Work on what interests you. My grandpa lived and breathed medicine and researched the intestines for like 60 years. There’s thousands just like him.
Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?
141–150 of 460 posts
Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?
#142I feel the same way and can't speak to the success of my strategy, but do have one.
I've been alternating between working for someone else and then spending my savings investing in myself.
In both cases my goal is to aquire new skills. When you work for someone else, make sure you are learning something on their dime and saving money. Then spend that money on learning something no one will pay you to learn at work.
My interests have been all over the place - game design, programming, writing, philosophy. Just to name a few I've gained expertise in with my strategy. I don't view any of these things individually as destinations. I don't consider myself a programmer, or a designer, or a philosopher. But each one does give me new skills and perspectives which benefit the others. In the future I will likely invest my time into a science like biology and maybe even push that further to neuroscience.
A story that has always resonated with me is the one about some dna sequencing database (nucleotide blast perhaps?) told by a TA in college. I was taking a biology requirement but majoring in CS. The TA said the database came about when some former programmers learned of a search problem biologists had no solution to. Their programming background meant they already knew how to solve this other domain's problem. I think a lot of breakthroughs come from this formula of porting one domain's expertise to another domain's problems.
Hopefully this illustrates how skill acquisition is a good "passing play" while figuring out what you want to do in life. I still don't know what it is exactly I want to do, but I will keep learning skills that seem relevant and clarify the picture as I go.
Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?
#143"Where your talents and the needs of the world cross; there lies your vocation." ~Aristotle
There is debate whether the above is really from Aristotle. The idea behind it works however, and it works in a way that --at least anecdotally-- is satisfying. I was lucky enough to encounter it by accident.
In 2005 my grandfather was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. His hand often shook with a slight tremor and it made using his computer nearly impossible. I built software[0] to stabilize the mouse and give him back control.
I created many things between then and now. Most of them have faded away into obscurity. The works that really lasted and retained meaning always involved others. The meaning is not really in the software itself, or the technology, but in the people tangled up in the journey and in being needed. The excitement, once in a while, when the talents we have honed over the many years actually apply -- nothing compares.
Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?
#144Life ultimately chooses for you: the answer to your question will depend on your relationships with other people (living or dead) and the facts that happen because of them.
Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?
#145Unhappiness. I find myself constantly drifting toward entertainment. I made mobile games for about 4 years, and now I run an escape room business. I guess I'm trying to get rid of sadness one small bit at a time.
I value entertainment immensely but saying that it solves unhappiness is like saying that prostitution solves loneliness. Unhappiness is a core element of the human experience. It is not solvable because it is not a problem.
Totally agree.
Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?
#146I think it’s more practical to think on a per-decade scale, as trying to plan for the future 25 or more years ahead makes you less flexible to take advantage of changes in the moment.
I decided two years ago (33 now) to devote my 30s to creating telepresence, narrative entertainment with live actors.
I think I want to spend my 40s on hobbyist prosthetics.
50s: I don’t know yet. I hope we’ve made contact with aliens by that point so that I can devote this decade to building systems that help us collaborate with them.
I finished a PhD when I was 31, and the most useful piece of advice I got from my advisor was “do the thesis that only you in the world would be able to do”. My 30s project is a mix of stuff I have special expertise in, that I get repeatedly told is weird in unique. So I’m chasing that for a while.
Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?
#147I found this advice from Jean Yang resonated with my experience:
https://twitter.com/jeanqasaur/status/1074526838901202944
> Been having many conversations with people in their 20s about the paralysis that can arise from having too many life choices. My advice: commit to something and commit hard. Doesn't matter if you switch later. It's easier to prove yourself if you've had to do it once before.
> The quarter-life crisis can go on for quite a while--and you don't want to come out having little to show for your self-exploration. You learn just as much, if not more, about whether you like something by actually doing it, rather than thinking about if you might like it.
and then the somewhat morose conclusion:
> At one point in my mid-twenties, a friend observed that we were nearing the end of getting opportunities because of our potential and would soon be evaluated on what we've actually done. This was a real turning point in my thinking on how much space I should take to find myself.
Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?
#148Having some experience with working on things I thought were "important" and failing due to lack of passion, my advice is that you should work on interesting problems to you and find the path within those area to do good. It's possible to do good and evil, to be greedy or altruistic, to work on harmful or helpful things, in any domain. Life has a way of presenting the right doors to you to walk through if you are prepared to see them, but the way to start is to follow your natural interests and keep your eyes open. Luck favors the prepared mind.
Along the way the main error to avoid is letting others define your thoughts and opinions -- if you remain your own person then you will find your own way to make a dent that nobody else could.
Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?
#149"Do what you love" is a common phrase, but I've found an opposite technique. Find the things that bugs you most (that you talk about, focus on, debate about) and allow yourself to become a solution. I've found that the problems I tended to be naturally be bothered by ended up making great career choice(s) for me.
Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?
#150In my opinion, the best problem to solve are your own problems - both emotional and material.