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Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

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Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#321

Post by devchix »

dvh1990 wrote: post #94

Reading through the various comments, I wonder what happened to good old-fashioned ambition. Other than my post, all I can see are "it's ok, I feel the same way, don't change" replies. We used to admire our heroes and try to emulate them, and if fortunate enough, come as close to them as our talents and circumstances would allow. And we did that through hard work, through having lofty goals and working hard to achiev…

There's more of us than of you. Fuck off, Achilles.

/s - of course.

Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#322

Post by racl101 »

codegeek wrote: post #6

I know the feeling but I will leave you with this: "There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. ― Ernest Hemingway"

Best reply here.

Comparing yourself to others is a fool's errand. Never goes well.

Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#324

Post by hermitsings »

To me, it looks like you are consuming a lot more than doing something. Mere consumption of media always brings about problems like this. Try learning and hacking into something or starting something afresh (trying starting your own Twitch channel). All those talented people are consuming and putting what they learnt into practice.

Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#326

Post by Dylan16807 »

racl101 wrote: post #322
codegeek wrote: post #6

I know the feeling but I will leave you with this: "There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. ― Ernest Hemingway"

Best reply here. Comparing yourself to others is a fool's errand. Never goes well.

But the quote isn't relevant to the way OP is comparing themself to others.

If that quote is about trying to win the race, then OP is lamenting being miles behind the leaders. The feeling of not pulling your own weight is a different sadness from "oh no I can't be the best".

Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#327

Post by jpatte »

elteto wrote: post #78

I don’t know if you will get to see my comment by now but you are an incredibly good writer. Miles above the email churn I deal with daily. I found myself reading and just flowing over your ideas. Your pace is good, your writing is simple yet thoughtful. Your sentence are not too short or too long and your paragraph boundaries make sense to me. Honestly, you are a good writer.

My exact thoughts as I was reading the OP: "This guy doesn't know how talented he is at writing".

Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#328

Post by tomrod »

HWR_14 wrote: post #243
tomrod wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That the future can still inspire, once they account for sunk costs being irrelevant even if emotionally difficult.

If you're so emotionally mature as to avoid the sunk cost fallacy, do you need the emotional boost of inspiration? It's like saying "once you're happy, you're no longer depressed".

You do. Maintaining maturity can be difficult.

Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#329

Post by tomrod »

Typhon wrote: post #69
tomrod wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That the future can still inspire, once they account for sunk costs being irrelevant even if emotionally difficult.

This is one of those things that is both very true, and very much easier to say than do.

Agreed!

Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#330

Post by mbrodersen »

foxhop wrote: post #296
mbrodersen wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep agree 100% I am slowly learning to accept that if I only want the results but don’t want to pay the price (thousands of hours working to accomplish the results) then I really don’t truly want it. You have to pick the struggle you want and the results will be the outcomes of that choice.

No struggle. You simply guide your focus. Find focus by using the law of attraction and following thoughts, ideas, and feelings which are good. Your active attention (followed by action) will create worlds. You do not need to struggle, if the idea is great you will attract people to grow it. A labor of love is not a struggle, its different.

All sounds good in theory, and I used to believe that as well, but it doesn’t work in practice. I have achieved everything in life I deeply wanted and now there is nothing I want badly enough to pay the price.
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