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Why most people don’t succeed – How you can be the exception

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Re: Why most people don’t succeed – How you can be the exception

#11

Post by il »

whimsy wrote: post #9
napierzaza wrote: post #4

how YOU can be the exception. Because you are. You snow-flake.

Sounds like a Fight Club reference. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile. ~Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, Chapter 17 Pretty bleak. Related: You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis…

I guess that kind of "screw the rat race" attitude doesn't play well on Hacker News.

Re: Why most people don’t succeed – How you can be the exception

#12

Post by bfung »

edw519 wrote: post #5

Maintenance is boring. Just a few things I don't think are boring: - sinking my teeth into some fresh sweet melon - a late afternoon jog in the woods - hanging out with friends and family - an ice cold beer at the football game - an all-you-can-eat salad bar - curling up with SO (even if it is a chick flick) - a hot shower, freshly brushed teeth, and a warm bathrobe - a happy dance after a new program runs the first…

What about these thing, can they be counted as 'living'? Would many people count these as living at all???

  - Periodic management of bank account and making sure you have enough to do 
    whatever it is (survive, travel, have fun, etc)

  - Periodic visits to the dentist or doctor for checkups

  - If distance is an issue, periodically calling your mother.  
    Not all hackers live in their parents' basement. ;)  This one is a weak example.

  - Mowing the lawn, doing laundry, wash dishes, refill toilet paper, etc...
In addition, there are always trade offs. How about all-you-can-eat mashed potatoes and gravy vs. all-you-can-eat salad? Or slouching on a couch vs. jogging in the woods?

Just wanted to play devil's advocate and point out that it takes a certain mindset and definitely a conscious effort to live well.

Re: Why most people don’t succeed – How you can be the exception

#13

Post by nicholasjbs »

jacquesm wrote: post #6
sthomps wrote: post #2

Super insightful, it's like the quote "you don't know what you've got till it's gone". Humans seem to have to feel pain/hit rock bottom before we can go back up, instead of visually processing what the future holds in store and proactively changing it. It's an interesting cognitive process.

> Humans seem to have to feel pain/hit rock bottom before we can go back up, Hence the value of a difficult childhood. That's only half joking, most of the guys & girls that succeeded rather early in life had some luggage with them.

In my experience most people in general have some luggage with them, once you look past the surface. That's not to say all hardship is created equal, of course.

Re: Why most people don’t succeed – How you can be the exception

#14

Post by auxbuss »

See I view "maintenance" as the key to a business. Nothing stands still. Everything is changing all the time. Except for those parts that you nailed once and for all, and that the rest of the world agrees you nailed, which is none of it.

Maintenance is king. Maintenance is the most interesting part of business. Maintenance is the only way that you'll stay in business.

So, you can call maintenance boring, and I love you for it. Because while you're standing still with your "perfect" initial system, I am eating you lunch, drinking your wine, taking your customers, and spending your cash.

Re: Why most people don’t succeed – How you can be the exception

#15

Post by bbuffone »

edw519 wrote: post #5

Maintenance is boring. Just a few things I don't think are boring: - sinking my teeth into some fresh sweet melon - a late afternoon jog in the woods - hanging out with friends and family - an ice cold beer at the football game - an all-you-can-eat salad bar - curling up with SO (even if it is a chick flick) - a hot shower, freshly brushed teeth, and a warm bathrobe - a happy dance after a new program runs the first…

Maintenance is just development without innovation; even new projects are boring when they lack innovation. Turning something that already exists into something that is 10 times better can be just a rewarding as building something from scratch.

Re: Why most people don’t succeed – How you can be the exception

#16

Post by maigret »

il wrote: post #11
whimsy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a Fight Club reference. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile. ~Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, Chapter 17 Pretty bleak. Related: You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis…

I guess that kind of "screw the rat race" attitude doesn't play well on Hacker News.

That's really a good comment. It's not a true/false issue, so thank you for reminding that. Interest for tech doesn't mean screwing the rest of one's life.

Re: Why most people don’t succeed – How you can be the exception

#17

Post by thaumaturgy »

Not that the author is wrong -- everything he says meshes with lots of professional medical, health, and life advice. On the other hand, I'm constantly reminded of my grandfather, who ran his own business for something like 40 or 50 years, struggled a lot, raised a family, and never got caught gazing at his navel. He just worked.

So, I'm not 100% convinced that this sort of self-obsession is really all that helpful.

On the other hand, he did die pretty much on the job, and at several years younger than he ought to've ...

Re: Why most people don’t succeed – How you can be the exception

#18

Post by trunnell »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #17

Not that the author is wrong -- everything he says meshes with lots of professional medical, health, and life advice. On the other hand, I'm constantly reminded of my grandfather, who ran his own business for something like 40 or 50 years, struggled a lot, raised a family, and never got caught gazing at his navel. He just worked . So, I'm not 100% convinced that this sort of self-obsession is really all that helpful.…

Self-awareness in general is a positive trait.

Surely you'd agree that it's especially helpful to those who, unlike your grandfather, are wondering why they have not yet achieved what they want.

Re: Why most people don’t succeed – How you can be the exception

#20

Post by thaumaturgy »

trunnell wrote: post #18
thaumaturgy wrote: post #17

Not that the author is wrong -- everything he says meshes with lots of professional medical, health, and life advice. On the other hand, I'm constantly reminded of my grandfather, who ran his own business for something like 40 or 50 years, struggled a lot, raised a family, and never got caught gazing at his navel. He just worked . So, I'm not 100% convinced that this sort of self-obsession is really all that helpful.…

Self-awareness in general is a positive trait. Surely you'd agree that it's especially helpful to those who, unlike your grandfather, are wondering why they have not yet achieved what they want.

Sure, self-awareness is good, usually. He might've been a lot more successful if he had stopped a time or two and really considered things like his strengths and his weaknesses, and figured out that it was good to get people that were good at his weaknesses, and that sort of thing.

But the tongue-in-cheek point is that I'm really beginning to get that all that consideration is just consideration. You still have to do stuff, and the people that I think of as the greatest examples of getting lots of stuff done don't seem to spend too much time dwelling on what they can do different, or on whether it's healthy, or on whether people appreciate it or not.

I can't imagine him wondering anything about his achievements -- even though he probably did occasionally -- because he always seemed to not have the time to wonder about it. He was busy doing stuff instead.

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