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You are not 'behind'

zackkanter.com

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Re: You are not 'behind'

#81

Post by ruleabidinguser »

enraged_camel wrote: post #61
nxc18 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your worried about money, is suggest getting a job at a decent company (reading between the lines it sounds like you've put your time in ventures) and having a financial plan. A small dose of austerity and planning can make you a millionaire in a short time, with relatively little risk. It won't be more money than you know what to do with, but you'll be comfortable enough to retire and then be as lazy as you want.…

Nah, I want "fuck you money" so that work becomes optional. I want to work on what I want, not what someone else wants. I want to work because I want to, not because I have to. Retirement isn't good enough. By the time you retire you are in your 60s, which is too late for me.

No one really wants to work

Re: You are not 'behind'

#82

Post by whytaka »

jondubois wrote: post #8

For the past 10 years, I only spent about 4 to 8 hours per week on entertainment - All the rest of my time was divided between work and sleep (I only sleep 5 hours per day on weekdays). Financially, I have nothing to show for it unfortunately so I really feel like I'm behind and that I've missed the boat on many things. What makes it particularly difficult is that I was working really hard the whole time - When I rea…

Being unremarkable is easier to accept if you tried and failed than if you know you never really tried at all and you squandered the chance.

Re: You are not 'behind'

#83

Post by jaggederest »

ruleabidinguser wrote: post #77
jaggederest wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've felt like this my entire life. Turns out for me that it is a symptom of (undiagnosed) ADHD - an execution problem, not a motivational problem. Having gotten that diagnosed, it's a very significant change in my life. To be cliche, the first day of the rest of my life. For many people, "trying to bend their personality into the shape [they] want it to be" is fruitless, totally counterproductive. The first thing I…

What reason is there to think ADHD is just nice words for failure?

Objective physiological and neurological differences in brain structure?

Re: You are not 'behind'

#84

Post by ethbro »

aoeuasdf1 wrote: post #69
babaganoosh89 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's so great about TV? If you want to do something then do it. Otherwise you didn't want to do it in the first place.

People contain multitudes. "You" aren't a single entity which wants or doesn't want things. There is such thing as internal conflict.

The two of you are saying the same thing with different definitions.

Re: You are not 'behind'

#85

Post by ethbro »

fratlas wrote: post #71
dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still think it's overrated. Let's take Trump for example - he has both money and power (arguably more than mainstream media since he won in spite of them). Do you think he's happy? He doesn't seem to be. Would even more money and power make him happier? I doubt it.

I think Musk is a better example. Money is just a medium for him to change the world for the better. I'm sure being rich makes Musk happy, only because it enables him to make a difference.

I think they're both pretty happy. Musk is doing what he wants to do. Trump is doing what he thought he wanted to do.

Re: You are not 'behind'

#86

Post by pg_is_a_butt »

jondubois wrote: post #8

For the past 10 years, I only spent about 4 to 8 hours per week on entertainment - All the rest of my time was divided between work and sleep (I only sleep 5 hours per day on weekdays). Financially, I have nothing to show for it unfortunately so I really feel like I'm behind and that I've missed the boat on many things. What makes it particularly difficult is that I was working really hard the whole time - When I rea…

you are behind.

Re: You are not 'behind'

#87

Post by ethbro »

penguat wrote: post #13
jondubois wrote: post #8

For the past 10 years, I only spent about 4 to 8 hours per week on entertainment - All the rest of my time was divided between work and sleep (I only sleep 5 hours per day on weekdays). Financially, I have nothing to show for it unfortunately so I really feel like I'm behind and that I've missed the boat on many things. What makes it particularly difficult is that I was working really hard the whole time - When I rea…

You have invested your time in some ways; others have invested theirs in other ways. Lazy is a very loaded term - I'm hesitant to subscribe to the notion that keeping up with Game of Thrones is any less an investment of time. As examples of the value of such an investment, you can then discuss it with your friends and coworkers, facilitating social cohesion and acceptance. You can use it a tool to encourage you to ta…

> That said, not all investments work out. [...] Please try to focus on what you have learned and gained, and keep actively choosing your investments.

