How to Work Hard • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Work Hard

#801

Post by 3vidence » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 1:04 AM UTC

nonbirithm wrote: post #414

helen___keller wrote: post #162

When I was an undergrad at CMU, I learned how to work hard. Really hard. After having coasted through too-easy high school, I spent all day every day at CMU either programming, doing mathematics, or thinking about one of those things (to great effect: often the trick to prove a theorem would pop into my head while showering or while taking a walk). I would fall asleep while programming in the middle of the night, dre…

I feel the same. I can hardly sit through an entire two-hour movie or play a video game without feeling like I should be doing something else. I cannot feel good about myself if I cannot sense that I'm making progress learning a skill, and am stuck for hours looking down at a blank page as a result. But what's dangerous for me is that this alarm system does not trigger consistently. I might spend too much time on HN,…

Really appreciate you saying this because it matches the way I'm feeling exactly.

I grew up poor, achieving and being productive made me stand out. Went to a good university got a job at FAANG and feel pretty empty, unable to relax because it feels unproductive, spend time working on side projects I don't care about because it feels productive.

Re: How to Work Hard

#802

Post by maerF0x0 » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 1:06 AM UTC

helen___keller wrote: post #162

When I was an undergrad at CMU, I learned how to work hard. Really hard. After having coasted through too-easy high school, I spent all day every day at CMU either programming, doing mathematics, or thinking about one of those things (to great effect: often the trick to prove a theorem would pop into my head while showering or while taking a walk). I would fall asleep while programming in the middle of the night, dre…

> I would fall asleep while programming in the middle of the night, dream about programming, then wake up and continue programming just where I left off.

This was almost always the case for me in group projects as we'd invariably do a waterfally style project management and each person would be 1 day late turning my 7 day window into 3... And worse yet usually what I got handed was crap and I'd just have to rewrite the project keeping only the barest clues of their work in place.

Not that much has changed 20 yrs later in my career.

Re: How to Work Hard

#803

Post by sbierwagen » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 1:12 AM UTC

edanm wrote: post #564

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.…

Putting aside the fact that the article explicitly agrees with you that just hard work isn't enough, here's the part of your comment I don't understand: > I know the VC thing about the importance of hard work. They love to promote hard work because that's how they make money. Why would they promote hard work if hard work didn't matter? And if it does matter, then what exactly is your problem with what pg is saying?

>Why would they promote hard work if hard work didn't matter?

Telling someone else to work harder costs nothing. They're not the one putting in 16 hour days.

Re: How to Work Hard

#804

Post by eloff » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 1:14 AM UTC

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.

> Please tell me what was “great” about Viaweb (how pg got where he is today)

He built a product that many people loved enough to pay for. It's harder than it sounds.

> It was literally about being at the right place at the right time.

Entrepreneurial success requires that. If you're in the wrong place or the wrong time, you'll fail.

> It’s neither, it’s people seeing who gets rewarded, how and why.

What do you mean by that?

Re: How to Work Hard

#805

Post by sbierwagen » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 1:15 AM UTC

leokennis wrote: post #19

> There are three ingredients in great work: natural ability, practice, and effort. You can do pretty well with just two, but to do the best work you need all three: you need great natural ability and to have practiced a lot and to be trying very hard. I'd like to add that it is more than fine to not do great work. If you like to spend a lot of time with your kids and tend to your vegetable patch, by all means only t…

PG essays are written for an audience of startup founders and prospective startup founders. When he says "doing your best work" he doesn't exactly have a guy pouring concrete sidewalks in mind. Theoretically, a founder who works harder can make 10,000 as much as if they slacked off. That will never be true for basically any other profession.

Re: How to Work Hard

#806

Post by maerF0x0 » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 1:15 AM UTC

One meta comment I would like to make is that taking the advice of people looking backwards can be terribly misleading as people re-encode memories as they recall them, often to highlight the positives and to move goal posts towards what actually happened.

Someone who says "I'm so happy I moved to in my 20s because happened" fails to highlight 2 things. 1) What were they aiming at and did they accomplish _that_ and 2) what were the multitude of true opportunities they turned down and would they actually be materially happier had those happened. Not would their current self prefer it, but if we could some how numerically rate the happiness of folks who go through alternate universes...

The good news is that there's a good chance you'll look back on your life events with mostly good feelings, regardless of what happens, because you'll heal and move on from the bad parts ...

Re: How to Work Hard

#807

Post by sbierwagen » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 1:18 AM UTC

bradlys wrote: post #457

csomar wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. >…

> You can do both. The thing is, you can backpack 1 month per year and still work really HARD for 11 months of the year. 1 month is enough to visit 3-4 countries, and have 20 something night out. Over 15 years, that's over 300 night out. Way too much. And you still worked very hard for most of your youth. Wat. 300 nights over 15 years is way too much ? That is utterly insane to me. That means on average, you only wen…

You've "gone out" 300 times in a year? I can't imagine that would leave a person with much functional liver tissue, or you're using "going out" in some unusual way.

Re: How to Work Hard

#808

Post by redisman » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 1:21 AM UTC

maerF0x0 wrote: post #806

One meta comment I would like to make is that taking the advice of people looking backwards can be terribly misleading as people re-encode memories as they recall them, often to highlight the positives and to move goal posts towards what actually happened. Someone who says "I'm so happy I moved to in my 20s because happened" fails to highlight 2 things. 1) What were they aiming at and did they accomplish _that_ and 2…

I just started reading Fooled by Randomness and Taleb makes this exact point. People just make up a story afterwards about why they were successful but it’s completely meaningless fiction and Cherry picking

Re: How to Work Hard

#809

Post by neilv » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 1:22 AM UTC

If this piece had section headings, I would've read more of it.

Perhaps I missed the meta, and PG wanted the reader to work hard to read it?

Re: How to Work Hard

#810

Post by momirlan » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 1:24 AM UTC

People might really believe that this is all it takes. However we know there's a secret sauce : luck. You can work as hard as you want, if luck is not on your side you won't get far.