4 ms·

You Don’t Have “Plenty of Time”

139 points by deegles 10y ago

deegles 10y ago
Applies to many things besides strength training...
wrong_variable 10y ago
When it comes to sticking to gym I really like Terry Crew's advice. If in your head you try to think of the "120Kg" deadlift you need to do, it might be hard to motivate yourself given that it might remind you of the pain involved. A easier technique is to think "I am going to go to gym and browse HN on the sofa", 50% of the battle is to get yourself to the gym and once you are there its much easier to do the 120Kg deadlift. After thinking about why I constantly fail to make going to the gym a routine - a big part of the problem is physiological.
- marban 10y ago
  Or, tell yourself you're only lifting 50+50+20kg. That way I run around 15km a day by splitting up the track into easily accomplishable lengths. I call it the Forrest Gump principle.
  - dpark 10y ago
    I can't tell if you're being sarcastic. You're really good at lying to yourself if the 50+50+20 trick works for lifting. With running, you can do 5km and then another 5km and then another. That can be a good psychological trick to keep yourself going. With weightlifting, you have to lift it at all once. You can use this trick for reps or sets, but not absolute weight.
- trentmb 10y ago
  I got a pull up bar and some gymnast rings. It's amazing how much of a mental hurdle going to the gym was. Now, I literally walk in my door, tear off my shirt, drop trow and get to work.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - sseagull 10y ago
    100% agreement here. I'm actually in the process of "discovering" bodyweight exercising, and am pretty excited to try it (waiting for a minor muscle strain to heal first. It should be good in a few days) I always got bored with weights and hated going to the gym. Just too big of an activation barrier and it always felt a bit too competitive, especially when first starting.
    - davidivadavid 10y ago
      In case you haven't come across it yet, I recommend checking out the Reddit Recommended Routine from /r/bodyweightfitness: https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommend...
    - trentmb 10y ago
      BWF requires, in my opinion, a bit more creativity. Put that hacker spirit to use!
  - ajmurmann 10y ago
    I very badly want gymnast rings and am currently contemplating where and how to install them. Any advise? Thanks!
    - trentmb 10y ago
      I hang them from my pull up bar. This (obviously) limits what you can do compared to a more open setup.
- ImTalking 10y ago
  Agree 100%. You just have to get yourself to the gym. Motivation does not happen at the house; it happens at the gym. Get to the gym, start warming-up and before long you are lifting.
forgotpwtomain 10y ago
This rings very true. It's very easy to do workaholic coding and neglect everything else and the trouble is that in the process of neglecting things long enough, you forget how valuable they were.
- rrecuero 10y ago
  Well said. In the end the only thing that matters are human connections. Achievement is a distant second
  - dpark 10y ago
    I wonder how people with monumental achievements feel about that. Did Einstein feel that his life would have been better if he'd accomplished less but spent more time with family and friends? How about Erdos? Jobs? Gates (does he feel that way now)? I suspect that people with truly significant achievements probably didn't/don't regret how they spent their time. People whose achievements mostly involve climbing the corporate ladder instead of seeing their kids' soccer games? Yeah, I bet a lot of them regret it.
    - rrecuero 10y ago
      Well said. I guess I could rephrase it as helping people. The great influencers you mentioned all managed to helped a lot of people through their achievements. For most of us, it is easier to help directly through human connection.
firasd 10y ago
“lots of the traps within ‘Plenty of Time’ are not due to us choosing other priorities. The traps are choosing comfort.” I think this hits the nail on the head. It's a mistake to think it's too late and what remains of life is going to rush you by, and it's also a mistake to think that time is unlimited. The way I resolve these two contrary directions is to figure out: when you're in the moment, what do you want to spend your life doing?
- falcolas 10y ago
  > what do you want to spend your life doing? Enjoying the life I have built for myself. After all, there's not really "Plenty of Time" left...
Fordrus 10y ago
It's all quite true. It's also, at times, a grindingly soul-crushing attitude that'll suck the joy out of your life and the excitement out of your soul. Every training cycle, every sleep/wake learning cycle, every moment where you could be amassing power for future endeavors, they are all viciously, cruelly, incessantly marching on, demanding you take advantage of them or suffer the consequences of weakness: not getting the promotion, being the one who is laid off, not landing the deal- it's all encapsulated in this attitude. And it is awful. But I don't believe it has to be. You can balance your life around gaining whatever kinds of strength you need, while also accepting the need not only for the rest and recovery required to cement your gains of physical strength or mental skill, but because you need to replenish your - well, whatever it is that makes you decide that staying alive is worth the trouble. And if there's only fear of lost achievement there, well, I feel like I've experienced that for part of my life, and it's fairly miserable and relatively ineffective at causing a person to, as the author admonishes, actually put things into effect. I'm going to go get some balance right now, I've been itching to play Overwatch all week, I am going to go and do it! :D
athenot 10y ago
These little delays or justifications to give in to comfort are actions that amount to a high opportunity cost. And I find that I am generally pretty bad at estimating opportunity costs at the moment where I have the choice to make the highest impact on them.
nostromo 10y ago
You know, once in a while, you should take a break from objectives and just enjoy life. > But days gone by are days gone by. What can you do from here – from today – to commit fewer errors? Because the truth is you don’t have plenty of time. These motivational posts tend to sound kind of sad and hollow to me. I love to lift weights myself, but if someone told me that a day spent with friends or family and not in the gym was an error -- I'd laugh. Does anyone really think that when they're an old man looking back, they're going to wish they had spent more time in the gym to deadlift 800 instead of "just" 700? Or will they wish they had spent more time enjoying life and taking it a bit easier?
- csallen 10y ago
  What's the point in spending your entire life just so you can look back in your final months and be pleased? I can't think of a reason why your happiness at the end of your life is any more important than your happiness in the middle of your life. Rather, a life well-spent is one in which the sum total of your happiness over time was at a max. That means factoring in what's important to you now, even if it won't matter to you later on.
  - falcolas 10y ago
    > I can't think of a reason why your happiness at the end of your life [...] is any more important than your happiness in the middle of your life. Especially since it's not guaranteed. There's a lot of people who never made it to the "end of their life", and a lot more people who had a retirement planned that they had to give up because life ended up having other plans for them.
  - nostromo 10y ago
    I totally agree with you. In fact, the thrust of my comment is that enjoying life today is undervalued. I bring up the "looking back" angle only because fear of regret is a central theme to these types of "your life is ending one minute at a time" motivational posts. And it's largely false -- you will not regret having enjoyed the simple things in life.
  - dwaltrip 10y ago
cyanbane 10y ago
I understand the mentality and applaud it. That being said, you have got to have balance between drive of craft and living life. Great read though for sure.
pyed 10y ago
Trust me, I do.
KenM 10y ago
"This was well before Facebook, and unless you were paying attention I was easy to not notice. It was 2007" Not to be overly pedantic, but facebook was around in 2004, so this was well after Facebook was around, I'm afraid. I was personally on FB at the end of 2005.
epimetheus 10y ago
This guy has good points, but he thinks 2007 was "way before facebook?" I thought I was a late joiner at late 2005 / early 2006, and I was 28 at the time; it seems pretty clueless to think 2007 was anything like 'before' facebook, let alone 'way before' Facebook.
austinjp 10y ago
You may care to read this: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-fiv... It seems likely our attitudes change as we age. Perhaps not, perhaps the imminence of death warps perspective. However, dying with minimal regrets is surely something to cherish. Anyway, whatever works for you.

