utterly stuck. 

When everyone around me seemed to have a simple, digestible 5-year plan for their life, I was caught in a web of indecision, overwhelmed by the fact that I simply had no idea what to do and where to go. 

There was this rush to get to that enlightened point of certainty, to have an answer people would be impressed with. 

Fast forward several years later, when all those same people with shiny aspirations have now changed their major seven times, paused their degree for a gap year, or doubted and questioned themselves many a late night.

Now, there is something I know with certainty: none of us really knew. 

We wanted so desperately to have a plan. Our parents wanted us to have a plan. So they told us to study something “safe” like medicine or engineering. 

The lady from down the street asked about the plan too, and told us we should really consider studying AI because it’s all the rage.

Our teachers advised a plan (“Oh Sally, you would be a wonderful candidate for studying French. You would absolutely love it!”). 

But that doesn’t change the fact that you still don’t know. 

Now I’m halfway through college, and while I know more, and have significantly more clarity about my future than I did then, there are still lots of questions. 

What’s the difference?

Now I know how to say “I don’t know” with confidence and authority. 

I say “I don’t know, but this is what I’m thinking…” or “I don’t know, and this is what I’m doing to get closer to an answer.” 

#2: You don’t need labels. You need data.  

Let’s talk about how we’re all lazy but desperate and insecure egomaniacs. 

I mean, let’s be honest, it’s kind of fun to go home for holidays and to nonchalantly throw around phrases that make it sound like you have your life together. 

It’s reassuring to talk about your super-committed, always-romantic “green-flag” boyfriend who makes six figures and volunteers at the animal shelter every weekend. 

We would love to talk about how we landed that coveted Google internship, and like Elle Woods, act like it was no big deal (What, like it’s hard?). 

On the other hand, it can feel discouraging to be the single, not-yet-sure, maybe-maybe-not one with horror stories in place of victories. 

But actually, taking your time can be an incredible strength, and land you in a way more aligned decision in the long-run. 

When I took a gap year, it was easy to feel behind as my friends raced ahead and settled into college. Meanwhile, I took the year to try out different passion projects, jobs, internships, courses, and athletic challenges. 

It was the pause before the next chapter of my life, and it made all the difference. 

Having the space to fail, to test, to messily realize both what I didn’t know that I thought I knew, and what I knew that I thought was a mystery, gave me the confidence to use my time in college to get even more narrow. 

I learned to not simply ask what I would like to do, but to instead consider what I’m already building/learning/exploring, and why it works or doesn’t. 

Then, with that information, I find new ideas to test, curating these options based on my interests and skills already.

#3: Your dreams set the scale. 

I used to think mood boards and “manifestations” were a bunch of fluffy nonsense…until I tried them.

Giving myself permission to imagine my dream life, dream career, dream love, dream home, and more, made me realize that none of it was actually out of reach. 

This changed my mindset about success completely. 

I realized that half of “succeeding” is giving yourself permission to pursue. 

It’s about giving yourself permission to go for it, even if the “thing” you’re going for is wildly ambitious. Often, we shut ourselves down before even considering the logistics.

The answer is simple: allow yourself to imagine that “impossible” life, the one you stopped believing in because someone told you it wasn’t “realistic”. Don’t stop yourself when the “what if…” thoughts roll in. 

“I realized that half of ‘succeeding’ is giving yourself permission to pursue.”

It might be geographical: “What if I lived on the beach and had seventeen dogs?”

It might be entrepreneurial: “What if I owned a coffee shop that was also a pottery studio?”

Maybe it’s about a creative project or an educational pursuit: “What if I directed a short film and went back to school to study medieval poetry?”

 Let yourself dream again, and let those dreams exist in your mind long enough for you to actually treat them seriously. 

#4: Most decisions aren’t binary.

You contain multidudes.

So I’ll be the first to assure you it’s not a problem to be fixed, but rather a strength to be nurtured. 

Sometimes you think you have to choose between two sides of yourself, and you actually don’t.

I thought I had to choose between a “sciencey” path and an “artsy and humanities path”, and I found I could have both in my life, at just the level I wanted them. 

I realized it’s not a choice between being either a starving artist or a creatively-repressed robot who never produces or creates anything. 

There’s a gradient. 

You can also be: an artist with a day job, an artist who also does freelance work, a hobbyist, someone who starts out with a day job and transitions to being an artist full time. 

Personally, I’ve made the decision that I don’t want my art to be my main income source. I simply don’t want financial pressure on my creativity. 

That said, I still take my creative pursuits seriously even if it’s not how I plan to make money.

In reality, when it comes to career paths, it’s usually not a choice between “do” or “don’t” but more so a question of “how” and “to what extent”.

“When it comes to career paths, it’s usually not a choice between “do” or “don’t” but more so a question of “how” and “to what extent”.”

#5: Your education is only as good as how you keep learning. 

Going to college for me is about learning how to self-educate once I’m done. 

It’s about learning how to think, conversate, read, how to study and pursue opportunities.

College teaches me how to engage with peers and people who are experts in their field, and about what I want to learn more about and to what extent.

We live in a world that places a huge emphasis on pieces of paper that say what you did, when, and with what institution. 

But once you have those pieces of paper, what really gets you across the line is those skills you actually acquired. 

So yes, degrees are useful tools, but what affects you most over the course of your life is how you independently develop knowledge and wisdom. 

I Gave Up The Search.

The biggest misconception I had about building a career that blends, and diverges, and takes its own unique shape, is that I had to “find” it. 

The truth ended up being that a career isn’t something you find; it’s something you build. 

How do you build it?

With the small decisions to pursue a project or not, to apply for a certain role or not, to reach out to a person in a certain field or not. 

It’s about finally giving yourself permission to define what a dream job can be, and then being bold enough to make it a reality.

“If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Thought to Action

1. Treat Your Life Like a Lab: Reframe one uncertainty as an experiment instead of a decision.
2. Shorten the Feedback Loop: Ask: how can I learn something in a week instead of a year?
3. Document What You Learn: Keep a simple log: what I tried, what happened, what surprised me.
4. Detach Outcome From Worth: Let experiments succeed or fail without meaning anything about you.
5. Practice Staying in Motion: When something doesn’t work, don’t restart. Adjust and continue.

Sources

No external sources were used for this post. 

The post When Your Vibe Gets In The Way Of Your Heart appeared first on Green Also Green.

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”— Marcel Proust, French novelist, literary critic, and essayist

Back when I played just to play… 

When I was a little girl, there was a random assortment of hobbies I pursued when I played (and how foreign the concept of “play” becomes when you’re taught about “productivity”). 

I used to orchestrate grandiose story lines for my Barbies to act out. I would imagine entire worlds and characters for each. 

When my cousins came over, we would spend part of the time scheming about how we would convince our parents to let us sleep over, and another part putting on plays.

I had a little garden, just my own, with basil, mint, lavender and a blueberry bush. It was in a big wooden container with wheels and brakes, and I could push it around- in the shade or in direct sunlight, all at my own discretion.

With all my heart, I loved my little garden tenderly. In fact, I felt genuinely heartbroken when my basil would grow long and woody, or when my mint would turn brown. 

What play looked like as I got older.

As I got older, the stories I would write got more elaborate, and my experiments with the plants got more…interesting. 

One time I sprouted a bunch of pepper seeds in my room, growing at least a dozen little pepper plants in my room in discarded pots of yogurt. For one of my birthdays I got a hydroponics kit, and eventually convinced my parents to help me build a hydroponic system from scratch. 

You would think, from the outside, that maybe one should take these kinds of interests into consideration. Maybe these are those “signs” people always talk about. 

I mean, who is digging around in the trash for pepper seeds and yogurt containers, aspiring to turn her room into a jungle?

But for whatever reason, I ignored these quirks. 

I felt like I didn’t know enough yet to “settle” on what I naturally loved to do. 

…and yes, there was also a fair dose of peer pressure and feeling the need to prove myself.

How I translate play from childhood to adulthood.

Now I’m 2 months away from turning 21, and I can confirm a few things.

One: I’m still a writer, and am finally learning how to take that side of myself seriously.

Two: I still love plants, and soil, and dirt, and asking questions about the natural world. 

Three: By insisting on properly testing out different interests, I have found ways of applying those things I’ve always loved in a way that feels way aligned with the adult I’m becoming rather than the child I used to be.

Allow me to explain. 

The Balance: You know what you know, but you don’t know what you don’t know. 

Maybe, like me, after some introspection, you know what are the constant threads that have carried on from childhood into adulthood- those things that people might look at you with a sigh, and say, “yep, you haven’t changed one bit.”

Pay attention to those things. 

Lean into them. 

And then here’s what you do: explore. 

You explore not to dismiss your interests (which was my initial reason for exploring), but to refine them and incorporate them even more deeply. 

Finding every way I didn’t want to write.

For example, writing.

I love it, but there’s so many ways to apply it. So I tested it out.

I “combined” science and writing by trying science communication for a bit- contributing to science blogs and steering myself toward nonfiction. 

It didn’t hit the same as writing weird emo short stories at 3am.

Then I tried ditching that completely. 

Nope. 

So I’m back to writing weird emo short stories at 3am.

Exploring the natural world beyond hydroponics and pepper plants.

On the plants side, I tried marine biology, and it felt close, but not exactly right.

I tried materials science out by volunteering in a lab at Berkeley, and over my gap year I learned some AutoCAD.

Not quite there, but also some part of it felt good.

Back to earth sciences. 

Now we’re exploring geochemistry. 

