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<checks age of author> age = two years out of college. I'm pushing 40. The competition for my time between doing a great job as a husband, colleague, son, fam

by ISL 6y ago

<checks age of author> age = two years out of college. I'm pushing 40. The competition for my time between doing a great job as a husband, colleague, son, family member, scientist, and human has never been greater. Indeed, at 24, I couldn't have perceived the competition between goals on which I place maximum weight. It is possible not to have enough time to do things well. I care very much.

smohare 6y ago
Exactly. Boundless free time is often equivalent to no responsibilities. Im not sure how this piece ended up on HN.
Eric_WVGG 6y ago
The author has clearly never heard of decision fatigue. The mind is a muscle and while it can be strengthened, like any muscle it has limits. As one grows more experienced and gets a better understanding of their mental faculties, they come to realize — subconsciously or not — that they are only good for so much thinking in a day. Thus extreme measures like the Steve Jobs-ian "uniform" and chugging soylent instead of wasting five precious minutes every day pondering what to have for lunch. I've been immersed in "startup culture" for just over a decade now, and if I have one acute observation, it's the shift from "never not working" as an ethos to obsessing over not burning out. There is an entire genre of people thinking very hard about mind-hacks to avoid it (yes, irony alert). Looking forward to when this dude slams into the wall. (I'm guilty of the "uniform" strategy, incidentally, went to H&M and bought 20 identical black t-shirts and 10 white button-up dress shirts, best decision ever) ((second best decision was scheduling all meetings for the second half of the afternoon))
- awinder 6y ago
  I’ve noticed the same sort of switchover, although there’s the crazy outliers I think it’s mostly come from a good place & I’m happy to see it. Anyone that has to go through burnout knows that A) it sucks and B) there was now no time efficiency to what you were doing, because you are now ~0% effective. Basically it feels like the industry just read the operating manual on the human brain and realized collectively it wasn’t sustainable.
- Ologn 6y ago
  Andy Bechtolsheim said when Bill Joy worked at CSRG, he figured out how much longer it took him to write an e-mail when he had to hit the shift key versus when typing in all lowercase. Subsequently, all his CSRG e-mails seem to be in lowercase. Marshall McKusick took over Joy's role when he left to found Sun. McKusick said he thought he was capable of any programming feat Joy could do, the difference between them is that what took McKusick a month, Joy could do in four days.
FlagsAreFun 6y ago
I agree - I read this less as "you have time" and more as "I have time, and I assume my experience is universal so it applies to you." I hope this blog stays up for 10 years so the author can look at it then in retrospect with years of accumulated knowledge.
jacobolus 6y ago
The blog post isn’t exactly wrong (leaving aside akrasia, fatigue, ...): > The fact is that when one truly wants something and wants it more than everything else competing for the time in their day, one will absolutely make the time for that thing. Time does not come out of thin air. It comes from the other things we occupy ourselves doing. It just so happens that “make sure my 3.5 year old and 1 year old are safe, healthy, more or less nice to each-other, doing interesting things with their time, making steady progress learning new skills, etc.” comes before “devote my full attention to my current programming problem 24/7”.
- cameronh90 6y ago
  It's not wrong, it's a straw man. When someone says they don't have time, that's just shorthand for all their other more important commitments take up their time. Making that out to be a lie or personal failure just strikes me as someone who lacks life experience.
  - jacobolus 6y ago
    Yes of course, the author is grossly misunderstanding what people mean when they say “I don’t have time”. But he is correct that it is not literally true in the strictest sense.
- robjan 6y ago
  I think the alternative boils down to "neglect my child so I have more free time" which isn't really a sensible option.
hermitdev 6y ago
This doesn't resonate well with me either at 39 years of age. When I was single, lived alone in my 20s, I could put in 300-400 miles on my bike recreationally. Now that I'm married, 3 step kids, I'm lucky to have 1-2 hours free, and I usually spend it with my wife.
- aSplash0fDerp 6y ago
  If you could go back (asking the last few posts on this link), would you delay the start of a family? My bet is that the author sets/follows a 21st century trend that delays clicking on the family.exe or ransomware.exe email attachment :). Knowledge work should get better with age compared to physical labor, so there may be around 2 decades on the table (married at 25 vs 45) that you are reallocating from your retired years into your prime ones, leaving upwards of 50 years to raise a family. It may even make being a healthy octogenarian a better wind-down experience compared to the current timeline for knowledge workers in place. The late-bloomer economy is non-existent (speaking from experience), but this could very well change to accomodate the articles narrative. I haven't had to synchronize my biological clock to anyone yet (code for lucky) and think the Porsche analogy is a little outdated for how much time is really worth.

by ISL 6y ago

smohare 6y ago

Exactly. Boundless free time is often equivalent to no responsibilities. Im not sure how this piece ended up on HN.

