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The Three Kinds of Laziness

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Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#61

Post by jasonlotito »

The reason why quips like this are dangerous is that people will assume that because of who Garry Tan is, they'll take his word for it.

Simply put, this is wrong. There are not three kinds of laziness. Better, it's wrong to assume that your laziness and inability to act is one of those three types mentioned.

As someone who was recently diagnosed with ADHD and OCD, I can assure you, reflecting doesn't solve anything. Nor are the three types mentioned accurate. Maybe the intent wasn't to classify ADHD and OCD as laziness, but until I was diagnosed, that's what I called it.

So no. This is dangerously wrong. If you have any thought that you might have ADHD or OCD, get it checked out. It can make a world of difference, not only in medication (which doesn't have to be addicting) but in therapy. The difference just over the last month has been staggering. It's a big difference, and hard to quantify.

If you have a problem, seek professional help in understanding it. Ignore meaningless platitudes "to reflect on death" and how there are "three kinds of laziness."

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#62

Post by alok-g »

There is fourth kind: Love for figuring out challenging problems but then not taking the time to implement the solutions (which sound boring once the problem has been figured out).

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#63

Post by garry »

jasonlotito wrote: post #61

The reason why quips like this are dangerous is that people will assume that because of who Garry Tan is, they'll take his word for it. Simply put, this is wrong. There are not three kinds of laziness. Better, it's wrong to assume that your laziness and inability to act is one of those three types mentioned. As someone who was recently diagnosed with ADHD and OCD, I can assure you, reflecting doesn't solve anything.…

I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis, and I wish the best for your ongoing treatment.

I agree with you -- if there is a medical condition that can be treated, then it makes sense to pursue that. I read a passage in a book earlier today that I liked, and I posted it on my personal blog. I would never encourage someone who had such problems to "just reflect on it."

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#64

Post by yarianluis »

hkmurakami wrote: post #37

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…

About five weeks ago I fell of my motorcycle into the path of an oncoming car on my way to Skyline/Woodside. The motorcycle went in front of it and lifted the car into the air. Then I slid underneath it. One of the rear wheels landed next to my head and I came out of the rear part of it.

The outcome was a broken left wrist. That's it. Literally nothing else happened to me.

There are things that happen to you that make it clear how close we all are to death at all times. I am glad to hear your injuries weren't too bad and hope you recover from them well.

Edit: I have to add, it's also times like these that you will oftentimes show you the best of people. The girl who was driving the car was very nice about everything and even offered me a ride into the city (more than 45 minutes) even though she lived in the opposite direction. The tow truck driver charged me only half the normal rate because "we gotta stick together" and he rode bikes too. Lots of people who were around near the accident helped immobilize my arm after the injury. The friendly folks down at Motoshop unloaded the bike and removed some of the ugly bits sticking out. Friend came to pick me up and take me to hospital. It was pretty inspiring. People are amazing.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#65

Post by hkmurakami »

yarianluis wrote: post #64
hkmurakami wrote: post #37

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…

About five weeks ago I fell of my motorcycle into the path of an oncoming car on my way to Skyline/Woodside. The motorcycle went in front of it and lifted the car into the air. Then I slid underneath it. One of the rear wheels landed next to my head and I came out of the rear part of it. The outcome was a broken left wrist. That's it. Literally nothing else happened to me. There are things that happen to you that mak…

Coincidentally, I was hit on Skyline just north of Page Mill Road (I had climbed Page Mill from the bottom then had turned north on Skyline). But my gosh, talk about a close call for you... were you heading up highway 9 or 84 and slipped out?

I remember looking up towards the direction the car that hit me went and thinking, "please, please stop so you can call 911 for me," and the driver did stop and come back to me. He must have been in a state of panic, since he asked me, "Oh my god are you alright, can I do anything for you?" and I replied, gasping, "C-a-l-l 9-1-1".

In the ensuing minutes, a person with EMT training and a biker who was an off duty fireman stopped to check me out, make sure my hands and toes moved, made sure I didn't have pain in my neck, etc.

When a friend of mine crashed his bike descending Page Mill last summer (and fractured 3 spinal fins), a random car stopped for him and took him to Stanford hospital. Complete strangers!

