The discussion on a similar article last month was interesting
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36195105
Excellence is a habit, but so is failure
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Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure
#12This is the classical 1.01**365=37 but 0.99**365=0.02. I guess the difficult part is to detect where is this missing 1%.
Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure
#13Life is about taking risk. We make daily decisions that involve big and small risk constantly. Choosing to enjoy life today instead of waiting for tomorrow for that enjoyment isn't a failure , it's a choice. It comes with risk and tradeoffs. Everyone thinks there's a magical line that everyone else should take that straddles that line between enjoyment today and tomorrow. That lines doesn't exist, and isn't even the…
"Choosing to enjoy life" is not how most people get fat. It's not meals with friends and family but rather scrolling tiktok and eating potato chips.
Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure
#14Ever since I quit my first job I've been tinkering with languages and frameworks. And every time I would complete a book or course I'd face the decision of building something on my own.
That building never happens. 1 month later my portfolio is nonexistent, there are no projects, and my blog is a figment of my imagination. And right now I'm in the process of learning yet another framework.
So I've been thinking: This must be something worse than what I imagine. I read about perfectionism, fear of shame and judgment... bingo. I can tell that the root of the problem isn't that I can't work on a personal project, because I do have them. But the moment it's a portfolio project the question isn't "what would help me learn?" but "what would help me demonstrate to my future employer that I deserve a chance?"
This is a behavioral habit, a disastrous one and potentially career-ending or at least progression-ending. And it may have started with me trying my best not meet external expectations or minimize my footprint to avoid being exposed to bullying, trolling, nickname calling, ever since I was a little kid. And that seed didn't happen overnight, it took a lot of daily conditioning to turn a child from risk-taker to risk-avoider.
That's why I'm wary of giving the advice to beginners "just start building projects". It's not that the advice is bad, but there's just too many factors at play and failure to do so is not always about one's intelligence.
Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure
#15Timely post. I was planning on spending the day researching gamification applied to healthy habits and/or abandoning unhealthy ones.
Anyone has any pointer? Bonus if it's RuneScape-style gamification (exponential XP curve, rewarding yourself every level up, build on the assumption that growth in life is a very long grind like maxing a RS character, made of small steps)
Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure
#16Life is about taking risk. We make daily decisions that involve big and small risk constantly. Choosing to enjoy life today instead of waiting for tomorrow for that enjoyment isn't a failure , it's a choice. It comes with risk and tradeoffs. Everyone thinks there's a magical line that everyone else should take that straddles that line between enjoyment today and tomorrow. That lines doesn't exist, and isn't even the…
"Choosing to enjoy life" is not how most people get fat. It's not meals with friends and family but rather scrolling tiktok and eating potato chips.
Well, you're not wrong.
But on the other hand, even the most minor enjoyment (especially the kind that will make you guilty later) is still somehow a form of enjoyment.
Perhaps the bigger lessons is that small pleasures can be expensive in the long term. More than we think.
Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure
#17This is the classical 1.01**365=37 but 0.99**365=0.02. I guess the difficult part is to detect where is this missing 1%.
Great observation. I found myself thinking it reflected the famous quote: "“Watch your thoughts, they become words; watch your words, they become actions; watch your actions, they become habits; watch your habits, they become character; watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.” The post author is traversing the actions-habit-character territory.
Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure
#18Ever since I quit my first job I've been tinkering with languages and frameworks. And every time I would complete a book or course I'd face the decision of building something on my own. That building never happens. 1 month later my portfolio is nonexistent, there are no projects, and my blog is a figment of my imagination. And right now I'm in the process of learning yet another framework. So I've been thinking: This…
That hits close to home. I was cleaning my drive recently and I have a folder of completed projects ( which has few items ) and various random stuff that I briefly found interesting over the course of the years ( and then just gave up as soon as something else caught my attention or got bored.. you know the drill ).
Some of it helped me a little ( that is partially how I learned basics of R ), but I fear that it also held me back as I never really finished any of the more amusing projects and did not experience that feeling of finishing something.
And as you get older, it is harder to expose yourself to that scrutiny.
Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure
#19The article also reminded me of this Charlie Munger quote:
“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people
like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not
stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.”
Re: Excellence is a habit, but so is failure
#20Life is about taking risk. We make daily decisions that involve big and small risk constantly. Choosing to enjoy life today instead of waiting for tomorrow for that enjoyment isn't a failure , it's a choice. It comes with risk and tradeoffs. Everyone thinks there's a magical line that everyone else should take that straddles that line between enjoyment today and tomorrow. That lines doesn't exist, and isn't even the…
"Choosing to enjoy life" is not how most people get fat. It's not meals with friends and family but rather scrolling tiktok and eating potato chips.
Eating shit and scrolling is enjoyable though, right? It just doesn’t sound as socially acceptable to admit it.