The Parable of the Mexican Fisherman
http://renewablewealth.com/the-parable-of-the-mexican-fisher...
The compelling case for working less
171–180 of 242 posts
Re: The compelling case for working less
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it has more to do with insecurity about future. Sure I can work less and live a pretty cozy life a software developer. But I have no idea what will happen to my profession and to me in 10 yrs. Who knows if I'd be able to keep up with tech in 10yrs, maybe my brain will slow down. My job can be outsourced tomorrow or I can be replaced by someone younger, cheaper and more * hard working* than me. Better to work…
Reality of capitalism. Work or die! or join them in keeping the masses overworked
Reality of the universe. A desert island has no capitalism, but still has work or death.
Re: The compelling case for working less
#173I'm so thankful I grew up with retired people who came from cowboys and farmers in the mountains. After living a slow life, and especially after experiencing combat, I've never really had a problem seeing right through the rat race. Its funny how near death experiences put things in perspective.
I often think of a comment by Noam Chomsky, about how the industrial revolution promised so much to the people, but many saw it for what it was, little better than chattel slavery, the only difference being you get released to go home at night.
The main problem I've run into is how ingrained the Stockholm syndrome is in people who seem to define themselves by their work. I've been on a break since my last burnout as a senior sysadmin, pursuing a data science degree and doing side projects. I can see the judgement in others when I explain that though... but I don't really care, I feel my pursuits are worthwhile and fulfilling.
People also tend to think your work defines you or themselves when it doesn't and shouldn't. For example, people who don't know me might think I'm "just a sysadmin", but I'm a combat vet who has aspirations of a presidential run some day, and I've spent many years forgoing normal social life in my free time to study the big picture of geopolitics and geostrategy . I don't know if I'll ever be ready for such a huge responsibility, but I'm working on it.
My heroes are men like George Washington and the autodidacts of history, but these days I far too often hear how its impossible to do that anymore.
I disagree. Why artificially limit ourselves like that? We should work on freeing people up to pursue more lofty goals, or maybe I'm still a naive idealist who places too much weight in the principles of the enlightenment.
Re: The compelling case for working less
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
This. That’s why browsing Facebook and Instagram are basically the worst thing you can do when you have self-esteem problems.
Correction: Browsing Facebook and Instagram are basically the worst things you can do.
I don't find Instagram to be that bad. It definitely depends on who you follow though. Personally I use it to post cool pictures, photography, I take with my phone, and I tend to follow people who do the same.
People who start posting excessive "Look at my life" posts tend to get unfollowed pretty quickly.
Re: The compelling case for working less
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
The most effective way to be unhappy - comparing yourself to others. Its far more satisfying to 'impress yourself', ie do better than you did before. I also like to remember that such comparisons are usually between your every day existance and their 'highlight reel'.
>Its far more satisfying to 'impress yourself' I find that this is something that sometimes sort of just happens to me, when I get aware of something I'm doing better now than, say, a year before. But, I never really consciously decide to do that, because then I find it just doesn't work. Like the cliché of standing in front of a mirror and saying to yourself "today is gonna be a good day" (Has that ever worked for a…
Manipulating ones self is surprisingly easy in some ways. This is because emotion is a biofeedback thing. We always seem to think of it as purely a brain-oriented thing, but that's simply factually incorrect. To be happy, you have to be able to smile. To be angry, you have to flare your nostrils and furrow your brow and grit your teeth. People with total facial paralysis, for example, rapidly lose almost all emotional capacity. Eventually they are unable to even recall what having those emotions felt like. Experiments having people hold a pencil in their mouth (which forces your lips into a smile) showed that they experienced less negative emotion and more positive emotion when watching upsetting and funny videos respectively. This is why you won't see an AGI with emotions that lacks a body any time soon. What emotions are is fundamentally tied into the body. And through manipulating the body, one can significantly influence the subjective emotions felt.
Re: The compelling case for working less
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think most people can actually do that. In theory people can do all kinds of things, but each person in this universe is constrained by all kinds of things like instinct, resources, and what they actually experience etc. So, among the things 75% of the people alive today might actually do, browsing Facebook might actually be the worst. Depending on your value system.
You're kidding, right? How about smoking? Alcoholism? Sexual harassment? Stealing? Lying? Cheating? I can keep going. Facebook is waaaay down the list.
Well under 1/2 the worlds population cheats at any point in their lives, that number is not going to change any time soon.
The number of possible Alcoholics don't add up to 75% of the global population. Sexual harassment while bad is not really a temptation for most people. Stealing, is again not things most people even consider.
EX: I may not be average, but I am not in a relationship so I can't exactly cheat. I don't like Alcohol so I am not going to become an Alcoholic. I could go on, but things are really not in my realm of possibility right now.
Re: The compelling case for working less
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Humans are happy if they are relatively well off compared to what they know. This is super true. I've been congratulating myself all month on my new job, paying me BIG BUCKS, compared to my friends. Well, just found out an old friend of mine also found a new job, getting payed literally twice as much as me. Now I'm in a funk and it's irrational and stupid but I can't help but look at the same number in a totally di…
Age fixes that. Used to feel much the same. Now (approaching 50) I just couldn't give a shit anymore. A friend I've grown distant from over the last 4 years or so bought a 911 GT3 RS last year. And suddenly I hear from him. And I marvel at the waste. Purchases like that are meaningful on only two days - the day you buy it, and the day you sell it. I think a mid-20's me might've liked a car like that for the sex it co…
What happend and you started to feel content was it only age or something else?
Re: The compelling case for working less
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think it's illegal, in any western country, to work part time. So we HAVE the option to negotiate fewer hours, no?
It is difficult to work part time and get benefits such as health insurance. Since this is a necessity for most people there is no practical option to work part time.
To emphasize the contrast to the parent comment on libertarianism and free market. Government does not dictate that a company can not pay for benefits such as health insurance for part time workers.
Re: The compelling case for working less
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately and I agree with your premise. I know for a fact that I am better off than my parents, my parents were better off than their parents, and my grandparents were better off than their parents, and in general, this is true for families. Yet, IMO, we are less satisfied and it is because there is a real and growing chasm of people in different income groups in regards to quality o…
... I know for a fact that I am better off than my parents ... I believe for me this is only true because of my job. Because I am a freelance software developer. If I'd have the same occupation as my father or mother, I am sure I would be much worse of today than they were. In The Netherlands taxation has definitely increased over the last decennia and wages haven't kept up with taxation and inflation for most jobs.
Even working class people are (much) better off than the generation before us, because the standard of living has risen so much. Exotic holidays are within reach of most people (the lady who cleans my house goes on yearly holidays that were extravagant just 25 years ago), we have clothes and food and transport and entertainment that is vastly better than a generation ago, and unimaginable to 95% of all Dutch people the generation before that. We spend on average something like 6-8 percent of our incomes on food; that was 20-30 % 50 years ago, and 50+ percent 50 years before that! I'm typing this in a shopping mall in a poor part of the Netherlands, and look at what people ate buying around me - and they're certainly not 'upper class'!
Re: The compelling case for working less
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
You won't get overtraining by doing pushups 7 days a week (you shouldn't, but you won't)
If you do 3x12 pushups (or 2x to failure) every single day when your current level is wall pushups you will over train. There are a lot more people in this world whose level is wall pushups than you may realize.
There is a broad swath between pushups every day (technically just 2 push-ups) and 3x12 or 2xFailure. Most notably, there is 1x50-99% of failure which would be a great way to advance from wall pushups.