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Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage

maalvika.substack.com

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Re: Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage

#31

Post by kretaceous »

The first two sections reminded me of an observation I've made about myself: the more I delay "doing the thing" and spend time "researching" or "developing taste", the more I turn into a critic instead of a creator.

> Your taste develops faster than your skill

> "the quality group could tell you why a photograph was excellent"

They are critics now. People with a huge taste-skill gap are basically critics — first towards themselves and gradually towards others. I don't want to generalize by saying "critics are just failed creators", but I've certainly found it true for myself. Trying to undo this change in me and this article kind of said all the words I wanted to hear. :)

It's both dense and beautifully written. Feels like every paragraph has something profound to say. This kind of "optimizing-for-screenshot-shares" writing usually gets overdone, but since this actually had substance, it was amazing to read.

(See how I turned into a critic?)

Re: Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage

#33

Post by al_borland »

kretaceous wrote: post #31

The first two sections reminded me of an observation I've made about myself: the more I delay "doing the thing" and spend time "researching" or "developing taste", the more I turn into a critic instead of a creator. > Your taste develops faster than your skill > "the quality group could tell you why a photograph was excellent" They are critics now. People with a huge taste-skill gap are basically critics — first towa…

For those who haven’t run across it, I like the man in the arena speech from Theodore Roosevelt to put things in perspective when I turn into a critic, or get harsh feedback from a critic.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Re: Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage

#34

Post by lo_zamoyski »

GianFabien wrote: post #16
pedalpete wrote: post #9

What is "too ambitious"? Are there dreamers who overthink and never get anything done? Absolutely! Are there also people who do what other people regularly say is impossible? Also an absolute yes. Ambition has nothing to do with it. There are doers and there are talkers.

The word "ambition" comes with a variety of connotations. >There are doers and there are talkers. There are those who use their ambition to define a goal and then work tirelessly to achieve it. Think of the mountaineer who plans and trains for decades to eventually ascend Mt Everest. Then there are those who share their ambition by talking about it. Seeking recognition, etc for "being ambitious". Staying with the mou…

The word “ambition” is indeed vague, and this is unfortunate, as there is a rich vocabulary full of distinction we ought to be using. (You see the same thing when people use “passionate” as a virtue, such as in job postings when what they mean is “enthusiastic”. Taken literally, you certainly don’t want passionate employees!)

In the strict sense, ambition [0] is an inordinate love of honor.

Perseverance [1], OTOH, is the ability to endure suffering in pursuit of a good. Both effeminacy (refusal or inability to endure suffering to attain a good) and pertinacity (obstinate pursuit of something one should not) are opposed to perseverance.

It seems that ambition is therefore opposed to perseverance, since it can either be effeminate (the ineffectual daydreamer that makes big plans that he never realizes) or pertinacious (the person who bites off more than he can chew).

Prudence [3] involves the application of right reason to action, which itself presupposes right desire. An inordinate love of honor is therefore opposed to prudence, because it involves an inordinate desire. Furthermore, prudence presupposes humility [2], which involves knowing the actual limits of your strengths and qualities (it is not the denial of the strengths and qualities you actual have, which is opposed to humility and a common misconception!). Humility allows us to moderate our desires. In that sense, ambition as an inordinate desire for honors beyond one’s reach lacks humility.

[0] https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01381d.htm

[1] https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3138.htm#article2

[2] https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07543b.htm

[3] https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12517b.htm

Re: Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage

#35

Post by milkey_mouse »

meander_water wrote: post #26

> the "taste-skill discrepancy." Your taste (your ability to recognize quality) develops faster than your skill (your ability to produce it). This creates what Ira Glass famously called "the gap," but I think of it as the thing that separates creators from consumers. This resonated quite strongly with me. It puts into words something that I've been feeling when working with AI. If you're new to something and using AI…

If anything it's the opposite, except maybe at the very low end: AI boosts implementation skill (at least by increasing speed), but not {research, coding, writing} taste. Hence slop of all sorts.

Re: Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage

#37

Post by [deleted] »

milkey_mouse wrote: post #35
meander_water wrote: post #26

> the "taste-skill discrepancy." Your taste (your ability to recognize quality) develops faster than your skill (your ability to produce it). This creates what Ira Glass famously called "the gap," but I think of it as the thing that separates creators from consumers. This resonated quite strongly with me. It puts into words something that I've been feeling when working with AI. If you're new to something and using AI…

If anything it's the opposite, except maybe at the very low end: AI boosts implementation skill (at least by increasing speed), but not {research, coding, writing} taste. Hence slop of all sorts.

[deleted]

Re: Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage

#38

Post by chatmasta »

meander_water wrote: post #26

> the "taste-skill discrepancy." Your taste (your ability to recognize quality) develops faster than your skill (your ability to produce it). This creates what Ira Glass famously called "the gap," but I think of it as the thing that separates creators from consumers. This resonated quite strongly with me. It puts into words something that I've been feeling when working with AI. If you're new to something and using AI…

This is exactly why I’m wary of ever attempting a developer-focused startup ever again.

What’s not mentioned is the utter frustration when you can see your own output is not up to your own expectations, but you can’t execute on any plan to resolve that discrepancy.

“I know what developers want, so I can build it for them” is a death knell proportionate to your own standards…

The most profitable business I built was something I hacked together in two weeks during college holiday break, when I barely knew how to code. There was no source control (I was googling “what is GitHub” at the time), it was my first time writing Python, I stored passwords in plaintext… but within a year it was generating $20k a month in revenue. It did eventually collapse under its own weight from technical debt, bugs and support cost… and I wasn’t equipped to solve those problems.

But meanwhile, as the years went on and I actually learned about quality, I lost the ability to ship because I gained the ability to recognize when it wasn’t ready… it’s not quite “perfectionism,” but it’s borne of the same pathology, of letting perfect be the enemy of good.

Re: Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage

#39

Post by furyofantares »

meander_water wrote: post #26

> the "taste-skill discrepancy." Your taste (your ability to recognize quality) develops faster than your skill (your ability to produce it). This creates what Ira Glass famously called "the gap," but I think of it as the thing that separates creators from consumers. This resonated quite strongly with me. It puts into words something that I've been feeling when working with AI. If you're new to something and using AI…

I'm confused. I often say of every genAI I've seen of all types that it is totally lacking in taste and only has skill. And it drastically raises your skill floor immediately, perhaps all the way up to your taste, closing the gap.

Maybe that actually is what you were saying? But I'm confused because you used the opposite words.

Re: Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage

#40

Post by satvikpendem »

al_borland wrote: post #33
kretaceous wrote: post #31

The first two sections reminded me of an observation I've made about myself: the more I delay "doing the thing" and spend time "researching" or "developing taste", the more I turn into a critic instead of a creator. > Your taste develops faster than your skill > "the quality group could tell you why a photograph was excellent" They are critics now. People with a huge taste-skill gap are basically critics — first towa…

For those who haven’t run across it, I like the man in the arena speech from Theodore Roosevelt to put things in perspective when I turn into a critic, or get harsh feedback from a critic. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by d…

There is a great comics site that illustrates such quotes: https://www.zenpencils.com/comic/theodore-roosevelt-the-man-...
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