Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?
ripitrust 2021-08-19 12:47:38 +0000 UTC [ - ]
This article inspired me on two things :
1) Lots of the things I do in everyday life is just to consume: buying, watching, following, etc. These things either consume my money, or my time. These things make me feel good, but it does not generate real value. In order to get rich, I need to create things. I also start to realize that great people are great because they started to create things at a very early stage of their life (but not consuming things as they advocate, think about celebrities, entrepreneurs etc), so they are able to practice and perfect the value creating skills to the extreme.
2) I start to realize that the world is binary in nature : I create to sell, I buy to consume. I either at the buyer side, or at the seller side. And in this current society, there is a huge buyer side trap, the whole idea of consumerism and social media is to trap you inside the buyer side, so you keep buying, you keep consuming. I really need to break free from this trap.
This blog post was written before COVID-19, but the idea feels even fresher during this pandemic era
sureglymop 2021-08-19 15:35:00 +0000 UTC [ - ]
You create to sell? No, I think a fundamental part, for example of art, is that it can be created for no reason whatsoever. To give a personal example, I really enjoy music production and playing piano.. but I do it only for myself and have fun doing so.. i don't even share it with anyone. Does that mean I am creating but not selling? And does that mean it is wrong and a waste of my time and I should stop doing it? No, I'm just creating for the sake of creating.
Another thing I don't understand, is your end goal in life to get rich? And do you equal being rich with being happy?
That's not my worldview at all. I mainly care about three things, curiosity, ethics and empathy. But definitely curiosity, being able to learn everyday is what makes me happy. But that doesn't fit into what your explaining, I don't have to create and sell anything with what I've learned because the act of learning already gives me happiness.
Maybe I'm the weird one but I truly find that a life with the sole goal of selling and accruing wealth seems boring.
2OEH8eoCRo0 2021-08-19 13:59:19 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I disagree on this but I love and agree with the premise of the blog post. Comparing reddit to Moby Dick could not be further off. reddit (or any similar site) is a shill/bad actor/agitator/troll cesspool full of memes and clickbait.
It is important to learn to tell good shit from bad shit. Consume things produced by masters of their craft. Try not to settle for less, you have limited time here. Use this to create more.
packetlost 2021-08-19 14:35:47 +0000 UTC [ - ]
JackFr 2021-08-19 15:25:08 +0000 UTC [ - ]
packetlost 2021-08-19 15:51:54 +0000 UTC [ - ]
aurantia 2021-08-19 14:51:43 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Regarding the article, it doesn't match my experience. All the prolific creators I know (about) are prolific consumers as well. Writers are known to read a lot. The girl the author saw sketching on the bus probably loves looking at and reading about art and does it often as well as actually creating art.
The other issue is the amount of creative effort you can spend. For example, software engineering is a very creative job and often at the end of the day I just have no energy left to create more.
frutiger 2021-08-19 14:39:37 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Aside from bankruptcy, buying and selling are actually completely balanced in a modern market economy. Even “saving” money is actually best considered as selling it. Earning money is obviously selling your time and bodily energy (those are the only finite things you have that are inputs into the system).
Borrowing is selling your future money to someone who wants to take on the risk.
city41 2021-08-19 13:03:06 +0000 UTC [ - ]
ripitrust 2021-08-19 13:05:55 +0000 UTC [ - ]
ramraj07 2021-08-19 13:06:08 +0000 UTC [ - ]
kuhzaam 2021-08-19 16:23:53 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I'm not saying fiction is objectively more "beneficial" than non-fiction, I'm just saying the opposite isn't necessarily true either.
ripitrust 2021-08-19 13:07:37 +0000 UTC [ - ]
juniperplant 2021-08-19 15:49:02 +0000 UTC [ - ]
-Stephen King
kylegalbraith 2021-08-19 15:14:04 +0000 UTC [ - ]
slothtrop 2021-08-19 13:35:50 +0000 UTC [ - ]
The question of meaning behind our actions is one divorced from this, and obviously not so easily determined as whether or not an action is creative. Some of the most effective altruistic actions are boring. I'm of the type that has short bouts of investigative interest in certain topics, and that wanes, so I can't count on merely my "mood" to finish projects. I had read anecdotally that authors in particular seem to derive satisfaction from having completed a work, and find that driving themselves to finish it can be torturous. I feel that way about my projects.
Personally, it's a good day if I've "executed" and completed a lot at work. There is no objective reason why this ought to be better than those days where I struggle to finish a single assignment, but that is human nature. You can satisfy such a creature with social validation and the feedback of completing tasks, until maybe you broach the problem of meaning. I wonder how many of us in the future will spend most of our time dwelling in virtual worlds where nothing is real. If we do, then meaning is cheap.
barneygale 2021-08-19 14:26:08 +0000 UTC [ - ]
GoodJokes 2021-08-19 15:44:19 +0000 UTC [ - ]
randprecision 2021-08-19 13:12:06 +0000 UTC [ - ]
emodendroket 2021-08-19 17:07:33 +0000 UTC [ - ]
snarf21 2021-08-19 14:07:30 +0000 UTC [ - ]
My advice is this: Introspection is a super power. The more you take the time to step back and reevaluate all of your actions/assumptions in life, the more you will be able to make meaningful change towards the life you want from NOW.
Also, find purpose outside of your career, find a hobby or cause and find fulfillment there. Corollary, if you are going to have regrets, regret doing something, don't regret not doing it.
danaos 2021-08-19 15:58:45 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I need a time machine...
mxstbr 2021-08-19 17:04:57 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I almost doubled my compensation in large part thanks to it:
+ Base salary by $75k + Signing bonus by $35k (from $0) + Stock options by $100k total (standard four year vesting, so $25k per year)
If you're a knowledge worker in a sought-after field, particularly in the current environment of crazy salary explosion, you should absolutely read that blog post!
mrob 2021-08-19 12:16:53 +0000 UTC [ - ]
If you see cooking primarily as a means of getting nutrients rather than a hobby, I very strongly recommend getting an electric pressure cooker. It greatly simplifies cooking because it's automated. Just add the ingredients, close the lid, press a button, and wait. You will get a perfectly cooked one-pot meal with minimum effort. You can even mix fresh and frozen ingredients and the timer won't start until the frozen ingredients are thawed. If you don't overfill it the only thing the food touches is the inner stainless steel pot, so it's very easy to clean. I get the majority of my nutrition from food cooked this way. I can't imagine going back to slow traditional methods.
It also makes dried legumes far more practical, because you can skip the pre-soak phase. If you eat a lot of legumes, and you switch from canned to dried, the savings will most likely pay for the cost of the machine within a few years. In addition, energy costs are reduced because cooking at increased pressure is faster, and good electric pressure cookers are insulated. I am happy with an Instant Pot brand one, although I don't guarantee they are the best. If somebody has strong opinions on which is best then please post them.
The one major downside is the texture of the food can become boring, because everything is mixed together and you can't make crispy foods with it, but you can always add things like pickles after you've cooked it.
santiagobasulto 2021-08-19 12:49:54 +0000 UTC [ - ]
About boring food; it might not be crispy, but you can make amazing meats in it. Try slow cooking pork collar boneless[0] with honey and mustard.
inasio 2021-08-19 15:58:54 +0000 UTC [ - ]
rmsaksida 2021-08-19 16:35:17 +0000 UTC [ - ]
hibikir 2021-08-19 17:05:10 +0000 UTC [ - ]
matt_morgan 2021-08-19 16:51:55 +0000 UTC [ - ]
In general I would say that the temperature control in an electric pressure cooker is going to be more precise, so you see functions like yogurt making in them, too.
