[W]e certainly live in interesting times in the sense of the curse. So in lieu of a proper long post this week, I offer you this pick-two (at most) triangle for your lifestyle designing pleasure.
[I]t struck me that even picking two out of three is pretty hard. Many people manage to do only one, or none at all. I mapped those to the Gervais Principle taxonomy of Sociopaths, Losers and Clueless, and came up with the legend you see alongside the triangle now.
I won’t attempt to supply or defend examples of people who’ve made each of the 7 possible choices, since that tends to excite controversy. I’ll leave you to do that yourself. But I’ll offer these archetype labels:
Money+Beauty: Sell-Out Artist
Money+Sense: Soulless Arbitrager
Beauty+Sense: Intellectual Dictator
Only Beauty: Self-Absorbed Artist
Only Sense: Armchair Intellectual
Only Money: Dull Douchebag
Nothing: Drowning Person
You can of course, also add an intensity knob between “drowning” and “thriving” where drowning is 0 and thriving is 0.67. And if times get much tougher than they are today, we’ll all be demoted to Losers, and eventually to Clueless.
The author’s blog has many interesting and often deep posts. Conveniently, the site has a guide for new readers. If you’re a fan of The Office, I recommend the following series of posts: The Gervais Principle, Part I.
He’s also written a book worth reading, especially if your into decision-making: Tempo — timing, tactics and strategy in narrative-driven decision-making.