Running Out of So-Whats
Summary
There is nothing like existential life events to make you examine your life with sobering clarity. In 2019 I had lung cancer, and in 2025, my father passed. I had known that Zillow would be my last job. I just didn't know when. However, even before the lobectomy, a voice inside my head had grown louder over the years, asking: So what? So what if shareholder value increases when everything else erodes? So what if we could generate a thousand ideas overnight when we lack the reflection to find wisdom over scaling bias? So what if I made more money when my time with my loved ones is limited? So what? Eventually, I ran out of so-whats. And when I did, I was finally liberated to choose life over work.
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