<story><title>So Good They Can&apos;t Ignore You</title><url>https://commoncog.com/blog/so-good-they-cant-ignore-you/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>baxtr</author><text>Reminds me of the “white suit consultant”: someone once told me that he wanted to be such a master in his skill that he could come visit clients the way he liked, like in a completely white suit with a white hat...</text></item><item><author>dwaltrip</author><text>My short synthesis&amp;#x2F;summary:&lt;p&gt;Instead of trying to find a life passion, seek to master some valuable and useful skills. Leverage those skills to find work where you have more autonomy, control, and impact. This can help with personal fulfillment.&lt;p&gt;If you are lucky enough to develop a sense of larger purpose that your work contributes to, then great! But seeking this directly might be a mistake. Meaning seems to emerges from other efforts -- pursuit of excellence, indulging in curiosity, solving real problems, connecting with others, and so on.&lt;p&gt;I think this is a relatively practical and effective mindset, especially for many HNers.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>skrebbel</author><text>This works the other way too. I know a guy who used to have a mohawk. He also represented his company (a mobile chip maker that was later acquired by ARM) to customers as the chief technical guy. I once asked him if the mohawk wasn&amp;#x27;t a problem with customers (who were mainly large, relatively traditional, tech bigco&amp;#x27;s). He said that it gave the customers the idea that &amp;quot;if he&amp;#x27;s allowed to wear that mohawk on customer visits, then he must be very good&amp;quot;.</text></comment>
<story><title>So Good They Can&apos;t Ignore You</title><url>https://commoncog.com/blog/so-good-they-cant-ignore-you/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>baxtr</author><text>Reminds me of the “white suit consultant”: someone once told me that he wanted to be such a master in his skill that he could come visit clients the way he liked, like in a completely white suit with a white hat...</text></item><item><author>dwaltrip</author><text>My short synthesis&amp;#x2F;summary:&lt;p&gt;Instead of trying to find a life passion, seek to master some valuable and useful skills. Leverage those skills to find work where you have more autonomy, control, and impact. This can help with personal fulfillment.&lt;p&gt;If you are lucky enough to develop a sense of larger purpose that your work contributes to, then great! But seeking this directly might be a mistake. Meaning seems to emerges from other efforts -- pursuit of excellence, indulging in curiosity, solving real problems, connecting with others, and so on.&lt;p&gt;I think this is a relatively practical and effective mindset, especially for many HNers.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>patkai</author><text>That is funny! I thought about it the other way around: if I _have to_ put a tie on for a meeting - or conform in other ways - than how valuable am I as a consultant? I see a simile in visual design as well, e.g. Craigslist could be that white suit consultant...</text></comment>