general thoughts on things

Everything in the world has value because you give it value. Money has value because you can do things with it, and so you give it value. Fancy watches are cool because others and maybe you find them cool, and so you give them value. Your friends, who you put trust in everyday and spend time with, are important because you give them internal value.

Deriving your internal value to things from others is a trap. I call this “chasing shiny things.” People who tend to chase what other people find cool chase shiny things. Chasing fame, watches, and luxury clothes are materialistic ways of chasing shiny things for many. By chasing what others think is cool, you lose your own values and become a product of clout, aka a shiny object chaser.

The worst form of shiny object chasers are people who chase prestige. People who work at Nvidia because it’s prestigious, people who get into startups for no reason, people who want to work in quant and go to Jane Street.