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"Don't you dare waste your fucking time"

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Re: "Don't you dare waste your fucking time"

#41

Post by zackattack »

anatoly wrote: post #38
F_J_H wrote: post #20

Reminds me of "Instantes" by Jorge Luis Borges: If I were able to live my life anew, In the next I would try to commit more errors. I would not try to be so perfect, I would relax more. I would be more foolish than I've been, In fact, I would take few things seriously. I would be less hygienic. I would run more risks, take more vacations, contemplate more sunsets, climb more mountains, swim more rivers. I would go to…

Sorry to butt in all pedantic, but I was unable to confirm that Borges wrote this poem (it's usually presented as a poem), and found a few online conversations where it's claimed it has been attributed to several different writers and is of uncertain authorship.

For some reason this comment bothers me, mostly because it's something that I do. I will often interrupt a beautiful moment with some irrelevant fact or correction. I notice that I always apologize for it, either politely like you did, or just in my head. Man to man, let's be honest, is it worth it?

Re: "Don't you dare waste your fucking time"

#42

Post by sonofjanoh »

heed wrote: post #39

I apologize if I come across as snarky, it is not my intent, but I don't like being told what I should do. There's no 'right' way to go about using your time, and wasting it is completely subjective. If I'm about to die and all I want to do is watch TV, there's nothing wrong with that. I don't have to provide value, I don't have to travel, I don't have to take risks, I don't have to watch sunsets, I don't have to do…

You missed the message. That's the whole message, to do what YOU want and not what someone else tells you or make you think you have to. Do more of what gives you pleasure and fulfilment. Be it watching a sunset or chasing storms or whatever unless pleasure is to hurt someone...

Re: "Don't you dare waste your fucking time"

#43

Post by simplegeek »

jeffcoat wrote: post #27
simplegeek wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upvote isn't enough, I've to say this: "Beautiful writing".

You have excellent taste; go now and grab a copy of Borges's _Ficciones_ for more. http://books.google.com/books?id=4dPBlkL1dkIC

Thank you, my friend. I was about to ask for a book recommendation. Ah, HNer's you're awesome ;) If you've any more recommendations please feel free to share. Thanks.

Re: "Don't you dare waste your fucking time"

#45

Post by fexl »

btipling wrote: post #23
Tichy wrote: post #11

The problem is, despite all good intentions (which famously pave the road to hell), I am still not sure how to live a meaningful life. It is easy to make decisions on the spot, but really hard to stick to something over the long time. I don't have any working system for staying on track. What do you use to manage your life? I have at times put down my goals on paper, but those sheets of paper just got lost under the…

Making your life meaningful and managing it are not the same thing in my opinion. Intrinsically, from the perspective that we live on a pale blue dot, our life doesn't have meaning, but we give it meaning, and we'll give it meaning no matter what we end up doing. Your life is both never and always meaningful. Managing time requires some understanding of how our bodies work and personal motivation. The greater the cha…

You're right on the money with "one small action." For example, when anyone asks me for exercise advice, I tell him: "Do 1 push-up every day right before you take a shower."

That may sound pathetic but the key is to do something consistently every day. So if you're in a hurry and don't feel like exercising, drop and do one push-up anyway.

Eventually those efforts compound, and soon enough you're doing your age in push-ups every day. But if a day comes when you don't feel like doing your age in push-ups, just do one. Don't do zero just because you can't meet your loftier goal.

Re: "Don't you dare waste your fucking time"

#46

Post by jacoblyles »

This is not to be confused with "never work towards a long term goal" or "never invest in the future", which is the primary criticism I have of the "live for the day" moral.

It's rational to say "forget about 10 years from now" if you have two years to live. It's not rational if you're expecting to live 50 or 60 more years, even if there is some standard deviation to your expectation.

Re: "Don't you dare waste your fucking time"

#47

Post by scott_s »

Confusion wrote: post #22
wallflower wrote: post #3

A darker story: I was out of state, at a friend's house party, a few years ago and the discussion got non-superficial late in the night, as it sometimes does. His friends were talking about a friend who was not there. Some time prior, this woman had an argument with her mother that escalated into all-out shouting, petty criticisms, damning accusations, anger. The last thing she yelled to her mother was "F * y !!" The…

Given a healthy parent-child relationship, things would probably have been mended again a few days later. If she realizes that, I don't see why that last goodbye should be such a regret: it is a normal and essential part of life together to fight. In fact, you might even view such a thing as a shining example of the way you and your parents loved each other: despite strong emotions, despite your mutual passions for l…

As wallflower said, try experiencing it. You're giving a rational explanation that is probably correct. But emotions are not rational, and I know I would probably be devastated if that happened to me. (Then again, I don't get into shouting matches.)

Re: "Don't you dare waste your fucking time"

#48

Post by heed »

sonofjanoh wrote: post #42
heed wrote: post #39

I apologize if I come across as snarky, it is not my intent, but I don't like being told what I should do. There's no 'right' way to go about using your time, and wasting it is completely subjective. If I'm about to die and all I want to do is watch TV, there's nothing wrong with that. I don't have to provide value, I don't have to travel, I don't have to take risks, I don't have to watch sunsets, I don't have to do…

You missed the message. That's the whole message, to do what YOU want and not what someone else tells you or make you think you have to. Do more of what gives you pleasure and fulfilment. Be it watching a sunset or chasing storms or whatever unless pleasure is to hurt someone...

