This is amusing. But I wonder when it was that using curse like "fuck" became acceptable in publications like The New Yorker. I feel like it must have been in the last 10 years. Maybe fewer, like the last 4 or 5. I still don't approve. Of course if they are used just like any other words, then their taboo shine diminishes, and then the difference doesn't mean anything. Language is like that. But there has been a shift.
I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35
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Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35
#92Funny piece. It can be so easy to waste time when we have the internet. I think the most dangerous distractions are the ones that feel productive but don’t actually work toward your goals. For example, browsing hacker news. Such an activity is useful every now and then, but at least for myself I often scroll around only to realize later that it was a massive waste of time I could’ve spent working on something I care…
> I think the most dangerous distractions are the ones that feel productive but don’t actually work toward your goals. For example, browsing hacker news. Time to set up my emacs config to manage my life and stop wasting time.
Yes, and time for me to finally start my webcomic, but first I need to build myself a webcomic framework...
Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35
#93Great style and obviously relatable. At the risk of taking it too seriously, though, this piece reveals an all-too-common self-centered approach to goal-setting: "I wanted to found and sell a successful business by the time I was 35". "I wanted to have given a TED talk." These are just personal outcomes that are the by-products of doing something for society. The older I get, the more obvious it becomes that the founders and the TED-talkers of the world are the people whose goals were set in terms of how they specifically wanted to help others - "I wanted to bring better healthcare to Senegal", "I wanted to improve urban transportation". It was just happenstance that founding a business was the only way to get there, or conducting academic research was the first necessary step to solve the problem. Careers and jobs are just tools to affect real societal change; speaking engagements and awards are a symptom of having done something for the world. You can't start with these things as goals and work backwards - I mean, you can, but it requires an almost sociopathic drive for fame and recognition, and is far more likely to result in burnout.
Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35
#94Is there a special word for the kind of procrastination you do by watching or reading productivity-porn?
Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35
#95We recently had a big wind storm. Trees down everywhere, power went out. Fine, whatever, start the generator and it's back to being Tuesday. Wasn't just the power, also Comcast. Fine, whatever, tether to my phone. Wait, no service. Cell tower was out too. Had no internet at all for four days. I think I got more done in that time with a flashlight and pen and paper than I do in a typical month.
What kinds of stuff did you accomplish? I do most work on the computer, with the internet, so just wondering what I could do if I had neither that was still productive for that type of work, like for example programming.
Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35
#96Funny piece. It can be so easy to waste time when we have the internet. I think the most dangerous distractions are the ones that feel productive but don’t actually work toward your goals. For example, browsing hacker news. Such an activity is useful every now and then, but at least for myself I often scroll around only to realize later that it was a massive waste of time I could’ve spent working on something I care…
Does the term action faking describe it?
Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35
#97I recommend: On the shortness of life, by Seneca. I thought time management was a new problem because of the internet, hustle mentality, motivational porn, bill-gates comparison and whatnot. Here is a book written in the BC era for those struggling with just that.
You can aim to be the best at something, but you can settle at being good enough with the result.
Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35
#98Paradoxically, when I had all the time in the world I frittered it away on video games and the internet. Now that I have multiple kids and my time is extremely constrained, I am very efficient with my time usage. I listen to audiobooks while doing the dishes. I plan in my mind exactly which programming tasks I want to accomplish as soon as the kids are in bed so that I can do them quickly and still have time to spend…
I’m very nostalgic about the countless hours I frittered away on video games and the internet as an adolescent. Part of me thinks it made me the person I am today, who I am proud of. I recently joined a Counter Strike team with work and had some of the most fun times I can think of recently. I compare that with the time I put aside to learn 3D modelling, which was fun in its own way but required more self motivation…
I'll think about you while I'm playing video games today
pours some Monster energy drink on the floor
Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35
#99I'm in my 50's and I read less now, it's because writers are now younger than me and they tell stories I've already lived. I suspect all older folk might feel the same? Writing is for the young? Being published is for the young?
Authors your age are still writing. Highly recommended:
Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35
#100I'm 35.
When I look at the people I follow on social media, I feel bad, because they're much nore successful than me, often even much younger too.
When I look at the people I meet in my daily life, I'm doing quite okay.
I haven't set an alarm for work in years, can buy what I want without too much consideration, mostly work when I feel like it, and the work I do is often interesting.