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How to Work Hard

paulgraham.com

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Re: How to Work Hard

#121

Post by giantg2 »

warent wrote: post #99
giantg2 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then there are many people like me who work a job they hate, still don't get much time to enjoy life, all just to pay the bills. Less time on the planet might actually something many of us look forward to as life is full of pain and misery.

I hope this doesn't come across as insensitive but this is something I've never understood. If life feels like this, that seems like an indicator that it's time for some massive change. Usually people give some vague abstract response about why massive change is just unrealistic, indicating some fragile house of cards, while in a simultaneous act of cognitive dissonance dreaming of the day it topples. Perhaps we coul…

I think the biggest thing is that life can suck in any of the alternatives. Human suffering is universal. People are reluctant to switch if there isn't a well defined value proposition. Life is about trade offs, so there isn't a perfect solution. Even living very minimally is expensive due to things we have little to no choice in like taxes, medical stuff, etc.

Sure, I could go live in a cabin in the woods. That will mean my wife divorces me, I'd still need a job to pay for taxes and medical bills, I would likely end up incarcerated for not being able to pay child support, and loose the cabin/land anyways.

Re: How to Work Hard

#122

Post by borski »

greedo wrote: post #119
borski wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing that most people seem to be missing is PG isn’t advocating for working hard just to work hard. He’s advocating for working hard at things that you love, because then it doesn’t feel like work. He is also glorifying anxiety, which is unfortunate, and I think this essay stands stronger without those particular points.

But "working hard at things that you love" isn't much of a challenge. Your motivation is already there, and your simply overcoming a lack of skills or knowledge. What's difficult, and more common amongst mere mortals is twofold; trying to find motivation to overcome difficult things, and learning the skills and expertise to accomplish these things. Love for those things isn't really a factor. Graham really is trying…

It no feeling challenging doesn’t make the work itself any less hard; it just makes it more doable. That’s Paul’s point.

I agree with the rest of what you said, but it is orthogonal to the essay’s main point.

Re: How to Work Hard

#123

Post by sidlls »

_Nat_ wrote: post #92

It'd be nice if articles about some common term, e.g. " work hard ", would start out with a clear definition.

That would mean putting effort ("working hard") at understanding something outside one's own thought bubble.

PG's essays are exercises in narcissism and confirmation bias: they're the last place to go to for the kind of wisdom you suggest.

Re: How to Work Hard

#124

Post by gotsa »

leokennis wrote: post #19

> There are three ingredients in great work: natural ability, practice, and effort. You can do pretty well with just two, but to do the best work you need all three: you need great natural ability and to have practiced a lot and to be trying very hard. I'd like to add that it is more than fine to not do great work. If you like to spend a lot of time with your kids and tend to your vegetable patch, by all means only t…

Playing as Devil's advocate here. I think that "good work" is much wider that you are considering.

Having quality time off with your partner is "good work" Raising your children is "good work"

In a more philosophical way. "Work" could be defined as trying to make a change in your reality. So yeah, that life discovering the arts, eating tasteful and healthy food, and spending time with your beloved ones is "good work" and requires ability, practice, and time to do it well.

Re: How to Work Hard

#125

Post by borski »

leokennis wrote: post #19

> There are three ingredients in great work: natural ability, practice, and effort. You can do pretty well with just two, but to do the best work you need all three: you need great natural ability and to have practiced a lot and to be trying very hard. I'd like to add that it is more than fine to not do great work. If you like to spend a lot of time with your kids and tend to your vegetable patch, by all means only t…

I agree with everything you said, and a lot of what Paul said. You’re just talking to different people.

Re: How to Work Hard

#126

Post by SMAAART »

I second this. Each and every time I met someone who lives by the motto "I work smart not hard" or a version of that, they ended up being lazy, or stupid, or - most often - both.

We live in a world where the "average" is actually very high, so working hard, really gets us right around average; in order to break that barrier, in order to be >1 standard deviation from mean, we need to work hard and smart; and the road to >2 standard deviation is brutally hard.

Re: How to Work Hard

#128

Post by freewilly1040 »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #84
giantg2 wrote: post #44

Hard work can be good, but only if you own a substantial capital interest in the company/result. But if you can hire people to do it for you, then you can reap the benefits and live a life worth living. If you are just part of the labor and not the capital, then there really isn't an incentive to work harder than necessary to keep you job or earn a measly raise. If you tell people that if they work 12+ hours a day in…

> If you tell people that if they work 12+ hours a day in their 20s that they would be millionaires or billionaires Billionaire isn’t a realistic goal, but millionaire is a common outcome for software developers who work hard through their 20s and 30s now. It doesn’t even require a FAANG job or living in a super expensive city any more, just wise job selection, a reasonable amount of financial savvy and budget adhere…

> wise job selection

I.e. choosing companies that have (or eventually get) publicly traded stock that goes up a bunch.

There are whole classes of people who sit around all day trying to figure out which companies will grow and succeed and which ones won't. They aren't really that good at it.

There's a certain point of working hard enough to clear the interview bar of the FAANG companies or similar, but beyond that your financial success is largely tied to a favorable roll of the dice.

Re: How to Work Hard

#129

Post by jb775 »

temp8964 wrote: post #85
giantg2 wrote: post #44

Hard work can be good, but only if you own a substantial capital interest in the company/result. But if you can hire people to do it for you, then you can reap the benefits and live a life worth living. If you are just part of the labor and not the capital, then there really isn't an incentive to work harder than necessary to keep you job or earn a measly raise. If you tell people that if they work 12+ hours a day in…

What you said is simply not true. There are countless people work on different positions in different fields are enjoying hard work as part of their life. If you read the essay through, he never said "hard work == long hours of work". He explicitly wrote "Trying hard doesn't mean constantly pushing yourself to work, though."

> are enjoying hard work as part of their life

Also known as "suckers", or "employees".

Re: How to Work Hard

#130

Post by melomal »

paulpauper wrote: post #67
melomal wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone around me that has wealth built it up from simply talking and connecting with people. Going out for golf and drinks where people tend to let their guard down and just enjoy themselves allows people to build trust. This would, in my opinion, truly define their success as luck. I will outwork them, out hustle them, learn things and do things yet I am a whole Everest beneath them with wealth. But they will stri…

Imagine knowing someone in 2009 who could get you in early on uber or airbnb. or in 2006 get you in on Facebook. you need to know the right people, combined with luck (choosing to invest in uber isntead of quora) and some risk taking.

Exactly, you would be sitting pretty right now.

All of my 'successes' (granted they are very small but hey you gotta take some wins from time to time) have come from opportunities which arose from conversation.

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