So far, that feels good…

The Squiggly Process Of Exploration Through Play

The point is to identify what fits and what doesn’t, and each new experiment you do to test yourself is new information.

You are just growing a bigger and bigger body of evidence to use when you make decisions about how you spend each day.

The process is 100% a messy nonlinear squiggle that will confuse and overwhelm you.

Make no mistake.

But it’s also incredibly rewarding when you find key components to feeling like you are really pursuing something you care about, are good at, and that sustains your livelihood.

I know it’s hard because I’ve lived the squiggle. 

My life has been a squiggle for years.

So I wanted to share some musings that I’ve gained so far. Maybe they will help you find a little piece of yourself along the way.

#1: Tiny experiments. 

Am I the only person who hates that phrase “I just knew”?

Maybe it’s that I have never “just known” anything, or that when I “know”, it’s not a “just knowing” it, but rather a “knowing, but…”

For me, knowing is laced with doubt, and I find myself going back and forth in a game of existential table tennis all the time. 

“I know I like X, but what if once I experience Y, I like it better?”

The eternal struggle of a chronic overthinker. 

Instead of the impossible advice to “trust my gut”, I create a portfolio of irrefutable evidence. 

I test the possibilities in small ways and scale commitment to that option accordingly. 

Then, my decisions don’t dwell in the realm of hypothetically what I would prefer to do, or what I would prefer to spend my time on. 

It’s actually based on the actions I have already taken. 

Before you commit to spending your life in a particular field, ask yourself, “Do I even like to learn about this?” Would you enjoy listening to even a single podcast on it? Do you want to get better at the skills involved?

Then, would you independently pursue experience by starting a passion project there or pursuing an internship in this field? 

(If the answer is probably no, but you still find it interesting to learn about passively, you’ve got yourself a new hobby!)

Scale your commitment alongside the evidence that what you’ve chosen actually fits. 

See it as many tiny experiments, not a decision you make overnight. 

#2: Learn to play again. 

I have an embarrassing secret: I forgot how to have fun. 

Somewhere along the way, everything I did in my free time had to be “justified”, connected with this singular thread of profound purpose. 

It doesn’t have to be that way, though. 

No…really. Listen to me. It doesn’t have to be that way. 

You can actually just play to play, laugh to laugh, and enjoy for enjoyment’s sake. 

So whatever it means for you, go out there and play. 

Does it mean taking yourself out for ice cream and choosing horrendous flavors you only enjoy in secret? Maybe it means learning how to roller skate and falling on your face?

No, don’t look up “cardiovascular benefits to…” or “how to start an etsy shop selling…” before you decide. 

Make fun a good enough reason.

This is how I learned my own passions as a child, not by thinking about productivity, but by thinking about what actually felt good to do.

Play is natural. 

That’s why kids are so good at it.

It’s growing up when we unlearn it, and in the name of being “practical” we actually end up sacrificing all the things that bring us the most joy.

Let yourself go back to the basics. 

Play is where we meet the rawest version of ourselves, and only in knowing the rawest version of yourself can you make those more “serious”, “adult” decisions about how to spend your life.

Ah, the beauty of paradox.

#3: Finish what you start. 

I’m a strong advocate for quitting, with one important caveat. 

Only quit after you’ve given that book/person/sport/ice cream flavor/music genre/game a fair shot. 

Try learning how to code before deciding with certainty that software engineering isn’t for you. 

Travel to new places before deciding you never want to live outside your home town. 

Read at least the first 10 pages before deciding to put down the book. 

When we decide to give up, we often do it when we face friction. 

It’s when the romance of a new pursuit wears off and we actually have to work, that we decide with dramatic exhaustion that we’ve had enough. 

The climb is too steep. 

Our legs are too tired. 

The task is just too hard. 

Instead, know you can do it regardless of the friction, and finish what you started. 

Then decide, once you have conquered the mountain, finished the race, read the first few pages, or listened to the first 30 seconds of the new song. 

Do the thing you thought you couldn’t do.

Only then will you have enough information to truly know whether you’re quitting because you felt overwhelmed in the moment, or something actually doesn’t resonate. 

Discouragement because it’s hard right now does not equal misalignment forever. 

#4: Listen to your jealousy.

Let’s not pretend you haven’t felt it too- the sting of a fake smile when you’re trying (and shouldn’t we get credit for trying?) so hard – soooo hard- to be happy for someone else when you feel like a complete loser.

No really, how can you not feel jealous? 

When you feel more single than the number 1, and you’re so poor you have -$7 in your checking account, what are you supposed to feel about yourself when others succeed?

Good?!

Please.

It sucks to be left behind, and when we are all on different timelines, there always manages to be someone ahead of you in some way.

Either it’s that you’re single and they just met the love of their life. 

Or it’s that you just got fired but they got into grad school.

They got a promotion and you got fined $500 when you can barely afford groceries. 

It’s a normal feeling, yet we all try to swallow it shamefully. 

But jealousy is also information, and it’s very important information.

We get jealous because other people have something we want, something we don’t feel we have already.

So you need to listen to it.

What is your jealousy telling you? How does your life need to change so that you can feel happy for others instead of annoyed?

Once you know what you want, you can actually work towards it.

So start listening. 

#5: Have the courage to admit you don’t know.

There is a quote attributed to Peter Seeger, the American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist known for singing “Goodnight, Irene”.

It goes, “The first step in solving a problem is admitting there is a problem to be solved.”

In a similar vein, the first step to finding that perfect intersection of skill, salary, and societal need we call ‘ikigai’ is to acknowledge that you haven’t found it yet. 

There is so much pressure to know, to have a plan, and to carve out certainty in a world that thoroughly denies it. 

However, when you say you don’t know, you get bombarded with unsolicited advice, pity, and disappointed frowns. 

Now let’s be honest, there is no way to avoid the way people respond to your (totally justified) lack of certainty. 

Maybe you cannot control it if part of being an interdisciplinary iconoclast is letting people down in the moment. 

That’s why it takes courage to admit what you don’t know.

It takes courage to bravely test the uncharted waters that might just be exactly right for you. 

Yes, you will have to stray from everyone else and face the doubts head on. 

It will feel lonely sometimes.

But don’t let that dissuade you! 

Once you find that uncharted territory where being your exact flavor of weird makes perfect sense, saying “I don’t know” will not be shameful, but liberating. 

It will be your license to explore, your passport to designing your life with ruthless precision. 

Pay attention to what you pay attention to.

It’s so easy to dismiss the things we naturally lean towards. 

I used to think everyone could nerd out over a monthly issue of National Geographic. Obviously, all my friends would find that one Scientific American article fascinating. And of course they would rather get lost hiking on an active volcano than sit in a dark room watching cat videos. 

(On that note, please see this Scientific American article about a team of scientists who invented a smart underwear that can count how many times the average person farts per day.)

However, realizing I had unique interests that weren’t shared universally ended up being one of the most liberating epiphanies of my life. 

After zooming in on the things I wanted to learn about already, and the skills I wanted to get good at, I found that I could make a living out of all the activities I already saw as “play”.

In the end, we don’t have to torture ourselves, squeeze ourselves into a mold that someone else came up with and presented to us in a PowerPoint in high school. 

It’s actually not as simple as “doctor, engineer, lawyer… and everything else”. 

In fact, it’s not even as simple as choosing only one thing. 

Your life is a canvas that you get to fill with exactly the colors and shades and brush strokes that perfectly suit you. 

The only question that remains is whether you’re going to be holding the brush, or whether you will hand it to someone else. 

Thought to Action

1. Track Energy, Not Interests: For one week, note what gives you energy and what drains it. Patterns reveal more than labels.
2. Run a Passion Experiment: Choose one small action that tests a curiosity (not a career decision). Give it a deadline.
3. Separate Skill From Identity: You don’t need to be “good” at something for it to matter to you.
4. Design a Tiny Version of the Dream: Ask: what would the smallest, cheapest version of this life look like right now?
5. Let Passion Be Built: Treat interest as something you cultivate, not something you wait to discover.

Sources

No external sources were used for this post.

The post 5 Easy Ways To Turn Play Into Your Dream Career appeared first on Green Also Green.

“Simplicity carried to an extreme becomes elegance.” -Jon Franklin, American author and Pulitzer Prize winner

Design is small tweaks over a long time.

For several months, I have been staring at my laptop screen, knowing I had to talk about evolutionary biology and design, but not knowing exactly what shape to make the words and what angle to enter into the topic. 

I first got the inspiration to write about it when completing an assignment for an evolutionary biology class. As part of this project, I had to conduct a phylogenetic analysis, using software to construct a sort of “family tree” of related species, called a phylogeny. 

Through it, we could see how species have evolved, where they branched in the evolutionary tree, and when certain traits adaptively radiated. 

It was fascinating, with lots of crossover to how ideas evolve, or how etymology shapes, or even how culture spreads across geography. 

But nowadays, we seldom make the link between biology and other domains. 

So I thought about this. For months. 

Then, as I munched on a bag of highly addictive caramel popcorn, it hit me: design is not about the idea coming to you all at once. 

It’s about riffing, iterating, and building something better than what you had before. 

And guess what?

That’s also exactly how design works in biology. 

Much like in evolution, it’s not about starting out perfect. It’s about making many small tweaks over a long period of time until you arrive at an end product you’re proud of. 

#1: The Underrated Power Of a Terrible First Draft

The idea of being struck by a bolt of lightning and suddenly having a stroke of creative genius is a widespread myth that afflicts millions of perfectionists and overthinkers worldwide each day. 

