Ask HN: Is it OK for me to not want to conquer the world?

16 points

13 years ago

I'm 23. I've been working at startups since I was 19 and I have worked in about 4 startups till now. One thing I've seen is that everyone wants to do something that will change the world. Every other day I see a post somewhere that says that some guy has an idea that will change the world. But what bothers me is that everyone is rushing. Everyone is in hurry. No one wants to take time to analyze a problem before pouncing on it. In the last startup I joined, everyone seems like they will die if they don't become a robot, working with everyone ounce of their strength.

But the thing is, I don't want to do that. I want to stay home, give my 100% effort when it's time to work, then have dinner and then sit with my laptop and start developing an app I really want to build or go through the github repos of any interesting piece of code I can find or contribute to some open source project I had my eyes on. Then go to sleep around 3 in the morning and get up the next day and start working when it's time.

Sounds like Utopia but it's achievable if I telecommute. But what puzzles me is that it seems like the easy way out. And everyone, including all my friends who joined some big shot company, is working day and night together. I myself have been doing that for a long time but I don't like it. Can I take the easy way out, this early in my life, and still be OK with it? I have no greater goal in life. Is that really OK? The questions are for people who have lived through such a period in their lives. I want to know their experience and advice.

16 comments