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Do the Hardest Thing

justinjackson.ca

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Re: Do the Hardest Thing

#41

Post by commandlinefan »

ip26 wrote: post #25

I probably interpret the message incorrectly, because to me "the hardest thing" is usually some class of some famous unsolved problem. The thing is, to be famously unsolved, many of the world's most brilliant people must have already tried and failed to solve it. There's a chance I have an edge they don't, but it's probably not wise to track your career path to the darkest of dead ends purely on the merits of it bein…

Yeah, this type of advice rubs me the wrong way: I feel like the author is thinking of "hard" as though it were back-breaking day labor that any fool could do, but nobody wants to because it's so unpleasant.

The sort of people it's usually directed at, though, are knowledge workers (like computer programmers). "Hard" in our context is "something I don't yet know how to do". Always. No exceptions. Every time. If I know how to do it, it's trivial. If I don't, I have to figure it out.

And in my experience, the "do the hardest thing" VC-founder cheerleader types (who are always telling you, never themselves) absolutely lose their shit when they see somebody trying to figure out how to do something. Reading docs? Setting up controlled experiments? Why are you wasting time with all of this nonsense and not just getting to the "hardest thing" so I can bill the client and you can move on to the next "hardest thing"?

Re: Do the Hardest Thing

#42

Post by commandlinefan »

giacomoforte wrote: post #14

Idk, I often felt the opposite. I naturally tend towards working on hard problems but my feeling is that if I chose instead to focus on an easier "thing" I could execute really well and be overall more successful.

Spending time doing deep work on hard problems also doesn't go so well with the "track your hours against approved JIRA tickets and compare your logged hours against your estimates at review time" that every corporate culture devolves into. If you're looking to survive the next round of layoffs, quick wins are your best bet.

Re: Do the Hardest Thing

#43

Post by malux85 »

erelong wrote: post #36

"brb gonna go broker world peace" naw but this kind of mindset ended up burning me out at times; some of us clearly take general ideas like this in different ways than intended perhaps but I think the actual "trick" here is about finding unfilled niches rather than necessarily doing "the hardest thing"

They removed an important word in the quote from the original - the phrase isnt "do the hardest thing", the original quote was "do the hardest thing possible"

The addition of that last word is the difference between the chance at eventual success and the human burning out on world peace, time machines, free energy devices.

Re: Do the Hardest Thing

#44

Post by Noaidi »

xboxnolifes wrote: post #23
Noaidi wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

That is simply not true. If 6 completely qualified people make it to the last stage of an interview based on their qualifications, but the final chosen person was done by die roll, there was still non-luck involved. No amount of luck would have gotten you to the last stage in this example, and the only way for luck to have mattered is if you also put in the leg work.

I did not say there was no non luck involved. I said the outcome is always determined by luck.

An example will help maybe. If I need $10 and someone tells me they will give me $9 but the last dollar will be give to me based on the flip of a coin, I only can get that $10 if I am lucky.

And you can even put the luck at the beginning. Same situation but the person says I will give you $9 only if you get the first $1 based on the flip of a coin.

The only way you get $10 in those situations is based all on a lucky outcome. No amount of preparation can guarantee an outcome that involves luck.

I know it is hard because most have beeen brainwashed to think all success is based only on merit and hard work, but it is a lie told to us by lucky people.

Re: Do the Hardest Thing

#45

Post by Noaidi »

tripledry wrote: post #24
Noaidi wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

At least they sent the application, that was effort. So it can't be 100% luck right?

I did not say it was all luck. I said if any part of the outcome depends on luck, effort is meaningless when it come to the result. This is not to say that doing nothing is better, I am just being realistic.

Re: Do the Hardest Thing

#46

Post by royal__ »

steno132 wrote: post #32

This is dumb. Don't do hard things, do things which have a high ROI. I could try to swim across the Pacific Ocean, walk across Siberia or consume a family size portion of McDonalds in a single sitting. All those things are hard. All those things have zero to negative ROI. Doing hard things won't get you anywhere. Most hard things are useless. And a lot of the most valuable things are not hard at all.

To be a contrarian, you could possibly become very famous if you swam across the Pacific Ocean or even walked across Siberia. Not sure on the McDonald's though, might be harder to get sponsorship for that.

Re: Do the Hardest Thing

#47

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

Sounds great, but what if the hardest thing is impossible for unknown reasons? I think you need a sort of on-ramp of steadily harder things so that if you fail at one thing, it's not the only thing you've ever done, and you still retain enough credibility for people to support you while you try again or try something similarly hard.

Unfortunately, the safety net necessary to support oneself while they do the hardest thing isn't guaranteed.

Re: Do the Hardest Thing

#48

Post by tombert »

Noaidi wrote: post #45
tripledry wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least they sent the application, that was effort. So it can't be 100% luck right?

I did not say it was all luck. I said if any part of the outcome depends on luck, effort is meaningless when it come to the result. This is not to say that doing nothing is better, I am just being realistic.

But even going with your examples, effort isn't "meaningless", it's insufficient.

Re: Do the Hardest Thing

#50

Post by Jarwain »

Noaidi wrote: post #44
xboxnolifes wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is simply not true. If 6 completely qualified people make it to the last stage of an interview based on their qualifications, but the final chosen person was done by die roll, there was still non-luck involved. No amount of luck would have gotten you to the last stage in this example, and the only way for luck to have mattered is if you also put in the leg work.

I did not say there was no non luck involved. I said the outcome is always determined by luck. An example will help maybe. If I need $10 and someone tells me they will give me $9 but the last dollar will be give to me based on the flip of a coin, I only can get that $10 if I am lucky. And you can even put the luck at the beginning. Same situation but the person says I will give you $9 only if you get the first $1 bas…

Your two examples are extremely different. Walking away with $9 if you're unlucky and walking away with $0 if you're unlucky are two incredibly different outcomes.

Being successful from winning the lottery, versus being successful from working hard enough such that you qualify for a lottery with significantly better odds.

Sure luck is Involved, the outcome is determined by luck, but work is putting a hand on the scales. And in that sense, your prior comment of it being 100% luck is exaggerated

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