Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

“Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

capitalandgrowth.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 116 posts

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

#51

Post by Alkhwarizmi »

holografix wrote: post #31

Warning: this post is a generalisation that could offend some people. I’m writing it because I feel I have to. This reads _very_ American. By that I mean both a good and, more so than ever in 2020, a bad thing. The good is obviously the undying optimism, self belief resilience and competitiveness I see displayed in the American way of life so often. The bad is how it lays the responsibility for outcomes solely at the…

Well let me ask you this, can you answer like where are you located? Do you have any near term- long term goals!? What do you believe is specifically holding you back from achieving any one of the goals that you mentioned? Have you got any specific measurable plans laid out in an effort to achieve some of those goals? How do you manage your Time? I could go on for some time with similar questions to get to the bottom of whatever your concern or goals may be, this is coming from a performance coach perspective. Try answering some of these, genuinely and if possible report back because as an American living in a highly dense and competitive metro city, I’ve seen many rise and many fall. This is why we are the way we are.

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

#52

Post by friendlybus »

thomk wrote: post #41
holografix wrote: post #31

Warning: this post is a generalisation that could offend some people. I’m writing it because I feel I have to. This reads _very_ American. By that I mean both a good and, more so than ever in 2020, a bad thing. The good is obviously the undying optimism, self belief resilience and competitiveness I see displayed in the American way of life so often. The bad is how it lays the responsibility for outcomes solely at the…

Your points here are exactly why I am no longer religious. Also, if you are easily offended, I'd skip the rest of this, I do not want to offend anyone, these are my opinions alone. If you worship any God, then you can never be as good as your God. You can never be #1 even after you die. The whole framework sets you up for a life of the inability to win. You are at BEST going to be #2 because you can never ever be #1.…

You're not necessarily meant to compete with a being conceived as omnipotent, omni-powerful and creator of the universe.

I'd be wary of american churches too, given the role religion plays in american culture.

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

#53

Post by thatcat »

holografix wrote: post #31

Warning: this post is a generalisation that could offend some people. I’m writing it because I feel I have to. This reads _very_ American. By that I mean both a good and, more so than ever in 2020, a bad thing. The good is obviously the undying optimism, self belief resilience and competitiveness I see displayed in the American way of life so often. The bad is how it lays the responsibility for outcomes solely at the…

This article was focused on business and used sports metaphors exclusively - these are fields in which the "American" approach works well because you're competing with other people with binary outcomes. Obviously this is not the best approach for science where the outcomes are less black and white.

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

#54

Post by orange8 »

thomk wrote: post #49
orange8 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly does being #1 mean? Being #1 at what exactly? Running? Singing? Wealth? Everything?

Well that depends on your value system. If you define your own value system, you decide where you are. If you get a value system from someone or something else: they decide.

Please give me a quick concrete example. What is your value system, and how are you #1 in it?

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

#55

Post by scarmig »

thomk wrote: post #41
holografix wrote: post #31

Warning: this post is a generalisation that could offend some people. I’m writing it because I feel I have to. This reads _very_ American. By that I mean both a good and, more so than ever in 2020, a bad thing. The good is obviously the undying optimism, self belief resilience and competitiveness I see displayed in the American way of life so often. The bad is how it lays the responsibility for outcomes solely at the…

Your points here are exactly why I am no longer religious. Also, if you are easily offended, I'd skip the rest of this, I do not want to offend anyone, these are my opinions alone. If you worship any God, then you can never be as good as your God. You can never be #1 even after you die. The whole framework sets you up for a life of the inability to win. You are at BEST going to be #2 because you can never ever be #1.…

Why can't I be better than God? Interpersonal comparisons are never particularly healthy, but I don't see how he would always come out on top. He had questionable design aesthetics sometimes, to say nothing of the often deadly implementation bugs. And that's not even getting into the choice to build things in his system that can be used for terrible, immoral purposes.

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

#56

Post by gintery »

thomk wrote: post #41
holografix wrote: post #31

Warning: this post is a generalisation that could offend some people. I’m writing it because I feel I have to. This reads _very_ American. By that I mean both a good and, more so than ever in 2020, a bad thing. The good is obviously the undying optimism, self belief resilience and competitiveness I see displayed in the American way of life so often. The bad is how it lays the responsibility for outcomes solely at the…

Your points here are exactly why I am no longer religious. Also, if you are easily offended, I'd skip the rest of this, I do not want to offend anyone, these are my opinions alone. If you worship any God, then you can never be as good as your God. You can never be #1 even after you die. The whole framework sets you up for a life of the inability to win. You are at BEST going to be #2 because you can never ever be #1.…

Your whole post is extremely American. Why do you want to be #1 compared to anyone, let alone compared to God? You are no longer religious because your self-centric world-view is incompatible with believing anyone can be better than you, which includes God? I have trouble believing you are serious.

