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Four thousand weeks

leebyron.com

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Re: Four thousand weeks

#21

Post by localghost3000 »

GavinMcG wrote: post #17
localghost3000 wrote: post #3

I’m impressed by the beauty of this site and sophistication of the UI. However I _hate_ this type of messaging that does nothing for you except make your mental health worse. I don’t want to think about how many weeks of life I have left! Inducing existential dread is NOT what any of us need to start living our lives more fully (which I assume is the intent of this site). You wanna zone out on YouTube? Go for it. Tha…

Who said anything about existential dread? Perhaps the fact that dread is your reaction speaks more to your relationship with mortality than to the site’s approach.

I mean that’s pretty much what I said. I suspect it’s not just me as well.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#22

Post by localghost3000 »

mateo- wrote: post #6
localghost3000 wrote: post #3

I’m impressed by the beauty of this site and sophistication of the UI. However I _hate_ this type of messaging that does nothing for you except make your mental health worse. I don’t want to think about how many weeks of life I have left! Inducing existential dread is NOT what any of us need to start living our lives more fully (which I assume is the intent of this site). You wanna zone out on YouTube? Go for it. Tha…

I think it's more of the stoic "memento mori" intention. Make sure your time is well spent.

I understand the message. I get that it’s coming from a good place too. I’m just saying that stuff like this can make people feel bad about themselves unintentionally.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#23

Post by carabiner »

FearlessNebula wrote: post #4
localghost3000 wrote: post #3

I’m impressed by the beauty of this site and sophistication of the UI. However I _hate_ this type of messaging that does nothing for you except make your mental health worse. I don’t want to think about how many weeks of life I have left! Inducing existential dread is NOT what any of us need to start living our lives more fully (which I assume is the intent of this site). You wanna zone out on YouTube? Go for it. Tha…

Tbh I don’t think you understood the goal of this post. The idea, to me, is to remind the reader of how precious life is, and to be mindful of how you’re spending it. Whether you think about it or try to ignore it, time is ticking by at the same speed. I’m only 25 but I’ve wasted way too much time on Reddit, YouTube, and even HN, in my opinion. > As with all things, moderation. Sure, but in my anecdotal experience th…

It's one of those self-help contradictions: View life as both abundant and scarce at the same time.

Another is: love yourself, but avoid narcissism.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#24

Post by tayo42 »

nextos wrote: post #15
charles_f wrote: post #8

I'm in the middle of the book, it's very inspirational. This websites great, thanks!

Does the book have any good insights? From reviews, I kind of perceived it's only about limiting work in progress and adopting a more slow and human approach to things. I feel these insights were already brought by many industrial production methodologies, e.g. Toyota, in a more rational and less newage-y package. Am I missing something?

Its from the perspective of someone who was obsessed with productivity porn coming to terms with the idea that none of that will ever actually work. He addresses why he thinks that and supports it with different ideas. I don't think anything is new, but he takes disjointed ideas and kind of puts it all together from his perspective. I thought it was interesting and it was a quick read.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#25

Post by FearlessNebula »

nextos wrote: post #15
charles_f wrote: post #8

I'm in the middle of the book, it's very inspirational. This websites great, thanks!

Does the book have any good insights? From reviews, I kind of perceived it's only about limiting work in progress and adopting a more slow and human approach to things. I feel these insights were already brought by many industrial production methodologies, e.g. Toyota, in a more rational and less newage-y package. Am I missing something?

This makes me wonder if any books have been written about Toyota’s engineering practices / just in time production / production and logistics in general. I’m sure it would be fascinating.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#26

Post by joshcanhelp »

localghost3000 wrote: post #3

I’m impressed by the beauty of this site and sophistication of the UI. However I _hate_ this type of messaging that does nothing for you except make your mental health worse. I don’t want to think about how many weeks of life I have left! Inducing existential dread is NOT what any of us need to start living our lives more fully (which I assume is the intent of this site). You wanna zone out on YouTube? Go for it. Tha…

I feel your feels here and whole-heartedly agree that the “life is short” trope is unhelpful. But the book that this site was based on is not that. In fact, I would say that the week count that the site give you is antithetical to the book’s message.

I regard 4000 Weeks as one of, if not the, most important books I’ve ever read. The message might not be important for everyone but it changed my perspective in several important ways.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#27

Post by FearlessNebula »

localghost3000 wrote: post #18
FearlessNebula wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tbh I don’t think you understood the goal of this post. The idea, to me, is to remind the reader of how precious life is, and to be mindful of how you’re spending it. Whether you think about it or try to ignore it, time is ticking by at the same speed. I’m only 25 but I’ve wasted way too much time on Reddit, YouTube, and even HN, in my opinion. > As with all things, moderation. Sure, but in my anecdotal experience th…

I’m 45. Wife. Kid. The works. Painfully aware of how precious life is. 20 years ago when I was your age (which btw feels like only a few years ago…) this type of content resonated a lot more with me. I assume it was because the concept of aging was still pretty abstract. Now I’m in the shit so to speak. My point is that I’ve seen a million of these. Hell I’ve read 4K weeks! You’ll get no argument from me that spendin…

That’s a good point. Whenever I’ve felt existential dread it’s been soothing to know I can improve myself and live life in a better way. However if you’re already in what you consider to be an ideal state, you don’t have any wiggle room. And with a wife and kids on top, you have others who depend on you and also your own attachment to those people, which makes it all the more difficult to acknowledge that life is finite. All of the above which I haven’t experienced for myself.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#28

Post by tayo42 »

localghost3000 wrote: post #18
FearlessNebula wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tbh I don’t think you understood the goal of this post. The idea, to me, is to remind the reader of how precious life is, and to be mindful of how you’re spending it. Whether you think about it or try to ignore it, time is ticking by at the same speed. I’m only 25 but I’ve wasted way too much time on Reddit, YouTube, and even HN, in my opinion. > As with all things, moderation. Sure, but in my anecdotal experience th…

I’m 45. Wife. Kid. The works. Painfully aware of how precious life is. 20 years ago when I was your age (which btw feels like only a few years ago…) this type of content resonated a lot more with me. I assume it was because the concept of aging was still pretty abstract. Now I’m in the shit so to speak. My point is that I’ve seen a million of these. Hell I’ve read 4K weeks! You’ll get no argument from me that spendin…

> spending your time wisely is important but try to keep in mind that making the most of Every Second Of The Day is a sure way to make yourself miserable.

That was the whole point of the book though? Stop trying to make the most of every second and do what you think is important.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#29

Post by nine_k »

localghost3000 wrote: post #22
mateo- wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's more of the stoic "memento mori" intention. Make sure your time is well spent.

I understand the message. I get that it’s coming from a good place too. I’m just saying that stuff like this can make people feel bad about themselves unintentionally.

I'd say sometimes people may need to feel bad about themselves in order to improve. And this feeling may be triggered unintentionally, too; there's no way around it sometimes. Feeling the pain sucks though.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#30

Post by layer8 »

localghost3000 wrote: post #3

I’m impressed by the beauty of this site and sophistication of the UI. However I _hate_ this type of messaging that does nothing for you except make your mental health worse. I don’t want to think about how many weeks of life I have left! Inducing existential dread is NOT what any of us need to start living our lives more fully (which I assume is the intent of this site). You wanna zone out on YouTube? Go for it. Tha…

Had the opposite reaction. The advice is valuable, but I didn’t care much about the presentation. The purpose also isn’t to give you existential dread, but to pull you out of the daily productivity routine blinders so that you can see the broader bird’s eye view perspective.
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