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To be great, be good repeatably

blog.stephsmith.io

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Re: To be great, be good repeatably

#11

Post by abc_lisper »

ohaideredevs wrote: post #7
simonsarris wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Alexander wept when he heard Anaxarchus discourse about an infinite number of worlds, and when his friends inquired what ailed him, "Is it not worthy of tears," he said, "that, when the number of worlds is infinite, we have not yet become lords of a single one?" (Plutarch) (But as far as we know he did think he was great. "Only sex and sleep make me remember I am mortal", "If I were not Alexander I would wish to be…

Bunch of punks - Caesar cried at Alexander's grave too. Still, to me, Alexander's father was the man who made Alexander, so he was greater. (I don't mean by birth, the army and previous conquests)

Many people don't know that Alexander was tutored by Aristotle! So yeah, he had a great upbringing.

Re: To be great, be good repeatably

#12

Post by AimForTheBushes »

On habit building- If you're like me and have tried time and time again on enforcing new habits and failed time and time again: try mindfulness. It's easy to not live in the moment, especially so when a tech centered world makes it so easy to live vicariously. It's okay to make lists of things you want to accomplish and do, but it's not okay to do that often and not do what you originally set out to do. It will become cyclic.

Be mindful in the morning and reflect on it before you go to bed. Be in the present and realize you are the one making the decision whenever the situation arises. Taking action or not, be present and mindful of your decision.

I've found simple google calendar reminders put me in the situation where I have to make the decision to take action or not. They don't require any interaction (apple reminders will stay until they're cleared) and they tap me on the wrist and present an option: Run? Write? Work on project?

Re: To be great, be good repeatably

#13

Post by evibeefi »

zbobet2012 wrote: post #10
stephsmithio wrote: post #2

I spent the last few days writing this piece as I was reflecting and frustrated with my short-term progress (or lack there of). This led me to consider what I think greatness even is, which was almost therapeutic to think through. Curious to know what people think about this. Can "greatness" really be achieved quickly?

While I agree with much of your article, it's interesting to me that you cite this tweet: Building products, writing, and painting are not mental excercises, they are physical ones. Reading to improve is like watching someone else workout – it does almost nothing for you. To run better, run. To paint better, paint. To write better, write. To build better, build. I certainly agree that practice is the core of all incr…

I agree. I had significant better results in diverse areas as leading teams, cooking and body building after reading books in those areas.

Re: To be great, be good repeatably

#14

Post by wysifnwyg »

stephsmithio wrote: post #2

I spent the last few days writing this piece as I was reflecting and frustrated with my short-term progress (or lack there of). This led me to consider what I think greatness even is, which was almost therapeutic to think through. Curious to know what people think about this. Can "greatness" really be achieved quickly?

I see a couple ways to become great quickly.

1. Put in an extreme amount of effort to maximize the goodness you create and minimize the amount of bad.

2. Have extreme events impact your life (by no fault of your own) in a short period of time.

3. Change how you measure greatness.

Ten years ago, I could not see myself in the life that I have now. Everyday I accomplish things which would have been impossible for my previous self to do. I quit smoking, drinking, and manage chronic illness. I exercise, garden, clean the house, and play with my dog. I earned the love of my wife and the respect of my friends. I now have a family who loves me and is proud of me and I feel like I actually have options. Every day I do great things, not in comparison to yesterday but certainly compared to my previous self.

Re: To be great, be good repeatably

#15

Post by [deleted] »

stephsmithio wrote: post #2

I spent the last few days writing this piece as I was reflecting and frustrated with my short-term progress (or lack there of). This led me to consider what I think greatness even is, which was almost therapeutic to think through. Curious to know what people think about this. Can "greatness" really be achieved quickly?

[deleted]

Re: To be great, be good repeatably

#16

Post by perrygeo »

stephsmithio wrote: post #2

I spent the last few days writing this piece as I was reflecting and frustrated with my short-term progress (or lack there of). This led me to consider what I think greatness even is, which was almost therapeutic to think through. Curious to know what people think about this. Can "greatness" really be achieved quickly?