LivelyTortoise 2021-08-19 15:42:38 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Oh hi there!
Do you have any recipes that you recommend? I actually bought an Instant Pot a couple months ago, and so far have found one great one pot meal that I cook in bulk on the weekend - basically tomatoes + sweet potatoes + peppers + beans + quinoa. Toss it all in and press a button, magic.
I like to eat as healthily as possible, so I'm interested to hear if you have any go-to staple recipes for the instant pot that you'd suggest :)
stnmtn 2021-08-19 16:27:15 +0000 UTC [ - ]
itsoktocry 2021-08-19 15:59:16 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Not sure of your dietary preferences, but one of the big advantages of the Instant Pot is being able to cook cheaper, less palatable cuts of meat. It can also cook an entire frozen chicken in under an hour...
dkdbejwi383 2021-08-19 12:43:48 +0000 UTC [ - ]
mrob 2021-08-19 13:03:23 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/FoodborneIllnessContamina...
"PHA is destroyed by adequate cooking. Some variation in toxin stability has been found at different temperatures. However, Bender and Readi found that boiling the beans for 10 minutes (100°C) completely destroyed the toxin. Consumers should boil the beans for at least 30 minutes to ensure that the product reaches sufficient temperature, for a sufficient amount of time, to completely destroy the toxin."
Mikeb85 2021-08-19 16:29:01 +0000 UTC [ - ]
voisin 2021-08-19 12:39:09 +0000 UTC [ - ]
mrob 2021-08-19 13:06:16 +0000 UTC [ - ]
danuker 2021-08-19 12:40:06 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Probably for the better, since baking/frying to crispiness is usually tied to "advanced glycation endproducts".
https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/advanced-glycation-end-pro...
brundolf 2021-08-19 17:01:50 +0000 UTC [ - ]
This one crystallized for me a feeling that I'd always felt deep inside but never known how to express.
I'd found it in virtual worlds, sure, but it goes far beyond that. Even beyond fiction. This longing for something beyond the fold, something that can never be reduced or pinned down or fully understood, a wormhole in understanding that always begs you to keep seeking, keep moving, keep wondering and imagining. The fundamental belief that there's always more out there above and beyond our grasp, and that that is a good thing, and not something to be remedied.
What's described here is one of the most important north-stars in my life, if I'm being honest. It has almost religious significance to me.
> Mystery is not merely the unknown. It is the impossibility of knowing and yet the continual attempt to know. It is unknowability itself. It is futile and essential.
okareaman 2021-08-19 14:35:02 +0000 UTC [ - ]
The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler, the sequel to Future Shock. I was a nuclear trained engineer in the Navy. This book convinced me not to pursue a career in nuclear power after the Navy, which was the standard career path for guys like me, because it was "Second Wave." The Third Wave was information technology, which I pursued despite having no training in it.
At the height of my success, "The Arrangement" by Joni Mitchell made me realize that money hadn't made me happy and pursuing more was not something I wanted to do.
You could have been more
Than a name on the door
On the thirty-third floor in the air
More than a credit card
Swimming pool in the backyard
While you still have the time
You could get away and find
A better life, you know the grind is so ungrateful
Racing cars, whiskey bars
No one cares who you really areUweSchmidt 2021-08-19 15:50:46 +0000 UTC [ - ]
hawski 2021-08-19 12:32:15 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Not a GP. The opinion is my own.
stinkytaco 2021-08-19 13:26:11 +0000 UTC [ - ]
On the other, nearly everything I've read has changed me and how I saw the world, even ever so slightly. Different perspectives, bits of knowledge, connections made that I'm not even aware of. So I guess I just have to assume that everyone's definition of "life changing" is going to be quite wide depending on their own life experience and attitudes.
magicalhippo 2021-08-19 15:40:38 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Same here. The discrete life-changing stuff in my life have been things that happened to me or someone close to me.
Not stuff I've read. But the stuff I've read stay with me and have definitely changed my perspective, affected how I approach things etc.
So rather than reading a particular blog post, I'd say: read lots!
elliekelly 2021-08-19 15:09:39 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Sometimes people use hedging language like this because they’re being vulnerable beyond their comfort level. So even though a post might truly have been life changing for them they brace for someone responding with a dismissive or snarky comment by hedging with “maybe not really” type words. It’s a form of self-protection, in a way.
So I fear your comment could very likely discourage people who were already on the fence about sharing, perhaps even sharing something interesting. So I say, the more the merrier! Who knows what might be life changing for someone. I definitely didn’t expect to open this thread and read a blog post about bone trumpets but I’m really glad I did.
barrenko 2021-08-19 13:43:29 +0000 UTC [ - ]
You got to build stuff too, not just learn. Still, you also have to figure out if you're a builder or a "learner".
I like to figure stuff out, once I know the solution, my interest is minimal.
dehrmann 2021-08-19 16:48:42 +0000 UTC [ - ]
VBprogrammer 2021-08-19 14:00:14 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I know this phenomenon well. In fact, when we moved into our new house which was an easy drive from where we used to live, I drove here half a dozen times using the GPS and still had no idea where I was going until I forced myself to do the trip without turning the GPS on.
swiley 2021-08-19 15:17:39 +0000 UTC [ - ]
avnigo 2021-08-19 14:45:24 +0000 UTC [ - ]
cityzen 2021-08-19 13:54:37 +0000 UTC [ - ]
frob 2021-08-19 16:52:53 +0000 UTC [ - ]
It's a story of two Neils dealing with imposter syndrome. Every time I start feeling like I'm just the guy who goes where others point and I didn't actually accomplish anything, I go back and read this. To every new engineer I've worked with who has struggled with self-doubt, I have sent this. I cannot overstate how calming and centering this post has been to me.
MrPowers 2021-08-19 13:08:04 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Specifically this line "So if you want to invest two years in something that will help you succeed in business, the evidence suggests you'd do better to learn how to hack than get an MBA."
I spent 5 years building a good business school resume and this post encouraged me to try out programming instead. The flexibility of a programming job let me escape the NYC / San Fran scene and start living abroad. Having way more fun living in different countries around the world now.
Zealotux 2021-08-19 11:56:02 +0000 UTC [ - ]
HN discussion about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25513713
bwh2 2021-08-19 16:33:44 +0000 UTC [ - ]
marto1 2021-08-19 16:51:58 +0000 UTC [ - ]
"The soul travels at the speed of a camel"
chubot 2021-08-19 14:06:51 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://www.oilshell.org/blog/2021/07/spolsky.html
I don't think I've ever read a single life-changing blog post, but an entire blog over years and books can definitely be life changing.
I'd say that life-changing stuff has to be contrarian, and Taleb and PG are pretty contrarian. This also means they can be wrong, repetitive, and piss a lot of people off. You can criticize individual posts or passages easily; it's harder to do that of their entire career.
I'd also be careful to label them "not contrarian" -- contrarians can seem less so once people start agreeing with and imitating them, specifically as a result of the writing :)
riebschlager 2021-08-19 13:50:29 +0000 UTC [ - ]
http://www.merlinmann.com/better/
Written in 2008, but still amazingly relevant today. The opening lines are eerily prescient about our current "everyone needs to have a take on everything" culture.
"Politics, celebrity gossip, business headlines, tech punditry, odd news, and user-generated content.
These are the chew toys that have made me sad and tired and cynical.
Each, in its own way, contributes to the imperative that we constantly expand our portfolio of shallow but strongly-held opinions about nearly everything. Then we’re supposed to post something about it. Somewhere."
werber 2021-08-19 13:58:13 +0000 UTC [ - ]
shaneos 2021-08-19 12:24:01 +0000 UTC [ - ]
By Blake Ross
https://m.facebook.com/nt/screen/?params=%7B%22note_id%22%3A...