We are tormented by the fact that we will somehow blasphemize the idea in our head by putting it out into the world, and realizing it isn’t that great in real life. 

It’s the fear that we will turn potential into actuality, and in doing so, be confronted with so many mistakes and imperfections.

 And these mistakes? 

They will have the final say over what we are capable of on a deeper level. 

The sappy poem you wrote about your crush in seventh grade? Definitely nowhere near Jane Austen or Maya Angelou level. So your literary career is over. 

The lumpy scarf you knit three Thanksgivings ago, where you messed up the pattern and ran out of yarn? Yeah, you better give up knitting now. 

If you make that “cringe” post about that incredible passion project you’ve been working on, your cousin’s friend’s sister will not be impressed. 

And who are we if our cousin’s friend’s sister doesn’t approve of us?!

Maybe no one will care. They might think you’re being “performative”. 

Evolution doesn’t work this way. 

It throws out so many terrible first drafts it would make you dizzy. It leaves so many of its genetic “ideas” behind.

And yet?

And yet. 

Look around you. 

There is life everywhere, in the most impossible niches (check out this magnetic bacteria I heard about recently). This life is designed impeccably. Why? Because of those terrible drafts that paved the way. 

#2: Random Mutations 

The irony is that as much as we are creatures of habit, we are also built on randomness. 

While a lot of the traits we have as humans seem to make sense, they are also the product of random differences in our genetics being passed on because they help people survive and perpetuate the human race. 

But random mutations aren’t just biological. 

They also apply to the design process, where we not only ideate, but also iterate and test. 

For example, if you’re inventing a new pasta recipe, you might add some of the more “classic” ingredients (marinara sauce, cheese, basil…). 

Then, you separate the pasta, and decide to test out some ingredients you have never added before. For one bowl of pasta, you throw in some edamame beans. In the other, you add some chopped spinach. The last bowl gets some broccoli. 

You have tried something completely random that in all likelihood will end up tasting either neutral (i.e. you don’t mind whether it’s there or not) or worse (i.e. you will never add it to your pasta again).

However, if you do this enough times, you will also get the third outcome: realizing that your random new ingredient makes this dish taste better. 

After trying potatoes and corn on pizza (I condone it!), a flavor unique to audacious Japan, I have come to realize this is a tried and true approach to generating masterpieces. 

Creative genius isn’t about just knowing to put potatoes and corn on your pizza. 

It’s about having the courage to try pizza with a bunch of other weird toppings, knowing eventually, you will stumble across a great combination. 

#3: Steady Rivers Cut Through Immovable Mountains.

This is the age of doing everything all at once.

You must cram every big life milestone into a 5-year plan. Log it in your bullet journal. Post about it with a “candid” (but also totally staged) photo with a caption that reads “#blessed”.

We are in the “instant coffee”, “instant results”, and “instant progress”  world. 

Evolution doesn’t work that way. 

Instead, evolution makes the smallest changes you could imagine, but compounds them over millions, and even billions, of years. 

This act of compounding and iterating on tiny mutations is what has produced some of the best designs we know to occur within life. 

Consider the eye, which first evolved only as a light-sensing organ, and later developed the lens, retina, iris, and more. 

Across the animal kingdom, eyes take all sorts of weird and wonderful appearances. 

One of the common traits among all of them, however, is that they sense light, and have been knee-deep in the evolutionary design process for millions of years. 

So take it slow.

Small consistent changes will get you way farther that sporadic drastic steps.

#4: It’s not the strongest or smartest, but the most adaptable…

There is a beautiful quote attributed to Albert Einstein that goes, “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” 

Isn’t that such a relief?

Maybe in second grade you did not always ace your spelling tests, and in third grade you weren’t the first to learn your times tables. 

In fact, maybe right now, you feel like kind of an idiot because you cracked an egg in a way that made the yolk break. You turned all your white clothes pink because one red sock snuck into the washing machine. Maybe you accidentally clicked “send” on an email before actually adding the attachment. 

If you have ever felt stupid, or weak, or incapable, or unworthy of success, there is good news: you don’t have to be perfect; you just have to be adaptable. 

When climate change strikes, or human beings destroy yet another vital habitat, the way species perpetuate is by adapting to change. 

If there is an extinction, they fill the empty niche. 

New mutations occur, and the old species adapt to the new habitat, food sources, and conditions. 

Evolutionary biology says that when Life (yes, with a capital ‘L’) happens, you adapt. 

Design should adapt the same way too.

Design is dynamic. 

The unifying theme connecting evolutionary biology with design thinking is that, contrary to what we might think about both domains, they are dynamic and evolving.

Both design and evolution are about responding to change and to need. 

Design is the space between stimulus and response where we decide what the next iteration will look like. 

It means saying “this next draft won’t be perfect, but it’ll be closer than what came before”. 

Thought to Action

1. Lower the Stakes on One Creative Act: Make something deliberately small, unfinished, or silly. Let it exist without optimizing it.
2. Feed Your Imagination Intentionally: Consume one strange or delightful input today—a poem, a walk, a conversation, a Wikipedia rabbit hole.
3. Create Without Explaining: Make something you won’t post, monetize, or justify. Let curiosity be the reason.
4. Keep an “Idea Garden”: Write down half-formed ideas without judging them. Growth likes space.
5. Practice Creative Permission: Before starting, say: “I’m allowed to explore this.” Then begin.

Sources

No external sources were used for this post. 

The post The 4 Design Secrets From Evolutionary Biology That Unlock Results appeared first on Green Also Green.

“Leaders bleed, period.” ― Silvia Young, My FemTruth: Scandalous Survival Stories

The Productivity Fraternity.

There are certain arbitrary signifiers that long ago, some random Kappa Kappa Productivity Fraternity decided to put on an equally arbitrary checklist against which all productive people are measured.

They decided “hard-working”, “productive” people wake up at the crack of dawn (hello, 5am club), then “ grind” and “hustle” their faces off the exact same level every day.

They decided human beings work on a 24 hour clock (which funnily enough is how long the male hormone cycle is), and thus and deviation from complete and utter grind would probably be down to the low caliber of your work ethic. 

Now, this is just what the Productivity-verse is: a fraternity.

Somehow, though, women are systematically gaslit into believing there is something wrong with them when they don’t meet these arbitrary standards.

But we’re not here to complain. 

KPIs For The Productive Woman.

Instead, I come to you with a proposal: the Productivity Sorority! 

Sounds fun, doesn’t it?

That’s because it is. 

Here, we sleep. We eat food that supports our hormones instead of fighting them. We can say words like “menstruation” and “menopause” out loud.

But most of all: we don’t measure productivity day-by-day. Instead, we measure month-by-month (or cycle-by-cycle).

Counterproductive “productivity hacks” from the man-overse. 

We know they mean well, but sometimes when people give advice, they are just repackaging their own experiences under the pretense that what worked for them will work for you. 

So today, let’s talk about some of the advice productive women might benefit from avoiding.

#1: Wake up at 5am. 

There is a funny endocrinological phenomenon that takes place between around 3-6am in the male body. At this time of day, the male body experiences a surge in testosterone unrivaled by any other hour.

It’s an interesting coincidence, considering the narrative that waking up super early is this superpower possessed by those who are the most successful people.

It’s also interesting that this phenomenon does not take place in women to the same extent due to their much lower levels of testosterone.

So…female hormones don’t peak at 5am? Nope.

And it’s time to stop acting like they should, just because the Productivity Fraternity says so. 

Importantly, it’s not to say that getting a head start on your day isn’t beneficial, but maybe we should start acknowledging that this looks different for those who have a month-long hormone cycle. 

For starters, maybe you can finally give yourself permission to wake up at 7am instead of the crack of dawn, and even to sleep in for a couple more hours when you’re menstruating. 

#2: Push through the pain (“stay hard!”)

Many women go their entire lives undiagnosed with serious menstrual disorders like endometriosis, PCOS, and uterine fibroids. Chances are you or someone you know is living their lives with a condition like this and “pushing through the pain” completely unnecessarily.

Instead of gaslighting ourselves, let’s advocate for our health. 

It’s not “in your head”. Your pain is real. 

(Problem-solvers, sell us a solution!)

The moment you start doing something about it is a moment of empowerment, not weakness or laziness.

#3: Hit the gym every single day. 

Here’s a crazy hypothetical for ya: imagine if every single month you had to regrow and then shed the lining of an entire organ. 

Do you think it would take a lot of energy? Do you think you might need more hours of sleep at that point in the month? Maybe fewer social commitments. 

It’s not a trick question! Shedding the lining of your uterus does take a bunch of energy. 

And…it’s not hypothetical. 

So why has being on your period become this competitive sport of “who can hide it the best”?  

Your body needs time to rest. I hate to break it to you. 

Just more stuff to do. 

There is a risk to going against the male version of productivity and following the approach that actually aligns with your hormones. 

In practice, it can feel like a lot of extra work.

It can feel like on top of having to worry about remembering pads on the right days, you also have to remember to eat sweet potatoes during your luteal phase (which requires you to both know when you are in the luteal phase and also remember to buy sweet potatoes), and cram all your high-energy, difficult tasks into the teensy window in which you ovulate.

Ah, the trials and tribulations of the “productive” life. 

Alas, the absolute last thing a busy woman needs in her life is an even longer to-do list.

(God bless her Notes app- we know it contains multitudes.)

No Woman Is An Island

The biggest myth the productivity world perpetuates is that success is merely a product of individual effort, when really successful people have dozens of supporters, mentors, friends, partners, and kind strangers behind them.

