Excellence is a habit, but so is failure • Hacker News Board

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#251

Post by alexalx666 » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 3:26 PM UTC

ajkjk wrote: post #68

Arisaka1 wrote: post #14

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…

A framework that I have found helpful for situations like this: When you feel this way, that you "want to" do something but it keeps not happening, then there's evidently something inconsistent in your mental state: you seem to think you want to do one thing, but (it would be fair to say) since you're not doing it, maybe you don't 'actually want' to do it. The idea being that 'true wanting' compels actions. So when y…

Some time ago Ive started to think in the same way, since it lowers guilt, it unlocks energy to ask what do I really want to go

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#252

Post by Slava_Propanei » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 5:21 PM UTC

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Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#253

Post by Aerbil313 » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 5:33 PM UTC

ineedasername wrote: post #234

akprasad wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Rarely do people get what they deserve. The idea of Karma only "works" when embedded in a spiritual belief system that adheres to some form of iterative life cycle, e.g., reincarnation.

No. Reincarnation leads to a paradox: How would the last life before the universe’s end’s deeds and sins be karma’ed?

It actually only works in a religion with a proper afterlife. Not one in which everyone is saved regardless and go to heaven no matter what. One in which punishment is one-to-one to the sins in this life, like Islam.

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#254

Post by Aerbil313 » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 5:34 PM UTC

EugeneOZ wrote: post #178

akprasad wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

oligarchs who were killing, stealing, raping and betraying their whole lives, now are laughing on this joke so hard, on their super-yachts.

This is exactly why for karma to work an afterlife with proper punishment and rewards need to exist.

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#255

Post by foobarbecue » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 8:56 PM UTC

Aeolun wrote: post #245

foobarbecue wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sunk cost fallacy. You aren't getting that $7.50 back. The question should actually be "do I want to, for no reason at all, feel like shit for the rest of the evening?" (This assumes you aren't deriving any pleasure or utility from eating that last 25%. If you are, then that's one side of the cost/benefit analysis. But the initial cost of the food is irrelevant not matter what.)

I can ‘spend’ the money on the remaining 25% of food, or on not feeling shit (e.g. I didn’t ‘get’ anything for that money).

Yeah. I suppose sunk cost fallacy here would be "I should eat it all to avoid wasting money." I guess you're sort of actually psychologizing OUT of that. It's still a bit fallacious, since the correct cost of the decision to not eat is actually $0, not $7.50, but I guess lying to yourself about that could be a useful mental trick.

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#256

Post by TillE » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 10:49 PM UTC

idlewords wrote: post #109

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.

I share your surprise at how simplistic self-help bromides consistently bubble to the top of this site.

I dunno that it's surprising. Every time the subject of books comes up here, everyone's like yeah I read non-fiction. And it's never anything interesting, it's all self-helpy fluff with titles like Business Warrior: Brain Mindset.

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#257

Post by sn9 » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 11:36 PM UTC

ineedasername wrote: post #234

akprasad wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Rarely do people get what they deserve. The idea of Karma only "works" when embedded in a spiritual belief system that adheres to some form of iterative life cycle, e.g., reincarnation.

This is a common Western misunderstanding of karma.

Karma isn't about guaranteeing consequences/rewards. It's about actions increasing the odds of one or the other.

While it certainly has been used as a part of cosmological frameworks involving reincarnation, it can also be used in a secular framework within the context of a single life without relying on notions of a metaphysical force.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#258

Post by ineedasername » Sun, Jul 09, 2023, 2:36 AM UTC

Aerbil313 wrote: post #253

ineedasername wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rarely do people get what they deserve. The idea of Karma only "works" when embedded in a spiritual belief system that adheres to some form of iterative life cycle, e.g., reincarnation.

No. Reincarnation leads to a paradox: How would the last life before the universe’s end’s deeds and sins be karma’ed? It actually only works in a religion with a proper afterlife. Not one in which everyone is saved regardless and go to heaven no matter what. One in which punishment is one-to-one to the sins in this life, like Islam.

Why “no”? I was literally describing the framework in which the spiritual idea of karma is commonly found: religion with the belief of cyclical rebirth.

What you go on to describe does not match up to “karma” as found- using that term- in religions.

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#259

Post by dr_dshiv » Sun, Jul 09, 2023, 9:27 AM UTC

Slow_Hand wrote: post #243

dzolob wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a common misunderstanding. Karma is not a “restoring force”. Karma is habit. Act with kindness and your life will become one of kindness. Act with rage and your life will become one of rage. Karma is not there to get you. Is the law of cause and effect. If you seed rage, you will get rage. No other result can become from rage than rage.

I doubt this is a novel thought, but as a non-believer in the Christian afterlife I’ve always considered Hell to be the place that one ends up in (while still alive) after a lifetime of bad choices. It is the terrible reality that you find yourself in, full of demonic people and meager circumstance, as a consequence of your bad choices. Not a literal dimension of pain and suffering, but a manifestation of all the rej…

Yes.

I consider the independence of self to be an illusion. Instead, our self is composed by our influences. In that sense, “reincarnation” happens all the time as we influence each other and upload our selves. From this view, karmic influences are even more pronounced, as we create heaven and hell for our extended selves.

Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure

#260

Post by wccrawford » Sun, Jul 09, 2023, 10:27 AM UTC

nuancebydefault wrote: post #231

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…

I believe you had enjoyable meals with friends, but to be honest, are those by themselves happening often enough to gain a problematic amount of weight? What if you would find the habit to balance these events with some counter measure (be it going to gym, eating more fruits and vegetables at the rest of those days or weeks). I think the point of OP still holds, the "failures" are habits. What failure is, is subjecti…

Yup, tradeoffs, all the way down. Sure, you can exercise afterwards, but then you give up something else. It might be de-stressing time in front of the TV, or chat time with friends and family. Or it might make you tired and achy for the rest of the day, lessening the fun there.

It's easy to say "just balance it", but all of it has been attempting to balance things, and some people, including myself, repeatedly chose the side that had risks and consequences later so that they could enjoy the moment.