"If at first you don't succeed try, try, try again. And then quit, no point in being bull-headed about it."
I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.
31–40 of 89 posts
Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.
#32Reading the title my first thought is, "You should be."
Reading the first paragraph I think, "Here's a spoiled brat complaining"
When I read, "We move higher, we fly faster, we get meaner." I start to lose sympathy. It's another of "Woe unto me, the underappreciated superstar from the country club."
Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.
#33You wrote all that at 23? You should be writing for a living! Forget code, write in English.
Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.
#34I don't like judging people based on their age. It seems like a really blunt instrument that unfairly groups people together who do not belong there. But as someone who is only just pushing 30, I can say that you are talking the same kind of nonsense I did in my early 20s. "To all of the people who say that the best thing to do is get a good job, buy a nice house, and to put the max into a 401k that the company will…
To back up your point, in what world is having a good job, nice house, and large retirement savings "mediocre"?
When you come from the country club life (first paragraph) it is indeed mediocre.
I'll toss in the counterpoint that having kids that are thrilled to see you, even if you live in a tiny apartment, is anything but mediocre.
The OP seems to have a lot of priorities out of whack.
Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.
#35"To all of the people who say that the best thing to do is get a good job, buy a nice house, and to put the max into a 401k that the company will match: Fuck you. It’s not what I want. Mediocrity is worse than failure."
Hey, man, if that's not what you want, that's cool and all, but I'm just going to defend myself and my buddies with good jobs and stuffed 401(k)s: There are other things besides Business that matter to people. For instance, I'd rather be a middling-to-decent family-man than a wildly successful entrepreneur, any day of the week.
There's a lot to give up in pursuit of your dreams, whether that dream is family or success or artistic fulfillment or travel... Sometimes you can choose to have some of column A and some of column B at the expense of being "mediocre" (or at least not-99.999th-percentile) at both - but maybe sometimes that leaves you a better person overall.
Anyway. Whatever floats your boat; just don't be too down on the rest of the world's strategies or anything
Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.
#36> The idea of three twenty-somethings in a studio apartment, writing code and eating ramen is romantic to entrepreneurs.
Really? Maybe to aspiring entrepreneurs in their teens and very early twenties, that sounds romantic. To everyone else, that likely sounds awful.
You're 23. You don't really know anything yet. Maybe a little, but not much. You're parents aren't in charge now, you're out of school, and now you're going to learn about life. And you're arriving at the same realizations that most people do around that age. You're figuring out that living your dream has real costs. You're figuring out that your adult relationships will suffer, hard. You'll see your peers move up the corporate ladder, and it'll feel like you're just watching from the sidelines. And if you go the 9-5 (let's be honest, more likely an 8-6), they're going to be your boss someday.
But you're also 23. You're incredibly young, and you still have time to mess up. And you'll have the rest of your life to run the rat race, if that's what you one day choose.
So stop stressing, but do get your priorities straight. You'll need to work within the constraints set by your priorities.
The biggest constraint might be your relationship. It's normal that your girlfriend doesn't share in your dream of ramen noodles and Three Buck Chuck. And it doesn't get easier, especially if she wants kids. If you're in a promising relationship, maybe you're realizing that it matters more to you than your work. On the other hand, relationships come and go, often unpredictably. You have to figure out how to handle that for yourself.
Good luck!
Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.
#37What's wrong with 9 to 5ing, learning more, and doing your own thing on your own time for a while. There's NOTHING wrong with that. Don't buy into the romantic notion that you have to give 110% to your startup or it's not worth doing. Pragmatism is ok. Pragmatism is not mediocrity. Don't confuse the two. There's a lot of hyperbole and rhetoric in the startup world. Don't buy into it. Plenty of startups have been laun…
I am young, just out of university, had a passion for writing, did a major-cs-minor-literature.
Now I do 9 to 5, and write after work. Life is good for me and I am happy because I love my work and after-work.
The purist obsession that you need to be 100% devoted to something is beyond me, but like I said, I am happy and know that I am happy because I knew this would make me happy.
The OP has a different opinion of happiness, and it's his happiness, and I don't find it offensive.
Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.
#38I'm not sure I see the fucking point of using fucking swear words.
Normally I don't upvote posts like yours but I did here. I'm not sure why every article on Medium (that I see posted on HN) has to have that word in the title. Eventually it just loses its impact. Maybe it's to grab attention, but then I would say more thought needs to go into the headline anyway.
I think the swearwords are particularly fitting here. Using swear words for no good reason is a decent indicator of immaturity, and this rant is one of the more immature things I've read lately. Some type of entitled flailing, so much so that he actually believes he can force his reality on the world.
Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.
#39I don't like judging people based on their age. It seems like a really blunt instrument that unfairly groups people together who do not belong there. But as someone who is only just pushing 30, I can say that you are talking the same kind of nonsense I did in my early 20s. "To all of the people who say that the best thing to do is get a good job, buy a nice house, and to put the max into a 401k that the company will…
> It sounds like you've lived life very much on your own terms until now,
It sounds like he's getting his very first dose of reality, and it's putting him into a state of shock.
Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
To back up your point, in what world is having a good job, nice house, and large retirement savings "mediocre"?
When you come from the country club life (first paragraph) it is indeed mediocre. I'll toss in the counterpoint that having kids that are thrilled to see you, even if you live in a tiny apartment, is anything but mediocre. The OP seems to have a lot of priorities out of whack.
> The OP seems to have a lot of priorities out of whack.
Hands up everyone who had their priorities in life sorted by the of 23? (Mine is down).