How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome • Hacker News Board

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#21

Post by makeshifter » Thu, Apr 26, 2012, 12:17 PM UTC

bdunn wrote: post #19

makeshifter wrote: post #8

I think you're patting yourself on the back too much. I was reading about a woman in Cambodia who escaped from torture and near death with her two children and survived in the jungle for 3 years. They never stayed in the same place two days in a row and ate nothing but roots and bugs. Despite this mother's best efforts, her youngest child starved to death and died in her arms. A few years later, she founded a safehou…

What is wrong with you?

Oops. I'm sorry. I introduced another perspective into the discussion.

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#22

Post by eee_c » Thu, Apr 26, 2012, 12:17 PM UTC

tangue wrote: post #17

Though I respect the process and the efforts behind this, "How to write books with a superficial understanding of what you're talking about" would be more appropriate.

Ah, but I think that's the point. My understanding of the topics is anything but superficial. If you follow along with my daily posts, I think you can see me work through initial infatuation, recognition of limitations, and finally deeper understanding.

To be sure, I could know more. But I think you're being dismissive by characterizing this as superficial.

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#23

Post by eee_c » Thu, Apr 26, 2012, 12:20 PM UTC

anthony_franco wrote: post #2

Jerry Seinfeld used this exact technique to become a great comic. As told by software developer Brad Isaac when he asked Jerry for career advice[0]: He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you'll h…

Yah, that's actually where I got the original idea: http://japhr.blogspot.com/2009/03/my-chain.html (should have made that more clear). I'm never going to reach Seinfeld levels, but that's all right.

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#24

Post by guynamedloren » Thu, Apr 26, 2012, 12:20 PM UTC

andyouthink wrote: post #16

guynamedloren wrote: post #3

This is fantastic. Another method to "tricking yourself into being awesome" (also called learning ) is to jump right in and start working on a project. Like the author, you'll come up with loads of questions that need answering, and if your project is going to be successful, those questions must be answered. Otherwise your project/startup will die. Personal experience: this is exactly how I learned Ruby on Rails as a…

I think the difference is that some of us need a little more structure. By providing a method and a repetitive activity, by the 21st day or so (3 weeks they say), it will become habit. After that point, making a point of solving problems for a particular purpose everyday will be much easier, and you'll be making more progress. A few stories to illustrate: 1. I had a few friends that made it a point to learn a new tec…

> I think the difference is that some of us need a little more structure. By providing a method and a repetitive activity, by the 21st day or so (3 weeks they say), it will become habit. After that point, making a point of solving problems for a particular purpose everyday will be much easier, and you'll be making more progress.

Yep, I agree. As long as you are able to find problems to solve. Personally, this doesn't work for me because I am not able to come up with problems unless the present themselves in something I'm working on. I can read 100 books on a subject, but if I can't apply the knowledge or imagine how I can apply it, it doesn't stick. Just different ways of learning, I guess.

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#25

Post by rfrey » Thu, Apr 26, 2012, 12:23 PM UTC

makeshifter wrote: post #8

I think you're patting yourself on the back too much. I was reading about a woman in Cambodia who escaped from torture and near death with her two children and survived in the jungle for 3 years. They never stayed in the same place two days in a row and ate nothing but roots and bugs. Despite this mother's best efforts, her youngest child starved to death and died in her arms. A few years later, she founded a safehou…

I wonder if it would be possible to find someone who endured even more hardships than the woman you read about? Or someone who dealt with them with even more courage or more grace? If so, I wonder if that means the Cambodian woman's story should never be told, in any context?

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#26

Post by eee_c » Thu, Apr 26, 2012, 12:24 PM UTC

bdunn wrote: post #18

Chris - congrats man. I've been silently stalking your "chain", and also came across your posts frequently when I was writing Planscope and was frantically Googling for Backbone help. The thing I like best is that you now have a time capsule for your professional life. You can look back and see exactly where you came from and where you went , which is more than most of us can say. I have a hard time remembering what…

Much thanks. I've definitely appreciated the encouragement along the way. But mostly it's cool to know that my posts have helped. Makes it that much more worthwhile :)

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#27

Post by guynamedloren » Thu, Apr 26, 2012, 12:27 PM UTC

makeshifter wrote: post #21

bdunn wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is wrong with you?

Oops. I'm sorry. I introduced another perspective into the discussion.

you introduced another perspective on the vague, arbitrary concept of 'being awesome', but the article was actually about a method for practicing and learning new skills... not about 'being awesome'. Yeah, that lady sounds awesome and inspiring, but I think you missed the point.

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#28

Post by MortenK » Thu, Apr 26, 2012, 12:34 PM UTC

microcentury wrote: post #12

makeshifter wrote: post #8

I think you're patting yourself on the back too much. I was reading about a woman in Cambodia who escaped from torture and near death with her two children and survived in the jungle for 3 years. They never stayed in the same place two days in a row and ate nothing but roots and bugs. Despite this mother's best efforts, her youngest child starved to death and died in her arms. A few years later, she founded a safehou…

She does sound like an incredible person, but what are we supposed to do with that information? Does it mean we should not try and do anything, given there is always someone out there who has a 'better' (for very wide definitions of 'better') story? I don't write this to be snarky, and I used to think in a similar way myself, but this is not a good way to see the world.

I think OP is just making a general call for people to be a bit more humble. Fueled by this particular case where a guy declares himself to be awesome, because he wrote a blog post every day for a year, and self-published 3 PDF's.

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#29

Post by wwosik » Thu, Apr 26, 2012, 12:35 PM UTC

SpaceDragon wrote: post #15

microcentury wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She does sound like an incredible person, but what are we supposed to do with that information? Does it mean we should not try and do anything, given there is always someone out there who has a 'better' (for very wide definitions of 'better') story? I don't write this to be snarky, and I used to think in a similar way myself, but this is not a good way to see the world.

Here's what I took away from the story: there are incredibly humble people who have overcome incredible hardships and went on to help and heal others. A lot of the "accomplishments" I read on HN like raising VC money or blogging for a year straight is weaksauce in comparison.

So? If we never achieve such greatness, does it mean we shouldn't go for the weaksauce?

My answer is no - not every has to be the hero. If one's a decent one, it's great already in itself.

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#30

Post by eee_c » Thu, Apr 26, 2012, 12:37 PM UTC

andyouthink wrote: post #11

I loved this story! The only parts that need a little work were: 1. His background, because he didn't just go from zero to book writer, 2. How in the heck Nick Gauthier decided to co-write with him on a topic Chris previously knew nothing about, 3. Usually "I'm awesome!" is just asking for a humility check... but I think that the point is that you can be awesome.

I've been coding since the mid-nineties and had been content to be good/competent. From there to book writer is, I think, a natural outgrowth of the chain posts.

I know Nick IRL. He had previously toyed with the idea of doing a book. I can't speak for him, but I think he signed up after seeing what I did with The SPDY Book. It worked out well IMO. He took the more in-depth ones, I took the more foundation recipes and then we proof read each other.