Yes it is. It is actually a gr8 thing. Being envious is nothing but desiring the same thing someone else has. Of course I want what the sergey and Larry have. I certainly want what the zentel guys have. I also want what the anywhere FM guys have. But it is not that I want their product or money, but I want to be where they are. I certainly do not want them not to have what they have. Now that would have been horrible. As long as you want to have the same as the other guy without taking away from his success then it is ok to want it. Actually I would advise you to wake up every morning and tell yourself I am going to build a company that people want just like anywhere.FM and zenter and delicious and flickr and all the other successes did. I can recall PG saying to us being successful mean getting the founders rich
Is envy a good thing?
11–20 of 26 posts
Re: Is envy a good thing?
#12Work for my entire adult life in forced mediocrity just to keep my head above water or spend a small number of years working super hard to buy my freedom? An easy decision for me.
I'd hack even if there was no money in it and I'd run a business to get rich even if I couldn't do it hacking. I happen to be alive in a time when I'm lucky enough to combine the two.
Envy may enter into my mind on occasion when I look at others who have achieved what I'm aiming for, but most of the time it's just purely and hugely inspiring.
Re: Is envy a good thing?
#13I was just lying down, thinking about it now and for the past few days. I like the questions about ego that have been posted this week.
Re: Is envy a good thing?
#14Good as in an objective, moral goodness, or good as in may make you more money?
If it's the former, then no. If it's the latter, then maybe.
Most of us are working on projects that are amoral in nature, therefore, just have fun along the way and don't hurt anyone.
Re: Is envy a good thing?
#15Work for my entire adult life in forced mediocrity just to keep my head above water or spend a small number of years working super hard to buy my freedom? An easy decision for me. I'd hack even if there was no money in it and I'd run a business to get rich even if I couldn't do it hacking. I happen to be alive in a time when I'm lucky enough to combine the two. Envy may enter into my mind on occasion when I look at o…
> or spend a small number of years working super hard to buy my freedom? An easy decision for me.
I think that particular idea from PG's essay is... not quite right. It worked for him, but plenty of people work super hard and end up with nothing after a few years, so it's not really like it's an automatic benefit of doing as much as you can in a given time frame.
Re: Is envy a good thing?
#16Work for my entire adult life in forced mediocrity just to keep my head above water or spend a small number of years working super hard to buy my freedom? An easy decision for me. I'd hack even if there was no money in it and I'd run a business to get rich even if I couldn't do it hacking. I happen to be alive in a time when I'm lucky enough to combine the two. Envy may enter into my mind on occasion when I look at o…
> or spend a small number of years working super hard to buy my freedom? An easy decision for me. I think that particular idea from PG's essay is... not quite right. It worked for him, but plenty of people work super hard and end up with nothing after a few years, so it's not really like it's an automatic benefit of doing as much as you can in a given time frame.
It's hardly a PG specific idea that you can work harder for yourself and make a lot more money. It's definitely not a sure thing that you'll succeed quickly, but if you're wiling to try really hard until you do you have a very good shot.
It worked for my grandfather as a farmer and my father as an artist. There's no reason it shouldn't work for me with technology.
Re: Is envy a good thing?
#17I think as with most things it depends. Envy is closely related to pride , and if envy/pride drives us to create beautiful products to always push outside our comfort zones to make something beautiful/useful then I am all for it., But if with, I daresay most people ,envy drives them to do things beyond what decent people do. IN short figure out how envy affects you. Honestly assess yourself and act accordingly.
I agree - if you are so passionate about an idea and its actually going to take some kind of envy to go ahead and implement it, then so be it.
Re: Is envy a good thing?
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
> or spend a small number of years working super hard to buy my freedom? An easy decision for me. I think that particular idea from PG's essay is... not quite right. It worked for him, but plenty of people work super hard and end up with nothing after a few years, so it's not really like it's an automatic benefit of doing as much as you can in a given time frame.
It's hardly a PG specific idea that you can work harder for yourself and make a lot more money. It's definitely not a sure thing that you'll succeed quickly, but if you're wiling to try really hard until you do you have a very good shot. It worked for my grandfather as a farmer and my father as an artist. There's no reason it shouldn't work for me with technology.
There's doubtless a relationship between work input and output, but what I thought you were referring to was this:
http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html
"Economically, you can think of a startup as a way to compress your whole working life into a few years. Instead of working at a low intensity for forty years, you work as hard as you possibly can for four."
Re: Is envy a good thing?
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's hardly a PG specific idea that you can work harder for yourself and make a lot more money. It's definitely not a sure thing that you'll succeed quickly, but if you're wiling to try really hard until you do you have a very good shot. It worked for my grandfather as a farmer and my father as an artist. There's no reason it shouldn't work for me with technology.
There's doubtless a relationship between work input and output, but what I thought you were referring to was this: http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html "Economically, you can think of a startup as a way to compress your whole working life into a few years. Instead of working at a low intensity for forty years, you work as hard as you possibly can for four."
I do think that's a simplistic, but accurate, description of many successful startups.
Re: Is envy a good thing?
#20Work for my entire adult life in forced mediocrity just to keep my head above water or spend a small number of years working super hard to buy my freedom? An easy decision for me. I'd hack even if there was no money in it and I'd run a business to get rich even if I couldn't do it hacking. I happen to be alive in a time when I'm lucky enough to combine the two. Envy may enter into my mind on occasion when I look at o…
> or spend a small number of years working super hard to buy my freedom? An easy decision for me. I think that particular idea from PG's essay is... not quite right. It worked for him, but plenty of people work super hard and end up with nothing after a few years, so it's not really like it's an automatic benefit of doing as much as you can in a given time frame.
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