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Work Hard (2007)

terrytao.wordpress.com

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Re: Work Hard (2007)

#21

Post by roflc0ptic »

sfsylvester wrote: post #17
gonehome wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tao has gotten a lot more public media attention for the most part (Netflix, shows, TV, news, etc.) than any of the others which remain more niche. I'd guess as a result the audiences of the others are better selected to lean more high quality.

There's a Netflix show about him? Also there's plenty of shows and news about MU, SSC etc. I'm also surprised that Tao's rather specifically niche blog attracts such comments. Is it possible that the other blogs are just better moderated and Professor Tao doesn't need or care to?

There really, really isn’t that much news about SSC. Scott spent most of his blogging career being incredibly averse to publicity.

Re: Work Hard (2007)

#22

Post by pm90 »

herodoturtle wrote: post #4

> there is an important distinction between “working hard” and “maximising the number of hours during which one works”. In particular, forcing oneself to work even when one is tired, unmotivated, unprepared, or distracted with other tasks can end up being counterproductive to one’s long-term work productivity, and there is a saturation point beyond which pushing oneself to work even longer will actually reduce the to…

I'm glad you posted this as it goes against the "hard work cult" that seems to have gripped popular imagination. Hard work isn't just time spent on completing a task; this interpretation is maybe the easiest to understand and benefits employers the most.

Re: Work Hard (2007)

#23

Post by gfodor »

herodoturtle wrote: post #4

> there is an important distinction between “working hard” and “maximising the number of hours during which one works”. In particular, forcing oneself to work even when one is tired, unmotivated, unprepared, or distracted with other tasks can end up being counterproductive to one’s long-term work productivity, and there is a saturation point beyond which pushing oneself to work even longer will actually reduce the to…

I think there's an important point here too that cuts against a lot of memes: it's important to keep working hard right up until this point. A lot of people presume that if they put in a solid day's work they're going to do just as well as someone who is a "work-a-holic." That's not a great mental model, if the work-a-holic is working more but not so much they are hitting these problems mentioned. There's a fairly wide margin between underwork and overwork.

edit: Lo and behold my sibling is taking on one of the memes I mentioned. :) If you're working less because you feel it's doing too much in the favor of your employer, and not because you're otherwise going to start becoming less productive because of it, you're probably underworking in the sense outlined here.

Re: Work Hard (2007)

#24

Post by TameAntelope »

I've held for a long time that you must know the rules quite well before you're "allowed" to break them, and I think this reinforces my opinion on that.

Additionally, I think the obsession over "intelligence" and "natural ability" is vastly overstated, in general. It absolutely helps, and it compounds, to be smart, but a person who "works hard" is infinitely more valuable to their colleagues than a smart person who doesn't, and tries to rely on raw intellect.

My problem, and I wonder if others have this issue as well, is how hard it is to know these things intellectually, and also apply them to my life. I just cannot, for the life of me, maintain a "work hard" mindset. I'm still trying, but I very often fail at this, and its frustrating because I know how valuable it is to being good at what I do.

Re: Work Hard (2007)

#25

Post by giantg2 »

It's probably good advice, and maybe my dissent is just due to my burn out, but...

I'm tired of hearing "work hard". Very often, working hard does not lead to success. It sure as shit didn't work out that way for me. There are many people who do not work hard and make tons of money in things like NFT, crypto, securities, office politics, scams, etc. It seems like luck is the shared variable... of which I have none.

Re: Work Hard (2007)

#27

Post by ttul »

herodoturtle wrote: post #4

> there is an important distinction between “working hard” and “maximising the number of hours during which one works”. In particular, forcing oneself to work even when one is tired, unmotivated, unprepared, or distracted with other tasks can end up being counterproductive to one’s long-term work productivity, and there is a saturation point beyond which pushing oneself to work even longer will actually reduce the to…

And of course most of us are skipping through reading about “working hard…”

Re: Work Hard (2007)

#28

Post by [deleted] »

herodoturtle wrote: post #4

> there is an important distinction between “working hard” and “maximising the number of hours during which one works”. In particular, forcing oneself to work even when one is tired, unmotivated, unprepared, or distracted with other tasks can end up being counterproductive to one’s long-term work productivity, and there is a saturation point beyond which pushing oneself to work even longer will actually reduce the to…

[deleted]

Re: Work Hard (2007)

#29

Post by jarenmf »

Reading alone would take some serious hard work. To make any meaningful contribution in any field you have to do some serious reading (and understanding) to bring yourself up to date with the field.

Re: Work Hard (2007)

#30

Post by spoonjim »

giantg2 wrote: post #25

It's probably good advice, and maybe my dissent is just due to my burn out, but... I'm tired of hearing "work hard". Very often, working hard does not lead to success. It sure as shit didn't work out that way for me. There are many people who do not work hard and make tons of money in things like NFT, crypto, securities, office politics, scams, etc. It seems like luck is the shared variable... of which I have none.

His advice isn’t for how to get rich in crypto, it’s for how to succeed in academic mathematics. I can’t imagine that anyone has ever “lucked” their way into that.
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