139 points by deegles 10y ago

Applies to many things besides strength training...

When it comes to sticking to gym I really like Terry Crew's advice. If in your head you try to think of the "120Kg" deadlift you need to do, it might be hard to motivate yourself given that it might remind you of the pain involved. A easier technique is to think "I am going to go to gym and browse HN on the sofa", 50% of the battle is to get yourself to the gym and once you are there its much easier to do the 120Kg deadlift. After thinking about why I constantly fail to make going to the gym a routine - a big part of the problem is physiological.

marban 10y ago
Or, tell yourself you're only lifting 50+50+20kg. That way I run around 15km a day by splitting up the track into easily accomplishable lengths. I call it the Forrest Gump principle.
- dpark 10y ago
  I can't tell if you're being sarcastic. You're really good at lying to yourself if the 50+50+20 trick works for lifting. With running, you can do 5km and then another 5km and then another. That can be a good psychological trick to keep yourself going. With weightlifting, you have to lift it at all once. You can use this trick for reps or sets, but not absolute weight.
trentmb 10y ago
I got a pull up bar and some gymnast rings. It's amazing how much of a mental hurdle going to the gym was. Now, I literally walk in my door, tear off my shirt, drop trow and get to work.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- sseagull 10y ago
  100% agreement here. I'm actually in the process of "discovering" bodyweight exercising, and am pretty excited to try it (waiting for a minor muscle strain to heal first. It should be good in a few days) I always got bored with weights and hated going to the gym. Just too big of an activation barrier and it always felt a bit too competitive, especially when first starting.
  - davidivadavid 10y ago
    In case you haven't come across it yet, I recommend checking out the Reddit Recommended Routine from /r/bodyweightfitness: https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommend...
  - trentmb 10y ago
    BWF requires, in my opinion, a bit more creativity. Put that hacker spirit to use!
- ajmurmann 10y ago
  I very badly want gymnast rings and am currently contemplating where and how to install them. Any advise? Thanks!
  - trentmb 10y ago
    I hang them from my pull up bar. This (obviously) limits what you can do compared to a more open setup.
ImTalking 10y ago
Agree 100%. You just have to get yourself to the gym. Motivation does not happen at the house; it happens at the gym. Get to the gym, start warming-up and before long you are lifting.

forgotpwtomain 10y ago

This rings very true. It's very easy to do workaholic coding and neglect everything else and the trouble is that in the process of neglecting things long enough, you forget how valuable they were.

