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Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

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Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#391

Post by xcmac »

DustinBrett wrote: post #366

At some point I came across this quote which has been credited to Mark Twain: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." I recall taking it to heart and trying to imagine the kind of regrets I would have as a 40 year old me. Short…

Woah this is inspirational af. Ive been thinking of doing this my self....any way I could get some time to chat with you about this?

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#392

Post by pagade »

- Compare yourself with your previous version and not with others. (Taught in school to us to not compare grades with other students but with yourself. This stuck with me for life.)

- Knowledge is not power. Knowledge is potential of power. (Brought me out of the false sense of comfort that reading book or completing course/training will automatically benefit me or is progress towards actual work. You need to apply the knowledge else it is useless.)

- You don't have to complete the book you are currently reading. (First heard from Naval)

- Arrange documents alphabetically and cross reference if required. Any other system will fall apart.(From GTD)

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#393

Post by oblib »

I was complaining to a friend about someone who "didn't know shit about what I was working on" and they told me "You can learn from everyone you if you listen to them".

My first reaction to that was thinking "No, some people are just annoying and clueless" but after a few days of pondering that I realized that me being dismissive would get in the way of proving him wrong.

Just a few days later the person I was complaining about did suggest a different way of doing something that I had been doing for years and that advice saved me a lot of time, which made me a lot more money, and was a big improvement over how I'd been doing it.

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#394

Post by IgorPartola »

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #199
IgorPartola wrote: post #166

Always take sides. By not taking a side you are automatically wrong. This doesn’t mean you should engage in identity politics, etc. but when faced with a choice take the time to make an informed decision. If you say something “should be a thing” you are automatically now in charge of creating it or convincing someone to create it. Do not tell people who are working on things that they should realize your idea if you…

This really should be the fist rule of the internet.:D

It’s more fun to put it at the end :)

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#395

Post by benja123 »

I am not sure where I read this or who told this to me, but my favorite piece of advice (prior to having kids) was "don't waste your time with people that don't give you positive energy". It's really easy to get brought down by other people's negativity, be at work or in your personal life. Staying away from people that bring you down is key to being happy and successful.

The most important piece of advice I can give to any new parent is "You have between 6 to 10 years where your kid(s) actually wants to hang out with you - take advantage of it, you'll never get another chance"

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#396

Post by tomcam »

bombcar wrote: post #350
tomcam wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I looked at it like this. A good two week vacation in Paris costs at least $10,000. I could instead bill out approximately $12,000 during that time. Therefore, the best thing to do is for me to pay a Parisian $2,000 to have my vacation for me. I stayed at home, and earned a lot more money. I can then spend that on another vacation. You can thank me later for this gem.

Even better - you can hire a Parisian and a Roman and a Londoner to each have a vacation for you at the same time! 2 weeks of work and 6 weeks of vacation in just two weeks of clock time. This is the way.

That’s what I call out-of-the-box thinking

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#397

Post by ornornor »

nonasktell wrote: post #106
ghstcode wrote: post #73

Before spending the last money I had on a coding book, the cashier could see my hesitation and said "don't worry, investing in yourself is never a waste of money". It had a profound impact on me.

For anyone reading this and thinking about spending your last 10 bucks on a programming book please use Libgen or a free mooc

Or even your local library

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#399

Post by bergenty »

jemmyw wrote: post #131
javajosh wrote: post #124

My mother told me to not care what other people thought. She also told me that words can't really hurt people ("sticks and stones..."). She also believed its "mean" to have any preference about people, calling it a version of "keeping score". In fact, "keeping score" was one of the worst things you could be accused of in my household. Her advice fails to accept the reality of social and emotional needs. It also fails…

To be fair to your mother, this particular advice and view was rampant when I grew up in the 80s/90s. My experience was that this is quite backwards. Physical altercations at school didn't hurt that much, but the name calling, social shunning and constant verbal put down was very painful and has affected my whole life.

Fists fights are great. Quick resolution of said problem and emotions. One of my best friends over the last few decades was a person I hated till we physically fought each other in our 20s.

Another example is American parents. Since you can’t spank your kids you have to resort to hurting their feelings with words to discipline them. No wonder teens in this country hate their parents.

Re: Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

#400

Post by toomanyrichies »

tsujamin wrote: post #112

“Suffering occurs when your ideas about how things ought to be don’t match how they really are.” I started reading Hardcore Zen out of interest after seeing it recommended in a twitter thread. Still deciding about the book but this one stuck with me, that (physical causes aside) unhappiness can be a choice that you make moment to moment and that you can decide to change your mind

Checking this book out, thanks.
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