I think it's hard to be appreciative of "the journey" in the startup world, or in work in general, when the reward disparities are so vast.
I'm not talking about money, because that's actually fairly equalized. Great developers and bad ones at the same age/experience level and location will be within 20% of each other, in general, salary-wise. It's all the other stuff: esteem, autonomy, creative control, advancement. If you don't get that, and if you're also forced to subordinate to others, you lose motivation pretty quickly.
Most people do VC-funded startups to buy their way out of having to work, but most of these companies have horrible cultures and make working a lot worse, which is counterproductive to the spirit of that goal. As a society, we should instead try to fix work, because we're a long way from being able to buy everyone out of it.
"I think it's hard to be appreciative of "the journey" in the startup world, or in work in general, when the reward disparities are so vast."
This statement captures the essential conflict that I have sought (and largely) resolved within myself.
The term "reward disparities" is the cancer that eats away at appreciating the journey. In my case it was just code for "winning" or "not winning". You won if you got the highest reward, if you did not get the highest reward you did not win. Letting go of 'winning' or 'losing' removes the reward disparities as an influence on enjoying the journey. That was essentially what dhh wrote, and what I resonate with. I'm much happier having realized that I was letting those disparities destroy my appreciation of those around me and the opportunities I got to participate in.
I'm not talking about money, because that's actually fairly equalized. Great developers and bad ones at the same age/experience level and location will be within 20% of each other, in general, salary-wise. It's all the other stuff: esteem, autonomy, creative control, advancement. If you don't get that, and if you're also forced to subordinate to others, you lose motivation pretty quickly.
Most people do VC-funded startups to buy their way out of having to work, but most of these companies have horrible cultures and make working a lot worse, which is counterproductive to the spirit of that goal. As a society, we should instead try to fix work, because we're a long way from being able to buy everyone out of it.