The message I heard was 'get up and do something before it's too late,' so I could have very well missed part of what was intended. All I'm saying, is doing nothing is perfectly acceptable as well.

Re: "Don't you dare waste your fucking time"

#49

Post by PStamatiou »

illumin8 wrote: post #37
megamark16 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This might sound lame but for me it's Twitter. I'm back on Weight Watchers try to drop the 20 pounds I put over the holidays and new year, so I'm tweeting my weigh ins every Friday. I slipped up a little yesterday; everybody at work brought in their superbowl leftovers. But you can bet that I'm back on today, because I'd really like to have something positive to tweet about Friday, and "the whole world" is watching :…

If you really want to understand why it's difficult to lose weight, and "hack" your body like you hack on computers, I highly recommend a book called Ultrametabolism by Dr. Mark Hyman. In the last 3 months I've lost 20 pounds, just by doing mainly these 3 things: 1. Eat breakfast every day, and make sure it has protein. 2. Eat only whole grains and no refined flour, pasta, and avoid simple carbs. 3. Eat plenty of fat…

I am also trying to lose a few pounds. I started calorie counting stringently over the last weeks. I keep track of everything I eat in excel. I started at 167 and I'm now at 161 3 weeks later (I'm 23 & 5' 9"). I've started taking flaxseed oil, a regular one-a-day vitamin pill and some extra vitamin C and D (1000 IU), acai with antioxidants and some fiber with psyllium husks (helps control hunger at times... expands like 40x its size in your stomach).

I have whey protein shakes everyday or every otherday (esp if I'm going to run or the gym). Meals have much less bread and less dairy than I would usually eat. In general I eat less meals more. Like around 300 calories for a small meal. I eat lots of egg beaters (much less calories and fat than real egg - 70 cal/4.5g fat per real egg including yolk), salads with light balsamic vinaigrette (watch out - lots of them are fatty and have lots of calories. I found one with 40 cal/2tablespoon). Other small meals include fresh sliced turkey (25 cal/slice) and a slice of bread. I've replaced everything I might drink - like milk, orange juice or sodas - with water.

I have not done much working out yet - all my weight loss thus far is just from diet change. I am somewhat active taking my dog on 2 mile walks but I now have access to a gym and have been planning out workouts - dips, crunches, pushups and lots of running (for now).

While I used to eat probably 2150 calories/day (according to a calorie calculator), I now eat 1500 or less per day, usually 1200. The first two weeks are the hardest and you're always hungry, grumpy, tired but then you get used to it. I of course eat more calories when I am active, go on runs and so on, but for coding days I'm just fine with low calories and proper vitamins and protein. I also drink a cup or two of green or black tea each night.

I cut my alcohol intake down a ton, rarely eat out and haven't had red meat since I started this diet.

Do not take this as a suggested diet. I am not a doctor.

Re: "Don't you dare waste your fucking time"

#50

Post by illumin8 »

PStamatiou wrote: post #49
illumin8 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you really want to understand why it's difficult to lose weight, and "hack" your body like you hack on computers, I highly recommend a book called Ultrametabolism by Dr. Mark Hyman. In the last 3 months I've lost 20 pounds, just by doing mainly these 3 things: 1. Eat breakfast every day, and make sure it has protein. 2. Eat only whole grains and no refined flour, pasta, and avoid simple carbs. 3. Eat plenty of fat…

I am also trying to lose a few pounds. I started calorie counting stringently over the last weeks. I keep track of everything I eat in excel. I started at 167 and I'm now at 161 3 weeks later (I'm 23 & 5' 9"). I've started taking flaxseed oil, a regular one-a-day vitamin pill and some extra vitamin C and D (1000 IU), acai with antioxidants and some fiber with psyllium husks (helps control hunger at times... expands l…

You don't need to be so restrictive on your caloric intake. I still eat about 2000 calories a day (I'm 6'1" and 168 pounds now, was 188 when I started). You just need to eat the right calories. The hardest thing for me was cutting out the bread and pasta. I can still eat bread, but only "sprouted wheat" bread, which you can find at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods.

Also, I eat real eggs (about 2 for breakfast scrambled with vegetables, slice of sprouted wheat toast, cup of fruit, 3 times a week) all the time. The myth about eggs causing high cholesterol is just a myth. Your body can process the cholesterol in eggs just fine, since your own liver can produce way more cholesterol in a single day. It just depends on the rest of your diet.

It sounds like you are making some great choices so far, but I would personally avoid the "low-fat" foods since most of them are packed with sugar, or even worse, High Fructose Corn Syrup. Instead, just eat good fats. Try putting olive oil and balsamic vinegar on your salad instead of sugary "light balsamic vinagrette."

Also, you're right to cut out the fruit juices. Unfortunately, as much as I used to love orange juice, it has a lot of sugar. Much better to just eat an orange, because the fiber that comes with the orange will make your body take more energy to digest it, and your body will absorb the sugar more slowly.

I also cut down on my alcohol intake a lot. I can still drink a glass of wine with dinner every day, but I stay away from drinking beer or more than 1 drink at a time. Green tea twice a day is also really good for me.

Stick with it! Sounds like you're doing well, although I don't think you need to cut your calories down so low.

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