Get a colonoscopy asap.
Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?
31–40 of 50 posts
Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?
#32Do a few small things daily, consistently, 365 days a year, for the next decade. E.g., learning three new words/phrases in a foreign language per day takes about 5 minutes yet adds up to over 10,000 in a decade - essentially the number it takes to pass a C1 exam. This kind of slow steady progress is useful for virtually anything: learn foreign alphabets one letter a day, read the encyclopedia one entry a day, etc.
I took French classes from 5th grade all the way through college and could speak basically zero actual French. For maybe six months now I’ve been doing about 20-30 minutes a day using the “Fluent Forever” method and I’m already able to converse with native speakers and watch movies in French. It’s really opened my eyes to how inefficient learning “sprints” are compared to small but consistent progress.
Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?
#33You don’t get to choose whether to care about athleticism, appearance, social graces, etc. They aren’t decorative garnishes. They’re fundamental to being accepted and desired by the people around you. You may not think that’s important, but your lizard brain does, and the hellscape it’ll build for you when you cross it is unimaginable. A little nausea or shortness of breath is nothing. Play a damn sport.
Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?
#34Buy bitcoin. Sell 10% stake each year (dollar cost averaging per day) starting 2015. Also get ripped sooner.
I feel like this is a cheating way to answer the question. Of course hindsight works, but in 2010, what's the way to spot good investments in general, like Bitcoin and Facebook?
10 years ago, when you saw an those as an investment opportunity, and thought, "Who would be stupid enough to use this thing?" You and most other people (myself included) had a high enough opinion of humanity that we thought that number would be low.
The people who got rich asked themselves the same question but had a lower opinion of humanity.
Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?
#35Buy bitcoin. Sell 10% stake each year (dollar cost averaging per day) starting 2015. Also get ripped sooner.
I feel like this is a cheating way to answer the question. Of course hindsight works, but in 2010, what's the way to spot good investments in general, like Bitcoin and Facebook?
I think large cultural appeal and integration e.g. everyone and their dog having iPhone might be a good indication of value. I’d actually see Facebook as the most likely of the FAANG to not exist in 10 years, unless they find and purchase the next Instagram.
Edit: I’m saying apple is a better long term bet than Facebook because it has a much better cross generational appeal.
Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?
#36Do a few small things daily, consistently, 365 days a year, for the next decade. E.g., learning three new words/phrases in a foreign language per day takes about 5 minutes yet adds up to over 10,000 in a decade - essentially the number it takes to pass a C1 exam. This kind of slow steady progress is useful for virtually anything: learn foreign alphabets one letter a day, read the encyclopedia one entry a day, etc.
The 10000 hour rule has been debunked.. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/8/23/20828597/th...
Like a few other Malcolm Gladwell's claims...
Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?
#37Buy bitcoin. Sell 10% stake each year (dollar cost averaging per day) starting 2015. Also get ripped sooner.
I feel like this is a cheating way to answer the question. Of course hindsight works, but in 2010, what's the way to spot good investments in general, like Bitcoin and Facebook?
Both of those things were not only known about by hacker newsers but spoken about a lot (a lot!) They were sometimes dismissed for very petulant reasons, "fb is just a php site" etc.
I think an amusing piece of investment advice to consider is to do the opposite of whatever the sentiment about a paticular asset is on hacker news.
How did they talk about Snap in 2018? Twitter in 2017?
Generally, people on hacker news do not really know anything other than what a server is etc. Hacker Newsers are also made up of the sort people that fall victim to Authority Bias most frequently. If you want to spot good investments you have to think for yourself. You have to make the decision. If you are prepared to do that you already have an unfair advantage. But, if you are wrong, you are wrong.
To answer your question more directly... Have a reliable stream of information (reuters deals) as your core...then it is up to you.
Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?
#38Get diagnosed for adult ADHD.
What made you feel like something was wrong and that you needed to go see a professional for help?
Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've spent the first five years of my career at two FANGs, and I think the grass is greener in terms of amazing tech. Maybe I've been unlucky, but so much of my time is fighting with the enormous weight of the infrastructure to do anything. Builds, deployments, running tests, getting support from internal teams, using internal frameworks are all so stressful and unsatisfying to me. Not to mention I've never even snif…
This sounds like Amazon, Amazon isn't at all comparable to F/N/G or any of the companies you're asking about with the exception of Uber.
Amazon and Google, which I have found to be similar in a lot of respects. Personally I prefer Amazon's versionsets to the monorepo at Google.
Curious why you think Amazon is so different from the other FNG+?
Re: Ask HN: What advice would you tell yourself ten years ago?
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
This sounds like Amazon, Amazon isn't at all comparable to F/N/G or any of the companies you're asking about with the exception of Uber.
Amazon and Google, which I have found to be similar in a lot of respects. Personally I prefer Amazon's versionsets to the monorepo at Google. Curious why you think Amazon is so different from the other FNG+?
Amazon's culture is very different. It is more microsoft crossed with shark tank and with this strange hint of moneyball guiding projects/promotions.