The greatest rewards come from working on something that nobody has words for. If you possibly can, work where there are no names for what you do.” – from Excellent Advice for Living

I work for a software company, trying to sell tools to companies for database work. It’s not hugely rewarding. I enjoy it, and I like going to work. I like the colleagues and customers, but this doesn’t fill my soul.

I’m an average person and while I’m good at what I do, I don’t make huge differences. I make small changes, both at Redgate and while coaching. The latter is way more fulfilling to me. I coach at a small club, not the top one, we don’t make news locally, but I help and watch kids grow up before my eyes in many ways.

I love that.

The saddest thing I’ve seen across the last 30 years of my career is how many brilliant people have moved to work in finance and tech (including biotech), aiming to win the lottery with options and IPOs rather than spending their efforts on making the world better. Their focus is on clicks and trades, not bettering science, knowledge, or anything for humanity.

Lots of people do great work still, but many of the brightest of my generation and the next aren’t focused there.

I’ve been posting New Words on Fridays from a book I was reading, however, a friend thought they were a little depressing. They should be as they are obscure sorrows. I like them because they make me think.

To counter-balance those, I’m adding in thoughts on advice, mostly from Kevin Kelley’s book. You can read all these posts under the advice tag.