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Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

awesomekling.github.io

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Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#161

Post by [deleted] »

croes wrote: post #152
bsuvc wrote: post #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

The problem is you don't know the result of your actions. Many bad things happened because of good intentions and vice versa I remember a story about a neo nazi who travelled to Africa to buy weapons and felt in live with a black woman.

[deleted]

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#162

Post by dpbriggs »

blueyes wrote: 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.

Not everyone has heard this advice or is in the audience for which it's important.

Andreas' audience includes a lot of young people for which this is valuable.

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#163

Post by epiccoleman »

cbsmith wrote: post #157
SanderNL wrote: post #117

I found it interesting to learn about the etymology of the word "character". It comes to us from Latin which took it from the Greek (χᾰρᾰκτήρ) which comes from kharasso (χαράσσω) - I scratch or engrave . Our character can be thought of as the result of a long process of engraving or scratching. I tend to see it as a solid metal shield full of scratches from long battles. The resulting grooves tend towards virtue or v…

> The resulting grooves tend towards virtue or vice. Virtue & vice are kind of an arbitrary way to device up those "grooves", and what constitutes virtue or vice varies by context/perspective. I would argue there are a LOT more dimensions to character, and some are arguably more important than that one, but I otherwise agree with your metaphor. I wear a platinum wedding ring for much the same reason. While it's reall…

My ring is just a little bit loose on my finger. It could slip off and be lost if it's not paid some attention. I initially found this supremely annoying, but realized that the metaphor is so good that I wouldn't have it any other way.

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#164

Post by runeks »

cbsmith wrote: post #157
SanderNL wrote: post #117

I found it interesting to learn about the etymology of the word "character". It comes to us from Latin which took it from the Greek (χᾰρᾰκτήρ) which comes from kharasso (χαράσσω) - I scratch or engrave . Our character can be thought of as the result of a long process of engraving or scratching. I tend to see it as a solid metal shield full of scratches from long battles. The resulting grooves tend towards virtue or v…

> The resulting grooves tend towards virtue or vice. Virtue & vice are kind of an arbitrary way to device up those "grooves", and what constitutes virtue or vice varies by context/perspective. I would argue there are a LOT more dimensions to character, and some are arguably more important than that one, but I otherwise agree with your metaphor. I wear a platinum wedding ring for much the same reason. While it's reall…

> Virtue & vice are kind of an arbitrary way to device up those "grooves", and what constitutes virtue or vice varies by context/perspective.

Would you care to provide a few examples?

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#165

Post by dr_dshiv »

renewiltord wrote: post #147
birdyrooster wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think Webster is always right or writes complete etymology. Perhaps there is a more charitable way to interpret the PC. But PC should provide sources, that would be nice.

It's more a poetic association than etymology. That's an all right way to link the two.

Socrates was famous for his loose etymologies. He describes the etymology of techne (design, craft, basis of technology) as coming from “echo” and “nous” (mind). I love the idea of the echos of mind in technology!

His interlocutor said something like: “your etymology is like pulling a heavy boat up a steep ramp.” Ha! Yay for the playful side of Plato.

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#166

Post by dr_dshiv »

akprasad wrote: post #119
SanderNL wrote: post #117

I found it interesting to learn about the etymology of the word "character". It comes to us from Latin which took it from the Greek (χᾰρᾰκτήρ) which comes from kharasso (χαράσσω) - I scratch or engrave . Our character can be thought of as the result of a long process of engraving or scratching. I tend to see it as a solid metal shield full of scratches from long battles. The resulting grooves tend towards virtue or v…

For a similar idea from another culture, see the ancient definitions of karma : Now as a man is like this or like that, according as he acts and according as he behaves, so will he be; a man of good acts will become good, a man of bad acts, bad; he becomes pure by pure deeds, bad by bad deeds; And here they say that a person consists of desires, and as is his desire, so is his will; and as is his will, so is his deed…

At my summer camp, we used to hear:

“Sow an act, reap a habit

Sow a habit, reap a character

Sow a character, reap a destiny”

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#167

Post by pxeger1 »

adamsmith143 wrote: post #86

Didn't Edison fail like >2000 times when creating the lightbulb? Seems like a "habit" of failure... /s

I wouldn't say those are 2000 failures, because the point is that you learn from them each time. Also building a light bulb that doesn't work is really not an error, that's the whole idea of iteration.

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#168

Post by norir »

zackmorris wrote: post #159

IMHO there's a level of understanding beyond this, which might be called grace. I identify as a lifelong failure, but I no longer place blame on specifics like addiction or body weight or relationship issues. The truth of my existence is that the world is really messed up, but also beautiful despite the dysfunction. And I'm grateful for the adversity which woke me out of the fantasies which distracted me throughout s…

You may be interested in Gravity and Grace by Simone Weil which takes a more mystical approach to these ideas.

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#169

Post by runeks »

sph wrote: post #70
wccrawford wrote: post #4

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…

> Choosing to enjoy life today instead of waiting for tomorrow for that enjoyment isn't a failure, it's a choice. This conveniently papers over a critical mechanism of how biological brains operate: we do not choose 99% of our actions. It would be extremely inefficient and energy-consuming. 99% of our life we are on autopilot, driven by our habits engaged as response to sensory and internal stimuli. Habits explain ne…

> This conveniently papers over a critical mechanism of how biological brains operate: we do not choose 99% of our actions. It would be extremely inefficient and energy-consuming.

If we’re talking about the small, unimportant decisions then sure, I agree. But I don’t think the bigger decisions happen on autopilot — precisely because it would be very dangerous.

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#170

Post by swaggyBoatswain »

wccrawford wrote: post #4

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…

> 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.

100% this. It's not as black or white as people make it.

That being said, there is some level of diminishing returns for how much enjoyment you can get from something (e.g. eating), and how much of a tradeoff (e.g. gaining weight). You can maximize it (be selective in which foods you really like - and the people you want to be around) and minimize the tradeoffs (eating in a day 2 meals instead of 3). That's if you want to take a sabbatical and maximize the enjoyment out of life. If you want to grind, focus on yourself, etc and push yourself to the limits - you need to be outside that comfort zone. You spend more time putting yourself in uncomfortable situations at the cost of spending less time with friends and family.

Life is all about balance.

Sometimes you take high risks and push yourself further

Sometimes you take low risks and enjoy the benefits from the work you put in

With every high comes lows

All good things come to an end

But you won't get anywhere in life without taking risks

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