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How to lose time and money

paulgraham.com

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Re: How to lose time and money

#61

Post by mooism2 »

_gd3l wrote: post #20

"People fright at the concept of losing their money, yet they slave away their time without a second thought." -Seneca the Younger, from Letters from a Stoic (highly recommended) I think slaving away doing something you hate is far more harmful than "wasting" time having fun. I get more out of playing hacky sack and/or listening to podcasts than any homework or school work. So, in relation to this article, I think we…

I read the article as complaining that these things felt like work but weren't work, precisely because they weren't generating any money.

Re: How to lose time and money

#62

Post by tomjen3 »

5hoom wrote: post #43
jdh wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I felt this way a decade ago when my wife and I rented Season 1 of the show 24. I never enjoyed it, but felt strangely compelled to find out what happened in the next episode, and would stay up too late watching. After one season I decided that was enough of that addiction.

I really hated the politics and rhetoric of 24, but was somehow compelled beyond my will to watch every single episode. I knew it was unhealthy as I'd stay up way too late and ended up getting weird & anxious (head full of of right-wing fantasy combined with prolonged sleep depravation). Unlike you I didn't kick the addiction & i've now seen every season. Damn you and your insidious cliff-hangers Jack Bauer! :P

Alias has the same problem. The best solution I have ever heard is to watch the first few minutes of the next episode to solve the cliffhanger.

But excessive cliffhangers are mostly what turned me of Lost.

Re: How to lose time and money

#63

Post by cantbecool »

ivankirigin wrote: post #31
fferen wrote: post #5

I think this ties into the idea of MMORPGs. I used to play them a lot until I realized they were not fun, just addictive; they make you feel like you're accomplishing something by leveling and gaining skills, when really it's only your character that's improving - you're not getting better at anything.

I had some roommates in college that played Diable II like beasts. Once, when they thought they were online but weren't, we heard a scream through the wall, "Fuck! I'm not getting any experience from this!" We laughed for a while at that one while we browsed videos of people getting hurt on ebaum's world.

You basically described my life during junior high. That same type of phenomenon happened often before I finally convinced my Mom to upgrade to DSL, with the excuse that I could find homework help on AOL even quicker, which is true, but I had ulterior motives. I really just wanted to play Starcraft online with real people without a crappy connection.

I was a single child and had zero friends within a 3-mile radius. Video games were a close friend back then.

Re: How to lose time and money

#64

Post by Selvik »

gbog wrote: post #7

This short essay is not pg at his best in my view. Spending time having fun is Plain Good, and necessary, even for the most focused startup founder. But watching TV don't count obviously. Playing cards with friends at a terasse does.

You missed the point of the essay, playing cards or watching tv is compared to spending money on luxuries and doing busywork is compared to investment. The first two probably won't respectively take up ALL your time at the office or bankrupt you because they are both obviously BAD FOR YOU (in excess). The latter two can be perniciously compelling, even though they might respectively bankrupt you or waste all your time, because you're more easily fooled (by yourself or others) into thinking they're worthwhile.

Re: How to lose time and money

#65

Post by Natsu »

Joakal wrote: post #54
5hoom wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hated the politics and rhetoric of 24, but was somehow compelled beyond my will to watch every single episode. I knew it was unhealthy as I'd stay up way too late and ended up getting weird & anxious (head full of of right-wing fantasy combined with prolonged sleep depravation). Unlike you I didn't kick the addiction & i've now seen every season. Damn you and your insidious cliff-hangers Jack Bauer! :P

I didn't watch it because it got cliché pretty fast like LOST. The worst offender I reckon was Dragonball Z [0]. I realised this pattern and that greatly put me off many games and movies, eg WoW, FarmVille, etc. It was a grind. I want something novel. [0] Do: Scream, build up tension, to be continued, until Infinity. Replace scream with drama (twists).

Ouch. I watched that back on TV a decade ago when I had no idea what I was getting into. Longest "15 minutes" ever. They're supposed to be fighting on a planet that's about to explode... but the planet patiently waits to blow up until their fight is over... which takes almost forever. Ugh.

Re: How to lose time and money

#67

Post by jronkone »

mlinsey wrote: post #57
goldmab wrote: post #18

If Paul Graham realized that people can easily lose lots of money by investing, why did he devote himself to investing large amounts of his own money in high-risk businesses? I'm not being facetious, I just think that seems contradictory. If I had a lot of money and that same knowledge, I would invest very conservatively.

The first couple YC batches were small enough that the money invested was probably a very small portion of what PG/Robert/Trevor earned from Viaweb. For later batches, it had become evident that YC's model was promising, and YC also raised money from outside LP's.

What's an LP?

Re: How to lose time and money

#68

Post by Andi »

This is a very important article. Today, many people don't know anymore what well-spent time is. Distractions are everywhere around us ... but if you overcome them you are probably still on the wrong path. Everybody gets in this trap. One must learn and try to get out. Often, a conservative view combined with a high degree of openness is the only way to survive in this jungle of attention and still leave a trace in the dynamic space of tech.

Re: How to lose time and money

#69

Post by sharadgopal »

jronkone wrote: post #67
mlinsey wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first couple YC batches were small enough that the money invested was probably a very small portion of what PG/Robert/Trevor earned from Viaweb. For later batches, it had become evident that YC's model was promising, and YC also raised money from outside LP's.

What's an LP?

Limited Partners

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_partnership

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