This, critically. The extrapolation of "most successful people have a long string of failures behind them" is that, from any point in time before your success, it looks like you're wasting your time.

The important thing then is to try and evaluate whether you're actually wasting your time or early but on the right path.

Many things are useful here. Evaluating incremental micro-goals: what are the things that will help you attain your larger goals and are your current actions checking these off? Soliciting feedback from trusted peers: recognizing that success usually looks a little crazy (otherwise, someone else would be doing it), do they believe you're on a plausibly successful path or have any feedback in changes you could make? Attending more meetings where people like you are sharing their successes and failures: thereby avoiding comparing yourself to the 100 one-in-a-millions we read about here on HN?

In short, worry about whether your current trajectory has the highest likelihood of success you can achieve. Not whether you're already successful.

(And allow for a variety of end states that are successful. To some, a loving family is the highest success. And that's a valid choice.)

Re: You are not 'behind'

#88

Post by jondubois »

bsg75 wrote: post #22
jondubois wrote: post #8

For the past 10 years, I only spent about 4 to 8 hours per week on entertainment - All the rest of my time was divided between work and sleep (I only sleep 5 hours per day on weekdays). Financially, I have nothing to show for it unfortunately so I really feel like I'm behind and that I've missed the boat on many things. What makes it particularly difficult is that I was working really hard the whole time - When I rea…

> Financially, I have nothing to show Was this because individual projects or endeavors were not successful, or the companies you invested time in were not? Also, the results of the last 10 years can help determine the approach of the next 10. Until you are too old or sick to move, there is always time for R&R. (Disclaimer: I'm approaching 50 and always feel behind)

Both; I've always had a side project over the years while I was working for startups as well. I must have gone through at least 12 startups (in addition to 3 of my own side projects; each taking up about 3 years of my spare time).

All the startups I joined sounded promising but the tech environment in Australia was really tough back then (still is, I think).

I did manage to get a small number of shares in a startup which appears to be doing relatively well now but no exit yet (it's also the startup which I worked for the longest; 2 years)... All the other ones just failed. I really understand first-hand what it means when people say that 9 out of 10 startups fail. When I think that my experience of success/failure is probably 'normal' it really freaks me out how bad the odds are (versus what the media makes them look like).

The lesson I learned is that it appears to be completely random. It's just about being in the right place at the right time; the best you can do is just change companies a lot until you join one that's obviously going up like a rocket and try to get some shares.

I've met a few founders who got very lucky and they don't have the slightest clue how weird/unlikely their success is; they live in a different, much simpler world than me.

Re: You are not 'behind'

#89

Post by corey_moncure »

foobarbecue wrote: post #19

Reading this made me realize that my regret usually targets the previous hours or day. Generally, if I look at the last month or year or decade, I'm impressed with what I've accomplished. And yet I'm always disappointed with my immediate past. I think this short-term regret may be the reaction mass I'm igniting to propel me forward. To borrow a phrase from finnthehuman above, this short-term regret is the fire lit un…

I didn't have any regrets until I sat and watched cryptocoin for 6 years and did nothing about it.

Re: You are not 'behind'

#90

Post by mooreds »

ogreface wrote: post #79
mcguire wrote: post #51

Apropos of nothing, " Zack Kanter, Boulder, CO-based entrepreneur, speaker, futurist, and writer, CEO of Proforged, amateur chef, all-around nerd. " I don't think that's the Proforged ( http://proforged.com/ ) that makes suspension parts. Or maybe it is. https://github.com/Proforged

That's him. Though he doesn't seem to have updated his personal website, he's now CEO/Founder of Stedi: http://www.stedi.com/

Yup. I imagine that running Proforged caused him to want to simplify EDI.
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