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In exploring several fields at university, I’ve come to discover what I like to call intellectual playgrounds — constructs created within fields for their greatest minds to play around with.
Over millennia, art historians have constructed a playground of discussing and creating art. Good art is this, bad art is this, but sometimes we change that. Here are some rules, change them if you want — just never end the discourse.
Even math, a field that many view as more absolute and stable, can only be understood within the playgrounds, conventions, and language used by mathematicians that came before. Again, you are handed a set of rules and invited to bend them (that will take great courage and a cogent argument, however).
In finding a career, find the playground you enjoy the most. Find the playground that makes you think. Find the playground in which you feel tension that you want to resolve. Then, connect your play with a larger purpose.
It could be to help others, build something that lasts, or even change the playground you’ve enjoyed for so long. But, the first step is simple: find your playground.