Rewriting the rules to being your most productive self is a big ask. So let’s start small. After all, productivity isn’t a competition.

You get to ask for help, lean on your community, and take one step at a time.

Thought To Action 

1. Draw Your Connection Map: Write down five people or communities—old friends, classmates, mentors—you’d like to reconnect with or better understand. Choose one and take a small step (message, coffee invite, honest hello).
2. Practice a Micro Habit: Pick something meaningful you stopped doing (writing, hiking, reading quietly). Commit to just five minutes a day — it’s the momentum that matters.
3. Turn Discomfort Into Question Curiosity: Instead of “Why did I fail?”, ask “What did this effort teach me about what matters?”.
4. Document Your Slow Wins: Keep a tiny journal of weekly wins — not outcomes, but efforts that felt worth doing (like choosing mindful reading over passive scrolling). Let this remind you how small actions accumulate meaning.
5. End With Gratitude + Intention: Close your reflection session with gratitude for the effort you showed, then set a gentle intention for the coming week.

Sources 

Here are some of the sources I used to develop the ideas I write about in this post. Three of them are books I have read in the past few years, which I revisited for this week. I highly recommend them all!

• Caroline Criado Perez – Invisible Women
• Matthew Walker – Why We Sleep
• Malcolm Gladwell – Outliers

Citation: 

Brambilla, Donald J., et al. “The Effect of Diurnal Variation on Clinical Measurement of Serum Testosterone and Other Sex Hormone Levels in Men.” The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, vol. 94, no. 3, 1 Mar. 2009, pp. 907–913, https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2008-1902. Accessed 10 Jan. 2022.

Criado Perez, Caroline. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. S.L., Harry N Abrams, 7 Mar. 2019.

Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York, Back Bay Books, 18 Nov. 2008.Walker, Matthew P. Why We Sleep : The New Science of Sleep and Dreams. 2017. UK, Penguin Books, 2017.

The post The Controversial Secrets Of Productive Women appeared first on Green Also Green.

“Go as far as you can see, when you get there you’ll be able to see further.” -Thomas Carlyle

Here Are Your Options.

When you’re an interdisciplinary misfit, there are a few piercing milestones you inevitably experience as you fumble through the standard list of options.

There’s the class selection when you’re in high school and college(“Take math- it keeps the most doors open”). 

Then there’s the “You like science? Have you considered medicine?”, and if that doesn’t suit you, please consider engineering. 

If you’re literary and philosophical, your well-intentioned loved ones will push you towards law school.

Anything else? We will cram you into corporate life (product manager, anyone?). 

Now, don’t get me wrong. These are all fulfilling careers, if you actually choose them. 

But most of us don’t. 

We think “these are the options if I don’t want to be destitute”, and then we meander along, somewhat aimlessly, thinking we made the best decision we could. 

Careers For Interdisciplinary Misfits

I think you know where I’m going with this…

It’s all a big lie!!

The career world is full of options, and, much like dating, a lot of settling on the right career comes down to actually knowing there is something out there that will fit you perfectly. 

So today I’m talking to the person who has decided to explore, experiment, and find something that actually resonates. 

I’m talking to the interdisciplinary misfit who is committed to honoring the divine gifts within them. 

I’m talking to the person who wants to live without being tethered to a single arbitrary job description. 

…And not just because it makes life more fun, but also because when you step into your unique superpowers, you are even more equipped to make the world a better place. 

So let’s get started!

How To Go Through The List Of 75 Interdisciplinary Jobs

As you go through this list, I want you to read with intention and use it as an opportunity to reflect on what really speaks to you. 

Even if you find nothing that makes you want to change your trajectory, the jobs that tug at your heart could still provide a useful insight into ways you can live more in alignment with your own interests and gifts. 

To help you with this, I put together the following questions, which you can consider as you go down the list:

1. Would I enjoy this even if no one thought it was “impressive”?
2. What skills would I be excited to practice for years?
3. Do I enjoy working with people, systems, materials, or ideas?
4. Would I rather work independently or collaboratively?
5. Do I want a job that changes daily or one with routine?
6. Am I motivated by care, creativity, justice, sustainability, or discovery?
7. Would I enjoy being a lifelong learner in this field?
8. Am I okay with freelance, project-based, or emerging roles?
9. Does this career reflect who I am now—or who I want to grow into?

#1-15: Interdisciplinary Jobs In Science + Art + Design

Using scientific knowledge to create aesthetic, expressive, or experiential works.

#1: Bio-Artist: Uses living materials like bacteria or plants to create art that explores biotechnology and ethics. 

#2: Scientific Illustrator: Combines biology and art to produce accurate yet beautiful depictions of scientific phenomena.

#3: Solar Infrastructure Artist: Integrates solar panels into aesthetically pleasing public art.

#4: Sound Ecologist: Records and analyzes natural soundscapes to monitor ecosystems or create immersive experiences.

#5: Biomechanical Artist: Creates wearable or kinetic sculptures that move with the human body.

#6: Sensory Designer: Designs multisensory experiences combining neuroscience, design, and storytelling.

#7: Perfumer (Nose): Blends scents scientifically to craft perfumes and fragrances.

#8: Moss Gardener: Designs and maintains living installations made entirely of moss.

#9: Mosaic Artist: Creates art using stone, glass, or ceramics in complex designs.

#10: Color Consultant: Advises on color choices that influence mood and perception.

#11: Miniature Artist: Builds intricate, small-scale worlds for collectors or museums.

#12: Calligrapher: Turns handwriting into fine art and custom lettering.

#13: Robotic Performer: Uses robots as collaborators in live theater or dance.

#14: Algorithmic Musician: Composes generative music using code and machine learning.

#15: Interactive Installation Engineer: Builds art installations that respond to human presence or movement.

#16-29: Interdisciplinary Jobs In Technology + Psychology + Human Experience

Designing digital or physical systems centered on cognition, emotion, and behavior.

#16: UX Neuroscientist: Studies the brain’s response to digital interfaces to optimize user experience.

#17: Voice UX Designer: Merges linguistics and tech to make voice assistants sound more natural and empathetic.

#18: AI Companion Developer: Creates emotionally intelligent digital entities for support or companionship.

#19: Death Doula: Provides emotional and spiritual support to the dying and their families.

#20: Poetry Therapist: Uses poetry and creative writing for healing and self-expression.

#21: Adventure Therapist: Uses outdoor activities like climbing or rafting to support mental health.

#22: Virtual Reality Therapist: Uses VR environments to treat phobias, PTSD, or chronic pain.

#23: Dance Therapist – Uses movement and dance as therapeutic tools to support emotional, physical, and mental health, blending psychology with creative expression.

#24: Professional Cuddler– Offers platonic, consent-based physical comfort to clients, focusing on emotional support, boundaries, and stress reduction. (This is not prostitution, I promise.)

#25: Interactive Narrative Designer: Creates branching storylines for games, apps, and VR experiences.

#26: Cognitive Ergonomist: Designs systems and tools that align with human mental processes.

#27: Gamification Designer: Blends psychology and game design to make education, health, or work more engaging.

#28: Dream Research Technologist: Develops tools to study, record, or influence dreams.

#29: Animal-Assisted Therapist – Uses animals like horses or dogs to aid emotional healing.

#30-45: Interdisciplinary Jobs In Biology + Environment + Sustainability

Working with living systems, ecology, food, and sustainable futures.

#30: Waste Material Innovator: Develops new products or art from industrial or biological waste.

#31: Space Botanist: Studies how to grow plants in extraterrestrial environments.

#32: Lavender Farmer: Cultivates and harvests lavender, managing soil, climate, and distillation processes to produce essential oils, dried flowers, and wellness products.

#33: Avian Trainer – Trains birds of prey, parrots, zoo birds.

#34: Coral Gardener: Restores damaged coral reefs through underwater planting.

#35: Genetic Counselor for Pets: Helps pet owners understand their animals’ DNA and inherited traits.

#36: Urban Wildlife Manager: Balances city design with ecological needs of urban animals.

#37: Eco-Fashion Designer: Merges materials science with fashion design to create biodegradable or upcycled clothing from innovative new fabrics such as mycelium or seaweed. 

#38: Animal Behavior Consultant: Helps owners or zoos understand and correct animal behavior.

#39: Bee Sommelier: Tastes and classifies honey based on floral sources and terroir.

#40: Charcoal Maker – Produces charcoal by carefully burning wood in low-oxygen conditions, balancing traditional techniques with modern quality control for fuel, art, or filtration uses.

#41: Microbial Fuel Technologist – Develops energy systems powered by bacteria.

#42: Foraging Guide – Teaches people to safely identify and harvest wild edible plants.

#43: Insect Farm Operator – sustainable protein, science meets agriculture.

#44: Volcanic Tour Guide – Leads scientific and adventure tours around active volcanoes.

#45: Citizen Science Coordinator – Connects scientists and the public to collaborate on large-scale research.

#46-58: Interdisciplinary Jobs In Technology + Culture + History

Preserving, studying, or reinterpreting human culture using modern tools.

#46: Meme Archivist: Studies and preserves internet memes as cultural artifacts.

#47: Food Historian: Recreates ancient recipes or explore cultural food evolution.

#48: Deep-Sea Archaeologist: Explores and documents submerged ancient sites.

#49: Glacier Archaeologist: Studies artifacts and bodies emerging from melting ice.

#50: Art Conservator: Restores and preserves paintings, manuscripts, and artifacts.

#51: Bookbinder: Creates or restores hand-bound books using traditional techniques.

#52: Papermaker: Crafts handmade paper using natural fibers and ancient methods.

