Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

neilthanedar.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

361–370 of 424 posts

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#361

Post by psunavy03 »

Throaway198712 wrote: post #357
kbutler wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, politics seems the opposite to me. It has the morbid fascination of a train wreck. You can't stop it, you know it's going badly, yet you can't look away. Family and building things are much more positive sources of energy to me.

join a party that you care about. The tides are changing, they always do.

A plague on both their houses. Two major cults shouting past each other and a bunch of minor looneybins.

Both parties would cast me out for heresy for some of my beliefs and opinions. Why volunteer for that?

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#362

Post by DrPimienta »

lnsru wrote: post #54
Aurornis wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a lot of people who DoorDash, have groceries delivered, have a house cleaner, and call a contractor for every small thing that needs to be done. They’re buying time. It’s never quite as much time as expected, though. Each is a marginal addition of free time that brings its own complications (like my friend who did an alarming amount of DoorDash and is now investing a lot of time into dropping weight and managi…

I am hardware developer and certified electrician as a hobby. I have regularly clients that are buying time while I do really simple things on the property. It’s really cringe to be asked to vacuum their dirt for couple hours. I am paid premium while the clients watch Netflix and later whine about running out of money. I tried politely ask to do rudimentary things by themselves, but it never worked out. I grew in pov…

Hello, I am a little confused about your post. Why are they having you vacuum things if you are an electrician?

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#363

Post by em-bee »

dheera wrote: post #203
em-bee wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lower class is often not financially smart, is not health smart, and systematically poisoned to buy things they cannot afford, including kids, so they have kids. i don't believe that is true. raising kids is not that expensive. what is expensive is the high expectations for what you should spend on your kids with that middle class and high earners have. like sending kids to college.

> raising kids is not that expensive Huh? In a world where people have zero job security, could get put on some layoff or 15%-per-year PIP quota any time and lose their income at the whim of some politics 5 levels above, and any random health issue could cost hundreds of thousands due to insurance not paying, I'd say as a self-proclaimed financially literate person, that you'd need to save up a couple million in cash…

2 million? how do you even come up with that number? you are proving my point.

food, clothes, school materials, a bike. maybe a computer. also a bed and a few square meters of space in your home. everything else is optional. that doesn't cost 100,000 per year. not even 10,000.

sure, with less money you have less to offer or your kids. no or only cheap vacations, no expensive toys. no fancy brand name clothes. no expensive extra curricular activities. and certainly no money for college. but none of these things are necessary to have and raise kids. and it is not irresponsible to have kids and raise them that way either.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#364

Post by thanedar »

kbutler wrote: post #294
thanedar wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You get off the hedonic treadmill by getting into something deeper like politics. I do feel like I'm an example of someone who's juggled marriage, kids, startups, etc. where how I finally got a clean source of sustainable energy was having a part of my life to truly chase my highest potential. And to me that's politics, and specifically anticorruption and Positive Politics. Glad that the "go into politics" ideas piqu…

Wow, politics seems the opposite to me. It has the morbid fascination of a train wreck. You can't stop it, you know it's going badly, yet you can't look away. Family and building things are much more positive sources of energy to me.

Politics can be so much more than elections!

Focus on one issue and one bill, like you would with a startup MVP.

You can solve some of these problems in weeks!

Raising my family and building lasting things for the world are my positive sources of energy too!

I'm just saying that after 15 years founding three startups, I've found my building instinct works incredibly well in politics!

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#365

Post by thanedar »

jwrallie wrote: post #271

The article started well until it changed from "you" to "I". After that, it felt like a mix of bragging and trying to sell a book. I think its OK if some people don't get to live their dream jobs, some dreams have no equivalent in real life, and some people need to do the mundane, boring underground jobs that keep things together.

Made some edits last night. But I think the post still stood up 95%+.

The middle is full of stories of how I failed for years.

I think I can help you, here's how I failed, then succeeded, you can too!

And my book is truly the next step.

If you liked these ~2,000 words, there's 20x more in Positive Politics!

I specifically believe Positive Politics can best utilize the ambitious optimism of e.g. YC founders to solve the world's biggest problems!

