Akkam’s Razor

I've been thinking things through, trying to get a handle on my passions and purpose.  What should I be doing?  What do I want to be when I grow up?

This is what I came up with…

I am naturally curious about how things work.  If a digital camera breaks, my instinct is to take it apart to see if I can fix it.  If I'm trying to negotiate a deal on something, I think about how the person I'm negotiating with 'wins'.  When I'm looking at an event that occurred, I contemplate the series of events and conditions that contributed to the event.  When someone does something remarkable, outrageous, or despicable, I wonder what they 'got' out of their behavior.  A benefit of ADHD, for me, has been the ability to see things from multiple perspectives, and more importantly to visualize and interpret the effects of that same thing.

At first glance, the above seems very anthropological, but another prime instinct of mine is to think about ways to redesign things or at the very least optimize the current state.  I frequently find myself resisting the urge to want to redo every system I come across.

When looking at dispassionate things, I inevitably encounter the people who influence, create, operate, or are effected by those things.  I see their interactions as well as their interactions with and amongst themselves.  I am particularly sensitive to injustice, inequality, and intolerance, but am often at odds as to how to improve them.  The betterment of the human condition is one of my core governing principles.

At the end of the day, or more importantly, one's life, all you leave behind are the memories of others, the impact of your living and dying, and the sum and effect of your actions.  In that, I would hope to have made a positive impact on the life of others, to have inspired and challenged them (by challenging myself) to improve both internally and externally, and leave the world better than I had entered.

After writing it down, my path seems clear - to be a revolutionary.  I'm uncertain whether that's a small 'r' or large 'R', but it's entirely consistent with my core personality.  I want to tear down what exists, and create something better in its place.  I like stepping out into the unknown, experimenting with things, and taking the road less traveled.  I am emboldened by new thinking on big ideas, but shrink away from the challenge due to my concerns over time, money, and familiar obligations.

I like to be surrounded with people who are unlike me - I enjoy unfamiliarity, and the challenge of finding common ground.  I seek out those who are outside of the norm, the unique thinkers, experimenters, the revolutionaries.  I think that maybe their risk-taking will 'rub off' on me.

I've spent a good part of the last 5-years or so thinking about mistakes that I've made, how they've contributed to the person I am today, and what I've learned from them.  In many dimensions - professional, educational, and personal - I didn't take enough chances, stuck with what was safe versus what would make me stretch, and never committed or even thought about long-term strategic planning or goals.  It's tempting when examining your past to attribute your successes to your internal strengths and your weaknesses to the external environment - I'd like to think I haven't done that.  If anything, I've done the opposite, and now find that I look at my internal strengths as preparation for leveraging future opportunities.

The recurring themes that I saw centered on risk-taking, systems thinking, having a 'people' focus, self-improvement, and striving for betterment for myself and others.