Why Selling Out Is Really Just Buying Into Someone Else's Values

Summary

Defining success on your own terms matters far more than chasing a high salary, an impressive job title, or other people's expectations.

Bill Watterson recounts the years of rejection he endured before Calvin and Hobbes, the soul deadening jobs that paid the bills, and his refusal to let a syndicate turn his comic strip into mass produced merchandise, arguing that selling out is really a matter of buying into someone else's values.

Creative play, curiosity, and work done for its own sake feed happiness in ways that money never can.

Inventing a life that reflects your own values is a rare and difficult achievement, but it is the one most worth pursuing.