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

dontgetburnedblog.com

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

#31

Post by bfung »

bootload wrote: post #27
bfung wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 e…

"... What about these thing, can they be counted as 'living'? ... it takes a certain mindset and definitely a conscious effort to live well." If you have live a sheltered life, yes. The mindset comes from realising the "living" bit and the circumstances you live for most is (often) taken for granted.

I was more pointing out that there are maintenance tasks that lean less towards something that would seem to be fun (for most people), such as keeping track of finances. These boring but necessary things are a part of life are simple things to do, but in the spirit with the article, the people who live well don't ignore these boring but necessary tasks.

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

#32

Post by WalterBright »

ojbyrne wrote: post #30

My girlfriend just had a problem with her car, which she noticed when it wouldn't start. The oil light had gone on a couple of hundred miles before, and it was an old car. She panicked about how her engine was screwed,and it would cost her multiple thousands of dollars to fix, and I lost it saying how you need to check the oil regularly. It turned out to be a $25 repair. They replaced a washer. Sometimes things that…

An engine will run a surprisingly long time with little or no oil pressure.

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

#33

Post by lorenzsell »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #20
trunnell wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

So what you're saying is that rather than thinking about how you can be more efficient, it's better to be too busy to think.

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

#34

Post by bambax »

annajohnson wrote: post #26
bambax wrote: post #25

In a talk last year at (I think) the business of software conference, PG said, among other things, that business schools are useless because successful business people don't waste their time teaching business in business schools, and instead either run their business or enjoy the fruits of their success (another song to the tune of "those who can't, teach"). His depiction of university professors accurately describes…

Here's another take on this: those who are good at teaching, teach and those who are good at blogging, blog. In other words, some people are actually very good at teaching or communicating ideas, even though they may not 'do' them.

In reality, there are good teachers and there are bad teachers (and more bad than good).

Those who are good at teaching, teach implies that somehow teachers are selected by their ability to teach, which is not true. Teachers happen to be teachers for a variety of reasons; but their talent has little to do with the fact that they continue to be teachers.

The case of bloggers is arguably a little different; certainly lack of talent or experience does not prevent people from blogging, but traffic provides at least some objective (if imperfect) measure of success.

But I would expect people who describe the road to world dominance to first document what they really know about it: if they haven't traveled it themselves, have they at least interviewed many successful people? What books have they read before writing anything?

What do they know?

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

#35

Post by CWIZO »

WalterBright wrote: post #32
ojbyrne wrote: post #30

My girlfriend just had a problem with her car, which she noticed when it wouldn't start. The oil light had gone on a couple of hundred miles before, and it was an old car. She panicked about how her engine was screwed,and it would cost her multiple thousands of dollars to fix, and I lost it saying how you need to check the oil regularly. It turned out to be a $25 repair. They replaced a washer. Sometimes things that…

An engine will run a surprisingly long time with little or no oil pressure.

Yes it will. But it will have no power and will eventually take half of the car with it when it finally dies (draw your own parallels with life). Trust me, happened to me twice :(

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

#36

Post by annajohnson »

bambax wrote: post #34
annajohnson wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's another take on this: those who are good at teaching, teach and those who are good at blogging, blog. In other words, some people are actually very good at teaching or communicating ideas, even though they may not 'do' them.

In reality, there are good teachers and there are bad teachers (and more bad than good). Those who are good at teaching, teach implies that somehow teachers are selected by their ability to teach, which is not true. Teachers happen to be teachers for a variety of reasons; but their talent has little to do with the fact that they continue to be teachers. The case of bloggers is arguably a little different; certainly l…

It also occurs to me that while 'bad' teachers can often still hang on to their jobs (I've had more than my fair share), very few bad entrepreneurs can still hang on to a business!

I guess the point I was trying to make was that some people are very good at teaching (or blogging) even though they may not have necessarily done what they teach about. For example, I've had great teachers - politics teachers, English teachers, professors in law school, etc - who didn't practice what they taught i.e. my high school politics teacher wasn't a politician, my university film studies professor didn't make movies, my law school professors were not practicing lawyers or judges (in fact my contract law professor was brilliant yet had only practised law for a year before turning to academia), etc. So it is conceivable that someone could teach or communicate something of value without having the personal experience of practising the profession they're teaching about.

Having said all that, when it comes to someone making grand statements about what constitute the keys to success, etc this may not be something that you can truly and credibly teach purely based on persoaln observations or academic study (as would seem to be possible regarding subjects such as politics, film and law to repeat the examples given above).

This seems more like someone attempting to teach or make statements about what it takes to successfully climb a mountain. Mountain climbing is one of those subjects - to which I would definitely add building a business - that can't really be taught by someone without personal experience. These are subjects where the 'lab' is the real world, so unless someone has been in the real world, they really don't have helpful lessons to offer.

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

#37

Post by dschobel »

Get honest about your current situation. Rate the following areas of your life on a scale of 1-10: Physical Health, grades, job performance, personal happiness, relationships, financial situation, etc.
 Then follow up with the question: What would it take to make this area a 10?

Steve Pavlina (another self-help guru which has gotten posted to HN a bunch) has a great post on why the 7's in your life are particularly pernicious:

What you’ll find when you leave the comfort of your 7 and go chasing after that 10 is that your 7 was never a 7. It was only a 3.

If you think you’re at a 7, you’re really at a 3 maximum. The 10 is way, way out there. You think you can see it, but your definition of a 10 is based on your experience of a 7, and you can’t even see a real 10 when you’re standing at 7. It’s beyond your ability to fathom.

If you were to go out and find someone who’s actually at a 10 in your area and asked them how you were doing on a scale of 1 to 10, they’d be able to label your 7 accurately as a 3. How would an Olympic gymnast rate your current diet and exercise habits? Are you really at 70% of their level? Ask a couple that seems to be googly in love with each other how they’d rate your relationship? Ask the most motivated, successful person you know how they’d rate your career? Is your 7 really a 7? Or is it a 3?

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/07/how-to-get-from-a-7...

(it's Derek Sivers approved! http://sivers.org/hellyeah )

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

#38

Post by thaumaturgy »

lorenzsell wrote: post #33
thaumaturgy wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

So what you're saying is that rather than thinking about how you can be more efficient, it's better to be too busy to think.

No, I'm saying exactly what I said.

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

#39

Post by GrayRoark »

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…

So I'm not the only one doing the happy dance? Sweet! I'm not calling it crazy dance anymore.
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