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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

#251

Post by snazz »

Flantastical wrote: post #200
abootstrapper wrote: post #116

Everyone here is reading this article as a cautionary tale on procrastination. To me it’s about the unrealistic expectations we place on ourselves. Maybe that’s due to our fake meritocratic society, or comparisons made on social media, or our parents expectations. I thought I’d be a millionaire by now, changing the world for the better, with a Wikipedia page and a yacht. But what I really want now is to put down the…

I think it's both. Even while being aware of my unrealistic work expectations, I often still find myself being disappointed when I reflect on my day. Not being productive isn't what makes me disappointed. It's procrastinating in ways that don't even make me happy. It's too easy to be sucked into hours of binging youtube, reddit, wikipedia, or twitter. I know I'd get way more satisfaction by going on a hike, practicin…

Yes! It’s exactly this. I’m fine being unproductive, but at least I want to be able to reflect on my day and remember doing fun things (as opposed to dopamine roulette activities like Reddit).

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#253

Post by rzzzt »

herrgigglung wrote: post #241
ethbro wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a few things aren't hammered into young people enough today. 1) Any action is greater than no action. It doesn't matter how much you suck at something. Do it. Congrats, you've beaten everyone who never started. 2) Finish things. No matter how ugly it is. Even if you have to half-kill yourself to drag it that last inch over the line. Congrats, you've beaten everyone who never finished. 3) Your worst effort is…

I'm going to print this off and frame it! So so true!

Same here. I read this before getting home and made a mental note to save the comment (also to forgive myself).

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#254

Post by josh2600 »

I am constantly amazed at what caused progress in my life. Sometimes it is working to the bone. More often it is knowing when to press and when to let things breathe.

One of the most powerful lessons I’ve internalized in my life is that negotiations are often won in the silence between gambits, not in the offers themselves.

Sometimes letting things take the time they need makes them go faster than trying to rush.

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#255

Post by comprev »

foxdev wrote: post #103
comprev wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN, Facebook, Reddit, Messenger, YouTube, news websites and dozens of other sites are on a block list from 0900-1800 M-F via a super useful plugin for Firefox (on mobile now and I can't remember it!)

Leechblock? https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/leechblock-ng...

Bingo! Thanks that's the one. I saw it here on HN a few weeks back.

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#256

Post by joelbluminator »

intrepidhero wrote: post #203

For me, thinking about what I didn't accomplish today is the first step on a short road to depression. Better questions to ask are: 1. Did I see or hear something beautiful. 2. Did I eat or drink something that nourished my body? 3. Did I have a thought that buoyed my spirits? 4. Did I have a pleasant interaction with a fellow human/animal? 5. Did I help someone? Journey before destination and all that. I'm not a gre…

If only more people had this life philosophy...

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#257

Post by joelbluminator »

dmreedy wrote: post #17

I've been thinking a lot lately about a line from the movie Master and Commander , a euology (though perhaps not much 'eu' about it) for a dead character. "The simple truth is, not all of us become the men we once hoped we might be" Spoken by a character who very much has. I don't really have much comment beyond that.

Well yeah, good movie. The simple truth is almost all of us short fall of what we wanted to be in some ways.

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#258

Post by bosie »

papito wrote: post #183
jeffnv wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What information on reddit is useful?

Or Facebook. I use Twitter for doomscrolling, at least it has real time info. Facebook has been utterly useless for years now.

I have taken 3 photography related courses that all have private groups on FB. I don't use FB in any other capacity but the value of those groups is probably among the highest ROIs on the internet for me (hobby wise at least).

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#259

Post by thinkharderdev »

umvi wrote: post #4

Paradoxically, 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've had a similar experience. There is something about scarcity of time that breeds discipline. Whenever I go through a period of life where I have to spend a huge amount of time on some particular task project I always think "man, when this is over I'm going to be able to use all this time to do X,Y,Z. It's gonna be great!" And then the project ends and I essentially waste all of my newly found free time. I end up accomplishing less, even on my side projects somehow.

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#260

Post by l0ner »

imtringued wrote: post #186
voidhorse wrote: post #13

Funny 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…

The worst mistake a lot of people make is put stuff on a backlog aka procrastination. If what you want to do is worth doing then do it today.

On the other hand, why do so many highly skilled people push themselves so hard? I do not have any stats, it's just an observation looking at all the people in my environment, and then some public exponents.

I've grown up in a family where there was always enough, yet not much in excess. Most grown up people I knew in my childhood would probably complain that they would want more, yet they mostly just did their job, had enough and enjoyed their family life. That is also true for some of the people I later met at university and then in business, but I get the impression that quite a lot of them, even though they have much better jobs than the people from my childhood, invest a lot of their free time trying to pursue their goal. And it is extremely rare that I see someone actually reaching it. It is far more often that their life becomes a lot more miserable, think divorce or similar.

Now don't ge me wrong, I think pursuing ones goals can be extremely valuable. But for a lot of people, pursuing a goal and trying to be productive with it while at the same time being married, raising kids, earning money, staying healthy and doing chores is most likely not going to lead anywhere good. So why is it so hard for smart people to accept that fact, and enjoy one or two hours of lazyness every day? Why do people take Elon Musk as an example, if even he himself decribes his life as not too nice?

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