Do what you want and do everything: the story of the one who succeeded

Philosophical school takes place in the old castle near Riga. Its organizer, Dmitry Volkov, sits at a desk among other participants. Despite his forties, he looks like a typical student – in a simple jumper, glasses and with an expression on his face like that of a focused, diligent student. But when the seminar is over, he will get into his helicopter and fly off to the next board of directors.

During his not too long life, Volkov managed so much that would be enough for several lives. Coming from an ordinary Soviet family, he founded the international company SD Ventures, which supports promising Internet projects (among them the LinguaLeo language learning application, the TripTogether travel site and the PayOnline payment system, which received the Runet Prize). At the same time, he managed to act in films, perform with a jazz number in the orchestra of Igor Butman, make a performance with Oleg Kulik and defend his Ph.D. thesis in philosophy.

It seems that this person’s life works like a well-oiled machine for turning ideas and desires into concrete achievements. How is this machine arranged and what helps to keep it in working condition?

Psychologies: Dmitry, you have many projects and interests – business, philosophy, art. Who do you consider yourself to be?

Dmitry Volkov: Good question. I am a free person – what Americans call free-spirit (free spirit. – Approx. ed.). I am curious, not indifferent and almost never get bored. I am not ashamed that I am learning something at the age of forty. The more I know, the more unexplored areas I find interesting for me. But all inclinations and interests are somehow connected with my childhood. Business, philosophy, music – all these interests were present even then. Recently, I found a book in my library that a friend gave me for my fifteenth birthday. It is neatly signed “To the future philosopher!”.

Even the love for helicopters arose in his youth. When I was filming a movie, in an action movie with Rosenbaum in the final scene, I, a boy of 14, drove a car through the desert, and he dived from an MI-8 helicopter, and then began to fire at my car. Well, then it became clear that helicopters have a clear advantage over cars. Now I fly myself, every weekend.

Tell us more about ideas from childhood

When I was 12-13 years old, I began to worry that time was going in one direction. I decided that time is the most valuable waning resource and that I am responsible for what I think about every minute. Walking from home to the subway, I thought that these 10 minutes would never return. I also wondered about the existence of God. And when the filming ended, I bought a Bible of the XNUMXth century with most of the fee.

Why XVIII? Would a modern one fit?

It seemed to me that if the book itself is ancient, then it should be more valuable in a spiritual sense than a modern one. Now I understand that this is the same book. But when I was fourteen, I thought that an old tome might give me a deeper understanding of things.

I don’t know how my mother allowed me to spend so much money on a book, especially since it was very difficult for us with funds at some time. But she decided: since I earned this money, this is my decision. This book is still with me.

Did your parents instill independence in you?

They parted quite early, so I stayed for the man in the family. It may sound strange, but my mother always consulted me as an adult, even when I was eleven years old. She said: “Where do you think we should spend the summer?” I loved fishing and dragged us somewhere to the lake or to the Volga. But pretty quickly I realized that I need to think about the two of us. And when she asked the next time: “Let’s go on vacation?”, I said: “Better let’s save up money … for your sheepskin coat.”

Did you easily get along with other children?

As a child, I tried to stay away from big companies. Of course, I was curious. The girls were there too. But I was not satisfied with just being part of a group, and academic leadership (I studied well) was not considered something significant with us.

Once, however, I managed to get the whole class going. I came up with a game of countries. In a thick notebook, I began to write down the history of the mythical country that I ruled – Tinesia. I came up with its map, the names of the cities, described the technology, drew a lot of small boats – the fleet. From the books I wrote out those heroes whom I wanted to settle in this country, and then I came up with a whole mythology.

The Thainesians had a God, they worshiped him, and there was an Oracle who foretold events. Soon someone saw the notebook, and it started… after a couple of weeks, everyone had notebooks, and after class I chaired a meeting of representatives of fantasy states. We signed settlement agreements, discussed trade contracts.

True, this leading role ruined me. I decided that authority is not enough, I need to find out all the secrets of all the guys in the class. And I agreed with one comrade (he did not have a country) that he would spy for me. He took notebooks from each one in turn and copied them. They found out about this, and they gave me a neck. And so the game ended.

How did you deal with questions about God and the meaning of life?

At some point, I realized that I could not resolve them all, and switched to business. I wanted adventure, and what, if not business, can these adventures provide? I did not refuse any work, I was just interested in doing everything. At the same time, I did not perceive the business as something serious, even when the company already employed several hundred people. But it has always been a challenge: can I do it? It worked like a red rag to a bull.

At the age of 25-26, he went to study philosophy at Moscow State University: he began to study metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and aesthetics. And I understood better what philosophers do. It became clear that even those questions that seemed simple are actually complex: for example, what is consciousness, is there free will, what is a reason or a law of nature.

Is your life a search for answers to these questions?

Only partly. Rather, I am writing an autobiography that I myself would be interested to read. In fact, life is a narrative, a text with a structure, and it is better when this text is interesting to read… For this, there must be initial harmony, violation of harmony, the appearance of a hero, new heroes, search, testing and restoration of harmony. Part of the plot is written by our relatives, and part is independent creativity. Music, for example, has been inscribed in my life. I had to study the piano from the age of seven … At first it was clearly not my subject.

