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Do What You Love

blogs.valvesoftware.com

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Re: Do What You Love

#21

Post by kamaal »

bufordtwain wrote: post #9

This was the highlight for me: "Perhaps the most useful way to figure out what you really want to do is to observe what you actually choose to do." In other words, what do you do in your free time?

>>In other words, what do you do in your free time?

To make 'free time' work economically viable. You have to do it full time. And to win doing it full time, you will have to work crazy hours. At that stage it no longer remains enjoyable.

People enjoy the 'free time' work because it comes with some mental perks. No fear or losing something on failure. Risks are cheap, having options to always drop it and do something else. None of that is possible if 'free time' work becomes full time work.

Re: Do What You Love

#22

Post by EternalFury »

I get to quote from Gladiator, yeah!

In the movie, Cicero says: "Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to."

I love building things and programming, but I love it when it is a process of self-accomplishment, driven by a deep desire to create, discover and learn.

In my job environment, however, these values are irrelevant and what I love to do otherwise becomes what others trample and waste.

So, yes, do what you love to do when you can and do what you have to do the rest of the time. Unless you don't care about living under a bridge.

Re: Do What You Love

#23

Post by szcukg »

grlthgn wrote: post #10

I always hated that advice "Do what you Love". It's a fucking terrible advice. I know people mean well when they give that advice, but its a downright terrible advice for the vast majority of people. Let me point out that this is an article written by a guy that ended up "loving" programming. I know that there is a lot of programmers here, (myself included) but let's face the reality here: only weirdos love programmi…

I like the blog post but this tops it. This needs to be added at the end of that post and at the end of every article which tells you, do what u love.

Re: Do What You Love

#25

Post by ryanmolden »

kamaal wrote: post #17
rlu wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"shit careers" how? Because they don't pay well? You won't get rich? If you're going to dedicate the next 30 years of your life to something, you'd better damn well enjoy it or you will hate your life. You spend more time at work than with your family, so you'd better not hate your job or you'll go insane. A job that you GENUINELY enjoy should ALWAYS be taken over a job that pays big bucks. We are EXTREMELY fortunate…

>>"shit careers" how? Because they don't pay well? You won't get rich? Contrary to whatever you think 'getting rich' is very important. Its also fun to be rich. Its fun to know you don't have to worry getting up early in the morning and do all you have to to in a hurry just to hit the work desk. Its also fun to not come home tired wanting to do something you love but not having energy or the time to do it. Its also f…

>Contrary to whatever you think 'getting rich' is very important.

To you. Just like the GP is projecting his view of the world as the view everyone should have, so are you. People are different (gasp) and that means their rankings of most any list of things you can come up with will be different.

>And even if you are the best janitor in the whole world. You still won't be able to send your kids to a good university

Maybe it is the grouch in me but perhaps your kids could get scholarships, or (gasp again) pay some portion of their own school bill. The idea that a parent is a failure if they can't pay 4 years or more of Harvard tuition in cash seems silly, to me anyhow. Also, anecdotally, everyone I met in college whose parents were footing the bill were kind of deplorable people to be honest. I am sure there are nice people whose parents picked up the whole cost of their college education, I have just never met any.

Re: Do What You Love

#26

Post by pauljburke »

keiferski wrote: post #12

Unfortunately, you only get to write these sorts of posts when what you love is economically in demand.

More like people only want to read them when what you love is economically in demand. These always remind me to go back and reread the sections on survivorship bias in fooled by randomness. I'm not sure if that's ironic or not.

Re: Do What You Love

#27

Post by krakensden »

ryanmolden wrote: post #25
kamaal wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>"shit careers" how? Because they don't pay well? You won't get rich? Contrary to whatever you think 'getting rich' is very important. Its also fun to be rich. Its fun to know you don't have to worry getting up early in the morning and do all you have to to in a hurry just to hit the work desk. Its also fun to not come home tired wanting to do something you love but not having energy or the time to do it. Its also f…

>Contrary to whatever you think 'getting rich' is very important. To you. Just like the GP is projecting his view of the world as the view everyone should have, so are you. People are different (gasp) and that means their rankings of most any list of things you can come up with will be different. >And even if you are the best janitor in the whole world. You still won't be able to send your kids to a good university M…

Getting rich is too much, but wanting financial security is not. There are few things more stressful and destructive than being too broke for too long.

Re: Do What You Love

#28

Post by debt »

bufordtwain wrote: post #9

This was the highlight for me: "Perhaps the most useful way to figure out what you really want to do is to observe what you actually choose to do." In other words, what do you do in your free time?

It seems so weird to me that we've gotten to a point where people don't think they are what they do.

Re: Do What You Love

#29

Post by Jach »

grlthgn wrote: post #10

I always hated that advice "Do what you Love". It's a fucking terrible advice. I know people mean well when they give that advice, but its a downright terrible advice for the vast majority of people. Let me point out that this is an article written by a guy that ended up "loving" programming. I know that there is a lot of programmers here, (myself included) but let's face the reality here: only weirdos love programmi…

With depression medication being so popular, is this partially the result of years of "Find what you love, and do it"? Does it contribute to people with any ability for introspection becoming miserable when they know and are being reminded that they're not doing what they love? I include the introspection bit since it's very easy these days to get sucked into one mindless time sink after another and never have any alone time with one's own thoughts. ("Consumerism" is probably the general form.)

If loving something specific, like Carmack does with video games and Feynman did with Physics, requires some amount of eccentricity, then by definition most people don't really love something they want to do it all the time. In that case, the advice is at best a NOP to people who are content with their life despite not loving something. For other cases, I could see it being damaging to people who will conflate "love" with "like" and ask where they can get paid to collect other people's tumblr posts on their own tumblr "blog", or damage people who will just be reminded that they aren't doing what they love but can't accept they'll never find something they love. I don't think it's all that dangerous for the rare "late bloomers" or people who already know what they love and happen to love something non-profitable--those people are going to do it regardless, they don't need to be told, they more often need to be told not to for their own health. Some will find themselves content even without much money, others will tolerate working years in the profitable salt mines being in a state of varying misery, and trading that for years afterwards doing what they please.

Re: Do What You Love

#30

Post by kamaal »

ryanmolden wrote: post #25
kamaal wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>"shit careers" how? Because they don't pay well? You won't get rich? Contrary to whatever you think 'getting rich' is very important. Its also fun to be rich. Its fun to know you don't have to worry getting up early in the morning and do all you have to to in a hurry just to hit the work desk. Its also fun to not come home tired wanting to do something you love but not having energy or the time to do it. Its also f…

>Contrary to whatever you think 'getting rich' is very important. To you. Just like the GP is projecting his view of the world as the view everyone should have, so are you. People are different (gasp) and that means their rankings of most any list of things you can come up with will be different. >And even if you are the best janitor in the whole world. You still won't be able to send your kids to a good university M…

I agree.

But I put a few things as they are because sometimes they are necessary to be put it that way.

Look at this way. These articles try to paint a picture that its OK to sacrifice your financial well being if you are faced with an option that offers perceived happiness. In reality this is rarely true.

Work is just one requirement of life. Of the many requirements which start from brushing your teeth in the morning to mosquito repellant in the night. You need money for nearly everything these days. And anybody who gives you an advice that doesn't account for this thing isn't just getting the point.

A millennium back all you would need is horse and ability to climb a tree. And you could do anything in the world, by just riding the horse and eating fruits plucked from the tree. These days you need money for everything.

If you feel you can be 'happy' by just doing work. Then sure you will be happy doing work. But you won't be happy doing everything else without money. And that everything else makes up a very big part of your life.

Sooner or later everybody realizes this.

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