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“Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

capitalandgrowth.org

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Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#111

Post by lm28469 »

FireLiar wrote: post #103
lm28469 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't view anyone who has amassed anything under $10MM in networth as successful; > If someone does nothing for me or adds nothing to my life, why would I give them any of my empathy? > Whatever problems, emotional, physical, mental, sociological, economical, yada yada yada, that you have are your own responsibility. No one really gives a shit about anyone else; all relationships are transactional, and if you're…

0.5th generation American. I wasn't given a choice in this matter. I was dragged into this world without being consulted first. Now I am forced to align myself and my interests to countries that don't give a shit about me, and towards people that had never and would never reach out their hand, to help another's, as dirty as it might be. Why should I participate in any of this? That is exactly the point; there is no p…

> at less cost

It all depends on how you quantify the cost of solving societal problems. If it is based on "do I have more money than yesterday", then yes sure, no one will ever be able to prove you wrong. Acting like a megalomaniac pos is a sure way to get hated by the majority without ensuring wealth, that's all I know.

You seem dead set on acting like the people/system you despise, I don't see how that solves anything.

Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#112

Post by tomp »

fxtentacle wrote: post #93
taurath wrote: post #33

I've watched enough people grow up, become rich and powerful, then find in their 40s they have absolutely no skills to enjoy the fruits of their labor. They stopped practicing empathy so long ago to get to where they were they don't even realize how much of life's genuine enjoyment they are missing. There are a few who have the time of their lives the whole way through. Not very many. In short, just because one can,…

Not only that, you also surely close old doors for the mere possibility of success. The article opens with a story about an old lady which went to the US during one of the most immigrant-friendly times and then started a furniture store during the peak house construction boom time when land was still cheap. I'm pretty sure that a similar immigrant entering the US nowadays will not only receive a less warm welcome, bu…

The point isn't how much factors she had in her favour. The point is, she had objectively worse starting point that millions of other people, yet she overcame them and flourished. Luck? Maybe (even "certainly" to some extent). But how many of her richer, more educated peers didn't even try (because of excuses)?

Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#113

Post by edmundsauto »

barry-cotter wrote: post #92
edmundsauto wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that people have a pretty consistent "set point" of happiness that may vary, but generally returns to the set point. See research on lotto winners.

Yeah, that research didn’t hold up. * Long-run Effects of Lottery Wealth on Psychological Well-being http://www.nber.org/papers/w24667 We surveyed a large sample of Swedish lottery players about their psychological well-being and analyzed the data following pre-registered procedures. Relative to matched controls, large-prize winners experience sustained increases in overall life satisfaction that persist for over a d…

The first link is super interesting, thanks for sharing! We are at a weird point in the social research space where we can't run any double blinded studies, so end up with a lot of conflicting information.

Worth pointing out that the second link addresses year 0-1, which most proponents of the happiness set-point agree is changed. IIRC, the original research looked at satisfaction and happiness around the 2 year mark.

There is also the concept of the hedonistic treadmill, which may not be provably true, but has certainly been present in my own life (and a useful lens to examine my life through).

Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#114

Post by bluedays »

realbarack wrote: post #14
bluedays wrote: post #11

Yeah, I get this a lot. I spend hours every day dedicated to doing things to improve my skills to become more valuable in IT. People think I'm crazy, but in the time frame I have begun to do this (since my daughter was born) I can now probably run circles around anyone else who would have started at the same time. Hours of dedication, every day, is not normal. It's probably not healthy either, but I got a late start…

I'm curious about the timing. Many people seem to find it more difficult to maintain this level of dedication after they have kids. What made things different in your case?

I'm sorry about this, I only now realized how many people responded to this post. I kind of which that Hacker News had notifications so you would know that I am replying to you. At this point replying seems like sort of a lost cause but if you do happen to get this I thought this question was important enough to warrant answering.

That level of dedication came to me because I was not very disciplined when I was younger and hadn't developed any marketable skills. I grew up poor and I didn't want her to grow up poor. So I threw myself into something I had an aptitude for and I started working my ass off at getting better at it. Though, one could say that any effort is considerably more than I had put in before.

I really want what is best for my daughter. I have to give her a better life. So because it has become so important, that's why I work so hard. She interferes sometimes, but I'm not going to let that stop me from giving her a better life.

Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#115

Post by bluedays »

austinl wrote: post #18
bluedays wrote: post #11

Yeah, I get this a lot. I spend hours every day dedicated to doing things to improve my skills to become more valuable in IT. People think I'm crazy, but in the time frame I have begun to do this (since my daughter was born) I can now probably run circles around anyone else who would have started at the same time. Hours of dedication, every day, is not normal. It's probably not healthy either, but I got a late start…

Curious about what you're doing. I also dedicate a good amount of time each day to learning, but am still pretty skeptical about the ROI for some of the things I'm doing. I spend a lot of time on Coursera, reading eng. blogs, watching WWDC videos (since I do iOS).

Lots and lots of practice in programming projects that I personally find interesting. I read a lot of tutorials when she was born, but found no tangible rewards. It was only when I begun to put theory into practice that I started to see results.

But the biggest thing I did was get a job in IT. Then I went back to college. In college I think I work harder than most of my peers, who seem to struggle with something as simple as appending to a list in Python, or understanding a while loop in Java.

Meanwhile I am working on a portfolio so I can get a job as a programmer. Here's one of the sites I made recently: http://pichart.com It's not much, but it's a start.

Re: “Become Abnormal”: traits to cultivate for top performance

#116

Post by adamsea »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #70
adamsea wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Off-topic, but ... Many normal people are super racist, so, Henry Ford does indeed qualify as a super-successful normal person. My meta-point, of course, is that while excellence and the desire to achieve it (along with a bit of glory) can be admirable, success in life - in living your life, a good life - is wildly different from the famous people - any of them - whom society presents as a "success." I'd rather be he…

I guess it was off-topic and hopefully that was why you got downvoted, and not because people didn't want to be reminded about Henry Ford's racism but who knows. Anyway I didn't downvote, have upvoted now to make up for it even though I'm kind of a judge people by the standards of their time type re Ford's morality. I'm sort of tired of people downvoting for what seem frivolous or personal reasons.

Thanks, fellow-person.
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