Development vs. Interest

There’s an old economist joke that Development Economists are the least developed economists.

I think people deep into personal development are sometimes the least developed persons.

What makes a deep, productive, progressing, valuable, and interesting person seems to be a person who is deeply interested in what they are doing at any time. Whether monotonous labor, a hobby, family life, books, food, fitness, or anything else. People who just find the world interesting – whether because they choose to see uninteresting stuff as interesting, or because they choose to do only stuff they find interesting – are well developed people.

People perpetually in search of ‘professional growth’, and ‘personal development’ because they think it’s good and noble tend to be more flat and boring and less developed than intellectually hedonistic interest seekers.

I find myself more boring when I start studying an area directly related to what I’m doing with the intention of leveling up because I feel I ‘should’. While building a business, the more business books I read the less I enjoy myself and the less interesting and intelligent I become as a business builder. Paradoxical but true for me. When I step back and just consume things that fascinate me, I end up having more fun being more interesting, and building a better business to boot! I see and make novel connections. I’m not just mimicking other stuff, but creating new patterns.

I am a huge fan of investing in myself and becoming a better version every day. But the way I try to do it is by irresponsibly following my interests wherever they lead rather than feeling pressure to study anything in particular or specialize in things directly applicable to what I’m doing.