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Four thousand weeks

leebyron.com

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Re: Four thousand weeks

#61

Post by mulderc »

minaguib wrote: post #51
localghost3000 wrote: post #3

I’m impressed by the beauty of this site and sophistication of the UI. However I _hate_ this type of messaging that does nothing for you except make your mental health worse. I don’t want to think about how many weeks of life I have left! Inducing existential dread is NOT what any of us need to start living our lives more fully (which I assume is the intent of this site). You wanna zone out on YouTube? Go for it. Tha…

Interesting opinion. I was mentioning the 4000 weeks idea to a friend and how I found it interesting and thought-provoking, and their reaction was quite the opposite as it was way too dark for them. I wonder if this idea highlights some fairly clear differences in people's personalities and mental models (at least, at the time and place in their life they're evaluating it).

I deeply disliked the book not because I found it dark but instead obvious and the writer plays out the implications that we have limited time in our lives in very strange ways such as arguing against using NFC to pay for things.

If you have taken an intro philosophy class or even watched some videos on YouTube you will have already seen these ideas.

A much better use of someone’s limited time would be to just read an intro to Buddhism or existentialism. You will get the same basic concepts and much better ideas on how you can address these issues in your life.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#63

Post by eyelidlessness »

Thorentis wrote: post #54
eyelidlessness wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having a pup and embracing her as my kid feels similar. I know it’s not the same, but I sincerely think that waking up every day putting my pup first is the best thing I’ve ever lived for. Everything else is just icing I have more reason to enjoy.

A sad indictment on modern society that this paragraph is able to be written.

Don’t worry, I’m not modern society. I’m just some guy who finds joy being a good human for and with my pup, caring for her wellbeing, finding fun healthy things to do with her. I find a lot of joy in a lot of other things too, they’re just all incomparable to my relationship with my pup. If that still sounds like a sad indictment of anything, I’ve failed you somehow but I’m gonna throw in the towel and go snuggle with my pup regardless.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#64

Post by jombib »

infamousclyde wrote: post #56
Thorentis wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A sad indictment on modern society that this paragraph is able to be written.

Why did you find the parent comment sad? I'm not sure I understand your sentiment.

I think that some people believe that more people leads to more progress, and disagree with the sentiments of people that don’t want kids.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#65

Post by deanCommie »

lakeshastina wrote: post #60

There are a few ways people take such a message - yes, life is precious, be conscious of what we invest our time in. This part makes sense. Yet, it is worth asking, what makes for a meaning life? What makes the 4000 weeks worth it? For some, they chase wealth, power, career success, get one's name recognized, etc - these are milestones to be achieved. Things to accomplish. Others will say, such accomplishments are no…

Everyone needs to find the level at which they are content with asking no more follow up questions.

Happiness and fulfillment are both choices.

Otjerwise where does it end? You start worrying about the purpose of your legacy since what does it matter anyway the sun will explode, swallow the earth whole, and eventually the whole universe will go through heat death.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#67

Post by didgetmaster »

localghost3000 wrote: post #18
FearlessNebula wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tbh I don’t think you understood the goal of this post. The idea, to me, is to remind the reader of how precious life is, and to be mindful of how you’re spending it. Whether you think about it or try to ignore it, time is ticking by at the same speed. I’m only 25 but I’ve wasted way too much time on Reddit, YouTube, and even HN, in my opinion. > As with all things, moderation. Sure, but in my anecdotal experience th…

I’m 45. Wife. Kid. The works. Painfully aware of how precious life is. 20 years ago when I was your age (which btw feels like only a few years ago…) this type of content resonated a lot more with me. I assume it was because the concept of aging was still pretty abstract. Now I’m in the shit so to speak. My point is that I’ve seen a million of these. Hell I’ve read 4K weeks! You’ll get no argument from me that spendin…

I don't know if it really matters if you are 20, 40, or 80; we can get caught up in certain traps no matter what our age is. Experience is definitely something we should be able to tap into later in life, but we can be stressed and feeling like we need to do much more than we are capable of even when we are 'old'.

I have a little startup and I keep a 'TODO' list of features to implement, bugs to fix, things to test, documentation to write, etc.. I could stress out because the list never seems to get any shorter. Every time I cross one thing off the list, I think of two more to add. Instead, I try to focus on what I can accomplish that day (or that week) and stop when I have spent a certain amount of time on it.

If I am in an ambitious mood, I might speed many hours tackling a single issue. Other times, I can go a whole week without ever opening up the IDE. That is OK! I have the luxury of not depending on the startup for financial survival. I also realize some others do not share this freedom so I don't criticize them if they feel stress and overwork on their project. I just work at my own pace and try to gain satisfaction on what I am able to accomplish.

I try to apply this technique to other areas of my life as well.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#68

Post by msie »

TurkishPoptart wrote: post #32

>You have lived one thousand seven hundred seventy-four of them so far That’s a significant amount of the weeks you’ll see. The psychologist Erik Erikson suggests that at this phase of life you focus on the virtue of love. Share yourself more intimately with others and invest in happy relationships so that your future weeks can be lived well with companionship and purpose. Jesus, I'm going to cry. FML.

I feel left behind and a failure. Where did my 30’s and 40’s go? God knows I tried.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#69

Post by Aeolun »

> We treat our time as something to horde

I’m having a hard time understanding how this mistake is made.

Hoard and horde are not even close to the same. They sound the same, but before you write it, shouldn’t you have read it at least once?

Or consider that maybe ‘mass of people’ is probably not the same word that’s used for ‘amass a a bunch of stuff’?

Actually, now that I consider it, it makes total sense that you’d use the same word for that… guess I’ve answered myself.

Anyway, it’s hoard.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#70

Post by GavinMcG »

localghost3000 wrote: post #21
GavinMcG wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who said anything about existential dread? Perhaps the fact that dread is your reaction speaks more to your relationship with mortality than to the site’s approach.

I mean that’s pretty much what I said. I suspect it’s not just me as well.

Fair enough. I guess I read your statement as universalizing that feeling. That is, when you said "this type of messaging ... does nothing for you except make your mental health worse" it didn't seem like a statement about your reaction; it seemed like a criticism of the site.

It probably isn't just you, but on the other hand, if we were to agree that existential dread is a less desirable reaction than some others (and it might not be!) there doesn't seem to me to be an obvious way to develop those more desirable reactions through methods other than exposure therapy via these sorts of sites.

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