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Becoming the person who does the thing

fredrivett.com

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Re: Becoming the person who does the thing

#111

Post by the_af »

carlosjobim wrote: post #101
michaelcampbell wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think their point is not that people in their mid 20's are WRITING LIFE LESSONS, but more that PEOPLE IN THEIR MID 20'S are writing life lessons.

Why not? Experience and maturity is not very dependent on age. Getting those depends on doing it, not just waiting on time passing by. I'm much older than the article author, but it would be foolish of me to think that I couldn't learn things from 20 year olds – including important and profound teachings and advice.

I would say experience is correlated with age. You need to live to gain experience. Someone in their 20s simply hasn't lived long enough to be giving life lessons.

(Give or take some extraordinary exceptions of people who accumulate a lot of hard-earned experience very early in their lives; but the general rule applies).

Re: Becoming the person who does the thing

#112

Post by renewiltord »

freetime2 wrote: post #33
huhkerrf wrote: post #20

I found the article anodyne enough, so this is not a knock on it, but something I've noticed as I've gotten older that I find a bit amusing and curious. What is it that makes people in tech in their late 20s and 30s write about life lessons like an old sage? I don't notice 32 year old farmers or roughnecks doing this.

My experience is that most people in tech don't write about life lessons. But the ones who do frequently appear on HN because the audience on HN likes this sort of article.

It is true. Self-help content is HN’s favourite. Though I think moaning is close behind.

Re: Becoming the person who does the thing

#113

Post by tempodox »

jamestimmins wrote: post #100
conductr wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a older than this person, I feel like it’s around the time most people have that first large step of retrospectiveness where they see their current self has deviated from their self they thought they were previously. They realize they have autonomy to craft themselves. They realize there are more important aspects to life than their grades/sports/hobby or whatever things they built their identity around for the fi…

I always half-joke that I gave up on my hopes of being a child prodigy when I turned 30. That was a major milestone not just for realizing that there was no future "grown up" version of me, but also seeing how much time had passed and how little was left. So I accepted that who I am is who I'm going to be, for the most part, and I might as well make the best of it. That opened up a lot of doors for personal interest…

> realizing that there was no future "grown up" version of me

Should you get older (which is probable), you’ll be amazed at how wrong that is. Development doesn’t stop at 30, it just gets a little slower.

Re: Becoming the person who does the thing

#114

Post by unmotivated-hmn »

colechristensen wrote: post #93
flippyhead wrote: post #45

The trick to getting results in the gym, and establishing a sustainable practice (which is key in both exercise and diet), is to just go regularly but allow yourself to leave at any point. Say you decide four days a week is your long-term goal. On that first day, if you want, leave after 5m. But return the next day. Keep doing this and eventually, I promise, you'll average the 45m you need four days a week forever. I…

Going to the gym has intense diminishing returns but the benefit is that you can get great results with only a tiny commitment. Going from nothing to fifteen minutes twice a week makes a huge difference and is easy to commit to (lifting heavy things and or intense aerobic exercise).

What do you mean by diminishing returns?

Re: Becoming the person who does the thing

#115

Post by bgilroy26 »

flippyhead wrote: post #45

The trick to getting results in the gym, and establishing a sustainable practice (which is key in both exercise and diet), is to just go regularly but allow yourself to leave at any point. Say you decide four days a week is your long-term goal. On that first day, if you want, leave after 5m. But return the next day. Keep doing this and eventually, I promise, you'll average the 45m you need four days a week forever. I…

I keep the principles of days at the gym rather than time at the gym close to time in the market vs timing the market in my mind

Re: Becoming the person who does the thing

#116

Post by colechristensen »

unmotivated-hmn wrote: post #114
colechristensen wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going to the gym has intense diminishing returns but the benefit is that you can get great results with only a tiny commitment. Going from nothing to fifteen minutes twice a week makes a huge difference and is easy to commit to (lifting heavy things and or intense aerobic exercise).

What do you mean by diminishing returns?

15 minutes twice a week gets you a certain amount of results

You will not get twice the results for 30×2 or 15×4.

2 hours three times a week doesn't get you 4 times as much as 30 minutes three times a week

The amount of results you get diminishes significantly for time and effort put in.

Having a cut physique like an action movie hero is nearly a full time job but being basically fit with the health benefits that come along with that is actually a pretty small chore if you do things right.

Re: Becoming the person who does the thing

#117

Post by boogieknite »

kmoser wrote: post #81
Waterluvian wrote: post #10

> Like all childish thinking, it contained some truth. Physical fitness is less important than spiritual, emotional, and mental fitness. One kind of growth I love to see is when someone becomes less confident in their opinions over time. A lot of people “grow up” by just being super confident and stubborn about new ideas.

Apparently the author is still of the mind that physical fitness takes a back seat to the other types of fitness. Anyone who has suffered from an extensive debilitating injury or illness quickly learns that it drags you down spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Even minor injuries or illnesses, when sustained over time, can have a profound effect on your mental health. For that reason, I would argue that physical…

ive experienced this effect on mental health for a day or two after major injury but after a bit i find something else to occupy my attention and effort

in simple terms staying active mentally helps me wait out the recovery. healthy spirit might mean i can accept the injury more quickly and get that day or two down to a few hours

sort of like the article it usually begins by dabbling in some activities i can do with my injury

Re: Becoming the person who does the thing

#118

Post by pavel_lishin »

huhkerrf wrote: post #20

I found the article anodyne enough, so this is not a knock on it, but something I've noticed as I've gotten older that I find a bit amusing and curious. What is it that makes people in tech in their late 20s and 30s write about life lessons like an old sage? I don't notice 32 year old farmers or roughnecks doing this.

> I don't notice 32 year old farmers or roughnecks doing this.

Do you read the blogs of 32 year old farmers or roughnecks?

Re: Becoming the person who does the thing

#119

Post by the_snooze »

sevensor wrote: post #37
torben-friis wrote: post #2

I had a similar experience as a teen, where somehow I had never considered a sport or the gym because “that was not what people like me did, I was the nerdy one”. I didn’t really ever think that explicitly, or say it aloud, it was just an obvious implication on my mind. Turns out the only thing separating me from someone who is good at sports, or being buff, was doing it frequently and not half assed. Applies to most…

> if you haven’t done any work before you’re better off joining a gym I also find it really helpful to do classes where the instructor helps you understand the right form. Lifting heavy things can lead to injury if you do it wrong.

Absolutely, classes were the magic bullet for me. I found a gym that offers small-ish (~15) classes, approachable instructors who emphasize good form, and a location and schedule that fits my lifestyle. Thanks to that, I've been a regular for the past few years now, going to class 3 or 4 times a week after being a lazy slob during the height of COVID.

Classes also reduce the barrier to start because you don't have to think about what your workout will look like, and you'll push yourself just a little harder when you're exercising with others.

Re: Becoming the person who does the thing

#120

Post by neutronicus »

huhkerrf wrote: post #20

I found the article anodyne enough, so this is not a knock on it, but something I've noticed as I've gotten older that I find a bit amusing and curious. What is it that makes people in tech in their late 20s and 30s write about life lessons like an old sage? I don't notice 32 year old farmers or roughnecks doing this.

In tech there's more to be gained building a personal brand online than in petroleum
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