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>Sandberg’s anxiety had continued after launch. He worried about his financial security and felt like he’d wasted the last 10 years of his life. As someone in
by rl3 8y ago
>Sandberg’s anxiety had continued after launch. He worried about his financial security and felt like he’d wasted the last 10 years of his life.
As someone in a similar boat, the burn of "hey, I just wasted my 20s working on some project that didn't really go anywhere" is an incredibly painful pill to swallow, and perhaps something you never fully come to terms with. Life is so very short, don't waste it.
- projektir 8y ago> Life is so very short, don't waste it. I'm really not sure how this helps or what is the point here. Should people take no risks?
- rl3 8y agoOn the contrary. Take risks, just not at the expense of leading a fulfilling life. Youth is a terrible thing to waste on projects that have a statistically miniscule chance of success. Long-term solo projects are like taking a lengthy road trip. If your emotional gas tank is too low, you're going to end up miserable as you push the rest of the way, and neither accomplishes much of anything. Creative endeavors are best pursued in a happy state, which is to say not stressed out about finances nor teetering on the brink of crippling depression. The point is that people can have their cake and eat it too. As counterintuitive as that may seem, it's usually the case that most endeavors are not as urgent as they may seem, and that the risk involved is best taken from the most advantageous position possible. The time cost incurred by one's ancillary needs will likely end up a net benefit to the project in the end. The tricky part is, most people who end up working on solo projects absolutely don't envision themselves working on them for so long, so they're ill-prepared to begin with. It sort of happens by accident.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- Drdrdrq 8y agoYou can rephrase that to "hey, I just spent my 20s learning". It might sound cynical, but it's really not - each failure is a lesson.
- rl3 8y agoEasy enough to say in a professional context (~$1M or whatever in lost income be damned), harder to say in a personal or social context. Technically time not spent on relationships is time spent not learning in that specific regard, and the end result is being way behind the curve while peers end up married and whatnot. In keeping with the vein of your comment though, it sure as hell teaches you to value the time you've got left.
- colordrops 8y agoBetter than wasting away in a corporate cube hell.
- rl3 8y agoUsually corporate cube hell is a means to an end outside of said hell, but HN is littered with stories of people being utterly consumed (in a bad, soul-crushing way) by their workplace all the time, so good point.
- tinus_hn 8y agoStories of people just contently working in their cubicle and not caring aren’t interesting. There is a certain selection bias.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoBeyond selection bias already mentioned, I suppose some of that comes from people who try to find some meaning in their corporate job. Because what's soul crushing is the realization you spend 3/4 of your waking hours doing pointless work that's not meaningful to you, your friends, or often even society at large. (Sometimes it's because it's a socially negative job that serves only to enrich some people at the cost of everyone else (cough ad cough tech), but often - perhaps more often - it's because of the complexity of our world. Your job may be a crucial component to some very socially good thing, but if it's one of thousands of such components, it can be hard to see the connection between your work and the end result.)
- davemp 8y agoCube hell isn’t the only possible situation for cube level workers either. Working with people you like on projects with varying levels of appeal, while gradually improving your personal situation, can be a very satisfying way to spend your career. Grandiose goals are a risky way to look for meaning/value in life.
- imtringued 8y agoCrunch hell or cube hell are about the same. The difference is that in cube hell you walk away with a lot more money.
- grecy 8y ago>the burn of "hey, I just wasted my 20s working on some project that didn't really go anywhere" is an incredibly painful pill to swallow, and perhaps something you never fully come to terms with. But it's a thousand times less painful to swallow than the one that goes "I never tried to live my dreams". It's a thousand times better to try and fail than to never try at all. THAT is what life is all about.
- sigi45 8y agoIs it? Minecraft and co did the one in a million. Everyone else did not. You hear very very rarely from them. While they did something without results, people around them have a house, family, holiday and money for retirement. For sure believe in your dreams but try to evaluate what you are doing. There is a tremendous amount of crap out there no one needs or wants and behind that crap there is all story.
- redisman 8y agoSome people value different things. It's also not that hard to find a job which allows you to buy a house etc, when you can show how much hard work you can put in to a product. At least in the games industry these people are revered.
- colordrops 8y agoI spent more than 7 years on a failed company. And this was in my 30s, let alone 20s. My friends around me are all wealthy with paid off houses. I am not. But I traveled the earth, had crazy adventures, and was able the parlay my experience into one of the most coveted jobs on earth and am now nearly financially caught up with my friends after another 5 years. It was a struggle, but it was worth it, and I have no regrets.
- unrealisticexc 8y agoWhat does it mean "not to waste your life"? That's a null statement. It doesn't really say anything. Don't suffer needlessly is a more apt advice, because everyone knows what the suffering in their context is.
- flyinglizard 8y agoIt's only wasteful if you don't take anything away from it. Everything I've done made me better. I am nothing but the sum of my experiences.