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Some of us actually enjoy creating and producing. It seems that you are suggesting an irreconcilable dichotomy between work and enjoyment of life with your phr

by haploid 16y ago

Some of us actually enjoy creating and producing. It seems that you are suggesting an irreconcilable dichotomy between work and enjoyment of life with your phrase "turn your whole life over to it". In point of fact, many people do this as part of living, and don't count it as work. Most children, when building novel( to them )structures with legos, lincoln logs, blocks, etc, are not "turning their whole lives over to it". They are living, and they are enjoying themselves.

alex_c 16y ago
There's a difference between creating and putting out fires, though. I enjoy creating, but I can also set it aside long enough to spend some time with someone. I DON'T enjoy putting out fires, but it is usually a necessary evil towards a more significant goal. It's amazing to have a SO who understands and accommodates that, but the two shouldn't be confused - it's the difference between having to fix an emergency, and enjoying coding more than sharing a meal with your SO.
- franimal61 16y ago
  I agree with you, I just want to point out the fact that he (the startup guy) DID go to brunch with his SO. I'm sure that it would have been easier for him to just stay home and work, and go out "some other time" or something like that. I really like that it seems like they both compromised on brunch that day. He joined her for brunch, and she was alright with him doing work at brunch. Seems like they have a really good relationship.
swift 16y ago
Thanks for posting this comment; though I agree with the poster you're replying to, you provide a good counterargument that gave me some insight. I greatly enjoy creating and producing, so count me in your camp on that issue. And yet I can't see the appeal of diving so deep into the creative process that you lose touch with other important things in life. As time goes by I increasingly view the opportunity cost as too much to bear. Your friends and family grow and change over time; they may move or die or drift away. If you don't spend quality time with them now, it may be prohibitive or impossible to make it up later. The places you've always dreamed of visiting may be very different when you come up for air (consider how New Orleans has changed). The bands you always wanted to see live may have broken up; the bands you wanted to play in may never have formed. You won't have participated in that historic march or rally, you won't have seen that rare animal before it went extinct, you won't have climbed that mountain and seen that glorious landscape before it was marred with suburbs and smokestacks. The world we live in is ephemeral, always changing, and you can never go back. That doesn't mean you can't create and produce and have a great time doing it, but it does mean that it's worthwhile to carve out enough time to experience as much as possible of the beauty this world has to offer. When I'm lying on my deathbed, I want to look back and remember a life lived to the fullest, full of experience and laughter and love. I do not want to look back at a lifetime spent staring at a laptop screen, regardless of how much I created or how much money I made. I think a person's stance on this subject is probably determined by the kinds of experiences that they value. If there are only a few types of experiences that really excite you, it probably makes sense to traverse life depth-first, and get as much out of those kinds of experiences as you can. That might mean that long hours and single-minded focus over long periods are the best way to achieve your goals in life. If you are excited by a wide variety of experiences in many different areas, a breadth-first traversal of life is probably more suitable.
enjo 16y ago
It's not that I don't enjoy it, it's that I try to balance my life around it. I really enjoy playing video games as well, but I'm not going to sacrifice the most important relationships in my life so that I can play a few more rounds of Call of Duty.

by haploid 16y ago

alex_c 16y ago

There's a difference between creating and putting out fires, though. I enjoy creating, but I can also set it aside long enough to spend some time with someone. I DON'T enjoy putting out fires, but it is usually a necessary evil towards a more significant goal. It's amazing to have a SO who understands and accommodates that, but the two shouldn't be confused - it's the difference between having to fix an emergency, and enjoying coding more than sharing a meal with your SO.

franimal61 16y ago
I agree with you, I just want to point out the fact that he (the startup guy) DID go to brunch with his SO. I'm sure that it would have been easier for him to just stay home and work, and go out "some other time" or something like that. I really like that it seems like they both compromised on brunch that day. He joined her for brunch, and she was alright with him doing work at brunch. Seems like they have a really good relationship.

swift 16y ago

Thanks for posting this comment; though I agree with the poster you're replying to, you provide a good counterargument that gave me some insight. I greatly enjoy creating and producing, so count me in your camp on that issue. And yet I can't see the appeal of diving so deep into the creative process that you lose touch with other important things in life. As time goes by I increasingly view the opportunity cost as too much to bear. Your friends and family grow and change over time; they may move or die or drift away. If you don't spend quality time with them now, it may be prohibitive or impossible to make it up later. The places you've always dreamed of visiting may be very different when you come up for air (consider how New Orleans has changed). The bands you always wanted to see live may have broken up; the bands you wanted to play in may never have formed. You won't have participated in that historic march or rally, you won't have seen that rare animal before it went extinct, you won't have climbed that mountain and seen that glorious landscape before it was marred with suburbs and smokestacks. The world we live in is ephemeral, always changing, and you can never go back. That doesn't mean you can't create and produce and have a great time doing it, but it does mean that it's worthwhile to carve out enough time to experience as much as possible of the beauty this world has to offer. When I'm lying on my deathbed, I want to look back and remember a life lived to the fullest, full of experience and laughter and love. I do not want to look back at a lifetime spent staring at a laptop screen, regardless of how much I created or how much money I made. I think a person's stance on this subject is probably determined by the kinds of experiences that they value. If there are only a few types of experiences that really excite you, it probably makes sense to traverse life depth-first, and get as much out of those kinds of experiences as you can. That might mean that long hours and single-minded focus over long periods are the best way to achieve your goals in life. If you are excited by a wide variety of experiences in many different areas, a breadth-first traversal of life is probably more suitable.

enjo 16y ago

It's not that I don't enjoy it, it's that I try to balance my life around it. I really enjoy playing video games as well, but I'm not going to sacrifice the most important relationships in my life so that I can play a few more rounds of Call of Duty.