I can imagine greatness achieved quickly through combining previously-accrued experiences into a new domain. Often people are steadily striving for "goodness" in multiple areas over many years - maybe one subject as a formal education and another as a hobby. Then you meet a problem that combines the two and you are on the fast(er) track to "greatness". Anecdotally, most people I consider great are generalists with highly diverse interests which seems to support this idea.

Re: To be great, be good repeatably

#17

Post by billti »

mettamage wrote: post #4
stephsmithio wrote: post #2

I spent the last few days writing this piece as I was reflecting and frustrated with my short-term progress (or lack there of). This led me to consider what I think greatness even is, which was almost therapeutic to think through. Curious to know what people think about this. Can "greatness" really be achieved quickly?

I did not read your blog post (I'm in HN comment reading mode) but I will give a couple of pieces that I found to the puzzle. In The Tim Ferriss experiment the (in)famous (?) Tim Ferriss "learns a new language within 3 days" [1]. I put that in quotes because it is really up for debate. However, he had a very very clear goal: come off across as passable during an interview. While this is only 3 days, Warren Buffet say…

Re Elon Musk, this statement in the article is something I always consider when I think of what he has achieved:

> Ask yourself whether you’d like to spend your days, weeks, months, and years in a constant uphill battle.

Opinions of what anyone may have of Elon personally aside, I think any rational person has to be in awe of all he's been able to achieve. Yet the hours he puts in 7 days a week, and what the constant stress-levels must be like... I'm not sure I'd want to swap places with him.

Re: To be great, be good repeatably

#18

Post by viburnum »

stephsmithio wrote: post #2

I spent the last few days writing this piece as I was reflecting and frustrated with my short-term progress (or lack there of). This led me to consider what I think greatness even is, which was almost therapeutic to think through. Curious to know what people think about this. Can "greatness" really be achieved quickly?

I don’t think it’s worth the effort trying to pin down what greatness is. I mean, what’s the point? Does being “great” make you a better person? Who is giving out gold stars for greatness? Why does it matter?

Re: To be great, be good repeatably

#19

Post by maxxxxx »

billti wrote: post #17
mettamage wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not read your blog post (I'm in HN comment reading mode) but I will give a couple of pieces that I found to the puzzle. In The Tim Ferriss experiment the (in)famous (?) Tim Ferriss "learns a new language within 3 days" [1]. I put that in quotes because it is really up for debate. However, he had a very very clear goal: come off across as passable during an interview. While this is only 3 days, Warren Buffet say…

Re Elon Musk, this statement in the article is something I always consider when I think of what he has achieved: > Ask yourself whether you’d like to spend your days, weeks, months, and years in a constant uphill battle. Opinions of what anyone may have of Elon personally aside, I think any rational person has to be in awe of all he's been able to achieve. Yet the hours he puts in 7 days a week, and what the constant…

No way I would want to swap with any of the big CEOs. I don’t enjoy business enough to do it 24/7. Same for being leader of a country. No way I would want to do that.

Re: To be great, be good repeatably

#20

Post by Swizec »

zbobet2012 wrote: post #10
stephsmithio wrote: post #2

I spent the last few days writing this piece as I was reflecting and frustrated with my short-term progress (or lack there of). This led me to consider what I think greatness even is, which was almost therapeutic to think through. Curious to know what people think about this. Can "greatness" really be achieved quickly?

While I agree with much of your article, it's interesting to me that you cite this tweet: Building products, writing, and painting are not mental excercises, they are physical ones. Reading to improve is like watching someone else workout – it does almost nothing for you. To run better, run. To paint better, paint. To write better, write. To build better, build. I certainly agree that practice is the core of all incr…

Why not both? Practice is useless without direction, direction is useless without practice.
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