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Ask HN: What inspires you to persevere through adversity?

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Re: Ask HN: What inspires you to persevere through adversity?

#121

Post by sctb »

aptidude187 wrote: post #15
kahrkunne wrote: post #11

Personally I look towards people I admire; especially times they screwed up. For example, right now Donald Trump is somebody that's very inspiring to me, because I consider him a great and admirable man, who has also made many mistakes over time. I admire his ability to pick himself back up and keep going. You will probably have other people you admire; look for times they made mistakes. What's important is realizing…

Admiring Donald Trump, that's depressing.

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Re: Ask HN: What inspires you to persevere through adversity?

#122

Post by jaflo »

xapata wrote: post #59
atroyn wrote: post #48

I realized a while ago that inspiration isn't very helpful for getting you through adversity. Inspiration gets you going, but grit and discipline ultimately help you push through. I'm going to go against the grain of most of what's being said in this thread and say that the best way to get through adversity is to discard a goal-based mentality entirely, in favor of a system-based mentality. Figure out the stuff you h…

I'll echo the same. I decided some time ago that I disliked some aspects of my personality, especially shyness and sadness. I made a choice to systematically practice the habits of someone who was outgoing and happy. Now I am, mostly. Sometimes I still need to remind myself that change is possible.

Could you share some of the choices you made?

Re: Ask HN: What inspires you to persevere through adversity?

#123

Post by vmarsy »

atroyn wrote: post #48

I realized a while ago that inspiration isn't very helpful for getting you through adversity. Inspiration gets you going, but grit and discipline ultimately help you push through. I'm going to go against the grain of most of what's being said in this thread and say that the best way to get through adversity is to discard a goal-based mentality entirely, in favor of a system-based mentality. Figure out the stuff you h…

> started with making my bed as soon as I got up every day

This is exactly the advice from Admiral Mc Raven at the university of Texas commencement ceremony. He recalls it as one of the most important lessons he got from its navy SEAL training: https://news.utexas.edu/2014/05/16/mcraven-urges-graduates-t...

Re: Ask HN: What inspires you to persevere through adversity?

#125

Post by yokisan »

Go outside and look at the night sky, if you can. Gazing into that vast beautiful unknown, at the same stars that our ancestors saw when they looked up, is awe inspiring.

And knowing that we have it better than they ever did - despite our challenges - is humbling.

It cuts out any notion that you 'deserve' anything and reminds you that setbacks don't matter. Just keep going.

Re: Ask HN: What inspires you to persevere through adversity?

#127

Post by adventured »

atroyn wrote: post #48

I realized a while ago that inspiration isn't very helpful for getting you through adversity. Inspiration gets you going, but grit and discipline ultimately help you push through. I'm going to go against the grain of most of what's being said in this thread and say that the best way to get through adversity is to discard a goal-based mentality entirely, in favor of a system-based mentality. Figure out the stuff you h…

> The 'small wins' you get from just executing the loop over and over again build up a lot of momentum over time.

I've been building on the Web and Internet non-stop since the early 1990s, and that's the only method I've found that works consistently to stave off giving up when things inevitably get really hard. One of the fastest ways to giving up, is to fail to tackle one giant task, and have it grind you up and burn large amounts of time; when you spot that happening, it's critical to switch to smaller tasks / goals that you can knock out quickly, so as to get any modicum of progress going again.

Re: Ask HN: What inspires you to persevere through adversity?

#129

Post by cushychicken »

jat850 wrote: post #117
vr46 wrote: post #100

My parents worked their nuts off to pay for my education and provide security for the family - my dear old late dad woke up at 4am EVERY SINGLE DAY of the year, except Christmas Day, to work for me, basically. There's no way I'm giving up on anything. I have a ridiculously easy life compared to them, and because of them. That's my main motivation, apart from my own young family. And I surround myself mostly with tale…

Not your fault, but your comment made me subtly sad that I haven't repaid the same sacrifice and commitment from my family with as much as they deserved. They too worked very hard to provide and give a good life for me, and through naivety, youth, inexperience, laziness - I pissed a large portion of it away. I try to do better now, but I think I'll always carry some personal guilt over that. I can't fix the past, but…

It's a debt that's generally paid forward, not back. You still have a shot.

Re: Ask HN: What inspires you to persevere through adversity?

#130

Post by vanderreeah »

bogomipz wrote: post #77
vanderreeah wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The parent post speaks of his/her starvation and a partner dying. You make a pedantic comment on his/her paraphrase. You are both insensitive, and you do not know what "paraphrase" means. Also, being a fan of a racist imperialist is sort of an awkward thing to confess to.

Wow, are you self-righteous and judgemental! I am a fan of Winston Churchill the war-time Prime Minister that stood up to Hitler and helped save Britain and Europe from the Nazis. There is no shame in that. Does that mean I agree with everyone of his personal views? No of course not. Where do you get off passing judgement, being the moral police, and projecting onto others like that? Paraphrasing and attributing a qu…

I made a moral judgement, which IMHO is not the same as being judgemental or "the moral police". If, as you say, discourse on HN often unfolds in tangential directions, surely moral tangents like mine are as permissible as historical ones like yours?
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