Unpopular counter opinion: If you are not busy, you (or the ones orchestrating you) are doing something wrong.
If you're busy, you're doing something wrong (2011)
41–50 of 169 posts
Re: If you're busy, you're doing something wrong (2011)
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Myth: Bill Gates is a college drop out who found success in a technical field purely based on personal merit. Reality: Gates' private high school gave him more access to computers than Harvard, and continuing at Harvard would have been a waste of time given his level of experience in the field. In what sense is that a myth? He is a college dropout. Lots of people had access to computers at that time. True, not ever…
>Lots of people had access to computers at that time. More or less unfettered access during middle school in the late 60s?: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/24/bill-gates-got-what-he-neede... "Lots" isn't a scientific term but I still don't think it fits here. He was probably one of a few people at the time to have a few years of in-depth experience before leaving high school. I'd call it a "myth of omission". It's techn…
Certainly everyone else at his high school could have been doing what he was doing. I'm sure this wasn't the only high school like this, though the number may have been small.
Re: If you're busy, you're doing something wrong (2011)
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Myth: Bill Gates is a college drop out who found success in a technical field purely based on personal merit. Reality: Gates' private high school gave him more access to computers than Harvard, and continuing at Harvard would have been a waste of time given his level of experience in the field. In what sense is that a myth? He is a college dropout. Lots of people had access to computers at that time. True, not ever…
> In what sense is that a myth? That Harvard provided a better education than his High School and that leaving Hardvard is someting only loosers do.
Nobody goes to Harvard for the education. They go for the degree. The thing he abandoned was the credential - and that his high school did not give him.
Re: If you're busy, you're doing something wrong (2011)
#44Er... These guys are still practicing 50 hours per week. FIFTY. That's _a_lot_ of violin.
So assuming you take one day off per week, you still need to pack 8 hours and 20 minutes of practice per day. So, we stack these hours in 2 sessions of 4 hours and 10 minutes per day. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. So what does it look like? They work from 8am to 12.10am, then take a break until 2pm, then work from 2pm to 6.10pm and then be done with the day?
Sounds like a typical workday for a lot of people...
Re: If you're busy, you're doing something wrong (2011)
#45Key factors that separated the elite players from the average: - one morning and one night period of very deliberate practice - an extra hour of sleep - leisure time was rated as more relaxing
But but but... When I do one morning and one night period of very deliberate practice I wind up getting one hour LESS sleep :(
I think there's a certain degree of privilege that helps with success. Someone born into money that gives them more time to pursue interests is going to have certain advantages.
Re: If you're busy, you're doing something wrong (2011)
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Myth: Bill Gates is a college drop out who found success in a technical field purely based on personal merit. Reality: Gates' private high school gave him more access to computers than Harvard, and continuing at Harvard would have been a waste of time given his level of experience in the field. In what sense is that a myth? He is a college dropout. Lots of people had access to computers at that time. True, not ever…
"Lots" is an ambiguous term to use for how many people had access to computers in 1975, especially the type of access that you would let you become proficient at software development. I think you'll find an unusually high number of rich people in that list.
I'm not saying he didn't have advantages. He certainly did. That does not mean he didn't succeed by merit, though. Though certainly in percentage terms there weren't a lot of other kids with the access he had, the absolute numbers involved were still quite large. Most of those kids did not become Bill Gates.
Re: If you're busy, you're doing something wrong (2011)
#47Seems like a bit of a tail wagging the dog situation. How do we know the more relaxed/organized schedule leads to success, and not that success leads to a more relaxed/organized schedule? This reminds me of some other advice I remember reading: No level of hard work or organization will substitute for talent and opportunity, and nearly all success stories to the contrary are missing key facts. ie Myth: Michael Jordan…
> Myth: Bill Gates is a college drop out who found success in a technical field purely based on personal merit. Reality: Gates' private high school gave him more access to computers than Harvard, and continuing at Harvard would have been a waste of time given his level of experience in the field. In what sense is that a myth? He is a college dropout. Lots of people had access to computers at that time. True, not ever…
Bill Gates' parents were board members at other companies with moderate influence in the local Seattle business community. There is a good chance that he would have been more successful than most people at even just selling office supplies due to his connections. It's not like he grew up in the rough part of town and got in to Harvard through a hardship scholarship.
Re: If you're busy, you're doing something wrong (2011)
#48Unpopular counter opinion: If you are not busy, you (or the ones orchestrating you) are doing something wrong.
I'd say it depends on the type of work. A builder who is doing manual labour laying bricks? Sure. A designer following a creative brief to produce a new full page ad? I don't think you can force that type of work, so putting pressure on them to feel busy may actually have a detremental effect.
Re: If you're busy, you're doing something wrong (2011)
#49Correlation does not imply causation: Are they talented because they are "relaxed"? or are they "relaxed" because they are talented?
The relax of the talented amounts for the gap in talent, not the other way arround. That's the definition of talent, they can achieve more with less effort.
There is a very big bias in the study, the reference team are average violin players. Obviously, the try to compensate with training the gap, to achieve the same result. On top of that, as other comments say, the sample is too small and narrow in time.
Re: If you're busy, you're doing something wrong (2011)
#50I think this might be somewhat tangential to what the article has to say, but I think there is a fair amount of mindset to the "busyness" thing. Some people seem to think that "busyness is next to godliness", so they make sure never to let anyone see them idle. They don't so much focus on what they are doing, just that they are doing something . I've always taken the opposite approach. I go out of my way to make it l…
I have a bit of that, I'm "busy" even when procrastinating. I think I developed this as a defense mechanism in my teens - when I seemed busy or said I was busy, people bothered me less with random nonsense and "win-lose delegation"[0]. I had huge problems saying "no" to people when younger, so whenever I felt overwhelmed, I would instead present myself as super busy to avoid paying the social costs of refusing a request for assistance.
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[0] - asking me to help with something which would take them a small fraction of the time and effort it takes me. Wasting an hour of someone else's time to save yourself a few minutes is something I consider an extremely disrespectful thing to do.