Before reading this post I had no idea I had aphantasia and thought everyone else was the same as me, unable to see anything when they closed their eyes. This helped me understand myself and my relationships so much better than ever before. Thanks Blake!
beltsazar 2021-08-19 13:56:16 +0000 UTC [ - ]
If aphantasia is "internally blind", this one is "internally mute and deaf".
I wonder if anyone in the world has both conditions. That would be interesting to understand how they think.
geocar 2021-08-19 15:10:03 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I think I can imagine sounds in my head, but it is a little like singing, or humming a tune without making noise. I believe I have the cadence and rhythm of sounds, but it's not really easy to get words that way.
I can also recognise some specific images I have seen previously, but I definitely do not see them and cannot conjure up any imagery of any kind.
You might be amused to know that until I joined that study I had no idea that you were thinking any differently than I was, and since learning you-all are freaks, I have wondered if the reason you guys get distracted so easily is that you're watching a movie out of the corner of your eye, or maybe the reason you think code is unreadable is that you need to sound out your program in order to read it.
meowface 2021-08-19 16:03:01 +0000 UTC [ - ]
>I participated in the Prosopagnosia study at Imperial a few years ago. I also don't hear any internal monologue; When I think, I think in words, and it is very similar to reading.
Isn't this exactly what an internal monologue is? Lack of internal monologue would be someone who thinks only abstractly or visually, without any words.
>I think I can imagine sounds in my head, but it is a little like singing, or humming a tune without making noise. I believe I have the cadence and rhythm of sounds, but it's not really easy to get words that way.
Yes, isn't this what pretty much everyone experiences, unless they have one of these listed disorders? If you can think in words, watch a TV show and later picture what the characters look like, and listen to a song and have it get "stuck in your head", then I think you have an internal monologue and don't have aphantasia.
elliekelly 2021-08-19 15:28:01 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I think maybe I do? I’ve know about the aphantasia and it wasn’t surprising to me because I always felt like I was missing something when people used phrases like “picture $thing in your mind” but now you’re telling me everyone is talking to themselves in their heads, too? It’s actually so hard for me to wrap my head around I think I must be misunderstanding...
meowface 2021-08-19 16:05:26 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Not "hearing" the words or necessarily "talking to yourself" or hearing someone talk to you. I think many people do mentally talk to themselves, but I think that's a sufficient condition to have an internal monologue rather than a necessary condition.
People who don't have it would 100% of the time only ever think about things in terms of visual imagery, symbols, or something else abstract. I believe it's quite rare.
fossuser 2021-08-19 16:05:15 +0000 UTC [ - ]
It just seems highly unlikely that a non brain damaged human sharing the same evolutionary history and ability to use language would not have one, yet be able to speak and converse normally. Their arguments in support of it always seemed weak to me.
It’s in those class of things where people like to be the person that has it (and it’s hard to test or verify)
bemmu 2021-08-19 12:28:13 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I’m very conscious of how poor my mental images are, but maybe with a little less introspection I would also say I have great mental imagery.
jerf 2021-08-19 14:08:50 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I also suspect a lot of people are massively overreporting the quality of their images. It's very easy to imagine something and think you understand it, until asked to produce something based on it. This isn't just limited to mental images, it's the source of the "why don't you 'just'..." questions, and comes up all the time in building, engineering, artistic endeavors, etc. Your brain is easily convinced it has a thought with more detail than it actually has. I really only trust people who have taken a lot of time to train the relevant system if they claim they have these things. For instance, I really can design some somewhat non-trivial programs in my head... but I've been doing this for ~25 years, and only recently would I say I'm getting to the point where these designs are sometimes good enough that they're not taking serious body blows betwixt conceptualization and realization.
caddemon 2021-08-19 14:44:36 +0000 UTC [ - ]
To me it seems really obvious that relative to my internal monologue, my imagery is much weaker and quantifiably less frequent. So I think at least people that report having imagery much stronger than internal monologue likely have something different going on for real, not just with reporting.
kilbuz 2021-08-19 12:43:59 +0000 UTC [ - ]
rolltopdesk 2021-08-19 13:19:08 +0000 UTC [ - ]
piyh 2021-08-19 14:02:42 +0000 UTC [ - ]
wizzwizz4 2021-08-19 13:59:51 +0000 UTC [ - ]
A skilled artist can work around this, by drawing the right lines (and erasing / ignoring the wrong lines).
Xplune13 2021-08-19 14:57:32 +0000 UTC [ - ]
FinanceAnon 2021-08-19 13:41:03 +0000 UTC [ - ]
However, I am not sure if drawing is the right way to test it. I can visualise a straight line or a perfect circle, but I wouldn't be able to draw them perfectly.
globular-toast 2021-08-19 15:35:04 +0000 UTC [ - ]
FinanceAnon 2021-08-19 12:45:31 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Do you think that there are some advantages to being this way? For example, being able to live more "in the moment"?
Henk0 2021-08-19 13:39:58 +0000 UTC [ - ]
caddemon 2021-08-19 14:56:39 +0000 UTC [ - ]
On the note of advantages, I know I have something weird going on with the back right of my brain specifically (focal slowing on EEG among other things), which I am pretty certain connects to my favoring of verbal over visual thinking. So I guess it depends on the cause of a case of aphantasia, but to me it feels a little like how blind people end up with heightened hearing. I think I've really developed strong verbal skills because of it, and there are definitely advantages to having strong verbal skills.
I recall a professor showing us a study once where students performed better on an exam when they were allowed/encouraged to talk out loud to themselves while they were taking it. He was encouraging us to talk through stuff with ourselves, but at first I found the result weird because I assumed everybody was always talking to themselves in their head. That was the first time it really dawned on me there may be large individual differences in how we experience thoughts.
jlengrand 2021-08-19 13:04:15 +0000 UTC [ - ]
* How to negotiate salary : https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/
* Don't call yourself a programmer : https://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-pr...
fossuser 2021-08-19 16:14:27 +0000 UTC [ - ]
One social thing I learned though is that some people are weird about it - not the recruiters but the friends you’re trying to help negotiate. They’re afraid to do it and instead rationalize how it won’t work and then get angry if you try to persuade them that it’s possible.
jlengrand 2021-08-19 16:51:24 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Taylor_OD 2021-08-19 13:58:10 +0000 UTC [ - ]
If you can accomplish that then you'll be a much happier person.
https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/life-is-picture-but-you-live-...
ValentineC 2021-08-19 11:45:13 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-y...
adwn 2021-08-19 12:46:07 +0000 UTC [ - ]
> For instance, some people want to respond to that speech with Tyler Durden's line from Fight Club: "You are not your job." But, well, actually, you totally are.
Well, actually, you totally aren't. The next part is even worse and downright dehumanizing:
> you are nothing more than the sum total of your useful skills [...] Your "job" -- the useful thing you do for other people -- is all you are.
It's not a good idea to view yourself as purely a means to an end for other people. I'm strongly in favor of being a useful and productive part of society, but not to the point where nothing remains of your person except for an exploitable resource for others.
jerf 2021-08-19 14:04:59 +0000 UTC [ - ]
But then there's also people for whom it will be the worst thing ever, who have already completely organized their lives around pleasing others and satisfying the needs of others while not thinking about the fact they have their own needs, and need in some sense the complete opposite slap.
