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Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

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Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#181

Post by SlowAndCalm »

pmorici wrote: post #26

Get a gym membership and go every day. If you have trouble going routinely sign up for classes or a personal trainer so you feel more obligated to go on a regular basis.

It sounds odd but I believe sometimes creating that obligation can hurt people's efforts. Anecdotally, I've seen many people sign up with a personal trainer, planning to go regularly, find the first few training sessions hard and then not want to go again as they know the trainer will push them. I try to give people the advice of going routinely even if they don't have a routine once they're there. Associate it as a place you go before you associate it with any other feelings and you might find yourself having a workout just because you're there.

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#182

Post by thanatos519 »

sinenomine wrote: post #52
thanatos519 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's pretty good advice except for the part about kids. This planet is screwed and it's not kind to introduce any new humans to the horrors we face.

I do think that anti-natalist sentiment is very much overblown in the United States, while in the EU we don't see this position being claimed in public a lot. If by "screwed" you mean anthropogenic climate change, then by now it's pretty obvious that it will be mitigated via some form of geoengineering (see, for example recent guardian's popularizing take on it: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/30/geoengine…

It's not just climate change, which is a runaway effect that is unlikely to be effectively mitigated by geoengineering without even worse side effects. I know an old lady who swallowed a fly.

It's global ecosystem collapse: grandparents, and eventually parents, will gladly die so that the children can eat.

There is no point in having savings or a pension, because the system that connects money to value is a dead man walking.

I live in The Netherlands and I have a child. I'm trying to figure out how to waterproof the bottom half of my house.

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#183

Post by shrimpx »

ReactiveJelly wrote: post #136
mattgreenrocks wrote: post #11

The special thing I’ve done is mostly being willing to sit with hard questions like “who am I” and “what do I really want out of life and a job?”, sometimes for years at a time (low-key). The answer is always the same, and will probably always the same: I am motivated by mastery and autonomy. Thus I put lots of time into finding work that is interesting and has a lot to dig into. I routinely annoy the institutions I…

> The special thing I’ve done is mostly being willing to sit with hard questions like “who am I” and “what do I really want out of life and a job?”, sometimes for years at a time A couple years ago I watched "Avatar: The Last Airbender" for the first time, having skipped its original run. When Uncle Iroh says to Zuko, "You need to start asking yourself the important questions, like _who am I?_, and _what do I want?_"…

I think that’s ok. Even people who really know what they want to do can easily reach a point where they don’t know anymore. They may even pursue something else, their “dream career”, only to reach a point where they’re bored with that, too. I would go as far as saying that being in limbo, insecure, bored, questioning without answers, is the natural state. Being pointedly secure in your vision is probably an unstable state.

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#184

Post by Gatsky »

suriyaG wrote: post #86
mattgreenrocks wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My twenty-year-old self wasn't ready to hear this, but it's absolutely true. Fulfillment follows from meaning, and meaning flows from responsibilities we bear.

As a twenty three year old. I'm curious to know more. why take on responsibility through having children? Why not pickup any other type of responsibilty? like, community service, tutoring/helping kids from less fortunate places or in the worst case even Picking up more responsibility from work? Is it more of a genetic thing where it makes the pain of responsibility more pleasurable? I'm even more curious to know if y…

There is one misconception to avoid about having kids. People focus too much on the part where children are young, presumably because this is the part they see happening around them. At the same time they ignore what it means to have children over the whole course of their lives. Consider for example the relationship one has with one’s parents as an adult.

Let me add the disclaimer that of course some adult parent-child relationships are terrible and off-putting. My point is to seek out a perspective which is not too short-sighted regarding procreation.

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#185

Post by brailsafe »

From your other answers, you do seem to acknowledge that you know the answer, but aren't motivated to do anything about it. My answer, like others, is that if you're anything like my hometown friends in their 30s, you haven't made new friends in a while, don't exercise much, and don't spend much time in nature. Tech sucks. It's boring, stressful, you don't meaningfully improve anyone's life directly, and you often don't make as much as the general contractor who fixes your drywall. Working backwards from that might be how you adjust your career accordingly, starting with a hobby where you spend at least 3 hours a week hanging out with random people in a totally neutral space.

