For those of us who are hopeless romantics and can’t help but have a crush... I think there is a way to use it to our advantage. A crush can make us blind and irrational - we spend hours thinking about them and researching everything about them and their interests.

Instead of having a crush on a lamo from a dating app, or an unimpressive acquaintance, have a crush on an expert in your field. Find an attractive person who is an expert in your field and is in the position that you want to be in the future. That way when you’re obsessing about them, you end up reading all their work, therefore reading the exact content you need to read anyway. If you engage with them and talk about their work, you may end up developing a connection that could very well benefit your career.

During this pandemic I started having a crush on a very prominent scientist in my field of interest who happens to also own a startup. I’ve been reading all their papers, books and am now contributing to his open-source project lol. I’m learning a lot about the technology him and his team are developing.

As my crush fades, I can feel good knowing that I gained knowledge, skills and relevant connections from it.