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Sorry to sound blunt but why is it a given that if a person is successful, it is surprising that he/she is doing "lesser" things? I never understood that notion

by kinkora 15y ago

Sorry to sound blunt but why is it a given that if a person is successful, it is surprising that he/she is doing "lesser" things? I never understood that notion. If I was successful/rich/etc, I will still be coding on my free time. Heck, I will be washing my own dishes, buying my own groceries, driving myself and so on. And I know many other "rich/successful/etc" people who are exactly like that.

sliverstorm 15y ago
There does come a point where you make more money hiring someone else to do your laundry and focusing on your job, so as I understand it rich people sometimes only do select mundane things they like doing.
jseliger 15y ago
I think this answers your question: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2926948 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2926948 : "I think the implication is that pg would be too busy running YC to code. Even if it doesn't happen to him, it happens to a lot of founders." To me, the implication was, "Lots of somewhat famous / successful people become too 'busy' to do the thing that made them famous / successful," with code being one of them. (Or think of all the actors who are famous but now appear in maybe one movie every three years: what are they doing with their time?).
bluekeybox 15y ago
> why is it a given that if a person is successful, it is surprising that he/she is doing "lesser" things? Automation and delegation. Sounds evil but it isn't.
jpulgarin 15y ago
Do you enjoy washing dishes? Why would you still be doing it?
lionhearted 15y ago
> Sorry to sound blunt but why is it a given that if a person is successful, it is surprising that he/she is doing "lesser" things? If a top scientist/inventor/entrepreneur is doing routine tasks that he doesn't enjoy, he's losing time that could either be spent creating new amazing things or relaxing/recharging and enjoying his life. If you enjoy any particular activity - driving or cooking - by all means keep doing it. But if you're capable of improving the lives of thousands or even millions of people, then hire a car and driver and work in the backseat of your Rolls Royce or whatever. The world will be net better for it. (Though, coding doesn't fall into that routine task category - it being a creative action that sharpens the mind. Doing laundry does though, except on the off chance it's really relaxing and enjoyable for you.)
- dwiel 15y ago
  I'll take the bait. It seems possible to me that there could also be value in doing some routine tasks that you don't enjoy. Even for the top scientist/inventor/entrepreneur. I've tried to come up with a list of some reasons why, but I think they all eventually come down grounding. If you always have someone else performing a certain class of tasks for you, like unenjoyable routine tasks, you'll be disconnecting certain feedback loops and avoiding learning certain lessons. I'll take for example cleaning up your house/apartment/room on your own. I've noticed that when my apartment gets messy it is usually an indicator of my internal mind state. It is a helpful indicator that there is something bothering me or something that needs to be dealt with. If I always had someone cleaning up for me, I might miss these types of indicators, and the whole of my performance might degrade (to the new loss of the world as you put it). I also understand that people in the past have probably said this about all kinds of things that we now have machines or human specialization doing for us. So maybe what is more important is to make sure that while you are in your prime, or getting to your prime, you learn about which of these routine tasks are actually helping you, which you depend on for your mental well being, and better understanding the trade-offs if the decision to never have to do them again comes up. Maybe you don't need your entire house to be the canary in the coal mine - maybe a few house plants that you make sure to water yourself would do the job well enough ...
  - lionhearted 15y ago
    Good comment. I agree, especially in the case of people who have never had to do routine tasks. Eventually though, you come face to face with the fact that you've only got 24 hours per day, every day, and it is possible to get maxed out. So for someone who has internalized the lessons of hard work, cleanliness, order, structure, whatever - then moving to more broadly expansive planes of action (or just relaxing/recharging/enjoying) seems a good tradeoff. I reckon there's other "canary" indicators - how much you've written lately if you're a writer, how much you've coded lately if you're a programmer, how the financial statements look if you're an investor, and so on. But yeah, I agree. Good perspective, good discussing here.

by kinkora 15y ago

sliverstorm 15y ago

There does come a point where you make more money hiring someone else to do your laundry and focusing on your job, so as I understand it rich people sometimes only do select mundane things they like doing.

jseliger 15y ago

I think this answers your question: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2926948 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2926948 : "I think the implication is that pg would be too busy running YC to code. Even if it doesn't happen to him, it happens to a lot of founders." To me, the implication was, "Lots of somewhat famous / successful people become too 'busy' to do the thing that made them famous / successful," with code being one of them. (Or think of all the actors who are famous but now appear in maybe one movie every three years: what are they doing with their time?).

bluekeybox 15y ago

> why is it a given that if a person is successful, it is surprising that he/she is doing "lesser" things? Automation and delegation. Sounds evil but it isn't.

jpulgarin 15y ago

Do you enjoy washing dishes? Why would you still be doing it?

lionhearted 15y ago

> Sorry to sound blunt but why is it a given that if a person is successful, it is surprising that he/she is doing "lesser" things? If a top scientist/inventor/entrepreneur is doing routine tasks that he doesn't enjoy, he's losing time that could either be spent creating new amazing things or relaxing/recharging and enjoying his life. If you enjoy any particular activity - driving or cooking - by all means keep doing it. But if you're capable of improving the lives of thousands or even millions of people, then hire a car and driver and work in the backseat of your Rolls Royce or whatever. The world will be net better for it. (Though, coding doesn't fall into that routine task category - it being a creative action that sharpens the mind. Doing laundry does though, except on the off chance it's really relaxing and enjoyable for you.)

dwiel 15y ago
I'll take the bait. It seems possible to me that there could also be value in doing some routine tasks that you don't enjoy. Even for the top scientist/inventor/entrepreneur. I've tried to come up with a list of some reasons why, but I think they all eventually come down grounding. If you always have someone else performing a certain class of tasks for you, like unenjoyable routine tasks, you'll be disconnecting certain feedback loops and avoiding learning certain lessons. I'll take for example cleaning up your house/apartment/room on your own. I've noticed that when my apartment gets messy it is usually an indicator of my internal mind state. It is a helpful indicator that there is something bothering me or something that needs to be dealt with. If I always had someone cleaning up for me, I might miss these types of indicators, and the whole of my performance might degrade (to the new loss of the world as you put it). I also understand that people in the past have probably said this about all kinds of things that we now have machines or human specialization doing for us. So maybe what is more important is to make sure that while you are in your prime, or getting to your prime, you learn about which of these routine tasks are actually helping you, which you depend on for your mental well being, and better understanding the trade-offs if the decision to never have to do them again comes up. Maybe you don't need your entire house to be the canary in the coal mine - maybe a few house plants that you make sure to water yourself would do the job well enough ...
- lionhearted 15y ago
  Good comment. I agree, especially in the case of people who have never had to do routine tasks. Eventually though, you come face to face with the fact that you've only got 24 hours per day, every day, and it is possible to get maxed out. So for someone who has internalized the lessons of hard work, cleanliness, order, structure, whatever - then moving to more broadly expansive planes of action (or just relaxing/recharging/enjoying) seems a good tradeoff. I reckon there's other "canary" indicators - how much you've written lately if you're a writer, how much you've coded lately if you're a programmer, how the financial statements look if you're an investor, and so on. But yeah, I agree. Good perspective, good discussing here.