Humans are naturally drawn to prestige, otherwise known as clout. From an evolutionary standpoint, social status is attained through (1) dominance or (2) prestige. Assuming you don’t want to be an asshole, prestige is your ticket to the top of the social heirarchy: academy Award winners get casted in the best movies, NYT Bestselling authors get great book deals, etc. You get my point.
My primary issue with prestige is that it is a distractor — particularly for ambitious people in times of exploration and learning.
Prestige clouds judgement. In the wise words of Paul Graham, prestige ‘causes you to work not on what you like, but what you’d like to like.’ I think this is especially true of young people trying to figure out what they do and do not enjoy. They tend to care too much about the opinions of others and focus too little on doing things for the hell of it. People can easily trick themselves into thinking they like something if prestige is involved. Oftentimes, just the prospect of being among the best in X is enough to justify continuing X. A mix of praise, timing, and opportunity can make the wrong thing feel right in the moment — and thus difficult to break away.
It’s easy to say “don’t let prestige cloud your pursuits” and nod in agreement. But I think this is difficult to truly internalize (at least it is for me, maybe that’s not the case with you).
I allowed prestige to influence my ambitions at a very wrong time. I have made decisions that prioritize prestige at the expense of exploration, genuine curiosity, personal growth, and learning. But the conclusion that I have come to is this: true prestige can only be attained if you are doing what you genuinely love doing.
If you are doing something that you genuinely enjoy and have fun doing, then prestige will follow. Not only will prestige follow, it will also be fulfilling. I see it like this: if you are actually into something, it will consume a large part of your thoughts, pursuits, and ambitions (as a consequence of internal curiosity).
But you don’t get good at something by not acting. You must constantly move forward. The easiest way to move forward is to consistently learn and produce. Don’t dwell. Build cool shit. Read. Immerse yourself in communities. Be open-minded. Talk to people. It is likely that during this exploration phase, you will feel a lack of praise or prestige. If you give up because your cravings for validation are not being satisfied, then you are not working on the right thing. People who love what they are doing don’t need prestige to keep going. It should be easy if you’re truly excited by the topic.
[TODO conclusion]