4 ms·

Maintain multiple independent identities. Exercise and make friends with people who do your preferred activity. If you have a startup or a high profile job, bl

Maintain multiple independent identities. Exercise and make friends with people who do your preferred activity. If you have a startup or a high profile job, blog or tweet as your own persona about topics that do not fall under your line of work, but are still interesting to you. Keep up friendships and dating and when you talk about work, only do so when it is a good story. Socialize with people that live differently than you. There’s nothing as encouraging as talking with a bartender your same age that has a few housemates and can’t decide if they should go to grad school. You realize that you have lots of time to figure things out and to try many things in life

atak1 9y ago
this is great advice, and something I wish I took more to heart when I was doing my startup out of college. to add my 2c to this answer, I've found it's a lot easier if you've worked in a team in a more established company for 2-4 years. you know what you can and can't do, and don't have to "prove your worth". you can establish friendships, dating patterns, blogging, vlogging. ultimately, I suspect the depression comes from a sense that you're not part of a bigger group with a shared identity. the above advice works to remind you that you are: you're part of the working class, a boxing gym, a family, etc.
- finaliteration 9y ago
  > ultimately, I suspect the depression comes from a sense that you're not part of a bigger group with a shared identity. I think this is a big part of it. I have chronic depression and anxiety but it’s pretty manageable because I work on a small-ish team and get to solve problems in a group setting a lot. In other jobs I’ve worked where I was isolated (like being the only technical person for an entire company of 100 people) I felt incredibly depressed, alone, and like I wasn’t going anywhere. A good team early on can make a huge difference in terms of feeling supported and building confidence.
analog31 9y ago
Playing music was how I got myself to do these things. It's a really fresh perspective to hang out with people who don't give a rat's arse about your job, and are better than you at something else.
pjc50 9y ago
"Maintain multiple independent identities" is extremely good advice. As a student I had a moment when I decided that the standard geek "identity package" of things one was supposed to like and do was ... limiting, and that it would be better to have a wider set of interests.
- jxub 9y ago
  Accepting the "package" is almost like embracing a cult, the cult of conformity, making itself easier to predict and monetize by the omnipresent algorithms of the tech giants that seem to have replaced god by a lot of data-crunching, leaving humanity to devise new schemes of control. This is a rejection of the process of discovery of oneself and of a, somehow Nieztschean, independent and autonomous path in life. Independent identities allow you to construct your being with many different fragments and melt them into one, like a Picasso painting or Vivaldi's Four Seasons play.

atak1 9y ago

this is great advice, and something I wish I took more to heart when I was doing my startup out of college. to add my 2c to this answer, I've found it's a lot easier if you've worked in a team in a more established company for 2-4 years. you know what you can and can't do, and don't have to "prove your worth". you can establish friendships, dating patterns, blogging, vlogging. ultimately, I suspect the depression comes from a sense that you're not part of a bigger group with a shared identity. the above advice works to remind you that you are: you're part of the working class, a boxing gym, a family, etc.

finaliteration 9y ago
> ultimately, I suspect the depression comes from a sense that you're not part of a bigger group with a shared identity. I think this is a big part of it. I have chronic depression and anxiety but it’s pretty manageable because I work on a small-ish team and get to solve problems in a group setting a lot. In other jobs I’ve worked where I was isolated (like being the only technical person for an entire company of 100 people) I felt incredibly depressed, alone, and like I wasn’t going anywhere. A good team early on can make a huge difference in terms of feeling supported and building confidence.

analog31 9y ago

Playing music was how I got myself to do these things. It's a really fresh perspective to hang out with people who don't give a rat's arse about your job, and are better than you at something else.

pjc50 9y ago

"Maintain multiple independent identities" is extremely good advice. As a student I had a moment when I decided that the standard geek "identity package" of things one was supposed to like and do was ... limiting, and that it would be better to have a wider set of interests.

jxub 9y ago
Accepting the "package" is almost like embracing a cult, the cult of conformity, making itself easier to predict and monetize by the omnipresent algorithms of the tech giants that seem to have replaced god by a lot of data-crunching, leaving humanity to devise new schemes of control. This is a rejection of the process of discovery of oneself and of a, somehow Nieztschean, independent and autonomous path in life. Independent identities allow you to construct your being with many different fragments and melt them into one, like a Picasso painting or Vivaldi's Four Seasons play.