Listen.

One of the best little essays on life and growing up was written, and spoken, by Laz Buhrmann. You can find the text of it here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-schmich-su...

> Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

...and this is true.

It is human nature to compare ourselves to others. That is how we measure our own progress. We don't measure it in absolute terms -- we do not tend to say, "I have four more units of happy this year than I had last year," instead we tend to say, "those other people get to take vacations all around the world, and I don't."

And so we strive to have what other people have.

This effect can be especially poisonous in environments like HN, where you see so many examples of bright, young, successful people, especially those that are more successful than you. And so you look at yourself and you think, "all I have is this uninspiring, unimportant job, and those people are making a difference, and that's what I want to do, but I don't know how."

It is a cruel unspoken truth of reality that a major part of success and difference-making is based on no small amount of luck. Sometimes -- maybe most of the time, maybe even all of the time -- making a difference, or becoming wildly successful, is a matter of simply doing the right thing when you are in the right place at the right time.

It certainly cannot be forced, despite what a few notable examples might lead you to believe.

So if you love coding, then code, and if you ever stop loving coding, then stop coding and try to find your next life (http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2722#comic). I have done this a few times, and it scares the piss out of me every time, and every time I love it and I would never go back and choose not to do it. I have met the most amazing people because I did something unexpected.

And if you are lucky, you will find sufficient happiness in coding and stability and you will have a comfortable life and you will find your rewards in yearly vacations, hobbies, and maybe family. Or, if you are lucky, you will look inside yourself and realize that you could never be happy enough having just all of that, and you will strike out into a more frightening and unknown future; maybe you will try your hand at your own startup, maybe you will fail, maybe you'll try again, and maybe as a result of all of that you'll never get those vacations or that family, but at least you will have tried and that will make you happy.

If you are unlucky, then you will do one when you should have done the other. Try not to do that.

But most importantly, and I want to say this with all of the conviction that I can muster:

Do not be in a hurry.

I can very nearly promise that if you wait until you are 25 to start something of your own, you will be just as happy with the result as you would have been at 21. The four years from 21 to 25 seems significant at 21, and utterly insignificant at 30. By the time you are 50, you'll find it funny how much pressure young people place on themselves to grow up more quickly.

Do not dismiss your own troubles, they are as important to you as finding dinner is to other people. You are, again, comparing yourself to others.