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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

#461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For last few years, I have been telling myself to take it slow and do what you are doing now. I got a easy but a boring job. I figured this way I will save all my mental energy for my projects after work. But this is slowly burning me out. The boredom of not doing any real work for 8 hours is soul killing. I do a lot of busy red tape work but it is not intelluctly stimulating. So now I will do 180 and quit my job in…

Good luck. It will be more difficult than expected, just be ready for that. But it will be worth it.

Thanks!

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

#462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you want to work together on a thing?

That depends. I’m only interested in doing stuff I want to do; the way I want to do it. Most of that stuff is now water under the bridge. I’m pretty hesitant to get into the industry, in its current state. Not much fun to be had. I’m already committed to working on a nonprofit, but we’ll see how that develops.

Oh, that's good, I have worked with nonprofits in the past to good outcomes.

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

#464
post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Me too. I remember my countless hours playing (arguably wasted) diablo 2 very fondly. I still recall a lot of the detailed stats of specific characters I had built. Also helps I had sunk the hours playing with my partner at the time, so it was also a bit of a bonding moment. Didn’t help my grades any though.

If you remember those times fondly, no time was wasted.

Yeah, what's worse is spending hours on a game only to have forgotten those times, the memory existing only as a playtime stat on Steam.

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

#465
post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal mantra at work is: One useful thing per day. If I manage to do one useful thing every day, it adds up to a lot of useful things over time. And that has proven to be enough. There's a sort of mediocre Johnny Cash song with the chorus "Even I might get to Heaven at a half a mile a day" That's basically how I try to live my life.

The speed still matters somehow. Well, take Johnny Cash. Half a mile a day * 30k days gives 15k miles; maybe it's enough to reach heaven, but not enough to e.g. reach the Moon. So, when choosing to move steadily albeit slowly, you have to manage your expectations, and get used to get by with little. Investing your time is not unlike investing your money: least risky strategies bring most stable but least spectacular…

If your priority is simply to do one useful thing a day, there is not built-in end to that, no destination. It's just about the day you're on now.

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

#466
post #422
post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The speed still matters somehow. Well, take Johnny Cash. Half a mile a day * 30k days gives 15k miles; maybe it's enough to reach heaven, but not enough to e.g. reach the Moon. So, when choosing to move steadily albeit slowly, you have to manage your expectations, and get used to get by with little. Investing your time is not unlike investing your money: least risky strategies bring most stable but least spectacular…

> while big bets bring both big gains and big losses. it's actually an asymmetric. The losses a capped - you cannot lose more than you own, and you cannot lose more than the time you put in (which is, of course, something you're going to lose by living any way). Technically, you also lose the "risk free reward" in opportunity cost - e.g., a minimum wage job. The gains, however, are unlimited. For both yourself, and f…

There's always more to lose than just what you own. There's who you are, there's relationships with family & friends, there's time, there's opportunities. All should be put on the scale & weighed against the risks.

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

#467
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternately: When you have a wife and kids and job you like, a lot of your most important needs are well met -- if you can keep juggling everything. Someone with hours and hours to do nothing likely isn't getting laid, isn't making much money, isn't intellectually gratified, etc. So you play games to occupy yourself to keep from going bonkers.

People underestimate how incredibly hard it is to pull yourself out of habits born from socioeconomic factors. Video games give you an alternate reality, likely much better than your own.

I think code did that for me! Not that I’ve been poor financially, but perhaps in terms of friendships.

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

#468
post #422
post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The speed still matters somehow. Well, take Johnny Cash. Half a mile a day * 30k days gives 15k miles; maybe it's enough to reach heaven, but not enough to e.g. reach the Moon. So, when choosing to move steadily albeit slowly, you have to manage your expectations, and get used to get by with little. Investing your time is not unlike investing your money: least risky strategies bring most stable but least spectacular…

> while big bets bring both big gains and big losses. it's actually an asymmetric. The losses a capped - you cannot lose more than you own, and you cannot lose more than the time you put in (which is, of course, something you're going to lose by living any way). Technically, you also lose the "risk free reward" in opportunity cost - e.g., a minimum wage job. The gains, however, are unlimited. For both yourself, and f…

Typically “your health” is not considered part of what “you own”, but more often than not is very much on the line during big bets. Not for everyone, and not for every bet, but the loss of it can have an extraordinarily disproportionate time-multiplied impact far beyond losing what “you own”.

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

#469
post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> take advantage of bursts of motivation I understand this but most of the time I am excited about that new awesome idea that popped into my head. How do you focus on one thing without getting deviated?

Discipline > Motivation Motivation invariably wanes

This

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

#470

I was incredibly driven about 7 years ago... I was a founder of a startup and had really lofty aspirations. I told my wife that it was very possible that we would be millionaires by the time we hit 40. Fast forward to today and that did not happen. The startup is no more, but mainly due to burnout. We made money and did well, but not well enough. I never made my millions, but did have a substantial aqui-hire opportun…

I like that. Thanks for sharing it. I'm 58. I spent over thirty years, writing and managing software projects that other people generally didn't use well (or mishandled while developing). It was frustrating, but they paid the bills, so there wasn't anything I could do about it. Since leaving my last job, I started to look at working, and immediately , and with extreme prejudice, slammed into the notorious ageism in t…

It's not just in tech.

You hear responses from younger generations like "Ok Boomer" to their elders' opinions and it is so cringe-worthy.

I don't think everything my parents taught me was perfect or even always correct but there's an irreplaceable amount of wisdom that comes from being alive twice as long.

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