Smart People should do Stupid Stuff
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I was fortunate to attend Olin College of Engineering with some of the brightest minds in the country, and the bar of achievement was set high. Inside the classroom, we worked on problems that were mind-numbingly complex and intricate. Outside of class, most students aimed to develop incredibly elaborate and technically innovative projects: Robots that swam across a pool like a tuna fish, machines that harvested oranges from a grove, or a new design for a surgical device.
The projects I chose to work on during my time as an undergraduate were high-risk/high-reward. I spent many nights using the Electron Scanning Microscope to image the nanostructure of Neluma Nucifera (the common Lilly pad). I was attempting to exploit its nanostructure to construct a material with microsuction properties. It almost worked.
I spent another 6 months of free time experimenting with Ferromagnetic fluid (aka "ferrofluid"), a magical substance that comes to life in the presence of a magnetic field. I wanted to stabilize ferrofluid in a clear liquid carrier, so it could be used in lavalamp-type environments to delight consumers at Brookstone. I built a make-shift lab in my parent's basement, borrowed a micropipette from a scientist friend and went at it.
I learned a great deal from these (and many other) projects. My time at Olin was highly enjoyable, transformative experience and I was given ample resources to explore my intellectual and creative limits. I learned more rapidly than any other point in my life. There was really only one downside. My experience in school lead me to believe that to be successful, you had to do non-obvious, difficult things.
After being immersed in such a high achievement, intellectually stimulating environment, it is easy to believe you must invent an anti-gravity device or equivalent, in order to succeed. This is a self-inflicted expectation that many students place on themselves after years of being subject to the incredibly sophisticated minds of their professors. I believe this mindset can have counter-productive consequences.
Although I endorse those who attempt to spend their time defying gravity (the world needs these people), I simply think students simply forget that the real world is not graded by professors with untamed beards. Students are largely unaware that they could realize just as much success, or perhaps even more success, if they point their incisive intellect at simpler, "stupider" problems. So why don't they? Because these problems are typically unsexy, considered to lack academic rigor.
I once met a man that made over $1,000,000/year selling bowling balls on the Internet. I asked him how he had built such a fantastic business. I was looking for this guy's secret sauce. Was he a marketing guru, a tenacious entrepreneur that didn't give up, saw an opportunity earlier than most? None of the above. He was an average guy, with below average technical skills. He hired 2 kids to work out of his garage to build his website.
If he can do it, so can I.... It's two years later, and I now make a decent sum of money selling TV Wall Mounts on the Internet. This is an area I can proudly say all of my fellow over-achievers have overlooked. But don't fret. The world is full of more stupid things to do.
The truth is, any endeavor, no matter how seemingly trivial, can benefit from an incisive mind taking a good, hard look. And almost any endeavor can be intellectually gratifying. You may be surprised to know that most people don't apply scientific method to their efforts, or even possess the reasoning skills or patience to achieve greatness. This puts you and your well-honed cerebral apparatus, at an incredible advantage. In the real world, you're no longer competing with your fellow geniuses at the school science fair...you're competing with your typical neighbor. And you're about to kick his (metaphorical) ass.
In high school, I founded a web development studio that carved out a niche making interactive websites with Macromedia Flash. It made my friend and I the richest (but unfortunately not also the coolest) kids in class. But what if instead of making incredibly impressive, expensive Flash websites for our clients, we deferred revenue and focused on making free online Flash greeting cards? We may have built Blue Mountain Greeting Cards, a year or so before they did. Free greeting cards? That's so easy it's stupid.
I'll end with perhaps the most outrageous example. It is the story of a middle-America teenager who created an incredibly annoying online video series called Fred Figglehorn, and publishes it on YouTube. In the series, Fred talks about his days at school, his alcoholic mother, and his crush Judy. Fred's annoying voice has reached millions of people around the world. He's created a viral phenomenon...and his endorsements and ad revenue have already paid for college (if he decides to go).
Success isn't only found in the complex, intellectual achievements. Sometimes it's found in more obvious, less sexy places. Go find something stupid to do.
PS: Want to sell something online yourself? There's no better time.
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