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How to Work Hard

paulgraham.com

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Re: How to Work Hard

#541

Post by saiya-jin »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #408
DantesKite wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand what you mean by health problems, because I too have health problems that limit my ability to work and play the way I dreamed of. But Paul Graham never recommends mindlessly working on things that don't interest you for the sake of some imagined tomorrow. He even recommends not to do it: "...if you think there's something admirable about working too hard, get that idea out of your head. You're not merely…

> "It's good to go on vacation occasionally, but when I go on vacation, I like to learn new things. I wouldn't like just sitting on a beach." There are few things I enjoy more than just sitting on a beach. When you go on vacation, actually go on vacation. Turn off your phone. Leave your laptop behind. Bring some fiction, or maybe select non-fiction (biographies are great). Put sunscreen on. Get a cold beverage. Fall…

This exactly. Vacations are an amazing time, and the only real time I can dig deep into places. Going to places like Philippines, I didn't have much of a plan, only return ticket and vague concept from Lonely planet.

Those books actually contain tons of useful information apart from their main focus (accommodation & restaurants). History of a state and its various parts, culture, mindset, local quirks, food. And then you actually mingle with people, ask for directions, look for accommodation, trying to get last bus to some other place, start a chat with a stranger going same direction.

This are one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. Constant discovery of how amazing our world actually is and people inhabiting it. I've met the utmost kindness from the poorest of this world like Dalits in India who have nothing and shared everything with a lost traveler.

I come back from such trips richer and more experienced than ever. But yeah just sitting mindlessly on the beach, which I think not many people do actually might be a cure for near or complete burnout, otherwise just a waste of precious time off.

Re: How to Work Hard

#542

Post by rendall »

Meh. This isn't a guide on how to work hard, tbh, unless "wake up at 13 with the will to work hard" is a guide. "Be like Bill Gates" is no guide.

Give me a guide by someone who grew up a slacker, fucked off deep into adulthood and then learnt or taught themselves the hard lessons on working hard. What to do when you want to sleep in, when you want to stay out late, when you have such aching, gnawing anxiety about going to class that even looking at the textbook is ... hey look, Witcher Season 2 is on. A person who had been through that shit can talk about "how to work hard"

Re: How to Work Hard

#544

Post by saiya-jin »

csomar wrote: post #405
nineplay wrote: post #317

One of my greatest regrets is how much time I wasted on 'work' in my 20s and 30s. I was an engineer, I made a comfortable salary, but I rarely took a vacation, I never traveled outside the UI, I took days off reluctantly with a vague feeling that I was letting someone down. "Later", I told myself. When I'm successful, when I'm stable, when I have the money to travel in style and not backpack around and stay at hostel…

> when I have the money to travel in style and not backpack around and stay at hostels I think that's where you went wrong. The backpacking at hostels is the best (as long as you pick hostels and fellow travelers that do not look like your typical backpacker haha). The thing is, now that I'm 30, I feel it's probably out of fashion. But these nights I spent in big-city hostels had the most fun, stories and affairs. >…

30 is the next 20 :) I've started seriously backpacking when 27 and 29 (2x3 months in india&nepal) and continued till current age of 40. Life changing experiences.

The only thing that stopped me was having kids, so the best reason possible. Corona would just mean closer travels and more mountains rather than people if we didn't have them.

I see no reason to stop unless your body or mind can't handle it anymore. Which with taking good care of oneself (and a bit of luck) can be easily 75, met quite a few of those.

Re: How to Work Hard

#545

Post by lanstin »

mjfl wrote: post #384
arbitrary_name wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps you'd like to elaborate? I find the experience enormously enriching: learning new languages, making friends, gaining a new perspective. It's very valuable to me and I'd be curious to understand your position more, because right now it just comes across as sour grapes.

You don’t read a book by reading the first 10 pages. You don’t learn a culture by visiting a place for a week. You don’t make real friends in a weekend. I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 4 years and I still feel like I don’t quite understand the culture here, feel like I haven’t quite experienced the city. I don’t understand how anyone could visit here on a vacation and think they’ve really “experienced” LA. This is even…

Some books you learn 80% of the new-to-you concepts in the first 2 chapters. For sure living some place for 10 years you will know different things from someone that stayed for a few months, but travel is an incredibly efficient way to get new stuff you wouldn't have thought of in front of you to pay attention to. It's not to master all the variety in the world, it's to bring your experience outside of the little ruts that you can fall into. You have to travel with a certain attitude of openness, curiosity and respect. And the knowledge that your own ways aren't special, but just your own ways.

