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Confronting failure as a core life skill

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Re: Confronting failure as a core life skill

#81

Post by germinalphrase »

ArnoVW wrote: post #32
hyperhello wrote: post #3

“We were a tech-enabled therapy platform for children with autism. I recently decided to stop working on it, we sold part of the company, and I shut the rest down. It was a wild ride: we were sued, we raised millions of dollars, hired over 130 people, and I made tons of mistakes.” I’m going to be equally honest. How does it make sense on a base-of-system level? What were 130 people doing? What could the technology po…

Don't know the product, but anything that acts as a force multiplier for education / healthcare without that value being 100% captured by already rich people, or quality being reduced, is a miracle. You should be proud of yourself for just having tried to do it.

A glance at recent ycombinator edtech investments seem to put a lot of emphasis on classroom-replacement/supplementation rather than tools for improving instruction.

This is probably just a sign of the (post-)Covid era, but I do find it interesting when compared to the broader SAAS world that obsesses about “improving [professional’s] ability to do [job]” at increasingly granular levels.

Re: Confronting failure as a core life skill

#82

Post by echelon_musk »

Etheryte wrote: post #74
davidscolgan wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps the most important event of my life was discovering I have autism at age 33. Many things that didn't make sense suddenly did. I pointed my hyperfocus inward to my own mind, at first because I had lost the ability to code and make a living, and wanted to heal my "coding injuries" as I had called them. I had become an atheist at age 20 and primarily had used psychology to try and figure out what was happening.…

This is insightful, thank you for sharing your personal life so openly. How does one go about starting to study Buddhism? I feel like it's a recurring topic that I stumble upon every now and then, but beyond reading up about it myself, it feels a bit impenetrable. I'm already familiar with the general core ideas and such, but applying them seems well out of reach.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10188808

I would also recommend the work by some of Daniel Ingram's influences such as Mahasi Sayadaw's 'Progress of Insight' or 'Manual of Insight'.

Re: Confronting failure as a core life skill

#83

Post by safety1st »

moneywoes wrote: post #65
safety1st wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really needed this right now. Thank you. We had some negative customer feedback come in last night and a contract was canceled because of it. I wish this customer had responded to my emails asking for feedback over the last three months but they didn't. Now it's over and done with and some of the most damning feedback we've ever received. It breaks my heart, I'm in a low place today. But as you say, business is har…

May I ask if you saw it coming? What were they upset about Can it be rectifyied? Here to help

Thanks so much for this (and thanks to everyone else who responded too). My comment got a bunch of upvotes and it feels good to get this unexpected support. I decided to try and put it out of my mind for a while, it's a Saturday, it's not urgent, I can revisit the issue later when I'm calmer...

Re: Confronting failure as a core life skill

#84

Post by Raro »

jxramos wrote: post #80

There was this Chinese proverb from this kung fu manual this old martial arts school printed that I used to go to. I had this saying "invest in loss". I immediately fell in love with that saying but every time I go to cross reference it online I never hit anything. Is anyone familiar with that Chinese proverb?

Could it be something like "failure is the mother of success"?

(失败乃成功之母)

I am no expert, I was curious myself and went down an internet-sleuthing rabbit-hole. Apparently this is a common phrase, but I am not fluent in Mandarin, so cum grano salis.

Re: Confronting failure as a core life skill

#85

Post by antonvs »

mdp2021 wrote: post #64
antonvs wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When I asked him how to "become as good as you are" This is an almost insulting question. What are you expecting, some magic trick? Go spend years studying, working hard, and focusing on improving yourself.

Other people, in the group of those who make their own business to study success, swear that asking people how they became so good at what they do is a core recipe. (Good old Brian Tracy is the first that comes to mind: "never amounted to much until asked the right guy the right advice".) And you are posting precisely in a place where we share.

Never thought I'd see motivational speakers trotted out on HN as a source. What does Tony Robbins have to say on the subject?

