You certainly could. But if that were their intention, it'd kind of defeat the purpose of suggesting that some things didn't qualify as "something."
Does nothing qualify as something?
A worthy if abstract question, though it's presupposed by the original piece (or at least what it quotes), as it specifically dismisses certain things... so while it may allow nothing to be something, it indeed dismisses some things despite, perhaps, coincidentally accepting nothing. ;)
This simplistic 'snap out of it' ideology belies and belittles the very real issues of fear, discouragement and depression that underly much of what people berate themselves over as 'laziness'.
But "snap out of it" is exactly it. The person must make the choice to do , regardless of any array of fears, disabilities, circumstances, or excuses. No matter how real the issues, it still is a matter of choice. Skirting death can clarify this. Do or do not. There is no try.
The "choice to do" is located in the brain. If the brain is malfunctioning this choice can be very difficult. People with severe depression, anxiety, OCD often have malfunctioning brains.
In my case depression usually manifests as extreme fatigue coupled with disinterest in everything. Choosing to do anything is very difficult if nothing has meaning.
But "snap out of it" is exactly it. The person must make the choice to do , regardless of any array of fears, disabilities, circumstances, or excuses. No matter how real the issues, it still is a matter of choice. Skirting death can clarify this. Do or do not. There is no try.
The "choice to do" is located in the brain. If the brain is malfunctioning this choice can be very difficult. People with severe depression, anxiety, OCD often have malfunctioning brains. In my case depression usually manifests as extreme fatigue coupled with disinterest in everything. Choosing to do anything is very difficult if nothing has meaning.
3 weeks ago, I was hit by a car. I was cycling. The car was going 50mph. When I was hit from behind, it felt like a wall had come out of nowhere and had slammed into me. On the ground, I was in so much pain I couldn't move, yet as I lay on the ground screaming, I was strangely calm enough inside to be thankful that I wasn't dead. I was in the hills (I had been training to prepare for a multi-month bike tour), so I wa…
It's good to know you're OK after this; a friend was cut off by an SUV while riding his motorcycle and recounts a similar experience, though he still has a steel rod through one femur and 17 screws plus a plate in one wrist (which will eventually stop him from programming).
It's important to appreciate and enjoy the time we have. If we don't... what's the point?
Does anyone else feel kind of confused and guilty when they read this? It just seems so condescending to me. I like eating and sleeping. I pay a lot of attention to these things. If you're eating well and sleeping well, your life is probably going pretty good. Sure, I'm going to die, that's why food and sleep matter even more. This planet would be a pretty happy place if everyone was eating and sleeping as much as th…
I think you're missing the point of the article. Firstly, everyone understands the difference between healthy sleeping/eating versus sloth and gluttony. Everything in moderation right? Secondly, you confuse ego with self-importance. A poor ego doubts itself and may never attempt a daunting task because of the belief one is not 'good enough' to complete it. This becomes a convienient excuse to avoid doing difficult (b…
Look, the non-essential details here are all the particulars of this conversation about some religious precepts. The essence is that you and I trying to connect on a human level to each other across the internet for some reason or another. Both the essence and the details are important.
It's not really about what you do, it's about what you see and how you do it; the essence is always there, even if you're fixing idiotic bugs in some obscure corner of your codebase.
3 weeks ago, I was hit by a car. I was cycling. The car was going 50mph. When I was hit from behind, it felt like a wall had come out of nowhere and had slammed into me. On the ground, I was in so much pain I couldn't move, yet as I lay on the ground screaming, I was strangely calm enough inside to be thankful that I wasn't dead. I was in the hills (I had been training to prepare for a multi-month bike tour), so I wa…
It's good to know you're OK after this; a friend was cut off by an SUV while riding his motorcycle and recounts a similar experience, though he still has a steel rod through one femur and 17 screws plus a plate in one wrist (which will eventually stop him from programming). It's important to appreciate and enjoy the time we have. If we don't... what's the point?
wow your friend has it so much worse than me, and it's harrowing to hear what basically could have easily happened to me. It really is miraculous that I'm most likely going to have no serious physical repercussions post-recovery. sucks to hear that his wrist injury is going to hamper him in such a grave way.
a friend of mine told me about a famous emacs contributor who has a keyboard that is only the "left half" but has a toggle key which switches it to the right half keys with one button, and that he is lightning fast with it. do you think that's something he'd be interested in using? he could also probably hand make something like that, like the custom keyboards that keyboard.io is making.
