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

Tips for a Better Life

ideopunk.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 488 posts

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#111

Post by croissants »

enjeyw wrote: post #100
croissants wrote: post #90

I like these! I do want push back on > 95. Some types of sophistication won’t make you enjoy the object more, they’ll make you enjoy it less. For example, wine snobs don’t enjoy wine twice as much as you, they’re more keenly aware of how most wine isn’t good enough. Avoid sophistication that diminishes your enjoyment. I'm not a wine snob, but I might be a food snob, in the sense that I'm "more keenly aware of how [mo…

To add to this, I’ve met a few wine/food/music “snobs” who leverage their sophistication to appreciate less-expensive/mass-market produce. Nothing you stop you liking pop music! So, in my opinion it’s your approach and mentality more than the the sophistication that matters.

I don't think I've come back around to enjoying the lettuce in fast-food salads, but maybe I'll ascend to that level one day.

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#112

Post by monadgonad »

sullyj3 wrote: post #99
tomcam wrote: post #14

> 78. If you have trouble talking during dates, try saying whatever comes into your head. At worst you’ll ruin some dates (which weren’t going well anyways), at best you’ll have some great conversations. Alcohol can help. Or try listening.

I think this advice is very much addressed to the kind of person who has no trouble with listening

I think the complete opposite. A shy, nerdy person who has trouble talking probably isn't truly listening when they're not talking.

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#113

Post by ggm »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #84
ggm wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cultivate compassion for people trapped in religious dogma driven politics

Cultivate compassion for people trapped in dogma-driven politics, whether religious or secular dogma. Or did you mean "dogma held with religious fervor/intensity"? If so, I will agree with you. People hold political views the way they used to hold religion, and it has not improved politics...

Really, I was just responding to the prior. They drove the pseudo-rationalist line. I do think there is a toxic culture in rationalism, but I tend to blame it on neoliberal economic reductionism, or libertarianism. I don't think rationalism per se is at the root of it, pseudo-rationalism, what would that even be? purported rationalism but actually.. over-arching asocialism? self interest? Anyway, I saw religiosity as the counter-case to rationalism.

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#114

Post by grecy »

redleggedfrog wrote: post #16

"8. When buying things, time and money trade-off against each other. If you’re low on money, take more time to find deals. If you’re low on time, stop looking for great deals and just buy things quickly online." I'm finding, as I've gotten older, that almost every time I've chosen money over time I've made a bad decision. And I see this among my family and friends, too. There's a mentality that emerges when exchangin…

> Time really is the most precious resource you have. Think hard before you trade it for anything else.

Including money!

I personally would much rather spend a sunny afternoon with my nephew transporting 2 tons of gravel and playing outside than sitting inside an office to earn the money to pay someone else to do it.

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#115

Post by powersnail »

war1025 wrote: post #109
powersnail wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you eliminate all hassle, you could just as much pay people to live instead of you. There are still a lot of things to do even if you have eliminated all the hassles. Singing, writing, learning a new language, surfing, volunteering as a firefighter, just to name a few. I get it. Some people likes fixing stuff, building stuff with their hands, and it's perfectly interesting to them. At the same time, it's not tha…

> volunteering as a firefighter This seems like exactly the case where I would apply the "There's a professional for that" maxim.

There are not enough professional firefighters in some places.

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#116

Post by alfyboy »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #103
duckmysick wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would be a better advice?

Google/DDG/Bing it and read some forum threads. Sure you can't get people to spoon feed you answers that way but do you really want to be spoon fed by people who don't actually know anything?

How do you usually format your searches to avoid all the SEO crap?

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#117

Post by nojs »

qntty wrote: post #25

Sorry, but a lot of this advice makes no sense or is pretty bad. 26. Are you on the fence about breaking up or leaving your job? You should probably go ahead and do it. People, on average, end up happier when they take the plunge. Seems illogical. Presumably the reason that people are happier after leaving their job is because, on average, they wait until they are ready. That doesn't mean anyone with the inclination…

Your second point is a good one. Discipline is superior to motivation for getting things done, but not for deciding what to spend your time on (which is probably more important). Too much discipline can lead to putting up with bad situations that you hate.

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#119

Post by arexxbifs »

nlh wrote: post #19

These are really great! I imagine one could write a paragraph (or more) on each, and one could setup a whole process of following through with all of them. In fact, this is inspiring: I'm going to put these in a list and review them regularly and try to take a (small) action on each. Anyone wanna try it with me? BTW - only two that I disagree with: > 13. When googling a recipe, precede it with ‘best’. You’ll find bet…

I'd say history remembers those who were successful. Being first doesn't matter if you can't sell what you make: Steve Jobs didn't invent the GUI and Henry Ford invented neither the assembly line nor the car. The LG Prada was the first phone with a capacitive touchscreen and nobody gives a crap about that.

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#120

Post by throwaway98797 »

bambax wrote: post #118

None of this matters. In the end, you die and nobody will remember shit about you. Or about anyone else. Because the world also will die.

True.

But might as well feel as good as practical, while you can. These don’t appear to hurt that. If anything they lead to more enjoyment of the limited time we have.

Post reply on HN