But I'm not surprised there's some people who found the article to be food for some fairly big thoughts.
adwn 2021-08-19 14:35:25 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I don't think there's a solution for this, because any kind of disclaimer would dilute its message for those that need to hear it, and do nothing for those that shouldn't hear it. And what would such a disclaimer even look like? "Disregard this article if you're not an entitled, selfish man-child"?
pricecomstock 2021-08-19 12:54:40 +0000 UTC [ - ]
rchaud 2021-08-19 14:09:28 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I remember the impact it had when it came out. It was the reality check that a lot of people in that age range needed, especially new college graduates. This was the era of the "jobless recovery" of post-2008, when S&P500 was going up but underemployment was very high. You have to learn to drop a lot of ego when your fancy degree has you working at the same Starbucks as a kid straight out of high school.
bob_roboto 2021-08-19 13:15:34 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Also, there are undeniably some hard truths hidden in there. However, my experience in almost 20 years in the tech/software/product industry often paints a different picture. Yes, our brains keep us from changing and evolving and yes, obviously you need skills to be successful in life and your career. But in my industry in particular, hard and soft skills are not the dominant factor that keeps individuals from succeeding or progressing. I'm lucky enough to work with an abundance of talent and skill, and yet, one of the major factors of dissatisfaction is lack of "progression". One of the main factors is self-confidence and in the more severe cases even mental health issues. Some of the most skilled and knowledgeable engineers I worked with struggled to realise their potential because of it. If the leaders in your organisation think they can just shout at them to "learn self-confidence as a skill" and get over it you're going to have a bad time. It will attract a certain type and employee that thrives in that environment and disengage everyone else. Wasting talent, wasting skills and ultimately a lot of money. Creating an environment and learning how to tease the potential out of skilled and talented individuals is not a "hippie/hipster" thing to do, it is good for business.
NoOneNew 2021-08-19 15:52:14 +0000 UTC [ - ]
dcolkitt 2021-08-19 12:45:42 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html
datameta 2021-08-19 12:51:04 +0000 UTC [ - ]
jstx1 2021-08-19 15:29:36 +0000 UTC [ - ]
lemoid 2021-08-19 12:27:59 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I remember reading this first time in early twenties - it was mindblowing. After several years I can say that many things I’ve expierenced, noticed and learned are mentioned somewhere along these lines.
‚One must permit his people the freedom to seek added work and greater responsibility. In my organization, there are no formal job descriptions or organizational charts. Responsibilities are defined in a general way, so that people are not circumscribed. All are permitted to do as they think best and to go to anyone and anywhere for help. Each person then is limited only by his own ability.’
calderarrow 2021-08-19 15:20:25 +0000 UTC [ - ]
> To complaints of a job poorly done, one often hears the excuse, “I am not responsible.” I believe that is literally correct. The man who takes such a stand in fact is not responsible; he is irresponsible. While he may not be legally liable, or the work may not have been specifically assigned to him, no one involved in a job can divest himself of responsibility for its successful completion.
sethammons 2021-08-19 14:59:09 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I was quite literally thinking about this exact problem at my organization last week. This quote is older than I am.
basch 2021-08-19 13:58:09 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Now Then by Adam Curtis for really reinforcing my suspicion that algorithms that feed me more of what I like prevent me from ever experiencing things I havent before. Tasting new flavors means ordering what I am least, not most, familiar with.
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anythin...
And although I Can Tolerate Anything Except the Outgroup by Scott Alexander gets very lost and fails imho to come to a useful conclusion, I do muse both on its modern forgiveness-v-tolerance definition schism and more generally from the dark matter parts that an almost Time Machine Eloi/Morlock divide has happened to language, where everyone in America THINKS they are speaking the same language. But really, there are red and blue Englishes that are prominent, using the same words but that mean very different things. EG: Blue defines racism as something that cant happen to a majority. Red doesnt. They dont really acknowledge that the other is using the word to describe something different, they just call each other the word used from their own understanding, and then call the other side stupid. Through whistles, code switching, and signaling, phrases are now so detached from their meaning, that not speaking the language is almost assuredly an inability to interact with parts of the tribe, in any capacity more than the most superficial. In groups can have conversations where it sounds like they are saying one thing, but under the surface is a completely different conversation. Just imagine what the phrase "covid isnt real" (or "black lives matter [too/more]") means to you. If you read it ultra literally, you probably arent quite understanding what the speaker means.
tubbs 2021-08-19 15:02:11 +0000 UTC [ - ]
basch 2021-08-19 15:11:24 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Hes not someone ive read a lot of so there may be more better of which im unaware.
koboll 2021-08-19 15:48:14 +0000 UTC [ - ]
It was a blog post about how one man's perspective on fatherhood changed after he became a father, and he realized he regretted waiting so long, because all it really ended up doing was robbing him of being able to spend more time with his children.
Before reading it, I was ambivalent about whether I wanted children. After reading it, I wasn't.
Recursing 2021-08-19 16:25:20 +0000 UTC [ - ]
boringg 2021-08-19 13:44:27 +0000 UTC [ - ]
To be clear - I support the idea of sharing insightful information especially as everyone takes different paths of life. I do however loathe the over the top language. This day and age everything is "life-changing", "epic", "GOAT" - its devalues the rest of the content.
piyh 2021-08-19 14:05:38 +0000 UTC [ - ]
WhompingWindows 2021-08-19 13:51:48 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-si...
itsoktocry 2021-08-19 16:19:29 +0000 UTC [ - ]
What's wrong with either of these things if they give you pleasure?
>I have one friend who lives in a crappy apartment
Sounds like they have their priorities, and you have yours.
>that amount of money could've had him retiring one year earlier.
Big deal. Do what you enjoy. The entire FIRE movement of people who just can't wait to retire (and most likely continue pinching pennies) confuses me. Enjoy your life, you never know when it ends.
javierbyte 2021-08-19 14:00:00 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Dumblydorr 2021-08-19 15:42:21 +0000 UTC [ - ]
piyh 2021-08-19 13:59:46 +0000 UTC [ - ]
knuckleheads 2021-08-19 12:37:00 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://danluu.com/googlebot-monopoly/
It's a short blog post that I've probably read a thousand times at this point. He wrote about how websites give Google a big advantage when it comes to web crawling and how that big advantage probably makes it harder for other search engines to compete with Google. This was a pretty striking idea to me and there was a lot of talk at the time about antitrust and Big Tech. Dan's post had been written in 2015, so I was sure that a ton of other people, especially DC policy people, already knew about this and were talking about it. Right?
Turns out, basically nobody in DC knew anything about this. A ton of website operators complain about it on their own forums like HN and SEO, it's not hard to find people griping about the cost of Bing's crawlers, but those people never saw fit to tell anybody in DC about this and how it impacts the market for general purpose search engines and gives Google such an advantage. So I started writing down everything that I was finding about Google's web crawling advantage and writing it in a way that policy people could understand these things called web crawlers they had probably never heard much about before.
And, long story short, the policy people were very grateful that I had gotten in touch and explained all this, and I got cited in the Big Tech Antitrust report published by Congress last summer and then featured in The New York Times:
https://knuckleheads.club/we-crawled-our-way-into-the-big-te...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/14/technology/how-google-dom...
So, Dan's blog post has had a pretty big impact on my life so far and it's not quite done yet. The pandemic has slowed me down this year much more than it did last year, but I'm working on preparing to submit a paper to an economics journal for peer review that lays out the dynamics of web crawling, why Google accrues this advantage and why it matters. I'm very grateful to Dan for writing that post and, as far as career advice goes, I heartily recommend going back every once in a while and rereading everything he has ever written. Who knows what else he's hiding in there?
beeboop 2021-08-19 14:34:38 +0000 UTC [ - ]
When I have anxiety and unhappy moments in my life, I feel stuck. My natural inclination in these moments is to run. To get away, to be somewhere new, do something new, just get the eff away from wherever I am. I frequently felt that traveling and being a digital nomad would cure this problem and I would never feel that way, but the article above outlines why that isn't the case. Our problems follow us everywhere, and just because I'm eating sushi in tokyo in some cool hole in the wall doesn't mean I won't dread and have anxiety.