#53: Digital Heritage Conservator: Uses VR, AR, and 3D scanning to preserve historical sites.

#54: Digital Anthropologist: Studies how humans behave and form cultures in online spaces.

#55: Restoration Mason: Rebuilds historic stone structures and sculptures.

#56: Cultural Festival Curator: Designs festivals that showcase folk traditions, art, and cuisine.

#57: Historical Reenactor: Performs in period attire to educate about historical events.

#58: Travel Ethnographer: Documents disappearing cultural practices and rituals.

#59-75: Interdisciplinary Jobs In Engineering + Performance + Applied Craft

Hands-on, technical roles blending making, engineering, and live or applied contexts.

#59: Kinetic Architect – Designs buildings or sculptures that move or adapt dynamically.

#60: Tea Blender – Crafts custom tea blends by balancing aroma, taste, and culture.

#61: Cheese Affineur – Ages and perfects cheeses for optimal texture and flavor.

#62: Space Architect – Designs habitats for astronauts on the Moon, Mars, or orbital stations.

#63: Pet Food Taster: Assesses pet food for smell, texture, and appearance (and sometimes taste), ensuring products meet quality, safety, and palatability standards for animals.

#64: Scientific Research Subject: Participates in controlled studies by following research protocols, helping scientists gather data on health, behavior, cognition, or technology.

#65: Taste Tester: Samples food and beverages to evaluate flavor, texture, aroma, and quality, often providing detailed feedback to improve recipes or ensure safety standards.

#66: Tactile Storyteller: Designs narratives through textures and materials for visually impaired audiences.

#67: 3D Food Printing Engineer: Uses engineering and culinary art to print edible creations layer by layer.

#68: Wearable Tech Designer: Integrates sensors and electronics into fashion and performance art.

#69: Special Effects Makeup Artist – Applies a blend of chemistry, sculpture, and design to do make up for characters on movie sets and theme parks.

#70: Set Builder for Film/TV – Applies carpentry + design + problem-solving to build sets for film and TV.

#71: Voice Actor Specializing in Unusual Roles – Acts as the voice for creatures, ASMR, and characters in TV and film.

#72: Theme Park Prop Technician – Maintains animatronics, costumes, effects.

#73: Cryogenic Engineer – Designs systems for storing and preserving biological or space materials at ultra-low temps.

#74: Forensic Botanist – Solves crimes using plant evidence like pollen or leaf fragments.

#75: Dialect Coach – Trains actors or speakers in authentic accents and regional speech.

Interdisciplinary Experiment, Interdisciplinary Experiment, Interdisciplinary Experiment.

No matter what this list made you feel, there is one clear next step: experiment. 

When putting it together, I found myself tempted by many potential rabbit holes.

From kinetic architecture to scientific illustration, I kind of got a bit lost, both excited and overwhelmed by the potential. 

Can’t I just do them all? I wondered. 

Actually, yes. 

Take one, and test your initial interest in a small, noncommittal way. Watch a video. Read a book. Listen to a podcast. 

If you’re still interested, consider taking a free online course or doing a short video chat with someone in that field. 

At every stage, you are testing your interest at a slightly higher level, until you get it right. 

Yes, you can test out as many career ideas as you want, and yes, you can also press “reset” whenever you feel like it. 

Remember, you’re in the driver’s seat here.

So go ahead…make the list of things you want to try, and watch the answers you’ve been looking for finally unfold.

Thought To Action 

1. Map the Impossible: Write down three “too big” ideas you’d pursue if fear, money, or skill weren’t limits. Circle one. Start with the smallest visible step.
2. Use Tech Intentionally: Schedule a daily “digital audit”—10 minutes to check what tools you actually use to create versus to consume. (See this guide to mindful tech habits).
3. Build an Independent Study Track: Pick a theme you want to master this year (creativity, AI, storytelling) and design your own syllabus—books, podcasts, projects, mentors.
4. Pair Reading with Doing: For every chapter you read, add one experiment to test the idea in real life.
5. Reflect in Reverse: Once a week, ask: “What did I not do because I underestimated myself?”—then do one of those things, badly but bravely.

Sources

No external sources were used for this post.

The post 75 Weird But Cool Interdisciplinary Careers No One Told You Existed appeared first on Green Also Green.

“We don’t have to waste our time learning how to make pastry when we can use grandma’s recipes.”― Orson De Witt, Earth Won’t Miss You

Some Of The People I’m Grateful For This Year

When we seek life hacks and thrifted wisdom, we often turn to the lofty role models we see on the glossy covers of Forbes, Vogue, and the like. 

But this year, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, I wanted to take a big highlighter, and emphasize something really important: there is wisdom all around us. 

There is wisdom in our family, wisdom in our closest friends. 

I would even venture to say there is wisdom in little children and animals, and in the minds and hearts of every person who hasn’t been invited onto a famous podcast to share their Top 3 Life Hacks For Breaking Out Of The Matrix.

This year I’m spending Thanksgiving abroad in Japan, so I’m leaning more towards a “friendsgiving” year than “familysgiving”, but in reflecting on my life, I realized that some votes of thanks are in order!

When pondering exactly how to distribute the thanks, I decided to pick twelve wise people in my own life- one for each month of the year- and tell you something I learned from them.  

12 Life Hacks From Some Of My Personal Wisdom Providers

#1: “Just go to sleep already.” – C.

Do you have that one friend who you can’t text past midnight without getting a message back that reads, “why are you still awake?!” 

…Except ten times more aggressively, in all-caps, and with four too many exclamation points?

Well, I do. 

The annoying thing is- she’s right. 

Let’s face it, you’re up so late at night because your mind is catastrophizing about that one thing you said to Sally in the bathroom that afternoon without thinking. 

If not that, you’re scrolling to avoid thinking about it, or you convinced yourself one additional email will only take “a few minutes” to answer.

Stop. 

Put your phone down. Close your laptop. Go to sleep already. You will feel better in the morning (even Harvard agrees!).

#2: Don’t sacrifice your peace just to put everyone else at ease. – My mom

I was once the person who fetishized unnecessary sacrifice, so I will be the first to say I learned this one the hard way. 

Over my short (but oh, so long) 20 years on our little blue dot, I have sacrificed my peace way too often to make other people comfortable, and to keep them content. 

It was always along the lines of “keeping the peace” for others, but crumbling on the inside. 

Anyway, long story short, my mom was right. 

Now here’s the thing I didn’t realize before that prevented me from truly internalizing this: when you don’t advocate for yourself, you aren’t actually gaining respect and admiration. 

Instead, you are training people to walk all over you. 

So speak up. Stand up for yourself. Fight for your peace and do not compromise. 

#3: Stop picking at your face. – my grandmother

If I had a dollar for every time my grandmother told me to stop picking at my face- a habit I sometimes do without even thinking – I would basically be a trust fund baby. 

But even apart from picking at my face, this extends further.

When you’re stressed out because you feel like you failed, don’t sabotage yourself even further. 

If you have acne, don’t pick at your face to release frustration, even though you will be tempted to. 

If you’re like me, you have also had the late nights of low self-esteem-scrolling through other people’s social media because it facilitates the ever-deeper spiral into self-loathing.

The first step to getting out of a deep hole is to stop digging- or in this case, to stop picking. 

What you feel will change by the morning. 

The scab you get from popping the pimple will last a bit longer.

#4: Your perception of inadequacy comes from how hard you push yourself, not from the reality of your progress. – My 10-year-old sister

Watching a young child grow up is the crash course (and crucial life hacks) in perseverance and resilience you didn’t know you needed. 

For me, I think a lot about my sister. 

She is incredibly busy, plays several instruments, and always seems to have another extracurricular hobby that she is trying in school. 

And yet…and yet.

From the inside of her own life, she doesn’t see her incredible progress and growth. 

Why? 

Because she is pushing hard and trying so many new things. 

Honestly though, I feel the same way most days, and I am ten years ahead. 

You think you’re not doing well because you are pushing yourself hard and your standards are getting higher. 

In fact, the higher your standards get, the more you probably feel you are falling short.

What you don’t realize is how much progress you have already made, and the expectations you have already exceeded. 

All you can see is how far you have left to go. 

So remember- you are learning. You are growing. You might not feel it, but you’re doing great.

This growth is the whole point. 

#5: Effort counts twice. – my brother

There is a special place in the world for all the women with little brothers who once shadow-boxed around them in public and now communicate exclusively through Michael Scott and Phil Dunphy references. 

My brother, however, is not just an Office superfan or a shadow-boxing addict. 

He is also ruthlessly stubborn and (unreasonably?) obsessive. 

When he gets it in his head that he wants something, there is no ‘undo’ button. 

In watching my brother grow up, I’ve had the opportunity to see him get into obsessions and pursue them with crazy intensity, whether it’s boxing, video editing and social media marketing, or business and finance. 

He does the unglamorous work on the missions he cares about, and then he gets results. 

It’s not so much a hack as a heuristic, but here it is: become obsessed. 

Relentlessly pursue your vision for success. 

Work harder, because effort counts twice. 

#6: Not everyone is worth the effort. -Aunt T.

Some hacks turn out to not be hacks at all. 

For example, when we are taught to measure success against how close we are to being married, having two kids and a dog, two matching BMWs, and an iPhone that doesn’t fit into the pockets of our jeans.

Here’s the truth: Being single doesn’t mean there is something wrong with you. 

Losing friends doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. 

Getting ghosted by a mentor or a role model you really looked up to doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. 

Getting rejected from your dream college or the perfect internship doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.

