Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to Work Hard

paulgraham.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 1001 posts

Re: How to Work Hard

#51

Post by bumby »

nickelcitymario wrote: post #34

> I had to learn what real work was before I could wholeheartedly desire to do it. That took a while, because even in college a lot of the work is pointless; there are entire departments that are pointless. The arrogance! This is one of my pet peeves at work: When someone looks at another person's work and judges its value or difficulty. "That's easy." "That's pointless." Ugh. Everyone else's job looks easy and/or po…

I agree with the main parts of your post but how does the quote below fit into non-profit-seeking organizations? (E.g., govt, schools, charities etc.)

>the profit motive is very good at weeding out truly unnecessary costs.

Re: How to Work Hard

#52

Post by BurningFrog »

krustyburger wrote: post #28

>>There wasn't a single point when I learned this. Like most little kids, I enjoyed the feeling of achievement when I learned or did something new. As I grew older, this morphed into a feeling of disgust when I wasn't achieving anything. The one precisely dateable landmark I have is when I stopped watching TV, at age 13. I wouldn’t dare question Paul Graham’s accomplishments, but I’ve always found it odd that some pe…

TV is passive consumption of someone else's story.

NOthing wrong with that, but you're not exactly achieving anything by doing it.

Re: How to Work Hard

#53

Post by giantg2 »

eafkuor wrote: post #45
kstenerud wrote: post #30

The true ah-ha moment comes when you finally realize how much bullshit this is. "Hard work" is the mantra that keeps you a slave. "Success stories" are the tasty carrots that keep you toiling away your best years enriching others in pursuit of the things you're supposed to seek in life: Power, success, status. "Life hacks" are little dopamine hits to keep your eye on the carrot. And the kicker is that those few who a…

Yeah this is absolute shit, and it appeals to a very specific kind of "driven" people. Nothing against them but they need to realise that most others just want to enjoy their short time on this planet. I'm happy with my really mellow stable job that leaves me plenty of free time to do the things I actually want. Life is too short.

And then there are many people like me who work a job they hate, still don't get much time to enjoy life, all just to pay the bills. Less time on the planet might actually something many of us look forward to as life is full of pain and misery.

Re: How to Work Hard

#54

Post by andy_ppp »

There's different things to consider I think than just finding something that you can work as hard as possible on. I think Tom Blomfield's story is worth hearing about, it sounds like he found being CEO really anxiety inducing even if clearly he was very successful at it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP2_QOCrVO4&ab_channel=TheDi...

Re: How to Work Hard

#55

Post by unklefolk »

Regarding the "work hard in your 20s" advice.

I took the approach that in your 20s you are still forming, still growing, still malleable. The experiences you have in your 20s will have a disproportionate effect on the kind of person you end up being. Therefore, you have to think about what environment, what experiences you want to foster that growth in. I would suggest optimizing for variety and new experiences is a better idea that working 80 hours weeks throughout your 20s. In your 20s, don't just work hard, work hard at becoming the person you want to be.

Re: How to Work Hard

#56

Post by melomal »

kstenerud wrote: post #30

The true ah-ha moment comes when you finally realize how much bullshit this is. "Hard work" is the mantra that keeps you a slave. "Success stories" are the tasty carrots that keep you toiling away your best years enriching others in pursuit of the things you're supposed to seek in life: Power, success, status. "Life hacks" are little dopamine hits to keep your eye on the carrot. And the kicker is that those few who a…

Everyone around me that has wealth built it up from simply talking and connecting with people. Going out for golf and drinks where people tend to let their guard down and just enjoy themselves allows people to build trust.

This would, in my opinion, truly define their success as luck. I will outwork them, out hustle them, learn things and do things yet I am a whole Everest beneath them with wealth.

But they will strike up a conversation in a hot tub in Mexico and end up partnering up on a major project/deal over mojito's and bubbling water. Whilst I build my landing page stuffed with SEO keywords because I have 'data' to guide me.

Re: How to Work Hard

#57

Post by ARandomerDude »

nickelcitymario wrote: post #34

> I had to learn what real work was before I could wholeheartedly desire to do it. That took a while, because even in college a lot of the work is pointless; there are entire departments that are pointless. The arrogance! This is one of my pet peeves at work: When someone looks at another person's work and judges its value or difficulty. "That's easy." "That's pointless." Ugh. Everyone else's job looks easy and/or po…

The author is right. Gender studies, for example, is a pointless degree. You certainly have a point about not being quick to judge, or overly dismissive, but there are certain things in life that are genuinely pointless, even in education.

Re: How to Work Hard

#59

Post by paulpauper »

kstenerud wrote: post #30

The true ah-ha moment comes when you finally realize how much bullshit this is. "Hard work" is the mantra that keeps you a slave. "Success stories" are the tasty carrots that keep you toiling away your best years enriching others in pursuit of the things you're supposed to seek in life: Power, success, status. "Life hacks" are little dopamine hits to keep your eye on the carrot. And the kicker is that those few who a…

If hard work were correlated with success, we would probably all know a lot more successful people . Most people who bust their ass have little to nothing to show for it compared to people who are truly successful, like people with tens or hundreds of millions of dollars or critical acclaim. Look how many people aspire to be successful writers, athletes, marathon runners, singers, actors..are those who fail not working as hard?

Re: How to Work Hard

#60

Post by kstenerud »

bumby wrote: post #49
kstenerud wrote: post #30

The true ah-ha moment comes when you finally realize how much bullshit this is. "Hard work" is the mantra that keeps you a slave. "Success stories" are the tasty carrots that keep you toiling away your best years enriching others in pursuit of the things you're supposed to seek in life: Power, success, status. "Life hacks" are little dopamine hits to keep your eye on the carrot. And the kicker is that those few who a…

Curious if you would elaborate on your own personal philosophy that’s an antidote to this? Is it to strive for something other than power or status? To “not work hard”? To focus on endeavors that disproportionately enrich yourself? I do think this type of mindset is perpetuated by those with highly industrious personalities (who would probably ‘work hard’ anyways).

Ultimately? Focus on:

- Relationships: The single biggest deathbed regret is neglecting relationships (either not forming them, or squandering them).

- Finding time to live: The second greatest deathbed regret is missing out on life: Travel, arts, discovery, etc. As you get older many parts of this become a LOT harder.

- Stress free living: Stress is one of the top causes of a short lifespan.

Post reply on HN