Why would you do _ if it doesn't get you _?
Post last updated 1 month, 2 weeks ago
Before I begin, I am curious whether you, provided you read some of my other posts too, will notice anything different in this post. If you can't hold your horses 'til the end, check the footnote1.
I love languages and how every one has quirks of its own and how in some you can express things you cannot in others and how learning a new language literally opens a new world to you. Probably there are a zillion other reasons for why I love languages. I regret not studying French properly in school, because I don't remember much of it after learning it for around 8 years. I plan to fix that, first through some self-learning and later maaaaybe with some official classes or certifications. In fact, one of my life goals would be to be able to be decently good in French, German and Japanese. I studied German on my own on and off for a couple of years and have dipped my toes in some Japanese through Anki. If I were constant about any of them I'd probably be decent in at least one2.
"Why would you learn a language if it doesn't help you in your career?" a colleague from work asked me. He's a good guy, pretty smart, but has this utilitarian lens through which he views any activity. My father has a similar mentality, but about him in another post.
"Why not, isn’t it fun to know?" I replied.
This reminded me how warped a lot of people's vision is regarding doing things without a perceived "utility". I am of the opinion that even if you were to only do things to get some value (monetary or some other sort) out of them and you would succeed, the mentality in itself is a losing one in the long term. That's because doing whatever comes to you, essentially exploring, opens you up to a lot of more discoveries and you learn a lot more (adjacent) things. Sure, the fastest path from A to B might be a straight one, but you might end up with a lot less than going from A to B through all other letters of the alphabet.
I, of course, don't have proof for what I'm saying here, but it feels to me like when you compare reading self-development books to reading fiction. You'll get the ideas quicker reading the former (and in my humble opinion you will bore yourself to death in the process), but you'll get a lot more understanding by reading the later.
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