Eh lost me at "boring monotony of the suburbs". I have zero problems with the burbs, I don't like these insult everything at the new place I go to pieces. I wish the guy luck though, I read the conclusion of the story.
Post YC Depression
121–130 of 163 posts
Re: Post YC Depression
#122Fun read.
Psychology trumps time-spent.
Re: Post YC Depression
#123This was a good article, but I want to briefly call out that `6X more likely to suffer from ADHD` is not a useful stat when trying to argue that being a founder causes health issues. ADHD is present from birth and cannot develop as the result of trauma. It's still an interesting statistic, but for a different reason. People with ADHD are more likely to become founders, as they're more driven by passion, challenge, an…
>ADHD is present from birth and cannot develop as the result of trauma.
Uh, source?
Re: Post YC Depression
#124Some good points but no diagnose or solutions beyond the expression of the problem. Here is what I'd add for it: I don't care if you're make or female, people need to improve constantly in 3 parameters for their whole life-span: 1. Looks (basically proper nutrition and some degree of bodybuilding training) 2. Psychological strength 3. Affluence You need a life meaning mission that makes you feel good at improving the…
"people need to improve constantly" No they don't. Plenty of people happy to be as they are. When you're constantly running on this treadmill of self improvement, you'll probably get depressed real quick.
Degradation is Nature's default. Guaranteed by entropy. But for sure you are free to totally ignore how to make good use of an opposing force and get older faster, less healthier, less attractive and less free while "feeling happy".
Re: Post YC Depression
#125You have to work on something you are passionate about. If you work on Sundays because you cant keep yourself away from it, then great. If you work Sundays because you think if you work hard enough you will become rich and successful, then you are likely going to burn yourself out. Your life is NOW, be happy now. Don't push it off. If coding all day makes you happy do so. but if you rather hang out at the beach do so…
Indeed.
You have more chances of succeeding at anything if it's something you care about. You will understand the domain better. You will inspire others (customers, investors, coworkers, etc). You will go the extra mile.
Re: Post YC Depression
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
This seems like the "oh you're busy, you just haven't learned how to manage your time effectively" feedback that's not helpful. Someone relatively smart probably has a decent idea of the constraint set in front of them. Let's say the company is close to failing and by working your absolute hardest you can keep it alive for 9 months. Would you not do it? Like maybe there's some insight on time management but after rud…
At some point, working more hours makes you less productive. As an obvious example, you can’t work literally every hour of every day, since without sleep or food you can’t function. Now perhaps the curve for you really does peak at 100 hours/week, or 80 hours/week, but frankly I doubt it.
Acknowledging that there are thresholds for productivity, it also dramatically depends on the type of work and the objectives. Diminishing returns are bad for some tasks, acceptable for others, but both are subject to the types of deadlines. Implementing a half-good feature just in time for a big marketing event might be worthwhile or it might not, but cold calling potential customers to keep from failing generally is, and is somewhat less subject to declines from productivity loss.
Re: Post YC Depression
#127Seems like he's still depressed by reading the article. Poor guy.
Re: Post YC Depression
#128People seem to become really attached to the validation from YC. Getting into an incubator or getting money from investors is zero measure of business success. Business success is users and growth and revenue. Whether YC blesses you is also zero reflection on you as a person. Rejection by YC means nothing at all. I think business is about trying to make money, it’s not about YC and funding and the scene and investmen…
>Getting into an incubator or getting money from investors is zero measure of business success. That is sort of like saying money doesn't buy happiness...true, but financial stress or poverty typically can be outright bars to happiness. As you say YC admission or raising funds from investors isn't a measure of business success...but then again I haven't seen a tech unicorn that hasn't been funded by investors. >Head…
>...but then again I haven't seen a tech unicorn that hasn't been funded by investors.
Partly because if you're not in the target market for a bootstrapping business, you probably won't have heard of them. It's a waste of money, time and energy making a big noise about your business if you're not chasing investment.
Partly because the desired exit for bootstrapped businesses is (usually) a trade sale. You can't trade-sale a unicorn-sized business because finding a buyer that big is difficult/impossible. Bootstrapped businesses tend to sell before they get that big, while they're still showing huge growth, to make sure they have enough potential buyers.
Partly because valuations of bootstrapped private companies are weird. With no VC driving valuation growth, and no stock sales, how much is a private company actually worth? Valuing one is tricky, and a lot less important than for an investment-driven business.
Re: Post YC Depression
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Telling those individuals that they need 8h is not improving anything. Of course not, but telling these individuals that they are outliers and shouldn't give this as advice on "how to be successful" will improve things. They desperately need some of that humbling self critique that we ordinary, impostor syndrome suffering people do all the time and we can help them!
What I'm trying to say is, stop letting others telling you how you should live your life and figure out what works for you. You may be an outlier in some aspects and so even the advice from "normals" won't apply.
> What I'm trying to say is, stop letting others telling you how you should live your life and figure out what works for you.
I'm no entrepreneur but I think the article is saying that this is easier said then done when you want to do something you are passionate about, eg. changing the world with some new software thing, and everyone who have done something similar is acting like the examples in the article. Like that farmgirl article doesn't once ask if her "seemingly superhuman work ethic" is an example to others or rather should be presented as how an extreme sports practitioner often is: "you are clearly an adrenaline junkie! laughs but really, how do you cope with the stress of endangering your health just to free climb that large rock wall".
Re: Post YC Depression
#130Warning: Potential Security Risk Ahead