How to Work Hard • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Work Hard

#21

Post by dhimes » Tue, Jun 29, 2021, 2:10 PM UTC

jimbokun wrote: post #15

Being able to decide what to work on requires a certain amount of privilege, as opposed to needing to do whatever you can to pay for rent, bills, and groceries this month.

I think you're on to something here. I'm struggling to articulate that somehow this essay addresses, albeit well, the low-hanging fruit of working hard, at least in the move-the-world-forward sense than this is written (he's not talking to bricklayers, he's talking to the architects). You have options; you have family/social support, and so on. These things allow the other things to become. [As you can seem I'm still struggling.]

Re: How to Work Hard

#22

Post by kungito » Tue, Jun 29, 2021, 2:11 PM UTC

I really don't lije these "work hard in all your 20s" advice because I'm at nearing the end of my 20s with great results but I feel like I want to save what's left of my 20s instead of chasing more cash. I haven't personally met people who worked hard until 40s and felt like it was worth it for them. Being a successful person personally has always been way more than just having a successful career and money.

Re: How to Work Hard

#23

Post by jjice » Tue, Jun 29, 2021, 2:11 PM UTC

> ...because even in college a lot of the work is pointless; there are entire departments that are pointless.

I loved all of my CS courses in college. They were my bread and butter. I also liked a lot of my math courses and even an English class or two. I just wish I didn't take 5 history courses (three as part of an elective set that had to be liberal arts), three unrelated sciences (bio 1+2, and astronomy - imaging science was great and applicable), and two women and gender studies courses (nothing against the major, just unrelated to my degree).

I've been told countless times that these courses help round out a student. Most of them don't. I end up bullshitting them as much as possible and getting a B so I can focus on the courses I care about. A streamlined college education where we remove some (not all) non-major course work and save two or three semesters of time would be amazing, but of course that's two or three semesters of lost cash for a university...

Re: How to Work Hard

#24

Post by dataduck » Tue, Jun 29, 2021, 2:12 PM UTC

Y_Y wrote: post #16

Doesn't this sound shit though? If Bill Gates is so smart why did he have to work so much? Did he like coding and management more than days off? If a life of hard work is needed to get you into heaven that's fine. Or if anything less would mean you and your dependants going hungry. But once your basic needs are met then it's irrational not to start spending time on all of the other things that life has to offer. I fe…

Chris Williamson's video on this is really touching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbgkMhio3jY

Re: How to Work Hard

#25

Post by jasperry » Tue, Jun 29, 2021, 2:12 PM UTC

Maybe the world also needs people who are not so achievement-driven, who act as a kind of lubricant in the machine of society by making the environment around themselves lighter and more pleasant. And people who are that way should learn to value themselves and not feel guilty for not being as driven as some.

A world where everyone is a nose-to-the-grindstone overachiever seems like a pretty dreary one to live in.

Re: How to Work Hard

#26

Post by philmcp » Tue, Jun 29, 2021, 2:12 PM UTC

I prefer to focus on efficiency, rather than hours worked (i.e. effort). It results in a better work / life balance imo

I actually just posted this article on HN today:

https://4dayweek.io/blog/how-to-code-faster

Re: How to Work Hard

#27

Post by dorkmind » Tue, Jun 29, 2021, 2:12 PM UTC

Someone needs to murder paul graham.

Re: How to Work Hard

#28

Post by krustyburger » Tue, Jun 29, 2021, 2:13 PM UTC

>>There wasn't a single point when I learned this. Like most little kids, I enjoyed the feeling of achievement when I learned or did something new. As I grew older, this morphed into a feeling of disgust when I wasn't achieving anything. The one precisely dateable landmark I have is when I stopped watching TV, at age 13.

I wouldn’t dare question Paul Graham’s accomplishments, but I’ve always found it odd that some people are so proud of their abstention from television. There are time-wasting things on tv, but there are also time-wasting books, albums etc. I think not watching television and advertising that one didn’t was once an easy intellectual badge of honor. When there were only a few networks and the programming didn’t vary much, perhaps this made sense.

Every so often I still hear someone proudly say that they don’t watch television today. I usually wonder exactly what they mean, now that we are all able to choose the exact film or program we want and play it on demand. Surely it’s not a mark of excellence not to stream, say, the Criterion Channel?

Re: How to Work Hard

#29

Post by markus_zhang » Tue, Jun 29, 2021, 2:13 PM UTC

Y_Y wrote: post #16

Doesn't this sound shit though? If Bill Gates is so smart why did he have to work so much? Did he like coding and management more than days off? If a life of hard work is needed to get you into heaven that's fine. Or if anything less would mean you and your dependants going hungry. But once your basic needs are met then it's irrational not to start spending time on all of the other things that life has to offer. I fe…

He probably didn't treat those as "work" as we laymen understand. We just work for bread and butter and most of the time workis kind of boring. But if you happen to work for yourself or enjoy your work for whatever the reason, you don't treat it as "work" and it's all about achieving the maximum happiness as you can.

I expereinced this a few times in my life and I never regretted about working hard on it. Why would I regret about playing hard and achieving what I can? But sadly due to my shortcomings these events are short and far between.

Re: How to Work Hard

#30

Post by kstenerud » Tue, Jun 29, 2021, 2:15 PM UTC

The true ah-ha moment comes when you finally realize how much bullshit this is.

"Hard work" is the mantra that keeps you a slave. "Success stories" are the tasty carrots that keep you toiling away your best years enriching others in pursuit of the things you're supposed to seek in life: Power, success, status. "Life hacks" are little dopamine hits to keep your eye on the carrot.

And the kicker is that those few who actually do attain these things mistakenly attribute it to their own prowess, when it's mostly luck and circumstance with a smattering of ambition and striking deals in the right networks. They then take it upon themselves to perpetuate the system that now feeds them at your expense.

So you go on toiling away, pushing that wheel around and around for years as your masters feed you stories of their success and a promise of your own one-day-someday, until eventually you hopefully realize the futility of enriching these parasites, and get off their treadmill.

The proletariat are only useful to the rich if they're toiling for them.

Edit: In case you're wondering why this tanked to the bottom of the comments despite being at 38 points after 30 minutes, it's because the admins can artificially drop a comment's priority if they don't like it, and prevent further upvotes (downvotes still work though).