So it wasn’t your decision after all?

Mom is a music teacher, forced to study. I hated sitting in one place. But over time, he returned to music, when he began to lack the ability to express emotions and feelings. And I also began to get intellectual pleasure from jazz: I understood how music works from the inside, that it has a mathematical expression.

Chaadaev wrote: it is a pity that we (Russians) do not have a perfected form of everyday life. Do you have it?

I’ll take this on board. Yes, I have a “perfect form of being.” Every year on December 30-31, I edit the list of goals, for a year and for three. I align goals with values ​​that could drift somewhere. Then I enter the goals into a file, into the Things program on my phone and start planning in the calendar: trips, periods of focus on specific tasks, important meetings, important people, classes. Then I process all this with the secretaries, who carefully place the plans in time.

And then … further like a train: there are unforeseen stops, of course, but over the past five years I have implemented 95% of what I planned. This suggests that I may be setting too achievable goals. Also about the fact that I can plan everything to the end … but this, of course, is an illusion. Also, that my time is mine just prior to setting up the plan. But this is also not so – after all, what happens next is what I would like to happen. Despite the fact that it is now under the control of my assistants.

Do you feel like you depend on them?

You know, it’s like habits. Of course, you depend on your habits. But habits are different. Let’s say you have a habit of running in the morning. You feel the need to get up and go for a run. You don’t have to overcome yourself if it’s a habit. It is good to depend on such a habit, it removes energy costs for overcoming oneself. I delegate hard work to habits. When the habit is doing its job, I just watch. This does not mean that I do not feel responsible for what I am doing at this moment. I set up this mechanism and it works the way I want.

They tell me: where is the spontaneity? But I love it when things go their way. At the same time, life does not cease to be diverse – today a philosophical school, tomorrow a meeting of investors, the day after tomorrow – a game in a quintet with Butman. Therefore, I do not need variety in another, for example, in menus or restaurants.

I look with surprise and admiration at the posts of people on Instagram when they choose different restaurants and dishes every day. It requires a lot of creativity. It doesn’t work out that way for me – every day I eat about the same thing – what the nutritionist and fitness instructor advise.

There are failures in this well-established mechanism – stress, nervous breakdowns, depression?

Stress happens when I don’t find a quick way out of a situation, when priorities conflict with each other, or when there is dependence on external factors. In such cases, I try to observe anti-stress hygiene: I go in for sports, sleep, communicate with loved ones, do not read the phone and mail in the evening and begin to solve the problem in small steps. Switch focus from long to short.

The most stressful circumstances in the future: there are many unknowns, and, accordingly, there are also many risks. In cases where stress increases, I try to look closer: what exactly can I do now. Staying in the present is staying in the safest place ever. I don’t go to psychologists.

You founded and maintain the Center for the Study of Consciousness at the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University. What is this – a tribute to your passion for fundamental questions?

Philosophy develops critical thinking, makes it more rational. And rationality is the platform that can unite people. I think it would be better if we all listened not only to the statements of other people, but also to the arguments behind them. People who know how to listen and understand others are less aggressive. It is very important to be able to articulate your thoughts clearly. So it’s better to communicate. At the Center, we deal with specific problems – the relationship between the brain and consciousness, free will, personal identity. But the overall goal is to make the methods of philosophical reflection more accessible.

Who is your favorite philosopher?

If you take the history of philosophy in general, I would say David Hume – he made an important contribution to the understanding of what is cause and what is personality. He was one of the first to discover that the human “I” is just a set of constantly changing mental states and there is nothing more behind this set. This thought is disappointing, but it even has poetic depth.

You know, he published his first philosophical treatise at the age of 27. For philosophy, this is unusually early. Judging by his autobiography, he was a very charming man. In his company, both science lovers and rake did not get bored, and even modest girls appreciated his company. As a person, I also like Donald Davidson. This is a XNUMXth century philosopher. He was also a pianist and pilot. These are my hobbies too, so I feel some kinship with him.

Did philosophy give you something to understand life? What discoveries would you call the most valuable?

First of all, there are no essential differences behind many of our ideas. When I was 18, I was in love. I was excited and embarrassed. I thought: is this really love? and if not, what is it? Does she feel the same as me? I thought that love, wisdom, generosity, kindness, friendship are some elements like water or carbon.

But then I realized that these concepts are only interpretations. They do not exist objectively, unlike behavioral models. These concepts can correspond to many things.

I no longer try to find the underlying elements, I don’t preoccupy myself with questions like “Is this really love, or is it something else.” I look at events and apply the “duck test” to them: “if something looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it’s a duck.” Whether it’s a duck by design, by essence, or in some spiritual sense, that doesn’t interest me.

Are you trying not to build illusions?

Yes, it’s possible. Here is such a duck test – this is a way not to experience an illusion. This is a conscious desire to stay on the surface: not to look for a deep meaning, but to judge by events. And I think that much of what claims to be deep meaning is actually platitudes or even a means of manipulation. Philosopher Daniel Dennett calls such ideas deeptities – pseudo-deep ideas. Esoteric literature abounds with them, often such ideas are used in politics, there are many of them in religion. Symbols with nothing behind them are sometimes the source of an endless search for meaning, and sometimes the cause of massacres and wars.