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“Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

capitalandgrowth.org

11–20 of 116 posts

Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#11
Yeah, I get this a lot.

I spend hours every day dedicated to doing things to improve my skills to become more valuable in IT. People think I'm crazy, but in the time frame I have begun to do this (since my daughter was born) I can now probably run circles around anyone else who would have started at the same time.

Hours of dedication, every day, is not normal. It's probably not healthy either, but I got a late start and I need to catch up.

Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#12
post #5

This reads like a very good example of how not to behave if you actually want to be happy

You imply that what makes you happy makes others happy. A programmer who obsessively programms random side projects in his spare time is completely engaged with them and likes to do that because he enjoys it on some level. So if you think that this is worse than watching netflix or wasting time with mundant social interactions...well...I guess that doesn't make you bad. You're just average.

If you are doing whatever makes you happy, what is this style of article for? If you are trying to alter what makes you happy to be successful then maybe that is a recipe for unhappiness.

Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#13
post #5

This reads like a very good example of how not to behave if you actually want to be happy

You imply that what makes you happy makes others happy. A programmer who obsessively programms random side projects in his spare time is completely engaged with them and likes to do that because he enjoys it on some level. So if you think that this is worse than watching netflix or wasting time with mundant social interactions...well...I guess that doesn't make you bad. You're just average.

Lol this comment is absurdly condescending. I think the issue is more with picking "abnormal" as a goal, from reading this book, and then trying to develop abnormal traits to get there; in contrast to being intrinsically motivated to work hard on and specialize in something, which is obviously fine.

Additionally, one could argue that fixating on the "abnormal" language is a surface level reading of this and an unfair criticism, which I think is partially true. But if I were to rephrase "be abnormal" based on this article, it would just end up at "be unusually good", which isn't very insightful.

Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#14

Yeah, I get this a lot. I spend hours every day dedicated to doing things to improve my skills to become more valuable in IT. People think I'm crazy, but in the time frame I have begun to do this (since my daughter was born) I can now probably run circles around anyone else who would have started at the same time. Hours of dedication, every day, is not normal. It's probably not healthy either, but I got a late start…

I'm curious about the timing. Many people seem to find it more difficult to maintain this level of dedication after they have kids. What made things different in your case?

Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#15

Yeah, I get this a lot. I spend hours every day dedicated to doing things to improve my skills to become more valuable in IT. People think I'm crazy, but in the time frame I have begun to do this (since my daughter was born) I can now probably run circles around anyone else who would have started at the same time. Hours of dedication, every day, is not normal. It's probably not healthy either, but I got a late start…

In IT you need to average a few hours per week learning new things just to keep up, since the half life of what you already know is probably about 5 to 10 years. Other professionals also need continuing education, such as doctors, veterinarians, and lawyers, but IT probably requires more than other professions.

Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#16

Yeah, I get this a lot. I spend hours every day dedicated to doing things to improve my skills to become more valuable in IT. People think I'm crazy, but in the time frame I have begun to do this (since my daughter was born) I can now probably run circles around anyone else who would have started at the same time. Hours of dedication, every day, is not normal. It's probably not healthy either, but I got a late start…

> I got a late start and I need to catch up.

I've found this mindset has led to some of my least healthy and least-disciplined decisions.

Then again, I think of "discipline" as doing the work to tend to the garden that feeds you. Maybe in your life-situation, you need to pass up the opportunity to play with a child.

Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#17
Never in my life have I found these totally generic advice collations useful.

They're always vague, unfalsifiable, borderline platitudes. They "work" for the same reasons horoscopes work, and I think a sizable minority, if not majority, of people publishing such work are just sociopathic profiteers.

This post is an advertisement, but sadly that seems to be the origin of most content on the internet now - at least the SEO optimized results that fill the first (1-10?) pages.

Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#18

Yeah, I get this a lot. I spend hours every day dedicated to doing things to improve my skills to become more valuable in IT. People think I'm crazy, but in the time frame I have begun to do this (since my daughter was born) I can now probably run circles around anyone else who would have started at the same time. Hours of dedication, every day, is not normal. It's probably not healthy either, but I got a late start…

Curious about what you're doing. I also dedicate a good amount of time each day to learning, but am still pretty skeptical about the ROI for some of the things I'm doing. I spend a lot of time on Coursera, reading eng. blogs, watching WWDC videos (since I do iOS).

Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#19

Never in my life have I found these totally generic advice collations useful. They're always vague, unfalsifiable, borderline platitudes. They "work" for the same reasons horoscopes work, and I think a sizable minority, if not majority, of people publishing such work are just sociopathic profiteers. This post is an advertisement, but sadly that seems to be the origin of most content on the internet now - at least the…

As a counterpoint, I’ve found these books to be extremely useful and it has had profound positive impacts on my decisions.

It’s not telling you to wake up at 4am because that’s what [unicorn startup ceo] does. The advice given here is how to step back and find solutions, which is great for people who have difficulty arriving at those points.

Likening it to horoscopes because it doesn’t work for you is like me dismissing books on dieting because I’m already slim.

Lots of people don’t have positive role models, good teachers, mentors, or even stable parents. So even things as simple as “don’t be quick to anger, step back and think about the long term consequences” are lessons that many people have never been taught.

Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#20
post #5

This reads like a very good example of how not to behave if you actually want to be happy

Happiness is highly overrated and I doubt it even exists as a constant state of being. People thrive on different amounts of stress and many people need a certain amount of stress to remain sane.
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