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#186

Post by idrios »

beaker52 wrote: post #176
toddm wrote: post #111

For me, the special part is truly viewing any job as just that: a job. I no longer assess my worth as a person as a function of job title, salary, or anything else. I take contracting work primarily and expect absolutely nothing more than a paycheck. Work is a transaction and I deliver what I can and am not a jerk. Almost every disposable penny goes toward physical fitness. My spouse happens to be cut from the same c…

I've always thought that a job worth doing was a job worth doing well. It's put me through a lot of pain and stress because almost no-one else feels the same way. I'm coming to terms with the realisation that for most people, a job is just a job. To others, a job is a ladder to climb in the pursuit of wealth. Neither of those are me, but I need to find a way to be content in an environment full of people like that. I…

> I've always thought that a job worth doing was a job worth doing well.

Kind of off topic but this made me laugh because I once saw the phrase "anything worth doing is worth doing poorly" and I have found massive inspiration in that, as it has helped me overcome my perfectionism and just get more things done.

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#187

Post by mattm »

My first programming job was unionized and the hours were strictly from 8:30-4. With breaks, that worked out to be about 6-6.5 hours per day. I would leave work with lots of energy and be energized to start the next day. I left that job for another one but needed to work 1 hour more per day. It was a pretty similar office environment. I was amazed at how much just one hour a day changed my mood. After a few weeks I no longer had that energetic feeling anymore when leaving work or when waking up.

If you're optimizing for happiness, I think a 30 hour work week is ideal. 10 hours a week is too little to feel happiness and fulfillment from that.

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#188

Post by astockwell »

beaker52 wrote: post #176
toddm wrote: post #111

For me, the special part is truly viewing any job as just that: a job. I no longer assess my worth as a person as a function of job title, salary, or anything else. I take contracting work primarily and expect absolutely nothing more than a paycheck. Work is a transaction and I deliver what I can and am not a jerk. Almost every disposable penny goes toward physical fitness. My spouse happens to be cut from the same c…

I've always thought that a job worth doing was a job worth doing well. It's put me through a lot of pain and stress because almost no-one else feels the same way. I'm coming to terms with the realisation that for most people, a job is just a job. To others, a job is a ladder to climb in the pursuit of wealth. Neither of those are me, but I need to find a way to be content in an environment full of people like that. I…

I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. A lot of folks work continuously to 'find the middle ground' of doing their job in a thoughtful, efficient, effective manner, whilst still defending their boundaries of work vs life. Finding that balance is probably what gives rise to so much discussion around 'not doing every last work task' that you possibly can, but rather prioritizing work tasks by impact/importance and letting some drop (with appropriate comms to your leadership/team etc etc etc).

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#189

Post by jonas21 »

Don't listen to the naysayers who are telling you to give up on finding fulfillment in work. It is possible, but you need to be intentional about it.

Step back and find a worthy goal, something that you believe will advance humanity and make the world a better place. Take some time to think hard about this -- there is such abundance in our field that it can be easy to bounce from one opportunity to the next without stopping to think about what it is that you want to accomplish over the long term.

Once you've decided on your goal, figure out what you can be doing to advance that goal. Optimize career decisions toward reaching that goal. Maybe this means changing jobs to work with experts in a particular area. Maybe it means finding a startup that is doing interesting work in that area, or starting a company of your own. You mentioned that you're able to work for a lower salary. Take advantage of this, and realize how lucky you are to be able to do so.

There will be some (perhaps many) days that are frustrating and draining. Accept that this is part of the process. Anything worth doing is hard. And don't give up. This won't guarantee success or fulfillment, but it raises the odds. Realize that progress comes from lots of people working hard on things that are important. Some will succeed individually, others won't, but collectively they will move things forward.

Finally, get some exercise. It really does help with health and mood!

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#190

Post by thanatos519 »

alecbz wrote: post #73
thanatos519 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's pretty good advice except for the part about kids. This planet is screwed and it's not kind to introduce any new humans to the horrors we face.

"Please Don't Give Up On Having Kids Because Of Climate Change" https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/please-dont-give-up-on...

It's not just climate change. It's humanity's collective decision to walk into the abyss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5AoMNF7dnE

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