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Fuck being productive

dostoynikov.bearblog.dev

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Re: Fuck being productive

#191

Post by _jdzr »

badpun wrote: post #76
_jdzr wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does entrepreneurship look? Often if there’s high unemployment there’s a window to be the job maker.

> Often if there’s high unemployment there’s a window to be the job maker. How so? On the one hand, there's plenty of unemployed, desperate people, so you can probably get them as employeed for very cheap - but, on the other hand, people are in dire economical condition, so it's hard to sell them anything. I guess, producing stuff for the international market could work well though.

> so you can probably get them as employeed for very cheap

Not everything is about money or paying for things.

>but, on the other hand, people are in dire economical condition, so it's hard to sell them anything.

Buying and selling things is a very American construct and tells like 1/4 of the story when it comes to trading.

I grew up in a rural area of the US. Lots of folks are poor but wealthy beyond measure. Bartering goes a long way and only works if you provide a service that is valuable ;-).

Re: Fuck being productive

#192

Post by _jdzr »

sparrish wrote: post #41
_jdzr wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does entrepreneurship look? Often if there’s high unemployment there’s a window to be the job maker.

Entrepreneurship... and you thought working 10-hour days was a lot.

Hehe yeah work never actually ends but it's a different beast.

Re: Fuck being productive

#193

Post by tasuki »

zwieback wrote: post #20

Yeah, just wait till you're in your fifties and feel like you're also running out of time to do things! For example: "how many more growing seasons do I have to try this or that tomato" or "should I learn Spanish?". On the plus side kids are out of your hair.

> On the plus side kids are out of your hair.

That almost sounds like you did not really enjoy raising your kids? I find that's a taboo thing to say, and if that's what you meant, I appreciate you saying so.

Re: Fuck being productive

#194

Post by thelittleone »

sBqQu3U0wH wrote: post #15

Honestly, I do feel somewhat similar. I work a normal 8-hour day and I am not obsessed with productivity nor I am some kind of anti-work activist, but it just feels like such a waste of time. The only reason I go to work is for money. I don't care about the products we build for someone else (why should I?), nor the technologies used (each of which brings its own challenges and frustrations). If I didn't need to go t…

I've found that by caring about the product, I can deliver higher quality results and charge a premium rate for doing it. Additionally, the quality of the work leads to good reviews and referrals, increasing demand (and lowering cost of sales) which ultimately increases my rate / profit.

Re: Fuck being productive

#195

Post by jacobyoder »

nly wrote: post #147
badpun wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To retire in 10 years you're going to have to be able to live comfortably on something like 1/3rd of your take home pay. That's very easy if you don't have kids - just don't get on a hedonic threadmill (and, if you're already on it, start gradually getting off). I'm not a parent myself, so won't speak about the "with kids" situation.

Rent isnt a "hedonic treadmill". Neither is food or energy. These are the 3 areas seeing the most inflation right now. Rents in London are up 20% in a year, food almost the same, and energy ...well, everyone knows what has happened to energy. The average Londoner is paying almost 40% of their take home pay on rent, so saving 2/3rds is already impossible. Even as one of the lucky ones earning a top 1% salary, I _still…

Wife is from UK, but we're in the US now. She's got some friends/family there, and we keep up with some news/sports/TV from the UK regularly. Have watched some recent reports about how dire some things have gotten over the last year or two. Things are 'bad' all over, but the UK seems to have been hit doubly/triply hard compared to some neighbors, esp with energy prices. Unsure how much brexit is a root cause, but between brexit/covid/ukraine, UK seems to be in a bad spot. Sorry you're dealing with so much that's beyond your control. I completely get this is well beyond "don't eat out as much" territory.

Re: Fuck being productive

#196

Post by readthenotes1 »

fswd wrote: post #90
sBqQu3U0wH wrote: post #15

Honestly, I do feel somewhat similar. I work a normal 8-hour day and I am not obsessed with productivity nor I am some kind of anti-work activist, but it just feels like such a waste of time. The only reason I go to work is for money. I don't care about the products we build for someone else (why should I?), nor the technologies used (each of which brings its own challenges and frustrations). If I didn't need to go t…

It's funny, if you say this duringg an interview "Why do you want the job?" "Money" you won't get hired. So it becomes a performance artist act.

I had an elderly relative on the admission committee for a med school in the 80s-90s.

He told us that he only downgraded someone if lots of money were the only reason to apply.

Re: Fuck being productive

#197

Post by mattpallissard »

mrguyorama wrote: post #181
mattpallissard wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ah yes we are all as wealthy and have the same resources as a famous hollywood actor. People from all walks of life have been raising children since, well, forever. Rich, poor, smart, dumb; nearly everyone figures it out.

Pretending that all those people have had equal success, or that poorer parents don't have a significantly worse time of it than more affluent groups is not helpful. There is A LOT of child neglect here in the states, and plenty of children literally do not make it out alive.

True. It's also true that most children aren't neglected. The point I'm trying to make is most people raise most children decently in most circumstances. That you don't need to be rich to do so.

Re: Fuck being productive

#198

Post by pointy_hat »

Reminded me of Bartebly the Scrivener and “I would prefer not to”, but also Byul-Chun Han and “Burnout Society”. A very short summary of the latter is that in our day and age we exploit ourselves on behalf of people who would in previous decades exploit us. But of course the author explores both reasons and consequences of this phenomena.

Re: Fuck being productive

#199

Post by zwieback »

tasuki wrote: post #193
zwieback wrote: post #20

Yeah, just wait till you're in your fifties and feel like you're also running out of time to do things! For example: "how many more growing seasons do I have to try this or that tomato" or "should I learn Spanish?". On the plus side kids are out of your hair.

> On the plus side kids are out of your hair. That almost sounds like you did not really enjoy raising your kids? I find that's a taboo thing to say, and if that's what you meant, I appreciate you saying so.

Hmm, maybe a bit too black and white, there are good and bad times. What I'm surprised to find out is how much I enjoy having more time and less drama around the house. And less clutter.

Re: Fuck being productive

#200

Post by nightski »

BossingAround wrote: post #184
nightski wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only that, software salaries in Europe tend to be far lower on average.

I've seen this argument over and over again, as if "more expensive to employ" directly causes "lower salaries". I don't think the two are directly tied. If it costs you $150k to pay $90k employee salary, for example, that doesn't explain why there are $300k+ employees in the Valley (while that amount of money is kind of preposterous in Europe, though I'm sure some have it as well). In my mind, it's rather a combinati…

You are implying a causal relationship where I was not. My point wasn't that socialized health care would be bad or that we shouldn't adopt it in the U.S. (I support the idea). Just that for many Americans working in tech (who don't have rare conditions) the cost of health insurance is not a huge factor relative to their salary or billable rate. As an anecdote in my 30s working as a consultant I paid $300/mo per person in my household.

That's with an effective tax rate of like 12% for middle class which is absurdly low. On top of which tech workers can probably afford to shove in the max contribution to an HSA every year completely tax free and then use it for healthcare expenses and/or invest it for retirement otherwise (that's what my wife & I do).

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