What work feels like play to you?

What work feels like play to you?

Do what feels like play and you'll beat everyone who treats it as work.

“Work on things you’re excited about”

Sounds so obvious, yet sometimes we’re so blinded by the short-term benefits of things we’re not interested in, we pursue those over the ones that will reward us in the long term.

From what I’ve observed, if you tend to pursue things you’re not excited about, you don’t put in an honest effort and eventually burn out.

If you don't do something you like, you'll be inevitably beaten by someone so interested in that thing that it feels like play to him. Here's a podcast clip from Naval Ravikant related to this:

"I'm always working. It looks like work to others but feels like play to me. That's how I know no one can compete with me on it. I'm just playing 16 hours a day and if they want to compete with me and they're going to work, they're going to lose because they're not going to do it 16 hours a day 7 days a week.

Here are some things that feel like play to me, but look like work to others —

  1. Programming: Working on small side projects, making apps, and software. I also love reading/writing documentation for software.

    Since I'm a software developer by profession, I like what I do for work. I started this blog and plan to write some technical pieces in my free time.

  2. Solving puzzles / mathematical / logical problems: having a slightly strong academic background and rooted interest in physics and mathematics helps me solve technical or analytical problems with ease.

    I also like competitive programming. I'm eager to get back to it!

  3. Writing: helps me structure my thoughts. It helps me find the needle of useful information in a haystack of junk.

    That's why I started this blog!

  4. Learning: I always felt the process of learning anything to be more like play. It feels so good to learn something from the ground up and explain it to someone in depth. Whether it be books, online courses, blog posts or technical documentation, I'm always learning new stuff.

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