Live data from Hacker News

Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

awesomekling.github.io

91–100 of 268 posts

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#91

Life is about taking risk. We make daily decisions that involve big and small risk constantly. Choosing to enjoy life today instead of waiting for tomorrow for that enjoyment isn't a failure , it's a choice. It comes with risk and tradeoffs. Everyone thinks there's a magical line that everyone else should take that straddles that line between enjoyment today and tomorrow. That lines doesn't exist, and isn't even the…

This rationalization is not meaningfully different than those given by the obese (or drug addicted) to maintain their habits. For instance, "This milkshake sparks joy", or "everything in moderation including moderation" (only, no two people agree on what 'moderate' is).

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#92
post #90
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, walking punches way over expectations for keeping weight off. You have to do a good hour of a walk, but an hour walking is probably better than a rushed workout of similar time.

I lost 40kg walking one hour a day over the last 3 years. Some people don't recognise me. Don't get yourself into a state where you need to lose 40kg. If you do, and lose the weight, you will have excess skin. I like my new healthy self but actions have consequences.

Kudos on the progress! Curious what got you to start walking for that long?

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#93
post #84

I find Andreas's short non-technical posts to be fairly unenlightening, and am consistently surprised to see them attract so much attention on HN. The information value here is low.

I find the opposite, I find myself saying “I like this format”, because he boiled it down and I can extrapolate and understand just by reflecting on the simple ideas he put out.

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#94
post #84

I find Andreas's short non-technical posts to be fairly unenlightening, and am consistently surprised to see them attract so much attention on HN. The information value here is low.

maybe its good to have a reminder of obvious information which is vital once in a while

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#95
Pertaining to habits, this stuck with me from James Clear's Atomic Habits [1]:

> Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your identity. This is why habits are crucial.

[1] https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#96

Ever since I quit my first job I've been tinkering with languages and frameworks. And every time I would complete a book or course I'd face the decision of building something on my own. That building never happens. 1 month later my portfolio is nonexistent, there are no projects, and my blog is a figment of my imagination. And right now I'm in the process of learning yet another framework. So I've been thinking: This…

Creating a project is tough because there are so name variables to contend with: better ideas, “this won’t pan out”, small burnouts, no accountability on time wasted on procrastinating, self doubts, money, opportunity cost analysis making you switch etc.

So you do need to just build once or twice to experience the hardship of it to see if this is for you

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#97
post #84

I find Andreas's short non-technical posts to be fairly unenlightening, and am consistently surprised to see them attract so much attention on HN. The information value here is low.

Sometimes it's just that you need to be reminded of what you already know. Taking your own advice and all that.

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#98
'Failure' is when the whole system crashes. Andreas is really talking about small setbacks that lead to failure.

And I think its better to embrace Samuel Beckett's mantra: "Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better.”

It's arguably the core tenet of agile/lean anyway. Measure, learn, improve. If you're taking those single steps backwards and using them to make two steps forward, that's the opposite of failure.

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#99
post #84

I find Andreas's short non-technical posts to be fairly unenlightening, and am consistently surprised to see them attract so much attention on HN. The information value here is low.

I enjoy them. It's a paragraph or so of easily digestible information. Not everyone has read something like Atomic Habits so the value is relative. Worst case scenario it acts as an excuse to kick off discussion.
Post reply on HN