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I know he does now but I’m talking about the earlier sections of the essay. He mentions taking time off from art school to work because he needed more money. Wh

by DC1350 6y ago

I know he does now but I’m talking about the earlier sections of the essay. He mentions taking time off from art school to work because he needed more money. What’s interesting to me is how he just decided to go to art school, study philosophy, or work on projects that had nothing to do with his career when he wasn’t already financially secure. The common narrative around really successful people is that they work really hard in a few focused areas but it seems like he just did whatever he wanted to and somehow it all just worked out.

ISL 6y ago
One can certainly suggest survivorship bias in this sort of situation. Another commonality I've found with very-successful people: they work really hard, but they might not be aware that they're working much harder than others. Two anecdotes: 1) A pianist in my high school was Eastman or Julliard-bound. One day, I watched her sight-read a new piece. It was beautiful. As someone who struggled mightily sight-reading single-threaded trumpet parts, I asked, "How do you sight-read like that?". The innocent and frank reply: "Oh, I'm just having fun to see what it sounds like." Sometimes (not always), people can be on another level. 2) The truly outstanding see themselves as normal. I think everyone sees themselves as normal. Freeman Dyson, from [1]: `I asked him whether as a boy he had speculated much about his gift. Had he asked himself why he had this special power? Why he was so bright? Dyson is almost infallibly a modest and self-effacing man, but tonight his eyes were blank with fatigue, and his answer was uncharacteristic. “That’s not how the question phrases itself,” he said. “The question is: why is everyone else so stupid?” ' I've never thought that Dyson said this with any malice, simply as an honest reflection of his experience. For me, if I want to get something done, I have to work really, really hard on it. [1] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/the-danger-of-cosmic-genius/308306/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/the-dan...
- kenjackson 6y ago
  And some successful people pride themselves on how hard they work. There's a story that Jay Williams tells about Kobe Bryant. Jay is playing Kobe the next day and they both happen to end up in the same gym the day before. When Jay gets to the gym Kobe is already there working out. Jay works hard and sees Kobe is still there. Jay eventually wraps it up, while he sees Kobe still working out that evening. The next day Kobe has a great game, and after the game Jay asks Kobe something like, "Do you work out that long all the time?" (can't remember the exact question) -- to which Kobe says, "I just wanted to let you know that no matter how hard you work, I'll always outwork you". For a lot of successful people their joy is their work and they take pride in being great, but still working harder than everyone else.
- vixen99 6y ago
  If I can add to what you’ve written. ‘I have to work really really hard on it’. And that’s the point, isn’t it! 1. Sight-reading is a talent that develops, to one's own astonishment, with intense practice. It really does. The story goes that Liszt sight-read the Grieg Piano concerto but we should not forget that he worked like a dog in his earlier years and then redoubled his efforts at 17 (already with a reputation) when he heard Paganini in Paris for the first time one night after which he took his technique apart and rebuilt it with the result (another level) we know about. 2. Freeman Dyson spent his school holiday from 6am to 10pm, working through 700 problems in Piaggio’s Differential Equations. As with Liszt for music, “I was in love with mathematics and nothing else mattered”. Of course there's such a thing as outstanding talent and genius but amazing things can happen if the focus is on application rather than debating whether one is possessed of these qualities which rarely exist without the former.
deleted 6y ago
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hinkley 6y ago
Wikipedia shows him as getting a BA from Cornell. So is 'art school' Cornell? Also he's 56, which means he still comes from an era where you might be able 'pay as you go' through college. So as to the question of 'was it money, class, or generational?' I think the answer is 'all three'.
- jonas21 6y ago
  No, RISD - which is about as "art school" as art school gets. The middle section of the essay describes PG's time in art school, which he attended after graduating from Cornell and going to grad school.

by DC1350 6y ago

ISL 6y ago

One can certainly suggest survivorship bias in this sort of situation. Another commonality I've found with very-successful people: they work really hard, but they might not be aware that they're working much harder than others. Two anecdotes: 1) A pianist in my high school was Eastman or Julliard-bound. One day, I watched her sight-read a new piece. It was beautiful. As someone who struggled mightily sight-reading single-threaded trumpet parts, I asked, "How do you sight-read like that?". The innocent and frank reply: "Oh, I'm just having fun to see what it sounds like." Sometimes (not always), people can be on another level. 2) The truly outstanding see themselves as normal. I think everyone sees themselves as normal. Freeman Dyson, from [1]: `I asked him whether as a boy he had speculated much about his gift. Had he asked himself why he had this special power? Why he was so bright? Dyson is almost infallibly a modest and self-effacing man, but tonight his eyes were blank with fatigue, and his answer was uncharacteristic. “That’s not how the question phrases itself,” he said. “The question is: why is everyone else so stupid?” ' I've never thought that Dyson said this with any malice, simply as an honest reflection of his experience. For me, if I want to get something done, I have to work really, really hard on it. [1] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/the-danger-of-cosmic-genius/308306/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/the-dan...

kenjackson 6y ago
And some successful people pride themselves on how hard they work. There's a story that Jay Williams tells about Kobe Bryant. Jay is playing Kobe the next day and they both happen to end up in the same gym the day before. When Jay gets to the gym Kobe is already there working out. Jay works hard and sees Kobe is still there. Jay eventually wraps it up, while he sees Kobe still working out that evening. The next day Kobe has a great game, and after the game Jay asks Kobe something like, "Do you work out that long all the time?" (can't remember the exact question) -- to which Kobe says, "I just wanted to let you know that no matter how hard you work, I'll always outwork you". For a lot of successful people their joy is their work and they take pride in being great, but still working harder than everyone else.
vixen99 6y ago
If I can add to what you’ve written. ‘I have to work really really hard on it’. And that’s the point, isn’t it! 1. Sight-reading is a talent that develops, to one's own astonishment, with intense practice. It really does. The story goes that Liszt sight-read the Grieg Piano concerto but we should not forget that he worked like a dog in his earlier years and then redoubled his efforts at 17 (already with a reputation) when he heard Paganini in Paris for the first time one night after which he took his technique apart and rebuilt it with the result (another level) we know about. 2. Freeman Dyson spent his school holiday from 6am to 10pm, working through 700 problems in Piaggio’s Differential Equations. As with Liszt for music, “I was in love with mathematics and nothing else mattered”. Of course there's such a thing as outstanding talent and genius but amazing things can happen if the focus is on application rather than debating whether one is possessed of these qualities which rarely exist without the former.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

hinkley 6y ago

Wikipedia shows him as getting a BA from Cornell. So is 'art school' Cornell? Also he's 56, which means he still comes from an era where you might be able 'pay as you go' through college. So as to the question of 'was it money, class, or generational?' I think the answer is 'all three'.

jonas21 6y ago
No, RISD - which is about as "art school" as art school gets. The middle section of the essay describes PG's time in art school, which he attended after graduating from Cornell and going to grad school.