Oh, and here’s a controversial one: Maybe losing those particular people and life paths is a blessing in disguise

…Because sometimes the hacks that get us to where we want to be are the painful losses we didn’t want to endure.

So listen to my aunt and walk away. 

Better people will find you, and what’s more is they will choose you. 

#7: It’s never too late to start something new. – my grandfather

Apparently, you’re supposed to retire at 65. 

Some people do that. 

My grandfather isn’t one of them. 

In fact, he decided to go one step further: get an additional job. 

Now, my grandfather has worn lots of hats throughout his life, so I guess it wasn’t a surprise when in his 60s he decided to add another one to the list: being an ordained deacon in the Catholic church.

So far, he has been an anesthesiologist, a pilot, a boat captain, a boy scout leader, a dive master, a business owner, father/grandfather, and now, a deacon. 

Some people might get dizzy just imagining this, but for me, getting to witness this has been a source of peace.

In a world that tells you to choose one thing for the rest of your life, my grandfather has been a shining example of what it looks like to reinvent yourself over and over again. 

Throughout your life, there is actually lots more time than you realize. 

No, you can’t have seven careers going at the same time, but over 70 years, you will have space to grow in many directions. 

And guess what? 

If you get to your 60s and realize you have blossoming career aspirations in a completely different space, it’s not too late. 

Don’t get stressed about having to choose one thing and commit to it forever. 

There is always time for that reinvention. 

#8: You won’t realize how hard it is until it isn’t hard anymore. – my high school homeroom teacher

As a teenager, I thought life was supposed to be miserable. 

High school was lonely, and it felt like every few weeks I found myself crying on the bathroom floor all over again- or in the office of my homeroom teacher, updating her on the most recent drama in my life. 

If it wasn’t boy drama, it was feeling like I was going to fail all my classes and never get into college, or stressing because “I have no idea what I want to do with my life and everyone else does”. 

Looking back, fifteen-year-old me deserves a lot of credit that she didn’t give herself. 

She did some hard things back then- hard things that seemed impossible once- and she had the courage to invest in herself and create the life I get to enjoy now. 

I wish I could tell my fifteen-year-old self that it gets way, way better, and that she is facing some inordinately hard years, so crying on the bathroom floor is normal. 

However, I also know my fifteen-year-old self would have rolled her eyes hearing that. 

In truth, she just had to be patient, get older, and come out the other end of the tunnel to see the bright light of her future. 

How did I ever make it through that?

Now I know: turns out, being a teenager is just incredibly difficult, and you only realize just how difficult it is once you grow out of it, look back, and wonder how did I even survive that?

For me, one of the people who provided me incredible solace in the difficult stormy waters of high school was my homeroom teacher, with whom I have exchanged tears, laughter, heartbreak, and lots of small pep talks and reassurances.

You might not be a teenager, but you can still pose the question to yourself: What if what you’re experiencing right now is just difficult? In fact, what if it’s supposed to be difficult? What if you can’t make it out exclusively with skincare hacks and new piercings?

Could it be that you are growing and changing, and emotional growing pains are real? 

Is it possible that maybe, just maybe, there is a beautiful future waiting for you on the other side? 

#9: Don’t underestimate the social credit you get by being genuinely excited for other people. – N.

You know that feeling when you open up LinkedIn and the first thing you see is a post about yet another person who is excited to start their sparkly new internship?

Or how it feels when you’ve just broken up, but that girl who sits three cubicles away from you met the love of her life who just engaged to her at sunset, and by the way you can see the diamond on her finger from the moon?

Yes, I’m talking about that sticky green jealousy that makes you hate them but hate yourself more. 

When you feel the lack of what you want, it’s natural to resent the abundance of others.

So, naturally, if I then told you to pick up those pom poms of support and love and genuine excitement, and wave them in the air as hard as you can, you would probably want to punch me in the throat. 

Here’s why you shouldn’t: when you celebrate other people’s wins, you are giving yourself an important message. 

You are signalling that you know your win is coming too. 

And trust me, the wins are coming your way. 

#10: Quit the boring books. – Aunt W.

The sunk cost fallacy is real, and if you have ever kept reading a boring book way past the event horizon at which you knew it would never get better, then you are a victim.

Of all my aunts, this one reads the most voraciously. It’s actually a little intimidating, between you and me. 

But here’s what she won’t do: keep reading a bad book until the bitter end. 

I learned to put down bad books too, but there was a time when I felt I simply didn’t have the authority to say a book was boring enough to be abandoned. 

Now, I think about the sunk cost fallacy in other areas, and wonder to myself where I need to jump the ship and move onto something better. 

You have the authority to make that call for yourself. 

No, really. You do.

Yes, there is uncertainty, and yes, you might jump onto another boring book, but you will at least be able to handle it just like you did the last one. 

Remember, it doesn’t matter how many pages in you are. If it’s not getting any better, it’s probably not worth the wait.

#11: It starts with deciding to be an artist. – L.

I used to carry the deep belief that I had to do hard things to prove I could do them. Then, I had to deprive myself of the things I loved to prove I had “discipline”.

One of the activities I deprived myself of was being an artist. 

When I held this belief up to the light, I wondered where it came from, then promptly decided I didn’t want to carry it anymore.

Since then, I have embarked on the long, slow, acutely painful process of reclaiming the side of me that is, at heart, a writer-artist-explorer. 

L. has been my writing buddy since we met in kindergarten, and she has been instrumental in showing me what it looks like to step into your creativity and live like an artist. 

Really, it boils down to this: If you want to live a creative life, stop telling people you’re not an artist. 

If you want to be a writer, start calling yourself one. 

Call yourself a scientist. 

Call yourself an entrepreneur. 

Being exactly what you aspire to be is about actually making the choice to be that thing and see yourself as worthy of honoring your gifts. 

#12: You might need to cry first, but you still have what it takes, and you will impress yourself later on. – my littlest sister. 

Meet my youngest, yet most mature sibling- because, like I said, life hacks also come from kids.

She may be little, and she may be sweet, but make no mistake: she is a force to be reckoned with. 

My sister has decided she will one day run the Natural History Museum in London, and that she would like to pursue paleontology. (She’s 4 by the way. Who told her what “paleontology” was??)

She is several grade levels ahead in math, and when it comes to reading and writing, it feels like she could be very well start composing Shakespearean sonnets.

However, like every superwoman, she has her kryptonite: Kumon. 

The funny thing about Kumon and my sister is that she is actually amazing at it. 

Like I said, she is incredibly precocious, and has no problem understanding what to do. 

So the problem isn’t the math. It’s the act of sitting down and doing extra work. 

Now, I don’t do Kumon, but I’ve sat down to do things before that give me that same feeling. 

It’s the “this code cell will be the end of me” feeling, or “there’s so many applications to submit and they’ll mostly get rejected” feeling. 

My sister cries about Kumon the same way I cry about Python error messages. 

But guess what else?

After crying, she does the Kumon. And after the Kumon, she gets to play. 

Sometimes, in order to sit down and get through long sheets of math, you need to cry first. 

That’s okay. Just get it done.

Thought To Action 

1. Design a Tech Sabbath: Pick one day or evening a week to go screen-free and let your thoughts get noisy again. (Read why stillness fuels creativity).
2. Build a ‘Slow Stack’: Keep one long, complex book by your bed and promise it five pages a day—no summaries, no speed. Just sustained attention.
3. Use AI as a Mirror: Instead of asking an AI tool for answers, ask it for better questions. Collect your favorites in a “Thinking Prompts” doc.
4. Join the 30-Minute Club: Set aside 30 minutes each day to learn something unmonetized—no career goals, no productivity—just intellectual play.
5. Create a Digital Garden: Capture the best things you’re reading, writing, and noticing in one evolving document. Growth deserves a home.

Sources

No external sources were used for this post.

The post 12 Life Hacks I Learned From Some Of The Coolest People I Know appeared first on Green Also Green.

“The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.” -Steve Jobs

Passion vs. Grit

The typical narrative places grit and passion on opposite ends of the spectrum. 

We imagine “following your passion” as taking a low-paying career in something we enjoy as a hobby. Then, alternatively, there is the “gritty” path that will pay-off years into the future, after many all-nighters and existential crises. 

This is a false narrative, because actually, passion and grit work in tandem, and today I want to unpack how that happens.

Angela Duckworth

The inspiration for this entire post comes from one woman: Angela Duckworth, a psychologist and author who studies grit and self-control. 

On her recent appearance on the Mel Robbins podcast, she discussed the ideas I’m outlining below. 

My Realization

This podcast was a paradigm-shift for me in several ways, but especially as someone who has always struggled to “narrow down” my interests and unlock the things I’m super passionate about. 

Here are a few key insights I realized about myself that might strike a chord:

1.  I have always assumed the “harder” path was inherently more respectable, even if my “easier” path was even more unique and impressive. I figured if I spent a bunch of time trying to brainwash myself into being interested in certain things that didn’t really excite me, that I was doing something inherently more “impressive” than pursuing other (equally) well-earning, nuanced, respectable field/careers/subjects. 

2. Grit is more about consistency than about excessive effort. If you only have 3/10 effort to give, it’s still better than 0. If you fall off the horse, get back on. 

3. You probably don’t even realize that you are talented or passionate about something, because you take your interest in it for granted. For example, I have lately become obsessed with mineralogy, as I’m taking a geology course. I thought everyone found that cool, but turns out, it’s a strong interest  somewhat unique to me. 

#1: The Hard Thing Rule

Duckworth talks about a rule she uses to cycle her kids through interests so they can find their passions, and, in turn, develop grit. 

