Ask HN: Advice that changed your life? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#201

Post by barrenko » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 1:24 PM UTC

tsol wrote: post #143

orzig wrote: post #26

The value of advice comes from arriving at the right moment to the right person, not some platonic, universal “goodness“. For example, I wanted to drop out of college to work on climate change, and an adult in that community who I respected immensely told me “calm down, it won’t be too late by the time you graduate“. Not too many people needed the advice to worry less about climate change (especially 15 years ago), b…

The best piece of advice I received was 'slow and steady wins the race'. It's something I heard a 1000 times before and 1000 times after, and it never meant that much to me. When I heard it, though, at just the right time and it made just the right amount of sense that it totally changed my perspective on everything radically since then. It's totally changed the way I operate and the way I look at things. But I can't…

When the master is ready the student appears, works as well.

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#202

Post by Bakary » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 1:25 PM UTC

zaik wrote: post #68

InCityDreams wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think of all the people alive 200 years ago. I would say that, for the overwhelmingly vast majority, nothing they said or did matters now.

At the very least they had children, but also a lot of small things probably have a very long lasting effect.

The point is more that it doesn't matter in the way the person wanting to be remembered would want it to be, or in the way the person wanting to be forgotten fears it to be.

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#203

Post by javajosh » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 1:26 PM UTC

pmoriarty wrote: post #152

jart wrote: post #98

I was one of the people who implemented Google's top-level domain system. One day in the microkitchen I met Vint Cerf and told him what I worked on. He very curtly told me that he hates generic top-level domains, they confuse consumers, and ICANN should have been focusing on making .com / .org / .net better instead. It surprised me when I learned that I'd spent the last four years of my life working on a project wher…

"One day in the microkitchen I met Vint Cerf and told him what I worked on. He very curtly told me that he hates generic top-level domains, they confuse consumers, and ICANN should have been focusing on making .com / .org / .net better instead." You're lucky you didn't meet Stanislaw Ulam, who, when anyone told him about a project they were working on always responded with "What is that compared to E=mc^2 ?"

Ulam picked a strange place to stop zooming out. After all, E=mc^2 will be forgotten, too. Even now it is "forgotten" in the sense of not being understood by most of humanity. There is no static human achievement (scientific, artistic, or political) that survives into Deep Time. Consider that our most durable artifacts are the religious ones - some humans truly believe them to be otherworldly and precious beyond measure. Yet even those artifacts eventually get lost in the couch cushions and forgotten. Science text books will fair worse, in the long run.

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#204

Post by statquontrarian » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 1:27 PM UTC

Try harder with everything

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#205

Post by barrenko » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 1:27 PM UTC

thorio wrote: post #169

One thing I read on HN a couple of month back and really clicked with me is: "If you really struggle to decide between two options and you begin to waste time by postponing the decision, this often indicates, that both options are very similar in expectable outcome" At least in situations, where you can't access more info about path A or B, indecisiveness may indicate "go flip a coin" Sounds simple, but made me aware…

This is like that one on Bezos - if a decision is "revolving" door type situation, make as many mistakes as possible. If it's a concrete wall and disappearing door type of situation do feel free to ponder.

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#206

Post by Mistletoe » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 1:28 PM UTC

It isn’t advice, but my Dad told me that when you love a woman you see her as that age when you fell in love with her for the rest of your life. And I have found that to be true.

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#207

Post by pmoriarty » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 1:31 PM UTC

beachy wrote: post #107

The things that annoy you the most about your partner will be the same things that you will miss the most when they are gone. I try and reflect on this advice when I am struggling to communicate with my wife. Having been divorced once I feel that a positive living relationship is always (well, usually maybe) within our own control.

Completely not my experience.

What I miss the most are the best things about them, and the annoying things I've mostly forgotten or forgiven.

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#208

Post by aynawn » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 1:32 PM UTC

rrwo wrote: post #147

Your job isn't your identity. Your job is there to subsidize what you want to do with your life.

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#209

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 1:32 PM UTC

ahwvd37js wrote: post #164

I’m in my 30s and I could fill up hundreds of pages with all the crappy advice I’ve been given over my life by well-meaning people. Yes, some advice is helpful, and it is helpful to know when you’re stuck and need some new ideas, but I think in most cases advice is overrated. Try things out yourself, make your own mistakes, figure out what works for you, and what doesn’t. You will learn more from the struggle, and th…

Overall, I agree with the spirit of the post, but there is a benefit to let others fail and report results to you. If you manage to distill wisdom from their failures, you may be able to avoid those yourself and save yourself the trouble that could result.

The trick, naturally, is spotting bad advice and unreliable advice giver.

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#210

Post by creakingstairs » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 1:32 PM UTC

spidersouris wrote: post #103

sgt101 wrote: post #79

"Don't beat yourself up about your failures and failings. There are loads of people out there who will do that for you." "Get over yourself." "Don't choose to make enemies" My big one for anyone reading is that life can be short and difficult. You must balance enjoying your time now with investing in yourself and your future. I have had several friends who died young without living their lives while they could. All o…

> You must balance enjoying your time now with investing in yourself and your future. That is, to me, one of the most difficult things to apply in life, and I feel like the rest of your post doesn't exactly provide an answer on how to achieve this. There are so many things that I want to do in life but that I cannot afford to do now, and which I always postpone to later. And it feels like I'll let a great deal of thi…

> Even if I lost all my sources of revenue tomorrow, I wouldn't survive for a very long time with my savings

But you will survive longer than not having those savings at all. Or even worse, having debt. The extra burn down maybe the difference between accepting a shitty job or being able to look around for a better one.

I've recently experienced a family emergency and I was glad I was in position to fork out hefty some of money without even thinking about it, thanks to saving agressively.

> And if I wanted to launch some business in the near future, I doubt such an amount of money would take me very far.

Again, at least you will have _some_ run way to try something different. Savings give you options.

I feel like what you are doing is reasonable. Once you have savings (and arguably you already do), maybe take a big adventure!