I am very grateful for the traveling I've done, which is a fair bit more than a lot of Americans. But in addition to that blog post it has helped me realize it isn't the cure to anything.
The article is sort of dumb and probably doesn't resonate with everyone. But it helped me
rjh29 2021-08-19 15:45:38 +0000 UTC [ - ]
And personally giving up my friends and living in a new environment forced me to adapt and become more social and less anxious. It had a huge positive effect on my confidence. I made friends different to the types of friends I had before. I did things I had never done before.
So yeah, if you end up reverting your 'baseline' then it won't help, and I can definitely understand that - I'll never be an extrovert, I'll always value having a few good friends and spending a lot of time alone - but that doesn't mean it can't be profoundly helpful for getting you out of a rut.
saisundar 2021-08-19 16:14:11 +0000 UTC [ - ]
This might be the second or third (and possibly redundant too) Tim urban blog post here.
This uses a visual representation to drive home the point that the time you have with your loved ones, especially parents is very very limited, and choices that you make to increase/decrease face time with them, have a pretty pronounced impact, for life.
This certainly woke me up to my relationship with my father and elder relatives in general.
taxcoder 2021-08-19 15:38:46 +0000 UTC [ - ]
derwiki 2021-08-19 14:27:16 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Read it a decade later than I should have, though
k__ 2021-08-19 15:11:33 +0000 UTC [ - ]
This logic of alpha/beta/omega always seemed incomplete to me.
The Gervais principle seems to capture reality better, the losers are the ones that form groups where people can be categorized as alpha/beta/omega etc. and the clueless and sociopaths act completely outside of such groups. For the worse (clueless) or the better (sociopaths) of themselves.
Funny enough, lately alpha/beta/omega logic includes a "sigma", which is the ham-fisted try to add sociopaths to their flawed system.
SamuelAdams 2021-08-19 12:54:48 +0000 UTC [ - ]
mprovost 2021-08-19 16:37:32 +0000 UTC [ - ]
[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/getdisciplined/comments/1q96b5/i_ju...
ajkjk 2021-08-19 13:52:45 +0000 UTC [ - ]
It describes the concept of 'self-concept' and a, I guess, pseudo-treatment for addressing deep-set neurosis/anxiety caused by having one that is a little malformed. This post led (in a sort of roundabout way, hitting at a good time in my life and while I was already thinking in the direction of fixing this problem) to a sort of self-therapy where I snapped out of an unhealthy mental state I had been in for something like a decade. Probably good therapy could have had the same effect but I've always had trouble with that, and the ideas here led to a non-unsuccessful self-therapy. My issue was not at all related to the one he describes in the post, but the approach seemed to work anyway.
https://kajsotala.fi/2017/07/how-i-found-fixed-the-root-prob...
decasteve 2021-08-19 14:33:08 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Given the circumstances of the Snowden revelations, I was struggling to articulate how I felt about privacy, the chilling effects of surveillance, and making sense of it all in terms of who I am, where I come from, and how I make my livelihood. That farewell post, along with introducing me to the writings of Janna Malamud Smith (Private Matters: In Defense of the Personal Life), helped shape and define my perspective on privacy.
benjaminwootton 2021-08-19 12:17:28 +0000 UTC [ - ]
This was my favourite one on avoiding mediocrity. It crosses my mind at least weekly over a decade later!
https://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/...
jonnytran 2021-08-19 15:27:21 +0000 UTC [ - ]
The next level is getting into the mind of Kathy Sierra. The idea that helping people become passionate -- or badass, as she later rewords -- is an end in itself. This isn't just about tech.
msandford 2021-08-19 12:52:05 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I spent a lot of time thinking about ideas that were good or smart or made me feel smart. Could easily have been a lifelong chase with no real gains. Focusing on execution hasn't made me a millionaire overnight but it has helped me think about concrete things that are undeniably moving in the right direction instead of hoping to strike a "genius idea jackpot" that changes everything in an instant.
jmfldn 2021-08-19 15:56:10 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_The_Future_Doesn%27t_Need_...
A very famous blog post by Bill Joy on the dangers of rapid technological change. Rather then dismiss fears over exponential tech he takes the claims seriously and tries to reason about them. He even factors anarcho-primitivism into his analysis which is as far away as you can get from Silicon Valley views which he obviously eptimomises being the founder of Sun Microsystems.
I love it as its a truly open minded attempt to consider the potential existensial risk of tech and the deep, big picture, philosophical implications of technological progress. It's just so different to what most Silicon Valley luminaries talk about which are often full of certainty about our glorious future.
It resonates with me a lot as I often feel like a bit of an outsider as a technologist and software engineer who has the odd sleepless night about where it's all heading. This quote haunts me...
"I have always believed that making software more reliable, given its many uses, will make the world a safer and better place; if I were to come to believe the opposite, then I would be morally obligated to stop this work. I can now imagine such a day may come."
For me that day has not come but I feel that moral obligation more as I get older so I think I'm on the same page as Bill here.
mooreds 2021-08-19 13:01:27 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/08/09/the-joel-test-12-s...
I read it early in my career.
It was a simple way to assess team quality.
It's relevant today (there are parts that are out of date, but most of it is still on the mark).
It showed me the power of long form writing to share ideas around software.
mingusrude 2021-08-19 12:51:04 +0000 UTC [ - ]
orbz 2021-08-19 12:35:50 +0000 UTC [ - ]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7zzQpvoYcQ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_mori
gringoDan 2021-08-19 15:48:49 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Inspired me to renege on my investment banking offer straight out of college and move to South America to work on my startup instead. Good times.
brudgers 2021-08-19 16:38:10 +0000 UTC [ - ]
It frees me up to try things and to give myself the time to stick with them.
marto1 2021-08-19 16:44:12 +0000 UTC [ - ]
It's an incredibly concise "survival guide" for the modern "normal" way of life. It also raises way more questions than it answers so it's a great conversation starter.
prezjordan 2021-08-19 12:10:42 +0000 UTC [ - ]
codethief 2021-08-19 15:40:15 +0000 UTC [ - ]
This has changed my entire perception of what it means (or could possibly mean) to be happy and, by implication, of the entire self-improvement industry.
rodolphoarruda 2021-08-19 13:09:24 +0000 UTC [ - ]
This one had some impact on me because it revived the importance of taking ownership not only on my personal data, but the infrastructure which generates it, processes and stores it; and that the same infrastructure should be well thought of by me through a tinkering process which adds value to itself and to data the more I invest time on it.
I felt very motivated to rethink my workflows, my opsec and the way I store any data, not only new data I create, but general content that find around the Internet and that I think could be of any use in the future.
An honorable mention would be this one: https://staltz.com/the-web-began-dying-in-2014-heres-how.htm... which helped me look at how the web has been evolving from a different angle and, of course, triggered me to change some of my behaviors regarding privacy and the use of big tech derived products.
toto444 2021-08-19 14:59:50 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://www.thecut.com/article/what-its-like-to-have-narciss...
It made me realise that some people are wired differently. You can't interpret their actions with the same framework you interpret yours.
exo-pla-net 2021-08-19 16:48:17 +0000 UTC [ - ]
NPD is a tool to protect yourself from mind-shattering degrees of shame. You latch onto something that makes you feel special, and you hold onto it for dear life. All of your decisions will stem from a desire to validate or protect that sense of being special. You'll seek admiration to validate it, and you'll seek to destroy critics to protect it. You might be capable of empathy, even great compassion, but you'll remain utterly cruel and self-absorbed, because you're a drowning man. You're desperate, and you'll see people as objects you can push underwater to get a gasp of air, and you'll treat someone who snubs you as someone actively stepping on your head to drown you: your anger will know no bounds.