To choose your “hard thing” she outlines these 3 rules.

#1: The hard thing must require deliberate practice and goals. 

While listening to Duckworth and Robbins, I thought to myself what in my own life might count as a “hard thing”, and the immediate example that stood out to me was learning how to play piano. 

As a kid, I had a checklist on my desk, created by my mom, and on it were the list of things I had to do every day when I got home. 

It was more or less: homework, shower, eat dinner, and practice piano. 

So practicing piano became a habit, like brushing my teeth or packing my school bag. 

It also became a goal- to learn to play Jingle Bells before Christmas, or to memorize Scherezade. 

#2: You cannot quit the goal. 

Another important rule is that you cannot quit the goal. This doesn’t mean you are committing to the “hard thing” for the rest of your life, but rather, that your experiment of the passion you have for that hard thing must be fulfilled. 

About a year and a half ago, I ran a half-marathon, and at the last mile, an aching pain permeated my right hip. I knew I had to finish though, because this was a goal I had and it needed to be completed. 

I ended up finishing, but the last mile took me 45 minutes. 

Duckworth says you have to finish your goal too. After the goal, you can stop, but you must cross the finish line.

Me, after I finished the half-marathon!!

#3: Nobody gets to choose the hard thing but you. 

This is the one most parents ignore. It’s either: you must learn piano or violin, or you will take karate because you need to learn self-defense. 

It even happens in careers. 

If I had a dollar for every kid I met who was on the I’m-becoming-a-doctor-because-it’s-what-my-parents-want track, or the lawyer/engineer/finance bro equivalent, I would never need to work at all. 

You need to choose your hard thing yourself. 

It can’t be your mom. 

It can’t be your math teacher. 

And no, it can’t be another white dude on the internet who thinks the only thing you ever need to learn about is AI.

The problem, then, is how to choose. 

#2: Choose easy. Work Hard. 

Most people think they have to “choose hard”, then “work hard”. It’s a belief I even internalized myself. 

However, if you choose easy first, working hard requires much less friction, and you will experience greater success. 

So…how do you “choose easy”?

#1: Choose easy. Avoid the ‘should’

Let’s start by clarifying what “choosing easy” isn’t. It isn’t:

• Giving up because one random, cruel person in your past told you “you can’t draw” or “you’re not good at math”. 
• Avoiding risk 
• Rejecting growth mindset (e.g. “I will never be able to figure out how to ride a bike because I fell off my bike twice when I was trying to learn.”

What “choosing easy” really means, is to pursue the things you’re already really excited about. Not what you “should” be excited about, but what you actually are excited about. Think:

• What do I like to learn about in my spare time?
• What am I least likely to procrastinate on?
• What kinds of fun facts do I naturally want to tell people about?
• What kinds of problems really annoy me about the world?
• What kinds of lifestyles, jobs, people make me jealous?
• What kinds of skills, knowledge, or behaviors do people compliment me on (or tease me about)?

No Stupid Answers!!

When you go down this list, you might think your answers are stupid, but they’re not. For example, I love to bake and knit, and I thought these were just silly hobbies. 

Lo and behold, my love for these activities provides a deeper clue toward the fact that I love to be creative in a tangible way. I love exploring the properties of materials, and to learn about chemistry in a tangible, non-academic way. 

If I am answering the question “What kinds of lifestyles, jobs, people make me jealous?”, I will point to the cover of a National Geographic magazine, and tell you that I’m jealous of everyone who gets to be a National Geographic explorer. 

Now, that makes perfect sense. 

Exploring the natural world feeds my soul, and I would love to be able to combine a love for chemistry with an enthusiasm for exploration. 

It’s might seem silly- of course anyone would envy the person with a super cool job- but it’s not. 

I know, after many a rock-rant, that minerals and geochemistry are not universally fascinating, nor is knitting or baking or sitting curled up with a National Geographic.

#2: Work hard through deliberate practice. 

Duckworth and Robbins highlight this second part of “choosing easy”, and it’s perhaps the more intuitive part of the path to passion. It’s pretty simple:

High Quality Practice = Having A Goal + Getting Feedback

What is the difference between me, someone whose peak running performance was a half marathon a year and a half ago, and Usain Bolt?

The difference is practice- and not just quantity, but quality. 

I want to take a highlighter to this point, just like Duckworth did in her discussion. 

This is why you are not a food critic, even after spending over 10,000 hours eating food. It’s why you are not a spelling bee champion, even after spending years trying to spell ‘Worcestershire sauce’.

If you want to become great, you need to practice with a goal in mind (e.g. “knit a scarf for my dog”), and get feedback (e.g. “I have 7 stitches on my needle instead of 6. I did something wrong.”). 

If you don’t have those two ingredients, you will not become the Usain Bolt of your “hard thing”. 

Passion belongs to everyone. 

A lot of times when we talk about passion in the context of really clear passion- the person who has known they wanted to be an architect since they were 5 years old, or who has always known they wanted to be a professional ballerina. 

But most of us aren’t that person. 

In truth, passion is for everyone, and it’s just about unlocking the gifts and interests you already have, maybe without even realizing it.  

Thought To Action 

1. Design a Tech Sabbath: Pick one day or evening a week to go screen-free and let your thoughts get noisy again. (Read why stillness fuels creativity).
2. Build a ‘Slow Stack’: Keep one long, complex book by your bed and promise it five pages a day—no summaries, no speed. Just sustained attention.
3. Use AI as a Mirror: Instead of asking an AI tool for answers, ask it for better questions. Collect your favorites in a “Thinking Prompts” doc.
4. Join the 30-Minute Club: Set aside 30 minutes each day to learn something unmonetized—no career goals, no productivity—just intellectual play.
5. Create a Digital Garden: Capture the best things you’re reading, writing, and noticing in one evolving document. Growth deserves a home.

Sources

The Mel Robbins Podcast

The post Angela Duckworth’s Approach To Discover Your Passions & Developing Grit appeared first on Green Also Green.

“The dream is not a drug but a way. Listen to where it can take you.” -Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

It made me kind of jealous…

I started learning how to dream big about a year ago, when I started university. 

I was nineteen, a freshman moving into a San Francisco residence hall that was conveniently placed on a noisy street right across from Ikea, and well-equipped with a perpetually-disgusting shared kitchen. 

Overall, the first semester was something of a blur, and it was a period of adjustment- to academics, to life in SF, and to all the new relationships I was forming with friends, professors, and new connections in the city. 

But what really struck me was how incredibly successful so many of my peers were. Among them were entrepreneurs, researchers, activists, and even published authors, all from different walks of life. 

It made me feel lots of things, but most of all, it made me feel jealous.

I racked my brain for a single good reason for why I had never thought to become any of these myself. Why had I not even tried?  

When I thought about it more deeply, exploring this question through journaling, I realized the main reason was that I just never thought it was possible for me. 

It might sound sad, but it was the truth. I didn’t think I was smart enough, or organized enough, or cool enough, or capable enough, so I didn’t even bother to dream it. 

In essence, I trained myself to think small using beliefs I had no evidence for. 

Over the past year though, I have pushed myself to dream bigger. I have chosen to choose my beliefs and life with intention. 

The results have been incredible. 

So today I want to urge you to choose to choose. Dare to dream big dreams. Because, really, why not?

Okay. 

Now is when I talk to the person rolling their eyes because I sound like their hippie best friend’s Pinterest board. 

I wrote this for you. 

Me at the start of my freshman year.

7 reasons why it would be silly to do not dream big:

#1: You only have 4,000 weeks of being alive. 

Let’s do some math, inspired by one of my favorite self-help books of all time, 4000 Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman. 

There are 52 weeks in a year, and a typical human lives 80 years. 

80 52 = 4,160

So if you’re an infant, you have about 4,000 weeks of being alive (if you’re lucky enough to live a full 80 years). 

If you’re 20 years old like me, the math looks like this:

(80-20) 52 = 3,120

If you’re 35, it looks like this:

(80-35) 52 = 2,340

If you’re 50, it’s this:

(80-50) 52 = 1,560

At what point do you have less than a thousand weeks left? At 60.77 years old. 

(80 – ?) 52 < 1,000

It’s not a lot of time when you think about it. I think we should make it count, don’t you? 

#2: You gain more information by doing the thing than by not. 

If you don’t find math convincing, let’s instead talk about the practical matter of making life decisions, and how to make them well. 

Imagine if you only ever tried chocolate ice cream. For years, this was your go-to flavor because it was familiar, and you knew you liked it. 

Then, one day, your friend convinces you to try strawberry, and you find it disgusting. You think, “This is why I should have just stuck to chocolate.” So you do. 

Now, when someone asks if you like strawberry ice cream, you give a confident “ew, no”. 

However, it’s important to recognize that your decision to try strawberry only speaks to strawberry. 

Don’t use your dislike for strawberry to then justify not trying biscoff-flavored ice cream, or French vanilla, or cookies and cream. 

The more ice cream flavors you try, the more you know what you really like and what you don’t. With that knowledge, you will then be able to choose a really good flavor next time you go to an ice cream shop (and in the end, you might realize chocolate wasn’t the best flavor after all).

#3: You are way more capable than many of the people already doing the thing. 

Have you ever watched a TV show and thought “I could’ve written a better script”, or gone to a restaurant and found yourself saying “I could have made this better at home”?

If that’s you- criticizing the people who have put themselves out there and actually succeeded- then I hate to break it to you, but you’re the bigger loser. 

Truth be told, you could certainly do that thing you’ve always wanted to do. 

