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Being ambitious and being a dad

nicholascharriere.com

371–380 of 802 posts

Re: Being ambitious and being a dad

#371

YC reject so I bootstrapped and was thankfully able to hit profitability before my first kid showed up. I’ve now got two. I also have dreams bigger than ever. In fact, writing this while sitting on the couch with the kids watching Muppet Treasure Island while my kids are wearing pirate hats and waving foam swords. I’m still extremely productive and prolific. Probably less compared with before. But before, I had frien…

> There are no hobbies. No downtime. No friends unless I happen to like my kids friends parents. this sounds miserable

Not just miserable, but also unhealthy for the kids - You're really not going to teach your kids to socialize?

Beyond that, he's admitting he's ignoring the kids to post hustleporn on HN instead of engaging with them.

Re: Being ambitious and being a dad

#372
post #370

The capitalist LinkedIn-dwellers are obsessed with productivity. They can claim that AI will raise productivity and that we will need to work even more at the same time. Ultimately, most of the productivity gains in the recent decades are focused on displaying more ads, in one way or another. Edit: I have realized my original comment/rant might have come off as a negative sentiment towards the post author. While gene…

And focused on raising the rent.

Re: Being ambitious and being a dad

#373

YC reject so I bootstrapped and was thankfully able to hit profitability before my first kid showed up. I’ve now got two. I also have dreams bigger than ever. In fact, writing this while sitting on the couch with the kids watching Muppet Treasure Island while my kids are wearing pirate hats and waving foam swords. I’m still extremely productive and prolific. Probably less compared with before. But before, I had frien…

So you're basically a machine that spends their time working and taking care of your children? This feels like a one-way ticket to a burnout.

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Re: Being ambitious and being a dad

#375

YC reject so I bootstrapped and was thankfully able to hit profitability before my first kid showed up. I’ve now got two. I also have dreams bigger than ever. In fact, writing this while sitting on the couch with the kids watching Muppet Treasure Island while my kids are wearing pirate hats and waving foam swords. I’m still extremely productive and prolific. Probably less compared with before. But before, I had frien…

So you're basically a machine that spends their time working and taking care of your children? This feels like a one-way ticket to a burnout.

I love my work and I love playing with the kids so it can be exhausting but in a good way. Never a drag (not usually anyway).

Super thoughtful consistent schedule with little room for anything else is my tradeoff if I want to maintain high quantity of high quality output with my business. And TBH, it lasts for 15-18 years at most.

I didn’t mention the weekends - those are more of a free for all. Lots of family time, work sneaks in. It’s a lot more thinking than working though.

Re: Being ambitious and being a dad

#376

YC reject so I bootstrapped and was thankfully able to hit profitability before my first kid showed up. I’ve now got two. I also have dreams bigger than ever. In fact, writing this while sitting on the couch with the kids watching Muppet Treasure Island while my kids are wearing pirate hats and waving foam swords. I’m still extremely productive and prolific. Probably less compared with before. But before, I had frien…

> There are no hobbies. No downtime. No friends unless I happen to like my kids friends parents. this sounds miserable

Really just thoughtfully and consistently disciplined. Some people think diet and exercise are miserable. Others put more weight on how they feel when in good health.

Re: Being ambitious and being a dad

#377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How old are they? I honestly felt like that sometimes for the first few years but no longer now that they are somewhat capable of not dying without constant supervision and are becoming their own new persons

One is 6 years, the other is 6 months.

This is arguably the toughest it will ever get. It's very normal to feel all kinds of tough emotions right now. If this were climbing Mount Everest, you'd be near the top.

Re: Being ambitious and being a dad

#378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha! Very interesting life goal - When your dependents have sucked all the life out of you, you can kick the bucket:) (And am sure it’s worth it)

> When your dependents have sucked all the life out of you, you can kick the bucket:) Don't laugh, there's a reason for it. Read the book "The Red Queen" which explains all this.

Is this the teen novel or something else? Curios how a teen novel could address these issues?

Re: Being ambitious and being a dad

#379
post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are no hobbies. No downtime. No friends unless I happen to like my kids friends parents. this sounds miserable

Not just miserable, but also unhealthy for the kids - You're really not going to teach your kids to socialize? Beyond that, he's admitting he's ignoring the kids to post hustleporn on HN instead of engaging with them.

My block is crawling with kids and usually playing baseball or hockey - they are pretty much never on screens apart from watching something on Disney+. Other than that we play outside year round.

Re: Being ambitious and being a dad

#380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who gives a crap about "genetic legacy"? How about mind your own business.

It's a biological drive, at least until you're past the age of fertility. Whether you consciously think about carrying on your genetic line, it's baked into the hardware.

Only as far as having sex. And what about kin selection?
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