That's what fragile narcissists actually are. They're not wired differently; they're drowning men.
If a narcissist is strongly motivated, and if they have a decade to devote to schema therapy for their underlying intense shame, then they can slowly morph into a normal prosocial human.
However, that doesn't happen often, for a variety of reasons.
andredz 2021-08-19 15:38:06 +0000 UTC [ - ]
This blog has had a huge impact in my life and I'll be forever grateful to Aron for uploading it to the internet and also grateful to Fede_V who shared the blog in this HN comment a few years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18176929
My life is much more fun and fulfilling thanks to its influence.
There are lots of other great blogs but none have had as great of an impact on my outlook.
davidwparker 2021-08-19 15:48:28 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/12/the-tail-end.html
``` It turns out that when I graduated from high school, I had already used up 93% of my in-person parent time. I’m now enjoying the last 5% of that time. We’re in the tail end. ```
^ This is the crux of it, in familial (parental) relationships, we spend most of our time with them early in life, and that we don't get nearly as much time with them after graduation.
keb_ 2021-08-19 13:40:10 +0000 UTC [ - ]
It was extremely comforting to me at a time where I was suffering from depression, and jobless -- struggling to obtain employment as a Software Engineer 2 years out of college. Most of what the blogpost described was immediately relatable. It gave me some peace of mind knowing that I was not alone.
I still suffer from intense anxiety during technical interviews, but I no longer have an existential crisis about it or feel guilty for not being able to whiteboard well.
foooobaba 2021-08-19 12:44:12 +0000 UTC [ - ]
LazyDev199 2021-08-19 12:59:42 +0000 UTC [ - ]
paulrouget 2021-08-19 13:59:12 +0000 UTC [ - ]
- https://vasilishynkarenka.com/how-to-make-hard-decisions/
That was just the trigger for me to finally take terrifying but necessary actions.
- https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-17613/10-signs-fear-is-runni...
I hit almost all the boxes and understood why I felt like a control freak.
Causality1 2021-08-19 11:58:15 +0000 UTC [ - ]
bigie35 2021-08-19 12:28:57 +0000 UTC [ - ]
alichapman 2021-08-19 12:55:01 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Really interesting conversation about the nature of happiness. For a lot of my life I was convinced that if I achieved my goals then I would become happy - "if I get into this uni, get this grade, get this job, etc...".
Then when I started working I couldn't work out why career success wasn't translating into feeling better. In hindsight it's obvious that getting paid more money doesn't automatically make you happy, but it was only after reading this article that it really clicked for me.
Nemi 2021-08-19 14:37:59 +0000 UTC [ - ]
More specifically, the post explains the difference in Social Class and Working Class and how we often conflate those two things when in discussion. We often talk about “lower”, “middle” and “upper” classes, but the author proposes that those are actually Working Classes and not necessarily related to Social classes. We often migrate one or maybe two social classes higher or lower in our lifetime, but movements more than two rungs is prohibitively difficult.
It is an interesting way to look at society.
https://siderea.livejournal.com/1260265.html?format=light&fb...
kissgyorgy 2021-08-19 15:57:04 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-y...
BiteCode_dev 2021-08-19 15:46:10 +0000 UTC [ - ]
iambateman 2021-08-19 14:18:20 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Politics and the English language by Orwell.
Not a blog post but it’s within the spirit of the question.
It changed how I write.
phoe18 2021-08-19 13:35:24 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://hackernoon.com/rick-and-morty-and-the-meaning-of-lif...
A blog about meaning of life and its purpose using clips from popular shows and movies. I have re-read this piece several times and I come out with something new at the end of each read.
kitd 2021-08-19 15:04:31 +0000 UTC [ - ]
[1] http://haacked.com/archive/2013/10/21/argue-well-by-losing.a...
dorianmariefr 2021-08-19 16:05:16 +0000 UTC [ - ]
iamthemonster 2021-08-19 10:50:38 +0000 UTC [ - ]
At that age, I had very much assumed that the world had to work according to "work hard for 45 years, get the biggest house you can, buy as much stuff as you can, on your 65th birthday your company hands you a final salary pension that will last the rest of you life". Something had always felt a bit wrong about consumerism and the hedonic treadmill, but it took the brusque and entertaining prose of MMM to really stop and make me think.
Funnily enough, I now find him very grating, but he absolutely set me on a path of rethinking my life in my early 20s to truly think about what matters to me.
jacknews 2021-08-19 12:06:14 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Of course, don't spend on frivolous things. Do you really need the designer bag, instead of just a bag? Do you need that road-trip with your friends in your 20s? Do you really need to impress that boy/girl by taking them to a michelin restaurant for a date?
OTOH what is the opportunity, and life cost of being frugal or too frugal? Perhaps the designer bag caught the attention of the boss, and 'earned' their respect, which ultimately translated to a promotion. Perhaps you ended up finding your life parrter in one of your road-trip friends. Perhaps you didn't get the boy/girl because you cheaped out on the date. Etc.
Life is to be lived. Some moderation is required. Not too much though.
PragmaticPulp 2021-08-19 12:46:43 +0000 UTC [ - ]
FIRE content is best consumed in tiny doses. You can get 95% of what you need to know from a few blog posts, the Bogleheads Wiki, and creating a simple spreadsheet of your financial planning. That’s it.
The problem is that FIRE has become a magnet for people who are miserable and think retirement will solve all of their problems. This subset of FIRE people see their job as the source of all of their misery and have glorified the idea of FIRE as the only escape hatch. They think they’ll be finally be happy just as soon as they can save enough money (from the job they hate) and reduce their expenses (by ruthlessly cutting spending, even on things they enjoy) until the lines intercept on their FIRE projections.
There are many people following a FIRE path who don’t fit this stereotype, but those people aren’t the ones hanging out on FIRE forums discussing FIRE all day. The people who obsess over FIRE and want to create threads to trash talk their neighbors who had the audacity to go on an expensive vacation or write about how little they spent on food last year by eating lentils every day are predominantly the ones talking about it all the time. There just isn’t much to talk about once you’ve identified a retirement equilibrium target and established a plan, so most of the reasonable participants don’t bother hanging out in the FIRE communities.
There are exceptions to everything, of course, but I found that most real-world FIRE people I know don’t want anything to do with internet FIRE communities or MMM.
Finances are something that should enable the life you want, not something that should become the primary focus of your discussions, readings, and online discourse all of the time.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 2021-08-19 13:26:54 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Frankly I'm amazed that there are people who don't see their job as their primary source of misery. I mean, I can understand it on a logical level, I just can't empathize. When I take time off I get up every day and actually get to decide for myself what I want to do with it and that's amazing. Work doesn't permit me that. Instead I have to prioritize away most of the things I want to do and squeeze the rest in between the 8+ hour chunks of my time I'm forced to sell. I derive no meaning from my work, it simply exists to sustain me. I'd get a job with fewer hours, even with the significantly lower pay, but because I live in the US that's impossible if I also want to have decent healthcare.
PragmaticPulp 2021-08-19 13:33:29 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Wow, what a gloomy outlook. Have you really never, ever enjoyed your work or workplace? Your coworkers?
I certainly haven’t enjoyed every job or workplace, but I have a lot of fond memories of many workplaces and teams. I’ve had a lot of fun throughout my career and made some lasting friendships.
