Ten Steps Towards Happiness (2015) • Hacker News Board

Re: Ten Steps Towards Happiness (2015)

#51

Post by sinuhe69 » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 9:54 AM UTC

neuroticnews25 wrote: post #39

Admittedly I don't have much life wisdom, but my strong intuition is happiness is a measure, not a target, and you shouldn't optimize for it. All this "science of happiness" talk feels, I don't know, spiritually offputting.

I believe that living a happy life is a long term survival strategy. Producing offsprings is the other way. If we feel miserable, we want to cut our life short or it will be due to many problems, bad health included. Long term happiness is a very good measure of how good your life is going. So while we might not agree on whether we should optimize our lives for happiness, it's certainly an objective we should always consider. However, we should not confuse happiness with pleasure. One is meant for the long term, while the other is ephemeral.

Re: Ten Steps Towards Happiness (2015)

#52

Post by yard2010 » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 9:58 AM UTC

eric_khun wrote: post #23

wozniak simple formula i quite like : H = S − F: your Happiness on any given day is your count of Smiles minus your count of Frowns

Steve Wozniak is a present that helps me keep this equation on the positive side every time I stumble upon something he said or done. This included. In an alternate universe the society values these kinds of people and not the bullies.

Re: Ten Steps Towards Happiness (2015)

#53

Post by balfirevic » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 10:11 AM UTC

xenocratus wrote: post #49

zaik wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why exactly should someone acknowledge their unhappiness but then do nothing about it?

Because we have a limited amount of time and energy and other things might be more valuable to us. tbh, even this list kind of leans toward improving other measures as a means of increasing happiness. You could just write the article as "things to improve in your life", and then at the end go "oh yeah, and you'll probably be a bit happier too".

> even this list kind of leans toward improving other measures as a means of increasing happiness

Since we don't have direct access to happiness dial, every advice for increasing happiness is going to be like that.

Re: Ten Steps Towards Happiness (2015)

#54

Post by tminima » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 10:14 AM UTC

virtualritz wrote: post #17

The one thing I'd put in context is "don't waste time on commuting". In Europe for sure and possibly many parts of Asia like Japan or bigger metropolises in China etc. most people will commute by public transport. You can read. Whenever I had a job where I commuted at least an hour a day, the number of books I read, per month, went from 2–3 to 10 or more.

Or listen to podcasts/audio books. Helps when the commute involves traveling in crowded trains/busses during peak times.

You can cover a lot of ground while listening to podcasts. And diversity in podcasts is huge.

Re: Ten Steps Towards Happiness (2015)

#55

Post by aa-jv » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 10:18 AM UTC

virtualritz wrote: post #17

The one thing I'd put in context is "don't waste time on commuting". In Europe for sure and possibly many parts of Asia like Japan or bigger metropolises in China etc. most people will commute by public transport. You can read. Whenever I had a job where I commuted at least an hour a day, the number of books I read, per month, went from 2–3 to 10 or more.

Can confirm .. I grew up in a country (Australia) which is practically impossible to live in, without a car .. then I moved to California and did everything I could to avoid the commutes (really a very difficult task), lived there for 15 years and only managed to optimize my life to be able to walk around LA/my neighborhood in the last few years of it .. then moved to Japan for a year, where everything I needed to survive was within a 10 minute walk of my apartment - and then to Austria, in a city that was laid out a thousand years ago to be navigable by foot, and still is.

Commuting is one of the worst aspects of the Western world. The fact that hundreds of millions of people have to sit in their cars, for hours every day, to get to work/play/live, is just a tragedy. I truly hope the next hundred years proves much, much more fruitful for those of us who are willing to change lifestyles to avoid the commute. Its a huge drag.

Re: Ten Steps Towards Happiness (2015)

#56

Post by lightandlight » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 10:32 AM UTC

pdamoc wrote: post #21

I cant' believe it's almost 10 years since he died. My favorite quote of his is "Who needs a bucket list when you have love?” I wish more people would take his ideas seriously, especially his "Collective Code Construction Contract".

I learned about 0mq a few years back, found myself wondering why it had such an air of quality. Then I found Hitnjens' writing, only to learn that he had been gone for a while. I was surprised by my sense of loss.

Re: Ten Steps Towards Happiness (2015)

#57

Post by grvdrm » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 10:40 AM UTC

> 7. Ground Your Emotions

Yup. But also - no shame and guilt for experiencing them.

And, your expectations of happiness. Something I’m recently internalizing more than I did in the past: happiness is not a constant state. There are happy moments and unhappy moments in life.

I think the search for a constant happiness is what drives feeling unhappy. It’s this blob-like goal.

For me, working on recognizing and being ok with the ups and downs has produced the happiest state of my life.

Re: Ten Steps Towards Happiness (2015)

#58

Post by bspammer » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 10:45 AM UTC

HexPhantom wrote: post #37

teleforce wrote: post #26

>Don't take it all too seriously, we all die. Wise wisdoms overall, to have this particular advise from someone who has passed away just hit a different notes. There's an old Chinese proverbs on being happy: "If you want to be happy for an hour, take a nap. If you want to be happy for a day, go fishing. If you want to be happy for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want to be happy for a lifetime, help someone else".

He was not writing abstractly about mortality; he knew exactly what it meant

I don't think he had his diagnosis when he wrote this.

Re: Ten Steps Towards Happiness (2015)

#59

Post by imhoguy » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 11:00 AM UTC

_kblcuk_ wrote: post #28

virtualritz wrote: post #17

The one thing I'd put in context is "don't waste time on commuting". In Europe for sure and possibly many parts of Asia like Japan or bigger metropolises in China etc. most people will commute by public transport. You can read. Whenever I had a job where I commuted at least an hour a day, the number of books I read, per month, went from 2–3 to 10 or more.

It's great if you can do that -- some people (I, for one) get such heavy nausea from reading in any kind of transport that the only thing I can do is listen to the music and look at the clouds.

or being on ADHD spectrum, forget reading with distactions.

Re: Ten Steps Towards Happiness (2015)

#60

Post by HumblyTossed » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 11:17 AM UTC

lobofta wrote: post #35

HexPhantom wrote: post #32

The one part I struggle with is -accept everything-. Acceptance helps with what cannot be changed, but I have also become happier by refusing to accept certain jobs, habits, relationships...

Everything that is present can not be changed in the current moment. It already is. Therefore accept everything that already is. That is deeply compatible with using your energy to create a better world for yourself and others.

This is what he meant I believe. Sure, you can work towards change, but today, right now, it is what it is and don’t let that get in the way of your being happy.