How Will I Measure My Life? • Hacker News Board

Re: How Will I Measure My Life?

#11

Post by ourmandave » Wed, Feb 07, 2018, 1:06 PM UTC

coverup wrote: post #10

ealexhudson wrote: post #5

There are a few metrics other people have considered that he seems to have overlooked; daylights, sunsets, midnights, and cups of coffee are all highly quantitative. Qualitative measures are probably to be preferred though, e.g. Love.

You left out the most quantitative measure of all: 525,600 minutes.

^This.

Whenever I whine on my b'day about turning-a-certain-age, there's always some older person in the room who gets all wistful and says, "Ah, to be N again..."

Oh thanks! Way to mellow my harsh man!

(I gotta stop inviting that guy.)

Re: How Will I Measure My Life?

#12

Post by chatmasta » Wed, Feb 07, 2018, 1:13 PM UTC

For those unaware, the author (and HN submitter apparently) is Kent Beck [0] who wrote Extreme Programming Explained and was one of the original signatories of the "Agile Manifesto."

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Beck

Re: How Will I Measure My Life?

#13

Post by rayxi271828 » Wed, Feb 07, 2018, 1:17 PM UTC

ljoshua wrote: post #8

The book, "How Will You Measure Your Life," by Clayton Christensen is easily on my list of Top 5 Most Important books, I cannot recommend it enough. Interestingly, Kent seems to have focused in on hygiene-motivation factors more than anything else, while the large takeaway I brought from the book is more about relationships than money/freetime options. While it is important to be locally maximizing the balance of tho…

What are your 4 other top books?

Re: How Will I Measure My Life?

#14

Post by twoquestions » Wed, Feb 07, 2018, 1:53 PM UTC

thisacctforreal wrote: post #3

JavaScript free version: https://mbasic.facebook.com/notes/kent-beck/how-will-i-measu... I shudder to think about all the data Facebook manages to suck up when you give it the ability.

I didn't know about that before, and it performs so much better on a phone!

Re: How Will I Measure My Life?

#15

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Feb 07, 2018, 2:01 PM UTC

enkid wrote: post #4

This man is quantifying his life into two things, money and freetime, nothing about quantifying the quality of your time at work, nothing about happiness, and nothing about being an ethical person. What's the point of having all the money, and all the free time in the world if you're an unhappy jackass who hates his job?

[deleted]

Re: How Will I Measure My Life?

#16

Post by randcraw » Wed, Feb 07, 2018, 2:07 PM UTC

thisacctforreal wrote: post #3

JavaScript free version: https://mbasic.facebook.com/notes/kent-beck/how-will-i-measu... I shudder to think about all the data Facebook manages to suck up when you give it the ability.

Thanks, but is there a facebook-free version as well?

Re: How Will I Measure My Life?

#17

Post by welly » Wed, Feb 07, 2018, 2:27 PM UTC

terminalcommand wrote: post #9

enkid wrote: post #4

This man is quantifying his life into two things, money and freetime, nothing about quantifying the quality of your time at work, nothing about happiness, and nothing about being an ethical person. What's the point of having all the money, and all the free time in the world if you're an unhappy jackass who hates his job?

I don't know if it is good to love your job. Anything that you do professionally has a tendency to get boring after a time. If you're working for someone else, that also constitutes a blow to your happiness. I think finding a sustainable balance should be sought after when looking for a job. Does the job let you disconnect? Does the job feel satisfying to you? Do you like the office environment? How much does it pay?…

How about those in the arts as a profession? I don't think they'd have a successful career if they didn't love their job. I think they'd produce pretty abysmal art.

Re: How Will I Measure My Life?

#18

Post by lmm » Wed, Feb 07, 2018, 2:31 PM UTC

welly wrote: post #17

terminalcommand wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if it is good to love your job. Anything that you do professionally has a tendency to get boring after a time. If you're working for someone else, that also constitutes a blow to your happiness. I think finding a sustainable balance should be sought after when looking for a job. Does the job let you disconnect? Does the job feel satisfying to you? Do you like the office environment? How much does it pay?…

How about those in the arts as a profession? I don't think they'd have a successful career if they didn't love their job. I think they'd produce pretty abysmal art.

You can be a perfectly good artist as a 9-5 worker; producing good art is much more about, well, doing work, than anything else. The problem is that you're unlikely to be paid well, because you'll have to compete with all the people who are doing art for the fun of it.

Re: How Will I Measure My Life?

#19

Post by jxub » Wed, Feb 07, 2018, 2:46 PM UTC

enkid wrote: post #4

This man is quantifying his life into two things, money and freetime, nothing about quantifying the quality of your time at work, nothing about happiness, and nothing about being an ethical person. What's the point of having all the money, and all the free time in the world if you're an unhappy jackass who hates his job?

The quantification of life is a drastically reductionist approach.

Also, may lead to build fragile in the Talebian sense structures, that is, a lifestyle too dependent on the local minima.

What happens if they change and your life isn't as optimized as you wanted?

These are questions, but the answers are too personal for everyone to respond here.

Re: How Will I Measure My Life?

#20

Post by dsschnau » Wed, Feb 07, 2018, 2:48 PM UTC

why did he post on fb lol