Be Alice, Not Caesar

Compare yourself to yourself yesterday, not to other people who aren't you.

Last month I had the honor and pleasure of giving the commencement address at Drew University.

Michael Lewis, one of the great nonfiction writers of a generation (Moneyball, The Blind Side, etc.), delivered the Drew commencement address fifteen years ago. I watched a clip of Michael’s address, and his main point was that people shouldn’t be so quick to define what they’ll do in life. I certainly echoed that wisdom and tried out a new frame for it:

“… So perhaps this feels like the moment when you need to have your solid long-term plan, but I’m sorry to tell you that this is like choosing a path for a person who does not yet exist in a world you cannot yet know. So instead of focusing on the Tiger path, we should all heed the wisdom of Alice while she was in Wonderland. When she was asked by the Gryphon to share her story, she decided she had to start with the beginning of her adventure that very morning. ‘It’s no use going back to yesterday,’ Alice said, ‘because I was a different person then.’

By the way, I’m with you and Alice. I’m just finishing my third book and saying ‘never again’ — for the third time. And I’ve meant it every time. I still have no clue what I’m going to be when I grow up — only that, whatever it is, I will henceforth make my wife address me as ‘honorary doctor.’

But here’s my most important piece of advice: Don’t feel behind. You aren’t even sure where you’re going. Compare yourself to yourself yesterday, not to other people who aren’t you. You know who was in a rush? Julius Caesar. As a young man, Caesar came upon a statue of Alexander the Great in Spain and broke down in tears. ‘Alexander at my age had conquered so many nations,’ he said, ‘and I have all this time done nothing that is memorable.’ So he started rushing, and pretty soon he was in charge of the Roman Republic — which he promptly turned into a dictatorship before he was murdered by his own friends. It’s fair to say that, like most youth athletes with highlight reels, he peaked early. Don’t be Caesar…”

If you’re interested in the rest of the address, it’s approximately eight minutes long and can be found below. (I marked it to start just before my part, but if that doesn’t work, I begin around 26 minutes.):

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Until next time…

David