I suppose I’m in the opposite mindset: I’m amazed that there are people (in tech) who haven’t ever been able to find enjoyment in their work. We literally grew up to get paid to play on computers all day. There are plenty of opportunities out there to have a good time in this field, but they won’t necessarily fall into your lap.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 2021-08-19 13:52:13 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I enjoyed my part-time lab tutor job in college. I was paid $17/hr for <20hrs of work a week and largely just helped people understand their networking assignments when needed and otherwise did pretty much whatever the hell I wanted to do. The instructors who were my bosses were a lot of fun. I also got to help write curriculum and teach it to instructors at other schools, which is more fun than it sounds like.
Sadly, that job is not at all viable when one is no longer living with their parents and mooching off their healthcare.
I also liked the people I worked with at the school district enough to hang out with them after work, although we all did drink way way too much. The environment was terrible despite the people.
> I suppose I’m in the opposite mindset: I’m amazed that there are people (in tech) who haven’t ever been able to find enjoyment in their work. We literally grew up to get paid to play on computers all day.
Yeah, I have to wonder about people like you whenever I see a horrifically slow website laden with megs of javascript that is broken half the time. I don't get paid to "play" with computers at work, I get paid to keep infrastructure running and write programs that actually fulfill a business goal that isn't "farm users for ad revenue".
> There are plenty of opportunities out there to have a good time in this field
You wouldn't know it from reading the job ads. IT job ads make me want to kill myself.
the_only_law 2021-08-19 13:34:53 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Yeah that's the thing, I don't get paid to play on computers. I'd take such a role in minute, but there's a line of much smarter people than me there.
qnsi 2021-08-19 11:44:17 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Basically he talks about how when you retire depends on one number, percentage of money you can save from your pay. If you save 50% of your pay and invest it, you can retire in 16 years. Pretty eye openning
<1>https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-si...
codingdave 2021-08-19 11:53:22 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Life is more complicated than a blog post with some arithmetic.
anm89 2021-08-19 11:57:29 +0000 UTC [ - ]
The the world doesn't owe you a standard of living. If you want to have more money, spend less money. Or don't. It's your choice. Nothing insulting about it.
thehomestayer 2021-08-19 12:10:26 +0000 UTC [ - ]
PragmaticPulp 2021-08-19 12:59:31 +0000 UTC [ - ]
FIRE obviously isn’t meant for someone trying to live in an expensive city on a $15/hr wage. However, there really are many career paths that readily allow the math. You’re obviously going to struggle to make it work if your goal is to work for a non-profit in Seattle or San Francisco, but it’s entirely within reach if you choose to work for an average tech company in an average city. It’s also trivial to make the math work out if you’re able to get a FAANG job anywhere and keep your lifestyle in check.
> Saving 50% of your income when you are trying to make rent is a pipe dream.
Depends entirely on your lifestyle and relationship situation. Many of us easily achieved FIRE savings rates by simply getting married to another professional, choosing to keep expenses within the limits of one person’s income, and putting 100% of the other person’s income into savings. Instant 50% savings rate, and it’s not even difficult to be honest. As a bonus, it was easy to transition to having kids and a stay-at-home spouse because we already lived on one income.
Obviously doesn’t work for everyone in every situation, but it’s not correct to say it’s a pipe dream or that it can’t work. It’s a choice that requires choosing lifestyle and career directions to match, but everything is a tradeoff.
throwaway98797 2021-08-19 13:08:06 +0000 UTC [ - ]
If you make $125k a year why cant you live like those making 55k? That’s the pickle at upper middle class incomes your spending is a choice. Most people refuse to see that.
Zababa 2021-08-19 11:59:26 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I believe that part isn't exactly right, because you can increase your income way more than you can reduce what it takes for you to live. If you're a software engineer making let's say 70k, you can find a job where you make 150k, 200k or even more. If you currently spend 50k every year, it's way more effective than trying to spend less. You also have to take into account that once you retire you can live somewhere where the cost of living is lower.
froindt 2021-08-19 13:18:57 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I believe GP was more referring to the rough rule of thumb is to have 25x your annual expenses by the time you retire. +5k income versus -5k expenses, you're better off cutting your expenses. By cutting expenses, the target drops by 25xExpensesCut, and you're throwing an extra ExpensesCut towards savings, helping on both sides of the equation. Going from spending 95% of savings to 90% makes a huge difference on the timeline, but 50% to 45% is much more modest since the timeline for compounding growth is so much shorter.
Using 70k income, 50k expenses, and a 5% return, this would take about 30 years. [0]
75k income, 50k expenses goes to 25.2 years [1]
70k income, 45k expenses goes to 24 years [2]
150k income, 50k expenses goes to 10.6 years [3]
Another detail often forgotten about, salary is stated before taxes, spending is almost always after taxes. That further increases the power of decreasing expenses.
[0] https://networthify.com/calculator/earlyretirement?income=70...
[1] https://networthify.com/calculator/earlyretirement?income=75...
[2] https://networthify.com/calculator/earlyretirement?income=70...
[3] https://networthify.com/calculator/earlyretirement?income=15...*
Zababa 2021-08-19 13:34:35 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I don't know how hard is doubling your income in general, but I don't know if it's always harder than dividing by two your expenses. The thing is that by focusing on earning more, you will end up with more money, and at that point you can always cut back expenses. While if you focus on cutting back expenses, you will end up with less money.
PragmaticPulp 2021-08-19 13:03:10 +0000 UTC [ - ]
However, telling people to work on earning more feels like an impossibly difficult ask for many. You’ll get instant pushback when you suggest it, so bloggers avoid it.
FIRE blogging is more about pandering to what people want to hear. It is, after all, a big money blogging niche these days. Alienating the reader is to be avoided if you want to keep readership up, so career and earnings are to be approached delicately if at all in their writings.
Zababa 2021-08-19 15:41:19 +0000 UTC [ - ]
deegles 2021-08-19 15:43:55 +0000 UTC [ - ]
rchaud 2021-08-19 14:37:57 +0000 UTC [ - ]
If you lose your job, or spend a chunk of your savings in a family emergency of some kind, then what? Do you have to save 80% of your take home to make up for the lost savings?
zschuessler 2021-08-19 12:13:22 +0000 UTC [ - ]
* https://neilonsoftware.com/soft-skills-every-dev-should-know...
This next one isn't life-changing. But, it has intriguing ideas in it, summarized from Fooled by Randomness:
* https://jamesclear.com/book-summaries/fooled-by-randomness
The last link has a trove of top-tier content if you go to the articles section. Smart lad!
urxvtcd 2021-08-19 14:15:20 +0000 UTC [ - ]
endriju 2021-08-19 14:47:53 +0000 UTC [ - ]
rbanffy 2021-08-19 13:17:12 +0000 UTC [ - ]
For me, personally, it was the third time I was smacked in the head with that qualitative productivity jump based on superior technology before I could articulate it in words. First was with Cincom’s Mantis, then Dataflex 2 (3 was crap), and then with Zope.
agomez314 2021-08-19 12:42:26 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Reading the post, it became clear to me that it was not about how quick or deep you can learn a language, but rather what are all the ideas and abstractions that enable such a language to exist. Computer science really was more than just computers. After reading that post I looked around and discovered the youtube videos of SICP, which have done more for my love and knowledge of programming than the entire MA program I took.
