Running and dating taught me something simple: I feel the most alive when I'm obsessed. Without obsession, I'm just coasting. The real question became: what's worth obsessing over that will move my life forward?

America

My time in America was transformative. Everyone was doing something meaningful and chasing their wildest dreams. The energy was infectious. I was excited to wake up every day. It was surreal to meet personal heroes I'd read about and learned so much from, watching them come to life as they spoke right in front of me. This was the environment I'd read about and have been searching for, the people I wanted to surround itself with. This was where I belonged.

Some of the personal heroes that I met

Hard, Valuable, Fun

Max Levchin's framework stuck with me: work should be hard, valuable, and fun. Running was hard, but it wasn't valuable or fun. Dating was hard and fun, but valuable only to me. Startup sales, though? It's the first thing that checks all three boxes perfectly.

Build vs Sell

In startups, you either build the product or sell it. I knew I wanted to do sales, but I needed to test the alternative first in search of great work.

So I self-taught software engineering and interned at an AI startup, TinyFish, for a year. It was hard and valuable, but not fun, and I realized I'd never reach world-class level. Like Bezos realizing he wouldn't be a top physicist when his classmate instantly solved equations he struggled with, I had that moment watching other developers. I could grind it out, but it felt like an obligation, not an obsession. With sales though, I have a fighting chance at being the best.

My roommate and I also tried building startups. The furthest we got was a YC interview and 80 sign ups, but none solved painful enough problems. Those failures taught me how hard startups are, but also showed me I wanted to learn from people who'd figured it out.

Sales Edge

Cold approach and dating confirmed what I'd suspected - I wanted to do sales. The experience also gives me real advantages:

• Rejection immunity: Thousands of face-to-face rejections make cold calls and Zoom meetings feel trivial
• Building rapport: No scripts, just reading the moment and connecting
• Genuine empathy: Learning what people actually want, not what I wish they wanted
• Comfort with discomfort: Most salespeople haven't put themselves through voluntary social torture

The skills transfer directly: opening lines spark interest, discovery finds fit, persistence gets results.

The Decision

I want that obsession again. The kind that had me running until I got stress fractures and approaching thousands of strangers. This time: hard, valuable, and fun.

Startups are the ultimate obsession. Infinite leverage, infinite skill ceiling, infinite value. That's what I admire most about founders and startups: they can do one thing forever like madmen, pushing everything to its limits for the mission. No red tape, no BS, just execution with like-minded people.

Running taught me discipline and suffering. Dating taught me rejection handling and connection. Now I want to channel that into creating real value.