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Priceless Conversations 2: The Self-confessed Sellout

This one from last summer when I was in NY working for Inc. magazine.

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Central Park, and I was tossing a football around, waiting for the rest of the guys scheduled to play in our two-hand-touch game that afternoon. A former fraternity brother of mine from MIT (just a year older than me) showed up and we began the pleasantries just as everyone begins conversations right after you graduate.

HIM: "Good to see you, man. What are you doing now? Did you move down here to New York or you just here for the summer?"

ME: "Don't know how long I'll be in town. Right now I’m writing for Inc. magazine, mostly for the Inc. 500 issue, which profiles the 500 fastest-growing, private companies in the country. I’m basically on the phone all day with CEOs of these companies just chatting about their businesses and their lives, so it’s pretty fun. What’s next is still a bit up in the air, but I’m excited about the possibilities. I'll probably be writing somewhere." Then I respond in kind. And I’m genuinely curious. I like to hear about all the cool stuff people do.

ME: "And you? What are you up to?" He squints. It’s as if I struck a low blow.

HIM: "Same thing as everyone else...I’m a sellout."

ME: "What do you mean?" I could guess, but I was shocked that he’d put it that way. And since I like the guy, I was giving him the benefit of the doubt.

HIM: "You know, the finance thing."

ME: "Ah, come on. That doesn’t mean you’re a sellout. Some people actually want to do the finance thing."

HIM: "No. I’m a sellout."

As much as his words just ripped me apart inside -- for him -- I tried to look at the bright side. They say the first of the twelve steps is recognizing the problem.

Please, do what you really want to do so I don't get any more e-mail from people telling me stories of their friends (or is it them?) who are sell-outs, self-confessed or otherwise. And if you think you don't know what you want to do, start spending the time to figure it out, or at least get progressively closer. This is your life we're talking about here.

Posted by Ian Ybarra on 19 July 2005

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