The speaker believes that it is difficult to excel in multiple areas simultaneously and encourages individuals to be honest with themselves about the risks they are taking. They emphasize the importance of putting one's full effort into whatever they choose to do and being proud of their work.

So many people trying to be like, I'm keeping grad school open, I've got a Google job offer, I've got a Jane Street, the new tech finance thing, and I'm talking to 3 friends about doing a startup.

We get asked questions like, okay, so how do I optimize this?

I don't think you can be great at those 4 things at the same time.

It's hard enough to be great at 1 of those things.

Being more real with yourself is like, yeah, I'm taking risks.

I may regret it, but I'm doing this with eyes wide open.

By actually putting my full heart into anything I do, whatever that is, including not quitting my job, how can you have regrets about that?

If you're proud of the job you did, if you had heart and you gave it your all, and you feel like you learned stuff, great job.

And you should view this as an affirmative experience.


Speaker 0: So many people trying to be like, I'm keeping grad school open, I've got a Google job offer, I've got a Jane Street, the new tech finance thing, and I'm talking to 3 friends about doing a startup. We get asked questions like, okay, so how do I optimize this? I don't think you can be great at those 4 things at the same time. It's hard enough to be great at 1 of those things.

Speaker 1: Being more real with yourself is like, yeah, I'm taking risks. Quitting my job at Google is a risk. I may regret it, but I'm doing this with eyes wide open. By actually putting my full heart into anything I do, whatever that is, including not quitting my job, how can you have regrets about that? Being proud of the work you do.

If you're proud of the job you did, if you had heart and you gave it your all, and you feel like you learned stuff, great job. And you should view this as an affirmative experience.

See all Y Combinator transcripts on Youtube

Hedging your bets while starting a startup?