262: Diminishing Returns on Merit Badges

In recent weeks I've had several clients share their desire to pursue some external marker of validation or success.

One was thinking about a brand name graduate school, another was thinking about raising a dilutive round of capital from a top-tier VC. Both were really going after the same thing:

Proof that they were someone.

Proof that they deserved respect and recognition.

Proof that they belonged.

Here’s the thing - neither of them lack merit badges: they’ve attended great schools, worked at well-regarded companies, and have already been funded by well-known investors.

They’ve acquired multiple markers of significance. Yet they wanted more. And yes, there’s a time and place for that.

If you’re an outlier - perhaps queer or neurodivergent or coming from a non-traditional background - it does help to have a couple markers of validation from institutions others recognize: brands, organizations, even individuals. When no one knows you, name dropping is a way to get in the door. But once you’re inside, the returns on more merit badges quickly diminish.

I’m not saying that pursuing accomplishment or acknowledgement is always wrong. Early on, it can be a great way to grow your network, raise your levels of ambition (in some ways), and have sone immediate credibility with strangers. But prestigious organizations trade on prestige for a reason.

Paul Graham has a quote about how if there are two jobs that you like equally, but one is more prestigious, you should choose the other one - because the prestigious job added prestige to cover some of the less pleasant or meaningful parts of the work.

Look, I’m not immune to this either.

I'd be lying if I didn't fantasize about writing a "New York Times bestseller" or be known as the exec coach of Insert-Super-Successful-Founder-Here. And it's true every situation is different.

But if you’re reading this, I assume you’ve already earned at least one or two markers of external accomplishment. As you start looking to pursue those additional merit badges, you really have to start asking yourself:

• What am I really going to get out of it?
• And what am I giving up to get it?

But Jason, what’s wrong with having a goal to strive for?

Nothing. If you want to have Super-Fancy-Award winning" in your bio, that's fine.

But ask yourself: the last time you worked to get one of these, what do you value most about the experience now? It's probably not the badge itself—which maybe was cool for like the first week, maybe the first month—but the growth you experienced pursuing it. The person you became in the process.

So why not make that the goal?