Eric_WVGG 6y ago

The author has clearly never heard of decision fatigue. The mind is a muscle and while it can be strengthened, like any muscle it has limits. As one grows more experienced and gets a better understanding of their mental faculties, they come to realize — subconsciously or not — that they are only good for so much thinking in a day. Thus extreme measures like the Steve Jobs-ian "uniform" and chugging soylent instead of wasting five precious minutes every day pondering what to have for lunch. I've been immersed in "startup culture" for just over a decade now, and if I have one acute observation, it's the shift from "never not working" as an ethos to obsessing over not burning out. There is an entire genre of people thinking very hard about mind-hacks to avoid it (yes, irony alert). Looking forward to when this dude slams into the wall. (I'm guilty of the "uniform" strategy, incidentally, went to H&M and bought 20 identical black t-shirts and 10 white button-up dress shirts, best decision ever) ((second best decision was scheduling all meetings for the second half of the afternoon))

awinder 6y ago
I’ve noticed the same sort of switchover, although there’s the crazy outliers I think it’s mostly come from a good place & I’m happy to see it. Anyone that has to go through burnout knows that A) it sucks and B) there was now no time efficiency to what you were doing, because you are now ~0% effective. Basically it feels like the industry just read the operating manual on the human brain and realized collectively it wasn’t sustainable.
Ologn 6y ago
Andy Bechtolsheim said when Bill Joy worked at CSRG, he figured out how much longer it took him to write an e-mail when he had to hit the shift key versus when typing in all lowercase. Subsequently, all his CSRG e-mails seem to be in lowercase. Marshall McKusick took over Joy's role when he left to found Sun. McKusick said he thought he was capable of any programming feat Joy could do, the difference between them is that what took McKusick a month, Joy could do in four days.

FlagsAreFun 6y ago

I agree - I read this less as "you have time" and more as "I have time, and I assume my experience is universal so it applies to you." I hope this blog stays up for 10 years so the author can look at it then in retrospect with years of accumulated knowledge.

jacobolus 6y ago

The blog post isn’t exactly wrong (leaving aside akrasia, fatigue, ...): > The fact is that when one truly wants something and wants it more than everything else competing for the time in their day, one will absolutely make the time for that thing. Time does not come out of thin air. It comes from the other things we occupy ourselves doing. It just so happens that “make sure my 3.5 year old and 1 year old are safe, healthy, more or less nice to each-other, doing interesting things with their time, making steady progress learning new skills, etc.” comes before “devote my full attention to my current programming problem 24/7”.

cameronh90 6y ago
It's not wrong, it's a straw man. When someone says they don't have time, that's just shorthand for all their other more important commitments take up their time. Making that out to be a lie or personal failure just strikes me as someone who lacks life experience.
- jacobolus 6y ago
  Yes of course, the author is grossly misunderstanding what people mean when they say “I don’t have time”. But he is correct that it is not literally true in the strictest sense.
robjan 6y ago
I think the alternative boils down to "neglect my child so I have more free time" which isn't really a sensible option.

hermitdev 6y ago

This doesn't resonate well with me either at 39 years of age. When I was single, lived alone in my 20s, I could put in 300-400 miles on my bike recreationally. Now that I'm married, 3 step kids, I'm lucky to have 1-2 hours free, and I usually spend it with my wife.

aSplash0fDerp 6y ago
If you could go back (asking the last few posts on this link), would you delay the start of a family? My bet is that the author sets/follows a 21st century trend that delays clicking on the family.exe or ransomware.exe email attachment :). Knowledge work should get better with age compared to physical labor, so there may be around 2 decades on the table (married at 25 vs 45) that you are reallocating from your retired years into your prime ones, leaving upwards of 50 years to raise a family. It may even make being a healthy octogenarian a better wind-down experience compared to the current timeline for knowledge workers in place. The late-bloomer economy is non-existent (speaking from experience), but this could very well change to accomodate the articles narrative. I haven't had to synchronize my biological clock to anyone yet (code for lucky) and think the Porsche analogy is a little outdated for how much time is really worth.