21–30 of 107 posts
"Find something you enjoy doing. Do it. Over and over again. You will become good at it for two reasons: you like it, and you do it often. Soon, that will have value in itself." By this logic, a full third of the workforce ought to be professional gamers...
Age 16, me: "I want to publish comic books." Others: "Get serious, that's no way to make a living."
Age 22, me: "I want to teach math." Others: "Get serious. You'll never make much money that way."
Age 30, me: "I want to publish my own software." Others: "Get serious. No one will buy yours over some big company's."
Age 35, me: "I want do a start-up." Others: "Get serious. You're too old. You have responsibilities."
Age 40, me: "I want to be a stand-up comic." Others: "Get serious. Only the top 1% of the top 1% make any money."
Yesterday, me: "I want to sit in a cubicle all day long and maintain someone else's crappy code." Others: "Get serious. No one could possibly want that."
Today, me: "Since I spent my whole life listening to people who never mattered, now I'm going to really "get serious" and do what I want: surf Hacker News and write cool software." Others: "".
but does it really make sense loving someone when you are not loved back? that is hard work. and it hurts. but i just might got it all wrong.
Yeah, this part's got me a little confused, too, not gonna lie :p
Life is not fair and you should do something you love. Birds also sing, mom is a pretty good person, and be sure to wear clean underwear. This missing piece here is that life is about how you choose to interact with it. It does not exist without your perception of it. Instead of wondering whether life is fair or not, you are the entity that should be fair. Instead of wondering how something might or might not feel to you, realize that you are the entity responsible for your feelings. You should be able to learn to love things you might not initially. If this were not true we'd all be stuck playing video games or taking drugs. The feeling that something initially gives you is not a very good indicator of how much you might or might not deeply love it over time. Learn to take orders and follow directions and you can be exposed to more things that you might like. Don't do that and you'll never know what you've missed.
This entire line of thought the speaker espouses is like that: half-formed and glossy. You should do something that is meaningful and other people might not like, but don't use their hatred as any kind of indicator of the worth of what you're doing. That's backwards. Sounds good, but it's backwards. It also skips over the most important part -- how to know if what you're doing is meaningful and important. Using other people's hatred is not going to work.
What's worse is that after a while all these commencement speeches just run together. All the same pablum about not having to follow rules, make life a game, follow your heart, stick it to the man, and so on. Enough already.
It's not that these things are not true, it's that they are watered down, feel-good bullshit phrases that really don't give you much chance of actually doing anything useful from what you've learned from the speaker.
I can understand why people like this essay. If it were the only one of it's kind I'd like it too. Hell, if there were only a hundred like this I'd still like it. But at some point I feel that we're doing a great disservice to college graduates by telling them a bunch of stuff that they would be inclined to believe anyway, just in a more clever format. Sometimes, maybe only once in a decade, somebody should tell these kids something that's a bit more practical.
One of the best articles I've read in a long time. I'm 21 and about to graduate. I totally relate to this and am already trying to adopt this way living into my life. My friends often tell me I'm being unrealistic and I'll soon realise that I need to grow up. My plan is to work part-time when I leave university leaving myself all the time I want to work on my own projects and to socialise. That's what makes me happy,…
Recent college grad here too. Strongly suggest that. Work just enough to get by, pay the bills, eat, etc. Dedicate atleast 2-3 hours, completley focues and uninterrupted, to your passion,purpose, craft. Or socialize purposefully - building relationships and allies sort of speak.
I would probably agree with this a couple of months ago but I don't know any more. I just love meeting people, everyone is so different and interesting.
Your approach is great if the only thing that's going to make you happy is money and success but I've realised, only just lately for me, that it's not everything.
Just do what ever maximises your happiness and feeling of self-fulfilment. I'm sure money and success are great and can even be a source of happiness but I'm know if I was a millionaire tomorrow, I wouldn't feel content.
