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Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

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Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#371

Post by khazhoux »

v64 wrote: post #366
paulcole wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste Like saying “How bout them Cowboys” at a club in Dallas. Everybody wants to think they have good taste and everybody wants to be told they have good taste. Of all the people who read that quote and nod along thinking, “yes this is me” how many are actually right?

> Of all the people who read that quote and nod along thinking, “yes this is me” how many are actually right? Those who actually fight their way through their creative difficulties as the quote suggests, as opposed to those who read the quote and think "yup, no one recognizes my good taste, screw em".

Some people have innate creativity that just needs to be tuned through hard work. Many (most) don't have it in them to begin with.

We should all be OK with the idea that we're not all geniuses (creative genius, business, mathematical, whatever) waiting to be unlocked.

This says it best: https://mashable.com/video/jj-watt-robbie-rudy-snl-sketch/

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#372

Post by uoaei »

ken wrote: post #363
aazaa wrote: post #193

Favor interrogative-led questions over leading questions. A leading question attempts to get the listener to agree or disagree with a premise you feed to them. An interrogative-led question often begins with the words: who; where; what; when; why. Imagine the responses to these two questions: - "Did you like the movie?" (Leading) - "What did you think about the movie?" (Interrogative-led) How do each of these questio…

I hear suggestions like this occasionally, and I don't get it. Apparently sentences like "Did you like the movie?", which sound to me like perfectly neutral questions, actually have a slant. Which way is this question leading me to answer? How can I tell? "Yes" and "No" seem equally acceptable answers here. I don't see how either one would "displease the asker", without knowing more about the situation.

The framing suggests that the asker did like the movie. It makes it harder to answer in the negative because some (most) folks have an instinct to achieve social consensus. I think it's a society-wide learned defense mechanism against tribalism in the presence of allies. Maybe a good test for these sorts of questions is to add the word "also" at the end.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#374

Post by MichailP »

pedalpete wrote: post #279
lootsauce wrote: post #238

My opinions are not mine and they are holding me back. Give multiple and opposing views equal respect and disdain at the same time. Treating a thought as your own, as an opinion "you hold" greatly holds you back from a great deal of valuable perspective. Of course you surely hold some world-view and gauge things from that position but try to cultivate more of these positions as if you were someone else. Don't get you…

I think you may mean "My opinions are not me", or "I am not my opinions" gives you the space to separate your identity from your thoughts, giving you the freedom to change.

I heard similar phrasing used by one psychotherapist that I admire, "I am different from my wishes" and "I am different from my (past) behavior". He once said jokingly that if someone realizes that, he can give them a "60 year warranty on their mental health".

What I also find interesting is that this idea is rather old, it can be found in Christianity, for example, where "devil is tempting you", that is thoughts and wishes you have might not be your own (but from some demon tempting you). It may sound a bit silly in modern times, but it boils down to the same idea.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#375

Post by pizzicato »

Outside of work, to create at least as much as I consume. I'm trying to pick up writing as a hobby to shift my creation:consumption balance.

Edit: Related to that, I've been writing brief notes on interesting articles I read for the past few years. This has two advantages: 1) It helps me to read critically, and 2) It forces me to be more intentional about the articles I read - one way to combat the deluge of information

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#376

Post by psychomugs »

endymi0n wrote: post #150

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot o…

“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” — Henri Cartier-Bresson

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#377

Post by paulcole »

v64 wrote: post #366
paulcole wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste Like saying “How bout them Cowboys” at a club in Dallas. Everybody wants to think they have good taste and everybody wants to be told they have good taste. Of all the people who read that quote and nod along thinking, “yes this is me” how many are actually right?

> Of all the people who read that quote and nod along thinking, “yes this is me” how many are actually right? Those who actually fight their way through their creative difficulties as the quote suggests, as opposed to those who read the quote and think "yup, no one recognizes my good taste, screw em".

Except as the quote actually says, it is advice to beginners.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#378

Post by mulmen »

khazhoux wrote: post #367
paulcole wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste Like saying “How bout them Cowboys” at a club in Dallas. Everybody wants to think they have good taste and everybody wants to be told they have good taste. Of all the people who read that quote and nod along thinking, “yes this is me” how many are actually right?

I don't think you should be downvoted, because you speak truth. The comment/quote is factually wrong: not everyone who gets into creative work has "good taste", nor is Ira Glass correct that you just need to plow through it. Go peruse an end-of-senior-year art exhibit or dance recital at your local college. Bless 'em, they worked hard and gave it their best, but usually the raw creativity and talent isn't there.

I don't think your example disproves Glass' statement. Surely students are in the beginner phases and their work does not represent their full potential. Glass' statement seems to say forgive students (and yourself for being one) instead of writing them off as hopeless.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#379

Post by hexaga »

didroe wrote: post #300
carom wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other more Daoist end of this spectrum is that your mind and body are you. Through the power of will you control both of these. As a long time meditator the "I am not my body, I am not my mind" mantra has always bothered me. I am both of those and will shape both of those in my image. Dissociative practices will not bring me closer to my goals. The comparison to eyesight is strange too. If your eyesight is poor y…

While there are obvious flaws with the analogy (like any analogy), I think the comparison with eyesight (or touch, etc.) is about making people think of the mind as more of a sensory organ. One that gives you input that may or may not be useful to you, rather than as something that defines you. I don't really see that as a dissociative practice, but more as the prerequisite for being able to start on the long term jo…

From my perspective, thoughts are the sensory experience of 'my mind moving'. Similar to arm movements - when you move your arm, where does the motion come from?

I'm reminded of a time in my childhood when I realized that I could consciously direct my eyes without turning my head. I was struck with wonder at the time, having not known such a thing was possible, because nobody told me. I still remember it vividly by the impact it had on me. The more I converse on this topic, the more I see people considering the mind as I had considered my eyes prior to my childhood realization.

The point I'm trying to get to is that I believe the dichotomy of mind and the body is a false one. I think the abstraction level of 'mind' is different from the level of 'body'. It should rather be 'mind' and 'arm' and 'eye' (and etc.).

The command of these in concert is somewhere outside of my perception, or so deep inside of it that I am blinded by its normality. Calling something we can't perceive by the name of something we can, I think, is magical thinking and folly. Why are my thoughts this way? Because my Mind. Why do planets orbit stars? Because Science. Why are we alive? Because we have élan vital.

Looking at it this way, the impossibility of controlling thoughts is lifted. When thoughts are solely something that happen to you, the very notion of controlling them except indirectly is incoherent. But re-framed, I can train my mind as I would train skill or form in body.

I know that I can't play the cello with any skill, as I am now. If I try, it will grate on the listener and cause more displeasure than pleasure. It's not an inherent failing of mine, simply that I haven't devoted the requisite time and energy to train myself in it. But it does define me, at least in part.

Would that skillful thinking was perceived the same as skillful cello playing. Instead, educational institutions must suffice to verify that you have the tools (in the form of knowledge, or acquired frameworks), but say little of skill achieved. Imagine a 4 year cello playing course in which a passing grade is earned if you but present a cello at the end.

I think that if this concept is fully integrated, outcomes would be better. If the mind is viewed as an intangible thing that blasts thoughts in your general direction, from where can it be improved? I know my body can be improved, by strenuous exercise. I know my skill at cello can be improved, if I simply practice. But my mind? If I'm hamstrung by its conception as a pure source, I'll forever stay at whatever minimal level is required to survive. And that's a tragedy.

This went a little off into conjecture-land, but I think I'll leave it for the time being.

tldr: imo minds are limbs, not monitors

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