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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?

#301

Post by splittingTimes »

helpfulmandrill wrote: post #162
thanatos519 wrote: post #35

Use your career/job to support your life, then get a life. Become an artist, author, clown, or build some awesome technical system because you want it to exist. GPL it. Don't ask for anything, especially not happiness, from your "career". I put it in quotes because it's conceptually bankrupt. https://www.roystonguest.com/blog/why-happiness-is-not-a-des...

Tough to get a life when work takes up so much of our time. I think that's why people try to find or build careers they can love.

If you deprioritize money, getting part time work is always an option.

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

#302

Post by dmje »

throwaway-blue2 wrote: post #121
dmje wrote: post #50

My context: 49y/o. Salary: we have a 2-person husband/wife micro-business so "it's complicated" but I pay us £5k GBP ($6.3k usd) p/m so that's ~$80k take-home p/a. Working hours: absolute max 40 (although I'm taking a day off a week right now to do my own thing), very strict "no evenings or weekends" (apart from site launches and big deadlines of which there are about 3 a year), no work email on phone, long holidays…

Thank you for writing this, it really resonated with me. I’m moving back to Cornwall with my family after a stint working on the London grind to focus on our careers - I think there’s been some benefit to us doing that but Cornwall has always been where we wanted to raise our kids, so now we’ve got one and it’s possible we decided now is the time to do it! I can’t wait to get back, it really does feel like a differen…

Hey, glad my ramblings were of some use! Sounds like you're making a move that makes sense. We loved London when we were there but for family I think there are better places...

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

#303

Post by helpfulmandrill »

splittingTimes wrote: post #301
helpfulmandrill wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tough to get a life when work takes up so much of our time. I think that's why people try to find or build careers they can love.

If you deprioritize money, getting part time work is always an option.

But then what do you do with the time?

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

#304

Post by ctchocula »

abnercoimbre wrote: post #275
maroonblazer wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I will also note that we have consciously chosen this route vs. maxing out 401(k) or similar. We are not wealthy (in the financial sense) nor are we sitting on a nest egg or in line to inherit a large sum of money. This caught my eye. Not maxing out your 401K is leaving money on the table. Money that could make your life easier later on. I'm curious to know what items/activities you'd need to give up in order to m…

What if your current employer doesn't match your contributions? Is maxing out the 401k still advisable?

Even if your current employer doesn't match your contributions, deferring your taxes from now to the future (when you might not need to pay as much due to lower tax bracket) is considered good practice from a tax perspective. Of course there are edge cases when that may not hold (e.g. you have a pension) and have more income in retirement compared to now, but it's a good rule of thumb.

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

#305

Post by nickd2001 »

tmnstr85 wrote: post #124
CodeGlitch wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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? The other day I was flicking through my notepad in my home office and found hand written notes from my 6 year old daughter saying how much she loved me. Yes kids are a massive…

Imagine what happens when it doesn't go right with children and you're in this situation. I have a daughter who caught bacterial meningitis at birth and had to have a brain surgery to solve the infection. Her existence is tragic, she is with us but she is going to have a lifetime of challenges and we've already been through the ringer. Now ever day is like waking up with a mortal wound, and to have other kids who nee…

Very sorry to hear this. Its hugely challenging, in ways that IMHO most people can't comprehend /imagine. In my experience, sibling(s) of a severely disabled person, while they get things put on them that are unfair, also can emerge with great resilience, caring nature, and extra qualities they wouldn't have otherwise had. Perhaps leading to greater happiness. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" . IMHO there's no real problem caring for a severely disabled person, if the rest of society understood a bit more, and things were better resourced, high quality respite easily available etc, people were willing to pay a bit more tax to help others in need. But the world isn't like that. There are hacks though. Thank goodness for working in tech, where one can at least earn decent money and throw money at challenges. Could you and your partner work 4 days a week each and have a weekday off together? That may be an effective way to get respite and some time together. Best wishes :)

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

#306

Post by RonaldOlzheim »

stayux wrote: post #60

In 2019 I closed my company, middle size web-dev shop. I used the pandemic situation to reevaluate and rearrange my life. Turns out that I want to do product design and development. And all the experience as a business owner, product manager, etc, is coming handy when crafting new products. I have survived several burnouts in those years of pushing myself harder. Learned my lessons. Balance is the key. Physical and m…

pyramid of maslow hierarchy of needs might be intresting for you.

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

#307

Post by atmosx »

nostromo wrote: post #216
atmosx wrote: post #200

We live in the post-modernism era. The common theme is the maximisation of hedonism, and through that we pursue "happiness". Happiness needs to be experienced. Explaining what it is or how it feels is of low value. The problem is that happiness is directly linked to unhappiness. It's like notes and pauses: if we remove pauses from a melody, the melody turns into a "sound" that doesn't give us any pleasure.. it's not…

“Meaning” ends up being empty too. In truth there is no lasting meaning. Eventually the Earth and the solar system will end, followed by the galaxy, followed by every star. Shoot for contentedness instead. Enjoy the life you’ve been given for it’s own sake and without preconditions.

> “Meaning” ends up being empty too.

Not really. Meaning can change in scope at a moment's notice. We are the only creatures on earth that I can think of with the "divine power" to add or remove "meaning". We should exercise this power as best as we can.

> In truth there is no lasting meaning. Eventually the Earth and the solar system will end, followed by the galaxy, followed by every star.

One could argue that enriching the human race with books, speeches, youtube videos, cooking or code for 1.5k years is "enough". You said "contentedness" is key, so there you go. Or one could hope that our species alongside a world-wide library on a usb-stick could embark on a trip go a galaxy far-far away a-la "Space Cowboy" or "Foundation".

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

#308

Post by atmosx »

LesZedCB wrote: post #238
atmosx wrote: post #200

We live in the post-modernism era. The common theme is the maximisation of hedonism, and through that we pursue "happiness". Happiness needs to be experienced. Explaining what it is or how it feels is of low value. The problem is that happiness is directly linked to unhappiness. It's like notes and pauses: if we remove pauses from a melody, the melody turns into a "sound" that doesn't give us any pleasure.. it's not…

s/happiness/meaning end up in the same boat

Quoting F.N. “If you know the why, you can live any how.”. Meaning in the _why_. There's no guarantee or expectation of happiness.

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

#309

Post by roeles »

atmosx wrote: post #200

We live in the post-modernism era. The common theme is the maximisation of hedonism, and through that we pursue "happiness". Happiness needs to be experienced. Explaining what it is or how it feels is of low value. The problem is that happiness is directly linked to unhappiness. It's like notes and pauses: if we remove pauses from a melody, the melody turns into a "sound" that doesn't give us any pleasure.. it's not…

> Being happy is easy but transient (e.g. eating ice-cream can make someone happy).

Are you sure you're not confusing happiness with pleasure?

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

#310

Post by atmosx »

roeles wrote: post #309
atmosx wrote: post #200

We live in the post-modernism era. The common theme is the maximisation of hedonism, and through that we pursue "happiness". Happiness needs to be experienced. Explaining what it is or how it feels is of low value. The problem is that happiness is directly linked to unhappiness. It's like notes and pauses: if we remove pauses from a melody, the melody turns into a "sound" that doesn't give us any pleasure.. it's not…

> Being happy is easy but transient (e.g. eating ice-cream can make someone happy). Are you sure you're not confusing happiness with pleasure?

Yes, pretty much. Feel free to expand though. I enjoy these kind of conversations and there's always the possibility I might got this whole thing wrong.
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