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It feels like the leaderboard is still very present for you because of the huge effort and drive you're putting into ignoring it. At least that's the way it com

It feels like the leaderboard is still very present for you because of the huge effort and drive you're putting into ignoring it. At least that's the way it comes across to me in your comment. I think the core point of the article is to be a bit more Zen about it, and behave as if it doesn't exist. Moreover, I don't really think any "objective rank-ordering of you among your peers", which you seem to think does exist in a very real way, is actually meaningful. Perhaps an extension of the post would be that anything you can objectively rank yourself on is going to be a very narrow, unhelpful thing to consider.

biren34 6y ago
First, ambitious people will find ways to figure out if they're succeeding. There are good ways and bad ways. Second, objective rank ordering does exist. You can deny it or dismiss it, but it's there: - Who's fitter? - Who's prettier? - Who can run/swim/bike farther? - Who makes more money? - Who got in to a "better" school / got the better job / got promoted faster? - Who's got more friends? Then, the biggest zinger of them of all: who has more status? Humans may never know the entire leaderboard, but we're exceeding good at knowing our local neighborhood on these kinds of ordering systems. You can say that these things "don't matter", but to a vast fraction of humanity, they do matter. And as social animals, I'd argue that humans are more or less programmed to care about these things. Maybe not everyone, but imo, social status is core driver of human behavior, just like hunger and sex. And status is all about rank ordering.
- frereubu 6y ago
  We're talking at cross-purposes. I don't really have much of an argument with what you're saying, but again, the idea of the post is that it's better if you can find a way not to do that at all. It's hard, and can take years, but it can be done.

biren34 6y ago

First, ambitious people will find ways to figure out if they're succeeding. There are good ways and bad ways. Second, objective rank ordering does exist. You can deny it or dismiss it, but it's there: - Who's fitter? - Who's prettier? - Who can run/swim/bike farther? - Who makes more money? - Who got in to a "better" school / got the better job / got promoted faster? - Who's got more friends? Then, the biggest zinger of them of all: who has more status? Humans may never know the entire leaderboard, but we're exceeding good at knowing our local neighborhood on these kinds of ordering systems. You can say that these things "don't matter", but to a vast fraction of humanity, they do matter. And as social animals, I'd argue that humans are more or less programmed to care about these things. Maybe not everyone, but imo, social status is core driver of human behavior, just like hunger and sex. And status is all about rank ordering.

frereubu 6y ago
We're talking at cross-purposes. I don't really have much of an argument with what you're saying, but again, the idea of the post is that it's better if you can find a way not to do that at all. It's hard, and can take years, but it can be done.