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Advice

patrickcollison.com

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Re: Advice

#171

Post by [deleted] »

dkrich wrote: post #68
gfodor wrote: post #59

> If you think something is important but people older than you hold don't hold it in high regard, there's a decent chance that you're right and they're wrong. Status lags by a generation or more. I winced a little bit at this one, though it's worded strangely so I may be misinterpreting it. The way I took it is poor advice -- when there is a mismatch between yourself and another in terms of "what's important" or wha…

Agreed. The older I get the more I’ve learned to listen to other people and to question my own ideas. I’ve gotten to the point where I actually view people who listen to others and are open to changing their opinions when confronted with good advice as being much more intelligent than those who are sure they are right about everything all the time. As the Bob Dylan song goes, “I was so much older then, I’m younger th…

[deleted]

Re: Advice

#172

Post by [deleted] »

dkrich wrote: post #68
gfodor wrote: post #59

> If you think something is important but people older than you hold don't hold it in high regard, there's a decent chance that you're right and they're wrong. Status lags by a generation or more. I winced a little bit at this one, though it's worded strangely so I may be misinterpreting it. The way I took it is poor advice -- when there is a mismatch between yourself and another in terms of "what's important" or wha…

Agreed. The older I get the more I’ve learned to listen to other people and to question my own ideas. I’ve gotten to the point where I actually view people who listen to others and are open to changing their opinions when confronted with good advice as being much more intelligent than those who are sure they are right about everything all the time. As the Bob Dylan song goes, “I was so much older then, I’m younger th…

[deleted]

Re: Advice

#173

Post by [deleted] »

dkrich wrote: post #68
gfodor wrote: post #59

> If you think something is important but people older than you hold don't hold it in high regard, there's a decent chance that you're right and they're wrong. Status lags by a generation or more. I winced a little bit at this one, though it's worded strangely so I may be misinterpreting it. The way I took it is poor advice -- when there is a mismatch between yourself and another in terms of "what's important" or wha…

Agreed. The older I get the more I’ve learned to listen to other people and to question my own ideas. I’ve gotten to the point where I actually view people who listen to others and are open to changing their opinions when confronted with good advice as being much more intelligent than those who are sure they are right about everything all the time. As the Bob Dylan song goes, “I was so much older then, I’m younger th…

[deleted]

Re: Advice

#174

Post by drjesusphd »

dkrich wrote: post #68
gfodor wrote: post #59

> If you think something is important but people older than you hold don't hold it in high regard, there's a decent chance that you're right and they're wrong. Status lags by a generation or more. I winced a little bit at this one, though it's worded strangely so I may be misinterpreting it. The way I took it is poor advice -- when there is a mismatch between yourself and another in terms of "what's important" or wha…

Agreed. The older I get the more I’ve learned to listen to other people and to question my own ideas. I’ve gotten to the point where I actually view people who listen to others and are open to changing their opinions when confronted with good advice as being much more intelligent than those who are sure they are right about everything all the time. As the Bob Dylan song goes, “I was so much older then, I’m younger th…

> I’ve gotten to the point where I actually view people who listen to others and are open to changing their opinions when confronted with good advice as being much more intelligent than those who are sure they are right about everything all the time.

I also find this to be a useful heuristic. Particularly "How seriously does this person take my ideas? When I'm wrong, do they make an effort to explain why? Are the open to me being right?"

This works best when you're a student or otherwise new to something Obviously, it won't work when you have status over the person; they'll listen to you anyway.

Re: Advice

#175

Post by mgummelt »

pkaler wrote: post #122

So, funny story. I was in YVR waiting for a flight when I decided to get my shoes shined. The shoe shine had been reading a manga take on the bible. Just a regular guy that in another life could be a computer programmer if the circumstances were different. He asked me what I do: mobile apps. And he went on and on about how his favourite iPhone app downloaded all of Wikipedia but it didn't work on the latest version o…

The timing on this is odd. Patrick says he built the Wikipedia app over a few weeks in Japan in late 2007, which would have been soon after founding Auctomatic: https://venturebeat.com/2007/10/22/auctomatic-launches-bette...

It seems like a strange decision take take a month off after founding your startup to build a side project in Japan.

Re: Advice

#176

Post by archagon »

mugsie wrote: post #44

> Why San Francisco? San Francisco is the Schelling point for high-openness, smart, energetic, optimistic people. Global Weird HQ. This could describe Seattle, Portland, Austin, Denver (from my experience) in the US, and a myriad of other places worldwide.

That quote just makes me sad. It feels like every time I visit a new city abroad, my understanding of the world expands twofold. SF is great if your life revolves around tech and startups, but I find it hard to perceive as the center of anything but money and hubris. I can't help but roll my eyes at the utterly self-absorbed and vapid conversations I overhear in cafés from day to day. Nothing remotely Weird about any of it.

Re: Advice

#177

Post by drcode »

CPLX wrote: post #32

One thing that I didn't do at that age and very much regret is to be really conscious of being healthy and physically fit. That's the right time to learn what you should and shouldn't put in your body, and how to be constantly active. There's a million different ways to accomplish that but it's important to find one. People at that age often don't really understand how closely linked physical fitness and mental healt…

I didn't start eating well or exercising until my 40s, but now am in the best shape I've ever been at 45.

I would say that I regret not doing these things earlier, but a large part of the issue is that it's somewhat expensive (both in terms of time and $$) to exercise and eat well, so it would have been hard for me to afford living like this (both in terms of time and money) when I was younger.

(Yes, you can eat well and exercise well without much money, but it's super challenging if you can't afford quality prepared foods and a decent gym membership: I don't see many 24 year olds that have a full time job, are in top physical health, but also still have time available for other interests...)

Re: Advice

#178

Post by jimmies »

Swizec wrote: post #67

And remember: if you're not 10-20, you can still do all these things! The best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago, the second best time is now. When you feel old and curmudgeonly, that's the perfect time to take a deep breath and become a beginner in something new.

After being trapped in a rut at 30, I decided to rethink many aspects of my life just 4 months ago. I made a major overhaul of myself, and it worked out so well I couldn't imagine.

It's never ever too late to do anything, the important thing is whether someone's willing to admit they didn't know as much as they thought.

Re: Advice

#179

Post by archagon »

I was scratching my head at the popularity of this article before seeing the author. In my opinion, it's a rose-tinted picture of success as filtered through Patrick Collison's extremely unusual life experiences, and comes off as terribly naive without that context.

Re: Advice

#180

Post by Swizec »

jimmies wrote: post #178
Swizec wrote: post #67

And remember: if you're not 10-20, you can still do all these things! The best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago, the second best time is now. When you feel old and curmudgeonly, that's the perfect time to take a deep breath and become a beginner in something new.

After being trapped in a rut at 30, I decided to rethink many aspects of my life just 4 months ago. I made a major overhaul of myself, and it worked out so well I couldn't imagine. It's never ever too late to do anything, the important thing is whether someone's willing to admit they didn't know as much as they thought.

As a fellow rut feeling 30 year old I would love to hear more about your experience. If you’re okay sharing of course :)
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