How to Work Hard • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Work Hard

#981

Post by luffapi » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 4:05 PM UTC

thomastjeffery wrote: post #978

luffapi wrote: post #637

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s important to recognize physical activity is very different from mental, creative or social activities. If you can convince people of things, you can be wildly successful. They may listen to you because you speak well, they may listen to you because you’re telling them what they want to hear or they may listen to you because you’re rich. None of which require the rigorous practice of a professional athlete. Same…

> the most successful people I know didn’t work hard at all. They either inherited cash... That's not success.

I think the vast majority of CEOs and VCs come from the upper class. At least 99% of the execs I know did.

Re: How to Work Hard

#982

Post by tim333 » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 4:10 PM UTC

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.…

>He's crossed a line where he believes that the only thing good in the world is what is best for VCs.

I don't think he thinks that at all. Check out his article on VCs http://www.paulgraham.com/venturecapital.html

Re: How to Work Hard

#983

Post by tim333 » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 5:42 PM UTC

WhompingWindows wrote: post #234

Yet another Paul Graham stream of consciousness. He presents a thesis but forgets to support it as he streams out another essay. I take issue with this fundamental thesis: "There are three ingredients in great work: natural ability, practice, and effort." He doesn't distinguish between practice and effort. In my view, practice takes effort and effort occurs during practice, they are two dimensions of the same thing,…

>rockets to the top of HN within an hour

He gets extra credit on HN for creating HN

Re: How to Work Hard

#984

Post by d0m3 » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 7:10 PM UTC

_carbyau_ wrote: post #760

d0m3 wrote: post #581

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going on vacation doesn't mean doing nothing. Like you I don't understand how/why people do this. I think it's about doing something different. Travel, visit, explore, camp, hike, do sport, meet new people, share that with family/friends or not.

For me it is about the approach. I like to plan very little . Plan something , but not very much. Holiday goals, simply to have somewhere to go. They don't matter if you don't do them. As you get to that goal, you take time to look around, maybe duck into a place here, do an activity over there. Or maybe not, and simply let life roll on by as you stroll to your destination. I have gone hot air ballooning, day hiking,…

Yeah it's a good one. You need to feel comfortable with the time you have though. It's really great to fully be in the moment.

Re: How to Work Hard

#985

Post by Sr_developer » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 9:41 PM UTC

ultrasounder wrote: post #588

Sr_developer wrote: post #252

> 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. This is not true, everyone who knows even just a little bit about football (I suppose not many people here) would know Messi was the preternatural talent (not like he has not worked hard, but his talent is by far his biggest asset),…

@senordeveloper Have You seen the training viedoes of Messi training with Barca and ARG? This guys trains like a maniac. CR7 IS a good counter-point to Messi's natural talent, but that doesnt take away the fact that the guys trains by practicing free-kics with a Robot Goalkeeper. Now enjoy Your time sink of the day; https://www.google.com/search?q=messi+robot+goalkeeper&rlz=1...

You cannot bring a variety-show video and be expected to be taken seriously. Messi is not sloth, but he has never ever distinguished himself for being a training freak like Ronaldo, Zanetti,Batistuta, etc, if anything when younger (18-23) he was very undisciplined in some aspects of his training, for example he had a crappy diet and was kinda weak and injury prone.

Re: How to Work Hard

#986

Post by musicale » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 11:19 PM 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…

> this deep seated desire to do more work is not a positive thing

This, 100%. I got trapped in a work loop for several months this past year and am slowly recovering from it.

One of the most important rules for sustainable productivity that doesn't damage your health is having hard limits for the amount of time you spend working. It's very tough, especially when there are deadlines and other people encouraging you to exceed safe limits.

Re: How to Work Hard

#987

Post by folkrav » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 2:48 AM UTC

d0m3 wrote: post #613

folkrav wrote: post #600

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Like you I don't understand how/why people do this. I think it's about doing something different. You raised the question and answered it in two sentences. This is exactly why some people are able to take a complete break and "do nothing" - their daily life is already filled to the brim with work, family, kids, etc, that when they get on vacation, what actually feels different is doing "nothing".

Fair point. I believe I manage to save enough time of "doing nothing" in my daily life (although it might feel uncomfortable sometimes as others pointed out in the thread) that I don't need that during vacation. I see it as an opportunity to do things I don't have time/energy to do otherwise.

Fair enough too. In my case I tend to go for 50/50 - I take about half my vacation days to literally "do nothing" (meaning catching up on games I missed since my son was born by lack of time, waking up late(r), watching movies and series, etc) and the other half as a family getaway, bringing my son to new places, trying out new things together.

Re: How to Work Hard

#988

Post by adminscoffee » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 6:10 AM UTC

i might need to read how to relax

Re: How to Work Hard

#989

Post by tmule » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 10:28 AM UTC

overtonwhy wrote: post #980

tmule wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strange framing. Working very hard in the US has made my compensation increase 7X in 9 years. I’m not capital (this isn’t a static group, btw), I don’t feel exploited, and I don’t exploit anyone - I invested in myself and successfully optimized for long-run outcomes.

Strange how you're assuming that your personal anecdotal experience is applicable to everyone else.

I’m in the midst of people who essentially have had the same career trajectory, while starting in this country with debt and zero social capital. It’s not applicable to everyone, but it’s also pretty darn attainable - unless you’re convinced that it’s not/

Re: How to Work Hard

#990

Post by _xnmw » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 7:13 PM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #855

_xnmw wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It frustrates me when people bring out the "it depends" card and because then you can't condemn anything. I condemn TV, as it is a waste of time for most people. More importantly, it is a waste of headspace and mental energy. Obviously this doesn't apply if your work is to be a filmmaker. But PG addresses this point well: if that is not your deep interest , then it's a waste of time. Most people don't watch TV out of…

> More importantly, it is a waste of headspace and mental energy. What do you do for fun? Whatever it is, it is probably a waste of headspace and mental energy. Furthermore, there are documentaries on TV. They are a great way to learn new information. Don't be so critical when you've clearly not given it due consideration.

TV is a particularly harmful form of entertainment. There are plenty of studies on the negative correlation between hours of TV watched per week and attention span, short-term memory, and general intelligence. The real cost of TV watching is not the number of hours watched, it's the effect on the other hours of your waking life. For me, the effect is noticeable -- when I cut out TV from my life, the improved mental clarity is quite palpable.

So I've switched to other activities for fun, which may not be as physically healthy, but have less mental cost. Smoking a cigar, a light tipple, and reading books while listening to music in a park don't take that toll on my mental acuity.