Age 10, me: "I want to be a professional baseball player." Others: "Get serious, you'll never be good enough." Age 16, me: "I want to publish comic books." Others: "Get serious, that's no way to make a living." Age 22, me: "I want to teach math." Others: "Get serious. You'll never make much money that way." Age 30, me: "I want to publish my own software." Others: "Get serious. No one will buy yours over some big comp…
I don't want to trash this essay but I found it disappointing. I think the reason why is that the author had a great theme -- flip common advice around backwards -- but then let it take over his argument to the degree that the substance was really poor. Very unusual for somebody who is a litigator. It is an example of style over logic. Life is not fair and you should do something you love. Birds also sing, mom is a p…
It's not enough to simply chase your dream; you need a plan and many strategies. Most of your strategies will fail, and some will succeed. What you're really doing in your failures and successes and constant practice is grooming and changing yourself such that you eventually become the person who can succeed in the endeavor you have chosen.
If you stop learning, you're deciding that there's nothing left to learn. Besides the sheer arrogance of such a stance, it leaves you inflexible, unable to change yourself any more. It means that what you're capable of right now is all you'll ever be capable of, and that is a terrible waste, stunting your growth and locking you out of everything you could be.
The real exhortation should be: Don't be mindless.
Don't get stuck in a routine simply for the sake of the routine. Routines are good if they serve a higher purpose. They are great servants, and terrible masters. Know WHY you are doing, in everything you do.
Don't do work simply for work's sake. Work should serve a higher purpose than simply keeping you breathing and maybe squirreling away a paltry sum for some nebulous retirement. You won't avoid work, so make work work for you.
Everything happens according to a plan. If you're not building and furthering your plan, your life will be ruled by the plans of others.
Don't worry about whether people hate you or not; that comes as naturally as human nature. Your success can be measured by only one person: you. Everyone WILL judge you, but none is justified in judging EXCEPT for you. If you accept their judgment, it is really you who is judging yourself, for better or for worse. Know the difference!
So live, love, learn, teach, create, grow, succeed, fail, laugh, cry, suffer, comfort, transcend. It's your life, after all, and you only get one.
Life's is not fair => Disagree, that's depending on your perception
Resist the temptation to get a job => CHECK
Work kills => he is a little unclear here—I gues he talks about working for other, that's true—but the activtiy of working itself, being productive is a great thing which makes you happy and satisfied, always.
Find something you love doing => yes and no, from my point of view, yes find something you like but when trying to get big or to start something, seeing and taking opportunities which don't look like your passion at the first sight is more important, much more. Take opportunities, the more the better, don't miss any and wait the awesome idea that perfectly matches what you love (BS and time waster)
Be hated => BS, 20 yrs ago maybe I'd agree a little and in appropriate settings BUT nowadays it's a very false advice and too risky, building a good reputation is hard, takes long and can be destroyed in hours with the Internet, with just one enemy
Avoid telling the truth => DOUBLE-CHECK but it has a bitter taste in how he's presenting it, but maybe this needs just more depth: "avoid telling the truth" could also mean, try to see everything positive. True or not true is often not clear and subject to your values/beliefs. Focus on the goal and don't try to fool people, if it's about staying positive and omitting negativity, fine.
Love someone => CHECK, but dont focus too much on this
but does it really make sense loving someone when you are not loved back? that is hard work. and it hurts. but i just might got it all wrong.
First, he says "marriage is a milestone", and makes it seems like it's the top milestone since he mentions it first. OK, that's fine and dandy but has serious demoralizing consequences for the single dude who has tough luck finding love. Never ever say marriage is a milestone to single people.
Second, I agree with you. Loving someone when they don't love back makes no sense. It's something you can't control, so putting so much focus on love makes no sense. And if he's talking about love in terms of friendships, he's very naive. In this world, people will reciprocate attention if you give them 1 of 2 things: money or orgasms (or babies). I've tried to be good friends with people, and they'll easily forget you because you are insignificant to them.