It's good to know you're OK after this; a friend was cut off by an SUV while riding his motorcycle and recounts a similar experience, though he still has a steel rod through one femur and 17 screws plus a plate in one wrist (which will eventually stop him from programming). It's important to appreciate and enjoy the time we have. If we don't... what's the point?
wow your friend has it so much worse than me, and it's harrowing to hear what basically could have easily happened to me. It really is miraculous that I'm most likely going to have no serious physical repercussions post-recovery. sucks to hear that his wrist injury is going to hamper him in such a grave way. a friend of mine told me about a famous emacs contributor who has a keyboard that is only the "left half" but…
Fortunately, the direction we're heading in doesn't require him in a development role (we're both programmers, but that's more my specialty, and he's better with clients). Hopefully, by the time it gets to that point, programming won't be a concern of his: Either our business will have gone far enough that he's entirely done with development or the business will be done and he'll be looking for consultation-only or team management roles.
That'd fit his tastes far better anyway. :)
It is hard to hear about that... it's worse to see it. I sold my motorcycle after he got in his second accident. I'm not excessively risk-averse, but some things just put too much on the line.
wow your friend has it so much worse than me, and it's harrowing to hear what basically could have easily happened to me. It really is miraculous that I'm most likely going to have no serious physical repercussions post-recovery. sucks to hear that his wrist injury is going to hamper him in such a grave way. a friend of mine told me about a famous emacs contributor who has a keyboard that is only the "left half" but…
Fortunately, the direction we're heading in doesn't require him in a development role (we're both programmers, but that's more my specialty, and he's better with clients). Hopefully, by the time it gets to that point, programming won't be a concern of his: Either our business will have gone far enough that he's entirely done with development or the business will be done and he'll be looking for consultation-only or t…
I've found that I have this flinch/flashback reaction every time I see cyclists on the road now (and since I live in Silicon Valley where there are many avid cyclists, this is many times a day). I wonder what kind of mental hurdles I'll have to overcome when getting on the bike again :(
But "snap out of it" is exactly it. The person must make the choice to do , regardless of any array of fears, disabilities, circumstances, or excuses. No matter how real the issues, it still is a matter of choice. Skirting death can clarify this. Do or do not. There is no try.
Something about this stance has always bothered me. I don't know if it's just me, but I have always just seen this as condescending because 'having a choice' has always been blatantly obvious to me. I will immediately take that back and apologize if a majority of people really don't realize this, but so far it has always seemed like most people give rather 'meh' reactions to these sorts of responses because you're no…
"Just do it"/"Snap out of it" is exactly the key that I've used to get going whenever I've stalled in life. Heck, it's the key I used back in Jr. High when I was an average runner and decided that today I wanted to win the race (literally, mid-race, I started running faster, actually pushing off the ground and propelling myself forward rather than going through the running motions as I had previously in my life—obviously there are physical limits to how fast one can run, but it was a revelation to me that I could run about twice as fast as I ever had if I just decided to try). Recently I've been in a rut, feeling malaise, and this morning I told myself that I was done and I just needed to snap out of it and do something about it and I've had the most productive day I've had in a couple years. So, sure, maybe it's not universal. And maybe the advice itself isn't so useful because it's not hearing the obvious advice that you need, it's a decision you simply have to make (and nobody need tell you to make it). But it's still truth. And there's never harm in espousing truths like that one (IMO).
Fortunately, the direction we're heading in doesn't require him in a development role (we're both programmers, but that's more my specialty, and he's better with clients). Hopefully, by the time it gets to that point, programming won't be a concern of his: Either our business will have gone far enough that he's entirely done with development or the business will be done and he'll be looking for consultation-only or t…
I've found that I have this flinch/flashback reaction every time I see cyclists on the road now (and since I live in Silicon Valley where there are many avid cyclists, this is many times a day). I wonder what kind of mental hurdles I'll have to overcome when getting on the bike again :(
Yep, it gets worse every time you hit or are hit by something. He's twitchy because of his accidents, and I've hit a deer in my VW and a very large turkey in my Subaru (the latter was recent, and resulted in a very amusing but very long day), so we have kind of a habit/history of unintentional hunting.
Perhaps it's a midwestern thing; we're in Minnesota and he's from Michigan. :)
I'm not seeing direct contact info for you from your profile or blog, but if you could drop me a line, my email address is in my profile. If not, no worries. :)