51–60 of 393 posts
I spent a lot of time thinking about ideas that were good or smart or made me feel smart. Could easily have been a lifelong chase with no real gains. Focusing on execution hasn't made me a millionaire overnight but it has helped me think about concrete things that are undeniably moving in the right direction instead of hoping to strike a "genius idea jackpot" that changes everything in an instant.
I like re-reading this once every few months, and taking stock of how little I've internalised it: https://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-y...
You might want to rethink aligning your life to a Cracked listicle, in particular this one. For example: > For instance, some people want to respond to that speech with Tyler Durden's line from Fight Club: "You are not your job." But, well, actually, you totally are. Well, actually, you totally aren't. The next part is even worse and downright dehumanizing: > you are nothing more than the sum total of your useful ski…
Really interesting conversation about the nature of happiness. For a lot of my life I was convinced that if I achieved my goals then I would become happy - "if I get into this uni, get this grade, get this job, etc...".
Then when I started working I couldn't work out why career success wasn't translating into feeling better. In hindsight it's obvious that getting paid more money doesn't automatically make you happy, but it was only after reading this article that it really clicked for me.
Putting thoughts into words for others to understand is a creative activity that keeps on giving for all sorts of subtle reasons. (What reasons..? Write a blog and find out for yourself!)
Not really life changing but still my favorite blog post of all time https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anythin...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Link here: Basically he talks about how when you retire depends on one number, percentage of money you can save from your pay. If you save 50% of your pay and invest it, you can retire in 16 years. Pretty eye openning https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-si...
The problem I've always had with that story is that most people are struggling just to live on what they make. Saving 50% of your income when you are trying to make rent is a pipe dream. Even making decent money, if you have a family, saving is tough. The idea that we are poor because we buy lattes is over-simplified, and borderline insulting. Life is more complicated than a blog post with some arithmetic.
FIRE obviously isn’t meant for someone trying to live in an expensive city on a $15/hr wage. However, there really are many career paths that readily allow the math. You’re obviously going to struggle to make it work if your goal is to work for a non-profit in Seattle or San Francisco, but it’s entirely within reach if you choose to work for an average tech company in an average city. It’s also trivial to make the math work out if you’re able to get a FAANG job anywhere and keep your lifestyle in check.
> Saving 50% of your income when you are trying to make rent is a pipe dream.
Depends entirely on your lifestyle and relationship situation. Many of us easily achieved FIRE savings rates by simply getting married to another professional, choosing to keep expenses within the limits of one person’s income, and putting 100% of the other person’s income into savings. Instant 50% savings rate, and it’s not even difficult to be honest. As a bonus, it was easy to transition to having kids and a stay-at-home spouse because we already lived on one income.
Obviously doesn’t work for everyone in every situation, but it’s not correct to say it’s a pipe dream or that it can’t work. It’s a choice that requires choosing lifestyle and career directions to match, but everything is a tradeoff.
https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/08/09/the-joel-test-12-s...
I read it early in my career.
It was a simple way to assess team quality.
It's relevant today (there are parts that are out of date, but most of it is still on the mark).
It showed me the power of long form writing to share ideas around software.