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#366

Post by InitialLastName »

yoan9224 wrote: post #196

The premise is interesting but feels incomplete. The "Monday morning excitement test" doesn't account for the hedonic treadmill - even meaningful work becomes mundane once your brain adjusts to it. Also, many people are genuinely burnt out from overwork, not just existential malaise. When you're juggling demanding work, family responsibilities, and barely have time for basic self-care, the problem isn't finding your…

"Politics as a zero-sum game" is a self-fulfilling prophecy that's only true if you see it as "competing over who gets all the power". In a more sympathetic perspective, politics is just how communities self-organize, make decisions and build compromise between the needs and interests of their stakeholders. Especially at the local level (where the feedback path between "make a decision" and "affect peoples' lives" is the shortest and most accessible), that can mostly involve people being available to do the work that needs to happen to build consensus and get anything done done to improve the lives of the community members.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#367

Post by thanedar »

kubb wrote: post #303
jwrallie wrote: post #271

The article started well until it changed from "you" to "I". After that, it felt like a mix of bragging and trying to sell a book. I think its OK if some people don't get to live their dream jobs, some dreams have no equivalent in real life, and some people need to do the mundane, boring underground jobs that keep things together.

It didn’t catch me in the widely cast net. I didn’t match the 1) nice place, 2) family and friends. Apparently an ad huh.

Solve your two problems first! I do think this resonates with a lot of especially YC founders who have broken through 1 and 2 but are missing the most important 3.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#368

Post by thanedar »

jojobas wrote: post #309
jwrallie wrote: post #271

The article started well until it changed from "you" to "I". After that, it felt like a mix of bragging and trying to sell a book. I think its OK if some people don't get to live their dream jobs, some dreams have no equivalent in real life, and some people need to do the mundane, boring underground jobs that keep things together.

Worse, it's canvassing for a political movement.

I will keep arguing that canvassing for a political movement is the highest potential thing most Americans could be doing now. I'm not talking about running for office yourself. You don't have to do it full-time. But try it. Focus on one issue and one bill. You could solve a key problem in weeks. See how this changes your life!

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#369

Post by lstevens14 »

yoan9224 wrote: post #196

The premise is interesting but feels incomplete. The "Monday morning excitement test" doesn't account for the hedonic treadmill - even meaningful work becomes mundane once your brain adjusts to it. Also, many people are genuinely burnt out from overwork, not just existential malaise. When you're juggling demanding work, family responsibilities, and barely have time for basic self-care, the problem isn't finding your…

I agree that the piece does feel incomplete, but it is a large topic to fully cover in a blog post. The author is stating that with purpose, life is a joy, not a chore. I feel like this is a message that many people need to hear!

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#370

Post by crossroadsguy »

> please note

> The information contained in this communication is confidential, may be attorney-client privileged, may constitute inside information, and is intended only for the use of the addressee. It is the property of JEE

> Unauthorized use, disclosure or copying of this communication or any part thereof is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by return e-mail or by e-mail to jeevacation@gmail.com, and destroy this communication and all copies thereof, including all attachments. copyright -all rights reserved

OR from someone called Philip Barden, here is a part of it:

> This email is intended for the addressee named within only. It may contain legally privileged or confidential information. If you are not the named individual you should not read this email and if you do so, you must not under any circumstances make use of the information therein. If you have read this email and it is not addressed to you, please notify IT@devonshires.co.uk and confirm that it has been deleted from your system and no copies made.

I really want to understand how binding and enforceable these annoying fucking notices at the bottom of emails are that was sent to me without me even asking for or knowing why and sometimes not even fucking certainly knowing whether I was the intended recipient or not.

So if someone fucked up and sent me a so called or really confidential email then not only I have the legal responsibility to delete that I am supposed to inform them that "hey yeah you sent it to me and I deleted it.. hope I was not the intended recipient.." or so.

I mean how does this thing work?

(I had received a couple of bank statements on one of my common Indian first name Gmail emails. I later realised those belonged to a lawyer who was probably informed by his bank that this happened because I had complained to the bank and had asked them to remove my email from that account. I received an email from that lawyer from another address I do not recall the domain of, but it was very angry and entitled and said shit like (paraphrasing) "By revealing this to a third party.. you have broken the law... you must hand over the email address without further delay…". I was younger and stupider, so I had just replied "Go fuck yourself" because I was really pissed. Luckily, I never heard from him again or any court because when I Googled him later he seemed to be a decently pedigreed lawyer from another city. Later, the bank replied saying it had been rectified - not before they wanted my phone number and KYC info and account details even though I had begun my communication to them saying it was not my account.)

Post reply on HN