Earlier quoted context omitted.
Germans have a word for everything. :)
That's because most "words" in German are made by "squishing" individual words together into one big one.
The Lego of languages
To Anyone Who Thinks They're Falling Behind in Life
21–30 of 55 posts
Re: To Anyone Who Thinks They're Falling Behind in Life
#22This is a horrible article. It seems to be emphasizing an external locus of control. Which is unuseful. Sometimes things won't turn out the way you want. But you still have to put the effort and time in. The way she's writing she seems to dismiss effort and time as useless.
That was a horrible comment :)
The author is clearly saying "We have to put in our best efforts and then give ourselves permission to let whatever happens to happen". And then that after we've put in our best effort, we must accept that some things are out of our control and impossible to accurately predict: things like timing!
She doesn't dismiss effort or time: she just says that you can't rely on them to produce predictable results at specific times. You will work hard, and you will succeed most of the times you work hard at something. But probably not when you predicted you will succeed. And maybe not always at the thing that you initially wanted to succeed at. And accepting lack of control doesn't mean loosing motivation. Even her points about motivation I read them as saying something along the lines of: "don't try to pump up yourself with artificial willpower and motivation, just persist at working in your natural rhythm, and things will work out fine, even if you can't control when they will work out fine".
It's very biased towards the "accept the lack of control" part, indeed. But the bias is necessary to counterbalance the pov of people like you that keep throwing up the "work harder, work more" (or "just put more time, more effort") mantra to everyone they meet! This kind of advice is useful for some people. But horrible for others! Some need more to find a "a natural rhythm" and "let things happen", and unfortunately you rarely see this advice. Others may indeed call what I would say it's "my natural rhythm", something like "extremely hard work and perseverence", and maybe these kinds of people need your kind of advice.
...and there are also those that are simply "born to be lazy", and throwing the "work harder, work more" thing at them will only viciously turn them against whoever yelled that at them, transforming them from harmless slackers into people that will instead steal or kill or be corrupt and spread corruption, or otherwise sabotage the system just for the "fun" (read "revenge for being bothered") of making others suffer simply because some self-righteuous know-it-alls couldn't simply "let them be".
Re: To Anyone Who Thinks They're Falling Behind in Life
#23Legally, "permission to be where you are" is a right reserved for the capital class. Even in my home my right to stay only lasts for 60 days and then I am subject to whatever forms of violence are necessary to remove me so that a pre-designated member of the capital class can be where I am. From here it's miles to a place where I have the right to urinate, and tens of miles to a place where I have a right to sleep, a…
Agreed. We are manipulated by the system. Corporations force us to move to bigger cities where rent is more expensive, living space is smaller and quality of life is lower.
Humans are farmed like poultry - City humans are caged chickens, suburban humans are the "free range" variety.
Corporations want to see more humans per square feet because that's more profitable for them. The energy savings we contribute to by living in big cities ultimately end up in the hands of corporate executives and shareholders as cash.
Re: To Anyone Who Thinks They're Falling Behind in Life
#24Legally, "permission to be where you are" is a right reserved for the capital class. Even in my home my right to stay only lasts for 60 days and then I am subject to whatever forms of violence are necessary to remove me so that a pre-designated member of the capital class can be where I am. From here it's miles to a place where I have the right to urinate, and tens of miles to a place where I have a right to sleep, a…
Agreed. We are manipulated by the system. Corporations force us to move to bigger cities where rent is more expensive, living space is smaller and quality of life is lower. Humans are farmed like poultry - City humans are caged chickens, suburban humans are the "free range" variety. Corporations want to see more humans per square feet because that's more profitable for them. The energy savings we contribute to by liv…
It strikes me as curious as to how you've taken his complaints, which seem largely based on government-imposed restrictions, and subverted the point to be anti-capitalist.
That said, how do corporations force you to live in cities? How do corporations then profit from you living in a city? How does either city or suburban living map to whether you are a member of the capital class or not.
Re: To Anyone Who Thinks They're Falling Behind in Life
#25This article keeps opening the iOS App Store. It's frustrating and I don't know how to stop it.
Re: To Anyone Who Thinks They're Falling Behind in Life
#26This article keeps opening the iOS App Store. It's frustrating and I don't know how to stop it.
Re: To Anyone Who Thinks They're Falling Behind in Life
#27This article keeps opening the iOS App Store. It's frustrating and I don't know how to stop it.
Re: To Anyone Who Thinks They're Falling Behind in Life
#28I wonder how many people will read this article, have a lightbulb go off in their head, feel warm and fuzzy about it all, then wake up tomorrow and do absolutely nothing about it. Probably most. This article is unfortunately what it epitimizes the most -- a self-help conundrum. Advice given from the perspective of a workaholic. But alas, what tools does it actually provide to take action? Walk away from everything? S…
> "We have to put in our best efforts and then give ourselves permission to let whatever happens to happen" A friend once shared how surfing illustrates how having a process driven approach vs. a result driven approach is beneficial. In surfing you start off knowing the basics of how to get on the water, standing up on the board, and riding the wave. You may know the basics, but until you actually go out in the water…
This is exactly it. Goals will point you in the right direction, but the joy is in the pursuit.
Re: To Anyone Who Thinks They're Falling Behind in Life
#29This is a horrible article. It seems to be emphasizing an external locus of control. Which is unuseful. Sometimes things won't turn out the way you want. But you still have to put the effort and time in. The way she's writing she seems to dismiss effort and time as useless.
That was a horrible comment :) The author is clearly saying " We have to put in our best efforts and then give ourselves permission to let whatever happens to happen". And then that after we've put in our best effort , we must accept that some things are out of our control and impossible to accurately predict: things like timing! She doesn't dismiss effort or time: she just says that you can't rely on them to produce…
The article doesn't even mention personal responsibility until roughly halfway through it.
And you comment about "born to be lazy" holds no water. If you want to be lazy, you have to accept that you won't have opportunities non-lazy people will have.
If you're "born to be lazy", that's fine unless you want to be somewhere that non-lazy people are. If you're sitting on your butt cause the inspiration for your novel hasn't come along because it isn't time yet, you're not working hard enough.
Re: To Anyone Who Thinks They're Falling Behind in Life
#30My own attempt to understand the complex relationship between will-power and "happiness" is laid out in this article which I wrote a while ago (2007): http://thinkinghard.com/consciousness/advice.html.