Lize Alberts asked David Wong:

Answer truthfully (as you do), did you feel you were destined for big things (in terms of making some difference in the world) from a young age? You are very humble, and I don't want to trick you into not sounding it, but have you experienced that ‘certain amount of power, certain amount of responsibility’ thing, seeing your peers' overall lack of empathy/logic, and will in doing something about it? What drives you?

David Wong It's not that I'm humble, it's that outside of this one specific skill (the ability to explain things to people in a way that keeps them engaged or makes them laugh) it's always been stunningly clear that I'm a very average person, if not a bit below.

I'm not good with people, I have very few friends, I don't remember faces or names, I'm not handsome or fit. I can't play any sports or run very fast or play any musical instruments or do any card tricks. I can't fix a car or otherwise repair things, women were repulsed by me and, yes, I was a very average student (got a D in English in high school!) I'm bad at managing money. I don't have any eye for fashion, or grooming in general. I can't speak a second language. I don't like to travel. I'm not fun to talk to.

So yes I got a degree in journalism because I wanted to write things and explain things and uncover the truth, but I washed out of that career after just two years - I both hated it and was bad at it. Nobody there was like, "Wow, this guy is going places!" After that I took a series of jobs in offices, and got turned down by many many more. I applied for jobs at the mall, at the UPS shipping hub, at the Social Security administration. None ever gave me a second interview. I spent 8 years doing that; at age 28 I wasn't an impressive enough person to get a job at Hobby Lobby.

Yes, I was writing on the side and I thought the writing was good; I had a somewhat popular website ... but so did everybody else. It certainly wasn't making me any money, and I definitely wasn't getting offered book deals or even magazine freelancer stuff. I watched many peers take off and leave me behind. I sent off stuff that didn't get so much as a rejection letter.

So whatever thoughts I had of being famous for something were pretty thoroughly gone by that time. I got very lucky, in ways other very talented and hardworking people don't, and I just try to remember that. I don't deserve a medal for it, though. If I'd been born in a different time and place, I'd be mowing lawns for a living.

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