But the point isn’t whether you could do it, it’s whether you actually do. 

However, this is also good news. 

The fact that there are people with way less talent and skill than you who have done it before means there’s a chance. 

It means there is a playbook. There is a way. If they could figure it out, so can you. 

#4: You can still change your mind!

If you’re like me- a super indecisive person who is perpetually terrified at the opportunity cost that comes with actually making decisions- please listen up. 

There are very few things in life that aren’t reversible, and even within the category of reversible decisions, there are very few decisions that are difficult to reverse. 

Most daily decisions are actually so small we don’t even notice them: what you choose to have for lunch, whether you decide to read a new book or not, what podcast you turn on during the drive home, how you spend your Friday night…

Yet, these micro-decisions are what make up most of our life. 

When you dream big, it’s not all about making big all-or-nothing choices. It’s not about being as dramatic as possible when you realize you need a change. 

Instead, it is about experimentation, and sometimes the experiment reveals that you actually don’t want exactly what you thought. 

The beauty, though, is that at any point, you can still change your mind. 

If you start pursuing something, you can still walk away from it.

The key is to not be afraid of making small but frequent pivots on your way to the dream. 

Over time, these little pivots will lead you right to where you want to be.

#5: You will inspire the people watching. 

When I was a little kid, I used to take swimming lessons. Cautious from the very beginning, I resisted letting go of the ledge and swimming in the parts of the pool where I couldn’t reach the bottom. 

I simply didn’t want to flounder in the deep end and suffer the sharp sting of water rushing up my nose as I struggled to catch a breath. 

Enter: my baby brother. 

Two years younger than me, my brother was supposed to be helpless in the pool, or at least more helpless than me. 

This was not so. 

My brother learned to swim easily, and let go of the ledge with no problem. 

The whole thing was embarrassing, truth be told. 

However, in seeing him learn so quickly, I realized I was being ridiculous. 

Swimming wasn’t that hard. I just had to let go of the ledge and stop being a scaredy cat. 

The thing is, most of us are holding onto the ledge still, and all we need to let go is to see our baby brother waddle into the pool with his silly little swim diapers and show us how it’s done. 

When you dream big, you will become the person who makes everyone else realize how much their fear is holding them back. 

#6: It will probably give you amazing memories anyway.

Is ‘fun’ a good enough reason to live a big life and pursue crazy goals? 

Yes, I think it is. 

The thing holding us back from that, though, is the voice that rattles off all the logistical complications, all the disapproving stares, and tells us it’s “too late”, or you’re “too old”, or “no one has done it before”, and “there’s no time anyway”. 

To that, I say yes, it will be scary. 

Yes, you might have to hire a babysitter. 

And yes, it will cost you money or time or effort, and you might very well look stupid and feel stupid. 

I say, do it nevertheless, because once you get past the “figuring out how to make this work” stage, you will be so glad you now get to cherish those memories for the rest of your life.  

#7: You will become an even cooler person. 

I put this reason last to emphasize that the whole point of dreaming big isn’t necessarily to get what you want, but to become who you want.

By signing up for a marathon, not only can you say you did the marathon. You can also cast a vote every day for becoming the type of person who wakes up early to train.

Similarly, by travelling to a new country, not only can you say you ticked that country off your bucket list. You can also cast a vote for the version of you that is adventurous and curious. 

Every decision reinforces a part of your personality, so it makes perfect sense to act in a way that reinforces who you want to be. 

Chances are, when you really explore what you want from life, it will provide you with a clear step-by-step path to becoming the version of yourself you have always wanted to be. 

…So go for it!

There are hard decisions in life, but I hope I have convinced you that whether or not to really dream big isn’t one of them. 

Not only will it fill your 4000 weeks with joy and beauty, but it will also lead you right to where (and who) you want to be. 

…And who knows, maybe your crazy, impossibly-big dream will even become reality?

Thought To Action 

1. Map the Impossible: Write down three “too big” ideas you’d pursue if fear, money, or skill weren’t limits. Circle one. Start with the smallest visible step.
2. Use Tech Intentionally: Schedule a daily “digital audit”—10 minutes to check what tools you actually use to create versus to consume. (See this guide to mindful tech habits).
3. Build an Independent Study Track: Pick a theme you want to master this year (creativity, AI, storytelling) and design your own syllabus—books, podcasts, projects, mentors.
4. Pair Reading with Doing: For every chapter you read, add one experiment to test the idea in real life.
5. Reflect in Reverse: Once a week, ask: “What did I not do because I underestimated myself?”—then do one of those things, badly but bravely.

Sources

Burkeman, Oliver. Four Thousand Weeks :$BTime and How to Use It. London, Uk, Jonathan Cape, 2021.

The post 7 Reasons It’s Stupid Not To Dream Bigger appeared first on Green Also Green.

“What is now proved was once only imagined.” – William Blake

Training myself to think bigger.

After reading more about neuroscience this year, and developing greater intention with how I visualize my success, I discovered something crazy: I was used to thinking small.

This thought has driven me toward a long, winding road of daydreams, journaling prompts, and award-deserving mood boards. 

It has all given me a great sense of excitement and enthusiasm for life, and it’s all rooted in one question:

What if?

So many of us go through our day-to-day lives accepting everything exactly as it is. Let’s start there. 

What if you could make X better? What if you could read the book you’ve been meaning to start for 6 months? What if you didn’t have to feel Y or worry about Z? 

This exercise goes beyond personal development though, and can even make for a fun creative exercise in other tasks. 

Allow me to share some of the items on my own “what if” list now:

• What if I learned more about ethnobotany?
• What if I increased my time to action?
• What if I bought a bunch of land to turn it back into natural habitat? 
• What if I bought e-waste and found a way to deconstruct it while preserving the quality of the materials?

The Enduring Power Of “What If”

#1: Deepen your understanding. 

In adding items to my “what if” list, I have learned the skill of asking increasingly more obscure, random hypothetical questions. 

Exploring their answers often reinforces fundamental concepts that are tangibly applicable in my life. 

For example, in studying geochemistry, I got to thinking, “why isn’t there silicon-based life on earth?” Like carbon, silicon is what you would call tetravalent- it has just as many valence electrons as carbon, and thus, you would imagine, just as much opportunity to bond. In fact, most minerals on earth are silicon-based. 

After asking around and exploring this idea, one of my peers shared some papers he wrote on the subject, which I got to enjoy reading. 

In the end, asking a “stupid” question allowed me to make connect with others while deepening my own awareness of key concepts within geochemistry and evolutionary biology. 

#2: Challenge your assumptions. 

Let’s talk about “what if”’s favorite cousin, “why not”. 

For most of my life, I believed the narrative of choosing one career and using that end goal to make all my decisions. 

It was: if you want to be a doctor, read chemistry books. Wanna be a lawyer? Read about philosophy. And if you like both chemistry and philosophy, just pick one for crying out loud!

For a long time, it was tormenting to be the kid who simply liked everything. I was overwhelmed by the infinite paths I could take, and simultaneously saddened by the fact that they all seemed to lack the crazy diversity I dreamed about. 

Then I asked a question: Why not cultivate my unique portfolio of skills and interests? Who says I can’t design a career perfectly suited to what I’m good at, interested in, and hoping to get out of life?

When I asked this question, I realized that the answer to this “why not” boiled down to two things: fear of uncertainty and not wanting to put in the effort to discover the life that would truly fulfill me. 

Most of us do not realize how much we take for granted- intellectually, in our relationships, in the way we live our lives. 

So start asking yourself “why not”, and you might be surprised by the answer.  

#3: Realize your big dreams are attainable.

Here is some tough love: you’re not special. 

Throughout the course of human history, millions of people have also faced heartbreak, loss, financial ruin, and uncertainty. Many of them have also come out of those things with the reinforced determination to have crazy amazing lives. 

So what if there was a way to chart the path from exactly where you are to the amazing world, life, or career you envision?

What if you are not limited by your circumstances, but instead by your creativity?

We tell ourselves certain things are impossible for us, but when we ask “what if”, we realize an unsettling but reassuring fact. Actually, there is no real reason why someone else in your position could’ve gotten/done that thing and not you. 

When I do this exercise for myself, it can be disheartening. I realize that the responsibility to create what I want is fully up to me, and in a lot of ways, I fail at it.

Yet after that stark realization, there is also a glimmer of hope- yes, it’s up to me, but also, I have every power to fix it. Why? 

Well, why not?

What if it works?

Go and see for yourself. 

Open a new “Note” on a note-taking app, and title it “What If List”. 

Write one question. Make it crazy. Make it unhinged. 

Let’s see where it takes you. 

Thought to Action

1. Start a “Future Self” Journal: Write one page from the perspective of your dream self—what are you building, learning, wearing, prioritizing? Use this to guide daily decisions.
2. Identify Your Personal Design Criteria: What makes a task or project feel deeply worth it to you? Make a mini checklist. Use it to evaluate new commitments before saying yes.
3. Create a “Someday Stack” of Ideas: Start a list of crazy, impractical, or ambitious project ideas that you don’t have time for yet. This becomes your personal innovation vault.
4. Study Someone Whose Job Didn’t Exist 20 Years Ago: Look up someone in a role like climate designer, circularity strategist, or biofabrication artist—and reverse engineer how they got there.
5. Fuel Up With Fiction That Thinks Ahead: Read a sci-fi or speculative fiction book this month. Start with something weird. It will stretch your imagination more than any TED Talk ever could.

Sources

No external sources were used for this post. 

The post Use This Secret Tool To Build A Crazy Imagination appeared first on Green Also Green.