4 ms·

The Helsinki Bus Station Theory (2006)

50 points by sturza 7y ago

burlesona 7y ago
TLDR; For a professional craft, the first few years down any path are well-trod by many other people, and you'll have a hard time separating yourself from the rest of the pack. Rather than be discouraged, abandon that expertise, and try to find a new path, "stay on the bus." As time goes on you'll find your path has fanned out from all the others and become quite distinct. In other words, your expertise will become clear and visible but only if you stick with it for a long time. This seems like a different spin on the "ten thousand hours" idea, or any number of other aphorisms that encourage individual professionals to stick with the grind for the long haul in order to reap the rewards which come only after a long time invested in a particular field.
- beering 7y ago
  The 10k hours idea, to me, feels like it's more about the distribution of competitors' skills. By the time you reach 10k hours, you're way on the right-hand side of the bell curve and there are very few more-experienced competitors. I'm guessing that staying on the bus line doesn't hold up for directly competitive things like sports, where fanning out from the field doesn't matter if it doesn't increase your win rate.
- 323454 7y ago
  Good TL;DR, but it's absolutely worth reading the whole piece because it is very beautifully written. At the top you will delight in what you have accomplished as much as become aware of peaks far higher than what you had ever dreamed of, peaks that from the distance when you first saw them were hard to judge for their heights.
- optimuspaul 7y ago
  Thanks, was having a very hard time reading it with all the broken images.
- taneq 7y ago
  From your first paragraph it sounds more like it’s saying that early careers have a low skill ceiling and so it’s hard to demonstrate high skill compared with the pack. Once you get further in your career and have access to exceptionally hard problems, it’s then possible to demonstrate exceptional skill.
dang 7y ago
A thread from 2017: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14728495 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14728495 2015: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10764682 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10764682 (Links for the curious. Reposts are ok after a year: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)
pachico 7y ago
How come a website so obviously devoted to visual perception doesn't have a mobile version of it? :(

50 points by sturza 7y ago

TLDR; For a professional craft, the first few years down any path are well-trod by many other people, and you'll have a hard time separating yourself from the rest of the pack. Rather than be discouraged, abandon that expertise, and try to find a new path, "stay on the bus." As time goes on you'll find your path has fanned out from all the others and become quite distinct. In other words, your expertise will become clear and visible but only if you stick with it for a long time. This seems like a different spin on the "ten thousand hours" idea, or any number of other aphorisms that encourage individual professionals to stick with the grind for the long haul in order to reap the rewards which come only after a long time invested in a particular field.

beering 7y ago
The 10k hours idea, to me, feels like it's more about the distribution of competitors' skills. By the time you reach 10k hours, you're way on the right-hand side of the bell curve and there are very few more-experienced competitors. I'm guessing that staying on the bus line doesn't hold up for directly competitive things like sports, where fanning out from the field doesn't matter if it doesn't increase your win rate.
323454 7y ago
Good TL;DR, but it's absolutely worth reading the whole piece because it is very beautifully written. At the top you will delight in what you have accomplished as much as become aware of peaks far higher than what you had ever dreamed of, peaks that from the distance when you first saw them were hard to judge for their heights.
optimuspaul 7y ago
Thanks, was having a very hard time reading it with all the broken images.
taneq 7y ago
From your first paragraph it sounds more like it’s saying that early careers have a low skill ceiling and so it’s hard to demonstrate high skill compared with the pack. Once you get further in your career and have access to exceptionally hard problems, it’s then possible to demonstrate exceptional skill.

dang 7y ago

A thread from 2017: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14728495 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14728495 2015: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10764682 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10764682 (Links for the curious. Reposts are ok after a year: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)

pachico 7y ago

How come a website so obviously devoted to visual perception doesn't have a mobile version of it? :(