Surrounding Myself With the Right People

To be honest, I don't have much to say today.

The last few days, my parents visited me in Berlin. I took two days off to guide them around the city and show them the more beautiful spots. As a tourist, you see the sightseeing locations first; but these look like shit in Berlin. The good stuff needs to be discovered.

Because of the visit, I haven't made meaningful progress. But that should be fine.

Yesterday, we went to Potsdam, a beautiful city close to Berlin. Word has it that celebrities and rich people live there - it's cleaner and more expensive than "Big B".

A programmer who will soon start working at my day job lives there, so I used the opportunity to meet him for coffee. Let's call him Stefan.

Stefan is a great guy. It was fun talking to him. He used to be a CTO at his own startup, a data marketplace. He left the company before the exit, however, since he enjoys coding and his free time more than living a founder's life.

He's got a point - it can be taxing to exert energy into projects that might not even bear fruit. Sometimes, I wish that I could let go of my goals and live a happy, relaxed life. I'd make enough money as a dev, and I'd love the free time to read, make music, and play video games.

Talking to Stefan made me crave this even more. This made me realize that my relationships have a great influence on my goals. If a single coffee chat has me considering dropping my goals, I wonder how much else of my life is influenced by other people.

If I decide on a path and I want to stick to it, I must make sure to surround myself with people who support it. I don't even mean that they should encourage it actively; rather, they should represent my path with their being. Have the same interests, and be excited by the same goals as I am.

Which isn't to say that I'm going to stop hanging out with Stefan. But I will try to avoid the topic of entrepreneurship - at least as long as I want to stay on my path.

Choose your influences wisely.