Link: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2005/12/29/the-perils-of-java...
videlov 2021-08-19 12:48:24 +0000 UTC [ - ]
He planted the idea of "The Blub Paradox" in my head, which years later made me look at Git and version control through a different lens. Eventually I co-founded a company (Sturdy YCW21) making collaborating on code better.
peteretep 2021-08-19 13:59:49 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://autotranslucence.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/becoming-a...
begueradj 2021-08-19 15:03:28 +0000 UTC [ - ]
bluishgreen 2021-08-19 15:21:19 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Iuz 2021-08-19 15:00:21 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Learned a lot from this fighting game community creator, Core-A gaming, video about community, and even tho I can't say it changed my life, it did change the way I see a couple of things forever.
entaloneralie 2021-08-19 14:47:24 +0000 UTC [ - ]
"Some people build boats to build boats – but that wasn’t us. We built a boat to go sailing. "
https://www.yachtmollymawk.com/2014/11/zen-and-the-art-of-bo...
jenkstom 2021-08-19 14:08:33 +0000 UTC [ - ]
skyfaller 2021-08-19 13:09:02 +0000 UTC [ - ]
All of Low-Tech Magazine's articles are worth reading, but this one in particular inspired me to start a web design business focused on radical sustainability. I haven't really succeeded yet, but this article gave me a goal I've been pursuing off and on since I read it.
snarkypixel 2021-08-19 15:30:37 +0000 UTC [ - ]
elmalto 2021-08-19 12:39:14 +0000 UTC [ - ]
tvirosi 2021-08-19 12:42:44 +0000 UTC [ - ]
slipwalker 2021-08-19 12:13:37 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Brajeshwar 2021-08-19 13:59:29 +0000 UTC [ - ]
tomcooks 2021-08-19 14:28:07 +0000 UTC [ - ]
or sage this page as linkstocheckout.html and in a terminal try filtering out urls with grep:
```
grep -Eoi '<a [^>]+>' linkstocheckout.html | grep -Eo 'href="[^\"]+"' | grep -Eo '(http|https)://[^/"]+'
```
yrannes 2021-08-19 13:46:38 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Also maybe not life-changing, but absolutely gave me a lot to think about that I found incredibly rewarding and enjoyable.
aarondf 2021-08-19 12:39:18 +0000 UTC [ - ]
ryandrake 2021-08-19 15:53:27 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I think the past two years has provided even more evidence that simply letting people act however they want based on self-interest and relying on Nash for good outcomes can even be deadly.
1: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/
lewisjoe 2021-08-19 15:11:43 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Made me realise smartwork is bs. If you want to boost productivity, increase your focus span. There's no other hack.
ntoll 2021-08-19 12:55:51 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Putting thoughts into words for others to understand is a creative activity that keeps on giving for all sorts of subtle reasons. (What reasons..? Write a blog and find out for yourself!)
anm89 2021-08-19 11:54:33 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anythin...
honkdaddy 2021-08-19 12:58:40 +0000 UTC [ - ]
michaelbuckbee 2021-08-19 12:15:33 +0000 UTC [ - ]
f0e4c2f7 2021-08-19 12:30:12 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/how-i-became-the-honest-brok...
vitorbaptistaa 2021-08-19 13:47:22 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I was raised in a Christian family, as most Brazilians are, but was never really into it. I don't remember praying after I grew up a bit (10+ years), and even before I was more saying the words than really meaning it.
Then my father passed away when I was 12 (he was in his 40s, died of cancer).
This led me on a few rabbit roles reading and talking about religion and the great questions of life. As I think many with a more analytical mindset, nothing really felt right, so I ended up being mostly atheist, with a few sparkles of buddhism and cristianity here and there.
Later in my 20s, I dated and later married an amazing woman who is a True Believer. She's the daughter of a shaman with a buddhist monk, and has been meditating since she was born.
Many more conversations ensued. I explored some of the "alternative" religions, and enjoyed especially the animist ones (Earth, Sun and Moon are pretty close to gods in my mind). I also tried mushrooms, which were amazing on breaking my usual brain paths and allowing me to see from a different perspective.
But it still didn't feel right. Again, I was trying to understand religions with an analytical mind, which can only get me so far. I felt I was missing on something big (I still do).
The world is too complex to be explained only with rationality and the scientific method, but at the same time explaining things based on dreams and our collective memory didn't seem much better.
It was around this time I read the "Religion for the Nonreligious" article.
There were no giant breakthroughs, and the text is somewhat reductionist. Still, it was one of the first times I read about religion in a way that really clicked (other times were reading about some parts of buddhism and meditation).
One of the things that religion provides to people is structure. The world is too complex, and the nonsensical things happening every day can weigh someone down. Religious people can go on with their days knowing that there's a bigger plan. I think this makes them more resilient to the life challenges that will appear, sooner or later (although this resiliency can disappear quickly, just see at the number of people that blame God after some disaster happen on their lives).
This text gave me some structure to think about where I am, where humanity is, and where I want to be. It made the world a little less chaotic, allowing me to see not only the little daily things, but also keep the bigger picture in mind.
It gave me some peace of mind and, after all these years since I first read it, I still think about it every week.
rado 2021-08-19 12:10:43 +0000 UTC [ - ]
https://medium.com/free-code-camp/the-100-correct-way-to-do-...
RobertRoberts 2021-08-19 14:20:02 +0000 UTC [ - ]
ema 2021-08-19 14:29:09 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Around that time I Somehow stumbled upon this[1] article on how to make a Buddhist bone trumpet. It took me completely by surprise, the topic, the author, the tone, the context of Buddhism, nothing fit together like I expected. It was the most absurd thing I ever read and I kept laughing, at the same time it felt utterly genuine. My curiosity piqued I read the other less bizarre articles from the author about Buddhism and life in general. It dawned on me that my attempt at completely controlling my life had, in fact, caused me to lose control over it. The process of learning to accept unpredictability and open myself to the world, that started the evening I read that article, was by no means always this fun, but looking back boy was it worth it.
[1] https://buddhism-for-vampires.com/kangling-chod
reidjs 2021-08-19 15:03:49 +0000 UTC [ - ]
certeoun 2021-08-19 16:28:26 +0000 UTC [ - ]
zxlk21e 2021-08-19 15:40:34 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Could you possibly unpack this for me a little bit? It strikes me as absolutely true for me, too, or at least sounds like it could be true, but I'm pulling at a thread I can't quite grasp.
mekoka 2021-08-19 16:45:26 +0000 UTC [ - ]
In the Buddhist philosophy the notion that you can control anything other than yourself is considered absurd. Even conceding that you have control over yourself is being generous. A need for control then becomes a major source of frustration, or as it's often referred to in this context, dissatisfaction or suffering. By studying the philosophy, you gradually untangle the absurdity and you progressively start to see the theory be manifested in reality. You then learn to accept it and see the absurdity of your own desire for control.
I can say that to you and it might make sense. But that's still at the theoretical level. For it to be true to you, you need to make the journey yourself.
ema 2021-08-19 16:30:05 +0000 UTC [ - ]
buddhistdude 2021-08-19 15:54:56 +0000 UTC [ - ]
zxlk21e 2021-08-19 16:04:09 +0000 UTC [ - ]
In addition to that though, I think I (and others?) make sense of the world through narrative and there is value to other people's narratives, though that may be in conflict with the context of your comment.
mekoka 2021-08-19 16:12:26 +0000 UTC [ - ]
buddhistdude 2021-08-19 16:08:40 +0000 UTC [ - ]
krelian 2021-08-19 16:24:39 +0000 UTC [ - ]
yewenjie 2021-08-19 14:37:52 +0000 UTC [ - ]
donatj 2021-08-19 16:04:51 +0000 UTC [ - ]
I genuinely think this is the key to happiness and success in general. Roll with the waves rather than trying to fight them. You can guide your life while still smelling the roses along the way.
mistermann 2021-08-19 16:15:41 +0000 UTC [ - ]