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Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

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Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#151

Post by zentiggr »

mgolawala wrote: post #144
K0balt wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer "gainfully unemployed" or "willfully unemployable". Those are the labels I have become comfortable with.

I had a friend once refer to it as “funemployed”. I loved the term, though I still prefer to refer to intentional and willful breaks from employment as sabbaticals.

Interesting that your alternative to the socially acceptable work status, is a socially acceptable non-work status that still implies you're doing something.

It's that underlying implication that you must always be striving for something, even meditation is in service to being a better self, vacations aren't fun, they're recharging the batteries / destressing, all of the implied 'be working toward something or you're worthless' assumptions that just frustrate me even more.

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#152

Post by ahelwer »

ativzzz wrote: post #136
roenxi wrote: post #7

The more-correct observation is that any well-understood or easy path to becoming high status will be shut down. Most people are not high status, and want to be. It follows that the path has to be either risky, or difficult to comprehend. If hard work were enough, we'd all be in charge. Lots of hard workers out there.

Leetcode is becoming the status differentiator for software engineers.

Ahahahaha no absolutely not. Unless they clearly enjoy solving those types of puzzles for their own personal enjoyment, anyone chasing status through leetcode comes off as just kinda pathetic. What an incredible waste of time, like competing to get the highest score on an IQ test.

Much more impressive is when people direct their intelligence toward solving problems in high-dimensional domains. Self-contained leetcode problems, at most, break down into (1) translating the problem into known-best algorithm input (2) implementing that algorithm (3) translating the algorithm output into the expected format. Boring.

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#153

Post by mettamage »

barrenko wrote: post #113
mettamage wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel the bitterness as well (31 here). A few observations/tips (that I gave myself): * I've noticed many don't appreciate the bitterness as the bitterness needs to align with their beliefs and people their beliefs are different. If it doesn't align, then all they feel are unpleasant emotions. * Being/feeling bitter is destroying my soul. Don't give into it, I know you have your justifications. I have mine, but ulti…

Similar situation here, I am interpreting (or parsing) all of this as a test to see if I really do love the grind that much.

I don't love the grind. So these observations/tips to myself are in spite of loving the grind.

What helps me a bit to get through the grind is to observe myself while working or applying for jobs. I'm noticing when I get into things, and when I am not getting into things and asking myself why. Sometimes it's really clear why, but sometimes it's subtle. In rare cases I can tweak my inner psychology a bit to like things a bit more, i.e. suffer less.

Now that I'm finally working, I have ample of opportunity to see when I'm in a flow state :)

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#154

Post by powerslacker »

laurent92 wrote: post #90
m_eiman wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such as "the right parents", which in many cases is a pretty efficient gate keeper.

The social elevator can take 2 generations. And that is ok. There is a lot of things to learn. It gives hope to one’s dad. Sadly inheritance is looked down upon, and people would like every citizen to be born with the same information, and this information being delivered by public education. Sadly, parents teach much better than teachers when it is about the little things that make a life successful. There will neve…

I mostly agree with your sentiment, except on hiring. I've gotten several offers from French companies for Sr. Engineer roles and the problem isn't that your developers are lazy - it's that software companies in France don't pay anywhere near market wages compared to the rest of the globe. Last year I was offered the equivalent of US 70K to take on an ambitious Sr. Eng. Role. That's less than half what I'd expect in the states.

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#155

Post by andreilys »

jgilias wrote: post #101

The Twitter thread explores some ideas why this may be the case. However, quickly skimming through it, they miss the most obvious one. For the people who are busy working on something they find important, most often 'status' is not even a thing. So there's no 'willingness' really to it, it's just that status doesn't really exist. The way they see themselves and how they measure their success has literally nothing to…

Humans are social animals, so status regardless of what you’re working on is most certainly a thing.

Unless you’ve reached enlightenment through concerted practice, status will still be a topic that concerns you.

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#157

Post by rurp »

laurent92 wrote: post #90
m_eiman wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such as "the right parents", which in many cases is a pretty efficient gate keeper.

The social elevator can take 2 generations. And that is ok. There is a lot of things to learn. It gives hope to one’s dad. Sadly inheritance is looked down upon, and people would like every citizen to be born with the same information, and this information being delivered by public education. Sadly, parents teach much better than teachers when it is about the little things that make a life successful. There will neve…

> 86% billionaires of our generation didn’t have billionaire parents.

How many of them had hundred-millionaire parents? The way wealth has grown for the super rich over the past few decades is staggering. Children of wealthy parents attaining far greater wealth than their parents has been the norm in America for generations now, it's not some exceptional accomplishment.

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#158

Post by nlh »

K0balt wrote: post #128
nlh wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People considered me to be quasi-unemployed On a related note, this is a mindset that I think is probably the biggest blocker to entrepreneurial success (and perhaps happiness?) I have a friend (you know who you are since you’ll probably read this ;) who is by ALL measures a massively successful and brilliant person. Ran his own startup for 10+ years, just had a great exit. And during his post-sale victory lap in w…

I prefer "gainfully unemployed" or "willfully unemployable". Those are the labels I have become comfortable with.

That's a good alternative!

Personally, I don't even go there. By all measures, I haven't been "employed" since the late 90s (when I was briefly an employee of an investment bank for a summer internship). I've run my own businesses, helped others build theirs, worked as a consultant, and done nothing at various times for the past 20 years.

Rather than describe my state of being as "employed" vs "unemployed", I always break it into "working on a project for someone else" vs. "working on my own project" (and sometimes both, and sometimes neither.) Some of those projects generate money. Some of them don't.

It's taken some time, but people get it! I just refuse to play the game :)

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#159

Post by [deleted] »

K0balt wrote: post #128
nlh wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People considered me to be quasi-unemployed On a related note, this is a mindset that I think is probably the biggest blocker to entrepreneurial success (and perhaps happiness?) I have a friend (you know who you are since you’ll probably read this ;) who is by ALL measures a massively successful and brilliant person. Ran his own startup for 10+ years, just had a great exit. And during his post-sale victory lap in w…

I prefer "gainfully unemployed" or "willfully unemployable". Those are the labels I have become comfortable with.

[deleted]

Re: Underrated predictor of success: willingness to be low-status

#160

Post by User23 »

gonehome wrote: post #149
paulsutter wrote: post #84

Folks in the status professions (banking, law,..) often tell me they want to become an entrepreneur. I always tell them, you wont do it. They attended the right school, joined the right firm, attained that corner office. As a founder they would give up all that, and their family and friends will tell them that they've made a massive mistake, for years, while it appears that nothing is happening. Then they sheepishly…

Arguably a lot of people are driven to be entrepreneurs because of the status. The issue with the bankers is that they’re trapped in a local maximum. A successful entrepreneur is probably the highest status role possible in modern society (think Zuckerberg, Bezos, Gates) maybe even rivaling POTUS. I don’t buy that entrepreneurs are not interested in status, they’re just making a longer term status play (and taking on…

> A successful entrepreneur is probably the highest status role possible in modern society (think Zuckerberg, Bezos, Gates) maybe even rivaling POTUS.

Not even close. Regardless of the high esteem we may hold them in, the average person just sees them that you list as rich dorks. Compare and contrast with say Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio who, to use a stock phrase, men want to be and women want to be with.

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