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Ask HN: What was your biggest life lesson in 2015?

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Re: Ask HN: What was your biggest life lesson in 2015?

#22
I figured out that people bond with other people better by engaging in 'wasteful activities'. I figured out the importance of "fitting in". It is funny but I couldn't realize it in the first 24 years of my life. I had never needed to make others happy. At work, I would go about my stuff and didn't have to bother about what others thought (as long as my work was being done). In College, I could simply ace exams and didn't have to worry about what other people thought about me. People around me have always engaged in things that seemed excessively wasteful to me (going to movies, partying, drinking). And I was happy in my own little world.

Things changed when we started a company...a B2B company. We started selling at the beginning of this year and I found myself in a salesman's role (lucky me). I couldn't say no to meeting people, I couldn't say no to events, I couldn't say no to going to bars after events, I couldn't say no to partying, I had to engage in everything that I thought was wasteful. I was awkward and dumb at times but it helped me bond with people. I kept away from it for far too long, but now I try to force myself to meet people.

I know this is nothing new to most of you. But it was revelation for me. In startups, sometimes you have to force yourself to go against your very nature.

Re: Ask HN: What was your biggest life lesson in 2015?

#24
post #20

I started the year with knee injuries that made basic activity, let alone sports, prohibitively painful. After months of PT and exercise, they're better now. I am pretty young, so this problem was very unexpected. The lesson is that any day I can make marginal gains is a good one. Focusing on achieving on a day-to-day basis has made working on my startup -- a big long term project -- much easier.

I can relate. I broke my ankle in December 2011. It was also painful, even after recovery. My ankle was perpetually injured. I've had 3 surgeries, the latest in February 2015. Since then I've been making small gains, but no set-backs, and can finally run and jump without pain--about 90% of what I was before the brake.

As my ankle improves, so does my life along with it. Small gains and small steps forward.

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