You're absolutely right; give them an opportunity and people will show their wonderful side.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#66

Post by yarianluis »

hkmurakami wrote: post #65
yarianluis wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About five weeks ago I fell of my motorcycle into the path of an oncoming car on my way to Skyline/Woodside. The motorcycle went in front of it and lifted the car into the air. Then I slid underneath it. One of the rear wheels landed next to my head and I came out of the rear part of it. The outcome was a broken left wrist. That's it. Literally nothing else happened to me. There are things that happen to you that mak…

Coincidentally, I was hit on Skyline just north of Page Mill Road (I had climbed Page Mill from the bottom then had turned north on Skyline). But my gosh, talk about a close call for you... were you heading up highway 9 or 84 and slipped out? I remember looking up towards the direction the car that hit me went and thinking, "please, please stop so you can call 911 for me," and the driver did stop and come back to me.…

I was on highway 84. Amazingly, we can do things like this:

http://goo.gl/maps/vC1Cu

The car stopped roughly where the men are standing.

I am always very thankful for people with EMT training. When I climbed Mt. St. Helens last year a man had a medical complication and passed away on the mountain. There were about 20 of us who spent about 45 minutes helping him out until the helicopter arrived.

That experience really solidified for me the importance that we all get some basic medical training. Even something as simple as CPR certification can really save someone's life.

I get a little bit nervous for you cyclists. On the motorbike at least you have thick leather protecting you from road rash. I can imagine that that part can't have been fun.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#67

Post by yen223 »

vinceguidry wrote: post #5

I was hoping for a mention of the useful programmer's type of laziness. The laziness that leads to DRY and building tools that build your tools. I feel like more could be said on that topic, how that sort of laziness relates to the others.

Laziness is not a virtue. If a lazy person could be productive by building smarter tools, imagine what a dedicated, focussed person could do with those same tools. And no, you don't have to be 'lazy' to recognize the value of those tools.

Personal anecdote: I used to be the sort of programmer who would waste all my time surfing the net, and maybe banging out a script once in a blue moon, while congratulating myself on working 'smart'. The end result: a massive backlog of unfinished tasks, and a whole lot of wasted years.

Thing is, working hard and working smart - they aren't mutually exclusive. I found out all too late that when we say 'laziness is a virtue', we actually mean 'efficiency is a virtue'. It's the desire to be efficient at our job that leads to DRY and building productivity-multipliers. Laziness - that just leads to thumb-twiddling.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#68

Post by nileshtrivedi »

I often joke that a to-do list should be filtered through the 4 "D" filters: Discard, Delegate, Delay and Do. This is exactly the same as focusing foremost on what's important and urgent (Stephen Covey's time management matrix that everybody knows about). Just flips it around for a lazy man's perspective. :D

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#69

Post by wavesounds »

Most Buddhist Monks depend on other people to feed them yet he is calling those people who work jobs they might not like to put food on their tables lazy? Wish this came from more of a place of compassion then judgement.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#70

Post by Volpe »

obviouslygreen wrote: post #41

I have a close friend who's an intentional Buddhist. Based on my values and habits, he refers to me as a Buddhist; though this isn't something I choose for myself, I have a hard time disagreeing with him. So understand that my evaluation here is based on a limited understanding and not that of someone who follows this philosophy. Based on my understanding, this is crap. First off: Buddhists aren't trying to perfect t…

Talking about Buddhism as though it's just one belief is crap. That would be like grouping up Islam, Judaism, and the various Christian faiths and calling them the same. [1] Sure they all share "Buddha" in common, just as those above share "God" in common.

> This post, in its entirely a quote (or pair of quotes, I can't quite tell), succeeds only in telling us that the things we think we ought to do don't matter at all and we should instead concentrate on... something, and that something isn't even hinted at, let alone defined in a meaningful way.

You don't think the context of the heavy overtone of buddhism helps answer that "something"? Perhaps the article is hinting for you to make a conscious effort to find that "something" rather than just defaulting to what life throws at you. Or perhaps it was a more explicit effort to get you to explore buddhism?

I'd reread the article with the idea that it is just giving you information to reflect on, rather than just information to respond to.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism#Schools_and_traditions

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