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Ask HN: What is the best piece of advice someone has told you?

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Re: Ask HN: What is the best piece of advice someone has told you?

#61
post #18
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t wanna be harsh but sounds like a shallow line of thinking. Can you expand?

If you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’ve likely surrounded yourself with people “worse” than you in some way. How can you grow in such an environment? You want to surround yourself with people smarter than you so that you can learn from them and grow. So if you’re the smartest person in the room, then you should go find a new room with smarter people. Unless you’re the smartest person on earth of course…

Usually you are in a room with different expertise and culture. How can you definitely say if you are the smartest or not?

What happens with classroom professors or surgeons in surgery rooms? Should they leave the room as well?

Re: Ask HN: What is the best piece of advice someone has told you?

#63
post #61
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’ve likely surrounded yourself with people “worse” than you in some way. How can you grow in such an environment? You want to surround yourself with people smarter than you so that you can learn from them and grow. So if you’re the smartest person in the room, then you should go find a new room with smarter people. Unless you’re the smartest person on earth of course…

Usually you are in a room with different expertise and culture. How can you definitely say if you are the smartest or not? What happens with classroom professors or surgeons in surgery rooms? Should they leave the room as well?

If you’re starting out your career as a surgeon, you really better hope you’re not the best surgeon in the room. People will die. Obviously there comes a point when you can’t grow any more and then it’s ok to be the smartest, but that’s hopefully after a long career filled with growth.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best piece of advice someone has told you?

#64
post #4

Don't tell people your goals. I heard this in a TED talk years ago[0]. Telling people what you plan to do can evoke the same emotions as actually doing that thing, lowering the drive to do the work to accomplish the goal because you got your emotional reward already. Being a serial starter, I retroactively noticed this pattern in myself when I heard this. Now, when I want to do something new, I shut up about it until…

But telling your goals to the people who care about you is actually a good thing. They'd give you honest feedback, point out (any) mistakes, and support you along the way.

I think that depends very much on the person. It really does make sense that sharing with people who care about you would be beneficial, but it really doesn't seem to work for me. If I tell my goal even to someone who is close to me too early, I'm just much less likely to do it. It's as if a large chunk of that intrinsic motivation is just gone as soon as I verbalize my goal or plan to any sort of audience. It impacts me on a small as well as large scale.

Small scale example: If I tell my partner that I plan on going to the gym this weekend, I'm less likely to go when the time actually comes. If I make a plan to go to the gym but don't tell anyone, I'll probably do it.

Larger scale example: When I decided to try selling my fiction writing, I purposefully told no one for about two or three months, until I made some sales. Then, when I felt I had enough momentum and something to show for my plans, I told my partner what I've been doing. He was very very supportive. But then I fell into a habit of telling him _too much_ about my writing journey and plans, thinking it's safe now. It wasn't. The more I talked about it, the less I actually did it. It got to the point where I had to go into lockdown mode of not talking about it at all (and asking him not to ask). Now, I am careful to only talk to him about aspects of writing I've already finished. I can talk about how I've released a book, or what challenges I had in the last release. But I can't talk to him about what I'm writing this weekend, or what my plans are for my writing, or when I hope to have my next release.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best piece of advice someone has told you?

#67

“Try to never be the person who cares the most” was an offhand remark my dad made to me when I was stressed over a group project in school. It helped me what in hindsight would’ve been very stressful situation many, many times.

I don’t understand what problem this solves

Have you never been in a situation where you feel you care most about the project goals only to find out everybody else seems to care less?

It feels stressful and lonely because you feel like you have to hold all the strings together and if you fail, the whole project will fail.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best piece of advice someone has told you?

#68
post #51
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the opposite of advice I’d give to someone. If you’re the smartest in the room, then you’re in the wrong room.

In understand you point, but what's your entry ticket to that room? Why would people who are so much more knowledgeable than you want to have you around? If you read closely, the two statements doesn't even contradict. S(he) said that it's good that you are the best AT SOMETHING. You said, it's not good to be THE BEST.

> Why would people who are so much more knowledgeable than you want to have you around?

Because they have more work than they can handle and want you to fill in their shoes at some point in time. That is the basis of hiring junior developers.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best piece of advice someone has told you?

#69

"Stop while it's good" I don't need to work until I'm completely exhausted, it's okay to stop with some fuel left in the tank...and resume some other time.

To add to that: It is always a good idea to finish the work day before you completely solved the problem. That allows you to pick up right where you left off in the next morning.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best piece of advice someone has told you?

#70
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the opposite of advice I’d give to someone. If you’re the smartest in the room, then you’re in the wrong room.

That's a completely different idea from having a specialization where you are the go-to answer man.

I think the idea is to improve your learning speed by having experienced peers around you. If you only help less experienced people all day, i.e. 'you are the go-to answer man', before you are a true domain expert, that can hinder your career.
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