Re: How to Work Hard

#546

Post by ultrasounder »

bachmeier wrote: post #498

> It was similar with Lionel Messi. He had great natural ability, but when his youth coaches talk about him, what they remember is not his talent but his dedication and his desire to win. I can assure you, there are many kids that practice harder than Messi did when he was young. He is not a great player because of hard work, he is a great player because of luck. I know the VC thing about the importance of hard work.…

howdy. as someone who has followed his career trajectory for the last 15 yars, I can assure You that "Luck" or serendipity or however You want to normalize his abilities has nothing to do with his abilities. Its Sheer Hard-work and Will to win. Being lucky is scoring 50 goals one season and 10 the second. This guys averages 50+ every season. So You might want to read up on it before You hypothesize. Like Spock famously said, "there is no such thing called miracles".

Re: How to Work Hard

#547

Post by manmal »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #495
caymanjim wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm closer to retirement age than the beginning of my career. Some of my age peer friends are already retired, and many of them could be if they wanted to. It's not even on the radar for me. I'm a bit envious, as I'd love the freedom to be done for life, and to be able to take or leave work as I please. The flipside is that I've taken a lot of time off along the way. I've taken whole years off between many jobs, I've…

You remind me of a coworker I had four a couple of years. He and his wife were both extremely competent and well-compensated programmers. Their lifestyle was basically "work for two years or so, save up a bunch of money, then quit and wander the world doing whatever they liked until the money ran out, repeat." I've thought about them several times. Some part of me is really, really uncomfortable intentionally living…

15y ago I met a guy who was specialized in repairing escalators. So what he did was repair some escalators in the city, and then he spent some weeks or even months motorbiking with his buddies. When money ran out, there was always a broken escalator to return to. Obviously he was so certain he would find work that he didn’t feel the need to save up any money.

Re: How to Work Hard

#548

Post by kvark »

mjfl wrote: post #384
arbitrary_name wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps you'd like to elaborate? I find the experience enormously enriching: learning new languages, making friends, gaining a new perspective. It's very valuable to me and I'd be curious to understand your position more, because right now it just comes across as sour grapes.

You don’t read a book by reading the first 10 pages. You don’t learn a culture by visiting a place for a week. You don’t make real friends in a weekend. I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 4 years and I still feel like I don’t quite understand the culture here, feel like I haven’t quite experienced the city. I don’t understand how anyone could visit here on a vacation and think they’ve really “experienced” LA. This is even…

Unlike the books, traveling has a clear curve of diminishing returns. Sure, you don't understand the culture by spending a week in Japan, but get a glimpse of it. It's a good ROI.

Re: How to Work Hard

#549

Post by throwaway894345 »

giantg2 wrote: post #540
throwaway894345 wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like causing people to lose trust in the "anti-inequality" message. If we need to lie or exaggerate to persuade then we may rightly lose credibility. Pro-inequality folks can even deflect the conversation to our own exaggeration. I didn't mean to imply that hyperbole is comparable to inequality in scale or severity, but rather that any gains afforded by hyperbole tend to be short-sighted.

I don't feel it was a lie or exaggeration. Many people do not feel like their life is worth living when they work a job they hate just to pay the bills, get no time to enjoy life, etc. It shouldn't be a surprise when the general trend is for highly industrialized countries to experience higher suicide rates.

Whether or not we are happy, the fact remains that the median American lifestyle is positively luxurious by world standards and “America is a third world country” rhetoric is hyperbole. Most everyone today or throughout history has had to work far harder than our median American to secure much less. That we are unhappy only indicates that wealth isn’t the major factor in happiness.

Personally, for causes of declining happiness, I would look at rampant social media and technology addiction, falling-sky media narratives, rapidly increasing political division (itself a product of the traditional and social media), decreasing religious participation, weaker family/community ties, and good ole fashioned keeping up with the Jones’s.

Re: How to Work Hard

#550

Post by whoomp12342 »

magicloop wrote: post #230

"I never took a day off in my twenties" (Bill Gates) quote is a misnomer because what Bill Gates considers a day-off is something where you are just lying around doing nothing, such as lying on the beach. A two week sojourn into a set of books that interested him were not considered "days off". He did such activities yearly. Bill Gates wasn't in the office working a 7 day schedule for his entire 20s. So that is not t…

AMAF, this is wildly a stupid idea. Tired devs write tired codes
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