Build Paper Airplanes For A Living

Or how to thrive in a merito-capitalist society.

Imagine deciding to learn something one day, because you could get people to pay you to do it. But you want to have fun doing it, so you choose something fun. Let's say, building paper airplanes.

So you read tutorials on the internet. And you borrow books that teach you how to do it at the library . Eventually, you reach a point where you can actually build something that flies well, and that only a few people can build, because it requires a decent level of skill.

But things don't turn out as you expect. People won't buy your paper airplanes, because paper airplanes companies with more resources and time do it better.

So you give up for a while. You get back to reality, be it your job or school. It's not as fun as building paper airplanes, but you have to do it anyway.

And then one day, you see a summer internship listing for a paper airplane engineer position at an awesome company. You decide to apply for it even if it looks beyond your reach, because impossible is nothing and only fools let their dreams pass by. And (unsurprisingly), you get it.

Now you spend the entire summer building paper airplanes, and you're paid a silly salary to do it. You also get to work with a talented team, and you gain tons of knowledge in the process. Then summer ends, and again, you have to go back to reality. But now you're not just a little better than most people at building paper airplanes, you're much better.

So school nears its end. It's time to start looking for a job and you're scared of it, because everyone around you has been looking and unemployed for months, and everyone says it's the crisis.

To your surprise, job hunting isn't so bad. Instead of hunting for jobs, jobs hunt for you. You haven't even graduated, but an awesome company already sent you an offer letter to pay you a lot of money to build paper airplanes with them. You accept the first offer because it’s more than you expected, and plenty of better offers start queuing for you.

To sum up, you didn't get rich by selling paper airplanes, like you originally planned. But you did something that set you apart: you took an initiative. You invested time in learning something. You were foolish enough to get out of your comfort zone and aim for the moon. You missed the moon, but you landed in the stars.

Imagine this story wasn't fiction. That it actually happened to a boy who decided to learn iOS development 3 years ago to make coffee money selling apps in the App Store. That he didn’t sell anything but was offered a summer internship at one of the most prestigious universities in the world to build an iOS app for them. That he was accepted into a summer program organized by one of the most powerful companies in the world the next summer. And that he was offered a position as an iOS engineer at a promising startup before even graduating. All of that happened.

You can make a living doing something you love too, if you're not already doing it.

• Pick up a skill that's rare, in demand, and that is something you love doing.
• Learn it to the point that you're better than most people.
  It sets you apart and make you more attractive to companies.
• Build something you can show off with. It's a good way to learn, too.
• Apply for internships and jobs.
• Do what you love for a living.
• Do it until you get bored of it, and eventually, start all over with a new craft.

It won't come at once.
It will take time.
But it will be so worth it.
So be bold and aim for the moon.