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How to Work Hard

paulgraham.com

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Re: How to Work Hard

#721

Post by M277 »

pwinnski wrote: post #416
M277 wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine question, what if you're too poor to live the life you want in your 20s?

Then your best bet is most likely to adjust your expectations. Otherwise there's a good chance you will never have enough to live the life you want until it's too late to enjoy it. Figure out how to live happily now, is my advice. You don't have to be rich to enjoy your life while you're young. Not every experience worth having is expensive!

Sage advice, thank you so much. I have actually been trying to apply it in my life in everything (with success thankfully), but I hit a wall lately when it came to marriage and relationships in general. I admit that this isn't just a me thing though, it's actually something that most of the youth in my country face.

Re: How to Work Hard

#722

Post by TiberiusC »

kentosi wrote: post #720
swman wrote: post #625

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, but nobody is going to become anywhere close to Messi without working hard. That's the point. Do you think someone could become Messi by putting in barely any practice or effort? You might get into a team, but you won't be a Messi lol. Be honest with yourself. Obviously luck plays a role, but most people (>90% I'll bet) who are successful in the end get there due to hard work. I could sit on my butt and do noth…

The parent's comment wan't implying that luck was everything, but to point out that luck is also an important factor. > There are three ingredients in great work: natural ability, practice, and effort. And luck, Paul. Don't forget luck. Hard work is only sustainable when you occasionally get that carrot at the end of the stick, before moving onto the next bit of hard work.

I think luck falls into the natural ability category.

Re: How to Work Hard

#723

Post by rgifford »

ipnon wrote: post #715
rgifford wrote: post #690

I worked my way through college as a mover (and came out the other side with high 5-figure debt). Many of the older guys I worked with had drug habits. I worked 16-hour days with those guys. They'd get on me for not running up stairs, for packing with too little paper around glass, for setting things down more than once. None wrote articles entitled "How to Work Hard." None knew Warren Buffet as a child (see Gates).…

Not all hardworking and talented people become successful, but all successful people are talented and hardworking. Some people are born with better chances than others, but we should strive to make a society where at least most people are born with a good chance.

> ...all successful people are talented and hardworking.

I doubt it. Most measures of economic mobility show this is becoming less and less true -- if it ever was. I think believing it is important though.

Re: How to Work Hard

#724

Post by selfmodruntime »

CheezeIt wrote: post #713
rgifford wrote: post #690

I worked my way through college as a mover (and came out the other side with high 5-figure debt). Many of the older guys I worked with had drug habits. I worked 16-hour days with those guys. They'd get on me for not running up stairs, for packing with too little paper around glass, for setting things down more than once. None wrote articles entitled "How to Work Hard." None knew Warren Buffet as a child (see Gates).…

It isn’t, obviously, because look at the example of Bill Gates: starting a business as a 20-year-old college dropout puts you at a big disadvantage compared to people with more life experience.

The difference being that gates was never in any real danger. His credits didn't disappear. He lived in a paid for apartment. He did not have to worry about money, and if he chose, he could've gone back to college at any time. It only puts you at a 'disadvantage' in business circles, because there's a slight chance that people with more experience will not take you as seriously

Re: How to Work Hard

#725

Post by selfmodruntime »

rgifford wrote: post #690

I worked my way through college as a mover (and came out the other side with high 5-figure debt). Many of the older guys I worked with had drug habits. I worked 16-hour days with those guys. They'd get on me for not running up stairs, for packing with too little paper around glass, for setting things down more than once. None wrote articles entitled "How to Work Hard." None knew Warren Buffet as a child (see Gates).…

> What if most of serious wealth and success is decided at birth?

There is no 'what if'. It's just a fact. You can pretty accurately predict what a child will be able to attain in life by looking at their zip code.

Re: How to Work Hard

#726

Post by Godel_unicode »

tidydata wrote: post #441
Godel_unicode wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked very hard in my 20s and I'm extremely glad I did. The work was interesting, engaging, maturing, and super valuable for society. It also set me up with an extremely valuable skill set, of hard and soft skills, that are useful in both my professional and personal lives. This trend of saying you enjoyed your life and therefore yours was the only correct choice is extremely closed-minded, and tends to come from…

I’m definitely not scared. Are you okay? I also totally understand being single, childless, and driven to a career. I’m happier now. Who is the one not listening to other’s opinions? You sure you understand?

"Maybe when the work is truly meaningful (I wouldn’t know)."

But sure, have it your way.

Re: How to Work Hard

#727

Post by dilyevsky »

pauldickwin wrote: post #623
jmrm wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time we read or hear that quote, we have to remember that Gates also lose and win a lot of money playing poker in university, so there was also time for non-work related tasks :-)

Poker can be considered work. If you actually truly learn to play it, it teaches you a lot about people, emotions, thinking ahead several steps, probability, and risk and reward.

In that case my weekend of climbing can be considered work too

Re: How to Work Hard

#728

Post by AnimalMuppet »

luffapi wrote: post #718
eloff wrote: post #520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is clearly true looking from the outside, but people seem so eager to attribute motivations to greed or self interest, and success to luck, inherited wealth, and connections for any famous and successful person. Is it just jealously and pettiness? Do people downplay the achievements of others to make themselves feel better about achieving nothing remarkable? There is a rarely used English word I learned for the…

It’s not clearly true at all. Please tell me what was “great” about Viaweb (how pg got where he is today). It was literally about being at the right place at the right time. I think you’d also be hard pressed to find someone who would call Arc great. > Is it just jealously and pettiness? It’s neither, it’s people seeing who gets rewarded, how and why.

It was great compared to what else was available at the time. Yes, it was about being in the right place at the right time - a place and time where three guys could build something that was better than anything out there, that people actually used.

Re: How to Work Hard

#729

Post by goatlover »

sidlls wrote: post #705
lubesGordi wrote: post #597

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So just to be clear, you're saying that in order to be successful, you have to be lucky, primarily?

I’d agree with that. Luck is absolutely a requirement and it is definitely more important than any other factor.

What about intelligence and being able to notice emerging trends? Do you think Jobs and Gates were simply lucky in the early 80s? Or did they see what was going on at Xerox PARC and the coming PC revolution? Their less lucky colleagues stayed in college and went on to have normal careers.

Re: How to Work Hard

#730

Post by selfmodruntime »

TiberiusC wrote: post #722
kentosi wrote: post #720

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The parent's comment wan't implying that luck was everything, but to point out that luck is also an important factor. > There are three ingredients in great work: natural ability, practice, and effort. And luck, Paul. Don't forget luck. Hard work is only sustainable when you occasionally get that carrot at the end of the stick, before moving onto the next bit of hard work.

I think luck falls into the natural ability category.

I think it falls into a different category. Lucky in this regard is being in the right situations at the right time.
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