The Benefits of Being Unreliable
I have 47,978 unread emails
“To do real good physics work, you do need absolute solid lengths of time,” the great physicist Richard Feynman said. “If you have a job administering anything, you don’t have the time. So I have invented another myth for myself: that I’m irresponsible. I’m actively irresponsible. I tell everyone I don’t do anything. If anyone asks me to be on a committee for admissions, no, I tell them: I’m irresponsible.”
Feynman committed to avoiding administrative duties because he knew they would sacrifice his ability to do the one thing that made him unique: “to do real good physics work.” Jay Abraham, in Getting Everything You Can Out of All You Got, would describe this as his USP — unique selling proposition. It’s the key advantage that we can offer that puts us ahead of our competition.
Feynman recognized, likely without reading Abraham’s advice, that his unique strength was to advance the world of physics. Sitting on committees and navigating bureaucracies would only distract from this pursuit. So, he actively avoided those distractions with claims of irresponsibility.
Most people don’t have this. Their careers are defined by interchangeability. They follow procedures, attend meetings, and respond to emails. They issue reports that no one reads and answer questions that don’t need to be answered. They’ve traded their ability to deliver a unique advantage for the predictability of daily routines.
If it’s in the manual, then it’s not unique. If anyone can do it, then it’s not special. It’s boring and unremarkable. The only way to develop a unique advantage is by breaking out of the default mode and finding something that no one else is doing (or at least doing well). Kevin Kelly, Senior Maverick at Wired, follows a similar strategy:
“I avoid working on things that someone else could do, even if I enjoy doing it and would get paid well to do it. I try to give my best ideas away in the hope that someone will do them, because if they do them, that means I was not the only one who could have. I encourage competitors for the same reason. In the end, I’m left with projects that only I can do, which makes them distinctive and valuable.”