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

#57

Post by throwaway2048 »

friendlybus wrote: post #50
holografix wrote: post #31

Warning: this post is a generalisation that could offend some people. I’m writing it because I feel I have to. This reads _very_ American. By that I mean both a good and, more so than ever in 2020, a bad thing. The good is obviously the undying optimism, self belief resilience and competitiveness I see displayed in the American way of life so often. The bad is how it lays the responsibility for outcomes solely at the…

Do you expect society to blame itself? Surely radical individualism results in the individual blaming society at their whim. You stop playing a game that's rigged against you as soon as you can afford a plane ticket. Where are these countries that will just lift the road up to meet your feet as you walk forward?

willingness to accept the truth has absolutely no bearing on what the truth actually is.

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

#58

Post by holografix »

curiousllama wrote: post #36
holografix wrote: post #31

Warning: this post is a generalisation that could offend some people. I’m writing it because I feel I have to. This reads _very_ American. By that I mean both a good and, more so than ever in 2020, a bad thing. The good is obviously the undying optimism, self belief resilience and competitiveness I see displayed in the American way of life so often. The bad is how it lays the responsibility for outcomes solely at the…

This is definitely a fair critique, and as I myself am _very_ American, I feel I should respond, if only to understand better myself. > The bad is how it lays the responsibility for outcomes solely at the individual’s feet. I’m curious: shouldn’t a manual for self improvement emphasize individual responsibility? Granted, it would be a terrible way to evaluate outcomes. But that’s not the goal here. The goal is to be…

Hey curiousllama, I think you bring up very valid points. A few other posters have brought up one or two arguments that have some overlap so let me try to clarify where I’m coming from and post a useful response.

I don’t advocate that the individual shouldn’t bear the brunt of the responsibility. I’m trying to say that the responsibility should be _shared_ by society.

I see how the main goal of the book is indeed to focus on the individual and their drive to being “exceptional”. So for people who find themselves dissatisfied with their comfortable mediocrity, so to say, I can imagine there is some value here in solving problems and removing obstacles.

Finally, what I’m trying to say is: I think this concept can and is applied very generally to a large population that find themselves, at the individual level, at drastically different positions in the hierarchy of needs. What roadblocks are you powering through when you might not have shelter or food? When you feel unsafe? Should we dismiss those individuals’ “excuses”.

That’s what I meant by very American. The example of Ms B. Who is clearly a one in a million type success story. Should we really bother dismissing every other pressure around us because someone was somehow able to do it? We’re her children happy and healthy? Did her marriage survive? Should we all strive to be Ms B, costs what it costs, regardless of food, shelter, security, health etc.

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

#59

Post by aerophilic »

I am somewhat surprised and taken aback by the level of negative comments in the thread...

However, I suspect that the article “touched a nerve”.

In my experience, the “stronger the reaction” the more likely something is there (think Lean Startup). The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.

That said, I will echo/slightly modify some of the positive comments I read: it isn’t about being “abnormal” in working 20 hour days. It is being abnormal on where you spend the time you have.

Most of the extremely successful people I know personally dont accept “reasons” for why “x didn’t occur”. I think one of the famous quotes from Steve Jobs at Apple was that once you reached a certain level (VP?), no reason is good enough, it all lands on you.

Or to paraphrase my advisor: “How do you know someone wanted something (past tense)? They got it.”

Not everyone can be abnormal. By definition, 95% of folks can’t be. The question is: What do YOU want for yourself. What is important to you that you will fight for? For me personally, it has meant to have a meaningful family life AND a meaningful career. It hadn’t been easy. It took many short term sacrifices and focus on the long game. But in general, I have what I wanted.

Examples of sacrifice: taking a “lower paying job” so I would have more freedom to pursue what I thought was important. Going “part time”/passing up opportunities so I can be with my kids while they are super young. Taking “risks” in jobs that weren’t really “sexy” on the face of it, but had the potential for long term impact.

I mention the above to say it can work (but even now my life is far from perfect). The key however (Per the original article) is to adopt a mindset where you are in the driver seat and conversely are responsible.

By focusing on what you can control, and not wasting energy on what you can’t, you free up resources that compound over time. To make this concrete for folks: let’s say you spend 10 mins a day on thinking how “awful” is. In the course of a week, you would have spent an over an hour unproductively. Over the course of a year, over a full work week. What could you have done with an extra “week”?

It doesn’t take much, done repeatedly to make a profound difference on your life in the long term. The question is whether you are willing to.

Edited for clarity/succinctness

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

#60

Post by logicchains »

kstenerud wrote: post #27

Another book selling the illusion of control. And this idea of "becoming abnormal" borders on creepy and cultish. Successful people have the right combination of personal traits for the circumstances they find themselves in. In other words, they got lucky, and that luck will NOT translate to anyone else. And that's really about all you can say about it. Sure, learn some time management and people skills, but the rest…

>Successful people have the right combination of personal traits for the circumstances they find themselves in.

Personality traits aren't set in stone: people can and do change their personalities. Just not when they believe such things can't be changed, because somebody who believes something cannot be changed is not going to find a way to change it.

Post reply on HN