Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Ultimate Guide To Getting Nowhere In Life

garyharan.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 90 posts

Re: The Ultimate Guide To Getting Nowhere In Life

#71

Post by Qz »

cookiecaper wrote: post #64
Qz wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I know everyone isn't suited for entrepreneurial life..." Is that because they started out that way, or because society tells them they should get 9-to-5 jobs and be happy about it?

I think it's because they started out that way! Of course, almost any skill or desire can be learned, but everyone is born into this world with their own unique set of aptitudes and weaknesses. The unique amalgamation found in each person lends its owner to certain roles and stations in life where excellence is easier to achieve. Some people are perfectly OK working for someone else. They enjoy the labor of it, they…

Some people are perfectly OK working for someone else. They enjoy the labor of it, they enjoy the pay, they enjoy the company, they enjoy the security and relative comfort and anonymity. It doesn't really bother them that someone else is making 3x more off of the work performed than they are.

These people seem almost mythical... I've never met anyone like that.

There's all kinds of people who are OK with this idea, too, but believe me that it's much better for some types to remain content with this than to branch out.

Why should I believe you that it's okay for people to be content with that? If I met anyone who was content with that, I would try to wake them up to the reality of what's going on.

Re: The Ultimate Guide To Getting Nowhere In Life

#73

Post by smwhreyebelong »

nostrademons wrote: post #59
tomjen3 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well if it would make you feel better, you have sucky coworkers :) It should be obvious that most people don't derive pleasure from the place they live. Better use the money for something else.

I'm not sure about that. I think it's more that people tend to derive pleasure from one or two "must haves" about the place they live, but don't care much about the rest. If those "must haves" don't align with what you value, it looks irrational, but it's perfectly rational to them . Personally, I can't stand living in a place that doesn't look out over greenery. I find I'm so much calmer and get more done when I can…

I agree it's all about priorities. Once you live in the city and get used to the hustle-bustle and the fast paced life where most things are close-by and you can walk to most places or take public transit, it becomes part of your system.

I've lived in cities most of my life and when I had to live in the suburbs once, it was very hard to adjust to the quiet at first. Not seeing a lot of people walking around, going about their lives made me feel something was missing. The mobility and being able to use your feet as the primary means of transport was something I missed dearly.

Re: The Ultimate Guide To Getting Nowhere In Life

#74

Post by sophacles »

_bfhp wrote: post #12

What makes these inverse guides so appealing, anyway...

Sometimes there is more than one "correct" method. In a lot of those cases, the "wrong" way is pretty specific, or at least tightly constrained. At such times, it is easier to explain that instead of explaining a large group of extremely different options.

Other times, it is just a simple case of "I don't know what works, but I know what doesn't work". This allows the next person to not make that mistake.

Re: The Ultimate Guide To Getting Nowhere In Life

#75

Post by Qz »

ajscherer wrote: post #72
Qz wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that we remember his name, whereas the average American remains nameless.

Lets ask him how much better that makes him feel.

You don't think you would be a little happier knowing that when you die your name will still be written in history books for decades or centuries to come?

Re: The Ultimate Guide To Getting Nowhere In Life

#76

Post by foenix »

cdr wrote: post #67
mbrubeck wrote: post #49

Hacker News - and blogs in general - are another way to live vicariously from your couch. (Thank goodness for noprocrast!)

Thank goodness for LeechBlock: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4476 It's like noprocrast for everything. (Although I wish they hadn't mangled the UI in the last update.)

The nice thing about leechblock is that it lets you set up a set amount of time per hour on particular sites.

Unfortunately, this means I get cut off mid-sen

Re: The Ultimate Guide To Getting Nowhere In Life

#77

Post by hobb0001 »

xutopia wrote: post #33
smiler wrote: post #5

How demeaning. Agree with some of it but notice how there is nothing here about anything else you might like to do with your life outside of having a job and owning a business. Like a wife and a family. A 9-5 job is pretty much great in those circumstances if you just want to enjoy life - I work for a 10 person company and I've seen what the owner has gone through in the last 10 years it's been going - he has no life…

(Disclaimer I'm the author of the post) Having a family and moving forward in your career are not incompatible. I should have used "dead end job" instead of "9-5" job. I didn't mean that working more hours and spending time away from your family is something you should be doing. Sorry about making it sound that way. The post was about not waisting your potential, stopping bad financial habits and living your passions…

I acknowledge your clarification and I agree with what YOU have said, but let me rant a little against the startup mentality that is prevalent here on HN. The general attitude seems to be that you're wasting your one chance at living unless you haven't accomplished something bigger than yourself and have left a legacy. It is a rousing sentiment, but yet, at the end of the day, I can't help but be sobered by the poem Ozymandius. Yes, you've left a legacy, but only for one, maybe two, generations before that too is forgotten:

  My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
  Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
Speaking of poems, poets would tell you that you've wasted your life unless you've loved; loved so deeply that you die a little when it is lost. So which is it? Legacy? Success? Love? Family?

In the end, I think you've nailed it with your last sentence: living your passions. If your passion is, literally, passion, then love. Make love your life. If your passion is external admiration, then succeed. (Please don't become a doctor or lawyer if your goal is admiration. Only do so if your passion is helping the sick or defending justice.) But to your point, at the end of your life, make sure you don't have a 100" flat-panel TV and a mountain of regrets.

Re: The Ultimate Guide To Getting Nowhere In Life

#78

Post by ajscherer »

Qz wrote: post #75
ajscherer wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lets ask him how much better that makes him feel.

You don't think you would be a little happier knowing that when you die your name will still be written in history books for decades or centuries to come?

No, I don't think so. That doesn't seem to fall into any of the categories of things that have made me happy. I've accomplished a few things that I think "should" make me happy, but for whatever reason I don't feel any lasting difference as a result. Most things that have made me happier either gave me pleasure directly, or were the negation of something that was causing me stress.

Re: The Ultimate Guide To Getting Nowhere In Life

#79

Post by smwhreyebelong »

chipsy wrote: post #26
hugh3 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. It's really just a cheap trick that makes half-assed advice sound much cleverer than it really is. But it works!

We need to go one step further and make inverse inverse guides: "How to not fail at not failing" etc.

Funny you say that. pg used an inverse-inverse title for his 2007 Startup School talk. It was titled :"Why to Not Not start a startup"

http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html

Re: The Ultimate Guide To Getting Nowhere In Life

#80

Post by LiveTheDream »

keeptrying wrote: post #45
azanar wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right about the matter of wife and family, but not in way most people believe they are right about it. There is a wide chasm between finding joy in something, and feeling the compulsion to sacrifice for it. That you find joy in your family is fantastic, if only because you've found something to enjoy. That your boss has been slogging away for ten years on his business is fantastic, as long as his enjoyment of…

"even when people have options, they feel compelled not to pursue them" Thats a really good point and its scary when you see it all around you. And I think the reason it happens is because you dont see anyone else pursuing those options. I have, recently, moved out to Queens and now live with roommates so as to save money. previously I had my own 1 bedroom in Manhattan. No one at work understands why I did this. The…

Some might prefer having a shorter commute to work and their preferred nightlife to a cheaper rent.
Post reply on HN