Re: Confronting failure as a core life skill

#86

Post by mdp2021 »

antonvs wrote: post #85
mdp2021 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other people, in the group of those who make their own business to study success, swear that asking people how they became so good at what they do is a core recipe. (Good old Brian Tracy is the first that comes to mind: "never amounted to much until asked the right guy the right advice".) And you are posting precisely in a place where we share.

Never thought I'd see motivational speakers trotted out on HN as a source. What does Tony Robbins have to say on the subject?

> What does Tony Robbins have to say on the subject

Substantially the same. You want to learn something, go ask those who can teach you something.

Or, you can work on your own, build up competence without insights, and collect those insights all out of your experience in the span of decades.

> as a source

It's good sense, not authority.

Re: Confronting failure as a core life skill

#87

Post by jahsome »

safety1st wrote: post #33
monero-xmr wrote: post #10

To paraphrase Richard Pryor, I support anyone trying to do anything at anytime. It’s so, so easy to be a passive consumer, a critic. It is so much more dangerous and vulnerable to put yourself out there and make something - anything - beyond simply doing what you are told. Whether it’s making art or making businesses. If you start businesses, you will fail. Fact of life. Happened to me many times. You know what inves…

I really needed this right now. Thank you. We had some negative customer feedback come in last night and a contract was canceled because of it. I wish this customer had responded to my emails asking for feedback over the last three months but they didn't. Now it's over and done with and some of the most damning feedback we've ever received. It breaks my heart, I'm in a low place today. But as you say, business is har…

Sorry to hear that. I've been crushed in very similar ways. I'm certain you'll bounce back.

In the meantime, remember there's more to life than work, and you have more to offer the world than just the products you produce.

Take the opportunity to learn, when the time is right to revisit things.

Take some time away if you can. Try not to linger on it. It gets easier with each day.

Oh, and get the hell away from Twitter :)

Re: Confronting failure as a core life skill

#88

Post by jxramos »

Raro wrote: post #84
jxramos wrote: post #80

There was this Chinese proverb from this kung fu manual this old martial arts school printed that I used to go to. I had this saying "invest in loss". I immediately fell in love with that saying but every time I go to cross reference it online I never hit anything. Is anyone familiar with that Chinese proverb?

Could it be something like "failure is the mother of success"? (失败乃成功之母) I am no expert, I was curious myself and went down an internet-sleuthing rabbit-hole. Apparently this is a common phrase, but I am not fluent in Mandarin, so cum grano salis.

That sounds like a close cousin for sure. It’s hard to tell because it was in English but maybe the Chinese was in small script below. I don’t know if I still have that manual either, it may have been destroyed in one of these boxes that got left out in the rain. I’ll try to look for it next time I’m digging around the attic.

Re: Confronting failure as a core life skill

#89

Post by davidscolgan »

echelon_musk wrote: post #82
Etheryte wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is insightful, thank you for sharing your personal life so openly. How does one go about starting to study Buddhism? I feel like it's a recurring topic that I stumble upon every now and then, but beyond reading up about it myself, it feels a bit impenetrable. I'm already familiar with the general core ideas and such, but applying them seems well out of reach.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10188808 I would also recommend the work by some of Daniel Ingram's influences such as Mahasi Sayadaw's 'Progress of Insight' or 'Manual of Insight'.

Seconding Daniel Ingram, my mentor says that Daniel Ingram's book "Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha" is a great introduction for a developer-minded person. I haven't actually read it so I can't comment on it, but I learned from someone who gained a lot about Buddhism from that book. Also happy to chat further over email.

Re: Confronting failure as a core life skill

#90

Post by DropInIn »

germinalphrase wrote: post #81
ArnoVW wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know the product, but anything that acts as a force multiplier for education / healthcare without that value being 100% captured by already rich people, or quality being reduced, is a miracle. You should be proud of yourself for just having tried to do it.

A glance at recent ycombinator edtech investments seem to put a lot of emphasis on classroom-replacement/supplementation rather than tools for improving instruction. This is probably just a sign of the (post-)Covid era, but I do find it interesting when compared to the broader SAAS world that obsesses about “improving [professional’s] ability to do [job]” at increasingly granular levels.

Iirc it was the same precovid...
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