rrecuero 10y ago
Well said. In the end the only thing that matters are human connections. Achievement is a distant second
- dpark 10y ago
  I wonder how people with monumental achievements feel about that. Did Einstein feel that his life would have been better if he'd accomplished less but spent more time with family and friends? How about Erdos? Jobs? Gates (does he feel that way now)? I suspect that people with truly significant achievements probably didn't/don't regret how they spent their time. People whose achievements mostly involve climbing the corporate ladder instead of seeing their kids' soccer games? Yeah, I bet a lot of them regret it.
  - rrecuero 10y ago
    Well said. I guess I could rephrase it as helping people. The great influencers you mentioned all managed to helped a lot of people through their achievements. For most of us, it is easier to help directly through human connection.

firasd 10y ago

“lots of the traps within ‘Plenty of Time’ are not due to us choosing other priorities. The traps are choosing comfort.” I think this hits the nail on the head. It's a mistake to think it's too late and what remains of life is going to rush you by, and it's also a mistake to think that time is unlimited. The way I resolve these two contrary directions is to figure out: when you're in the moment, what do you want to spend your life doing?

falcolas 10y ago
> what do you want to spend your life doing? Enjoying the life I have built for myself. After all, there's not really "Plenty of Time" left...

Fordrus 10y ago

It's all quite true. It's also, at times, a grindingly soul-crushing attitude that'll suck the joy out of your life and the excitement out of your soul. Every training cycle, every sleep/wake learning cycle, every moment where you could be amassing power for future endeavors, they are all viciously, cruelly, incessantly marching on, demanding you take advantage of them or suffer the consequences of weakness: not getting the promotion, being the one who is laid off, not landing the deal- it's all encapsulated in this attitude. And it is awful. But I don't believe it has to be. You can balance your life around gaining whatever kinds of strength you need, while also accepting the need not only for the rest and recovery required to cement your gains of physical strength or mental skill, but because you need to replenish your - well, whatever it is that makes you decide that staying alive is worth the trouble. And if there's only fear of lost achievement there, well, I feel like I've experienced that for part of my life, and it's fairly miserable and relatively ineffective at causing a person to, as the author admonishes, actually put things into effect. I'm going to go get some balance right now, I've been itching to play Overwatch all week, I am going to go and do it! :D

athenot 10y ago

These little delays or justifications to give in to comfort are actions that amount to a high opportunity cost. And I find that I am generally pretty bad at estimating opportunity costs at the moment where I have the choice to make the highest impact on them.

nostromo 10y ago

You know, once in a while, you should take a break from objectives and just enjoy life. > But days gone by are days gone by. What can you do from here – from today – to commit fewer errors? Because the truth is you don’t have plenty of time. These motivational posts tend to sound kind of sad and hollow to me. I love to lift weights myself, but if someone told me that a day spent with friends or family and not in the gym was an error -- I'd laugh. Does anyone really think that when they're an old man looking back, they're going to wish they had spent more time in the gym to deadlift 800 instead of "just" 700? Or will they wish they had spent more time enjoying life and taking it a bit easier?

csallen 10y ago
What's the point in spending your entire life just so you can look back in your final months and be pleased? I can't think of a reason why your happiness at the end of your life is any more important than your happiness in the middle of your life. Rather, a life well-spent is one in which the sum total of your happiness over time was at a max. That means factoring in what's important to you now, even if it won't matter to you later on.
- falcolas 10y ago
  > I can't think of a reason why your happiness at the end of your life [...] is any more important than your happiness in the middle of your life. Especially since it's not guaranteed. There's a lot of people who never made it to the "end of their life", and a lot more people who had a retirement planned that they had to give up because life ended up having other plans for them.
- nostromo 10y ago
  I totally agree with you. In fact, the thrust of my comment is that enjoying life today is undervalued. I bring up the "looking back" angle only because fear of regret is a central theme to these types of "your life is ending one minute at a time" motivational posts. And it's largely false -- you will not regret having enjoyed the simple things in life.
- dwaltrip 10y ago

cyanbane 10y ago

I understand the mentality and applaud it. That being said, you have got to have balance between drive of craft and living life. Great read though for sure.

pyed 10y ago

Trust me, I do.

KenM 10y ago

"This was well before Facebook, and unless you were paying attention I was easy to not notice. It was 2007" Not to be overly pedantic, but facebook was around in 2004, so this was well after Facebook was around, I'm afraid. I was personally on FB at the end of 2005.

epimetheus 10y ago

This guy has good points, but he thinks 2007 was "way before facebook?" I thought I was a late joiner at late 2005 / early 2006, and I was 28 at the time; it seems pretty clueless to think 2007 was anything like 'before' facebook, let alone 'way before' Facebook.

austinjp 10y ago

You may care to read this: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-fiv... It seems likely our attitudes change as we age. Perhaps not, perhaps the imminence of death warps perspective. However, dying with minimal regrets is surely something to cherish. Anyway, whatever works for you.