22 ms·

Don't Waste the Good Days

611 points by enigmatic02 5y ago

gchamonlive 5y ago
Friendly reminder that being able to pack up and take a sabbatical year off is still privilege. If you can't just get up and leave to enjoy your good days, don't blame yourself. Most people can't.
- bluedevil2k 5y ago
  > is still privilege The guy worked hard and earned his year off, don’t dismiss it by calling it privilege. He has the skills and intelligence and hard working habits to earn the year off, this is not privilege. Successful people aren’t successful because of privilege, that’s just a label for an excuse by those who aren’t successful. You get what you earn in life.
  - gchamonlive 5y ago
    Can everybody earn a year off after working hard? No, because this is privilege. To be born in a rich country. To have family structure to study and go to college, to have a stable job and a successful career after graduation. To be lucky enough to choose a career that is in demand. Or to open a business that is successful. People underestimate A LOT how much of a role luck plays in successful careers. Sure hard work is necessary, but you can very well burn out and still be unsuccessful. If you can't see this, maybe this is your privilege that is blinding you from what most people go through in life.
    - bluedevil2k 5y ago
      I think “privilege” is just the excuse used by people who aren’t willing to work hard, aren’t willing to put the extra time into learning a new skill, or aren’t willing to acknowledge that they didn’t get blessed genetically. It’s easier to create some label and blame everything on that. “Oh, I’m not rich at age 30. Must be privilege.” “Oh, I got passed over for that promotion. Must be their privilege”. People need to take some self ownership - the world isn’t a fair place. Stop blaming someone else and have a little introspection about why you aren’t the one taking a year off. I mean, your statement “To be lucky enough to choose a career that is in demand” just misses the mark so entirely. There’s NO LUCK INVOLVED!! People on HN didn’t pick their major/hobby out of a hat. The picked tech because they love it and it pays well, and they have the intelligence to do it well. If someone chooses to be a street musician, they can’t blame “privilege” when they can’t take a year off. “maybe this is your privilege that is blinding you” - no, maybe your rose colored glasses are blinding you here. Not everyone can take a year off, the world is unfair, and some people will live better lives than others. Deal with it.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - violiner 5y ago
        > Not everyone can take a year off, the world is unfair, and some people will live better lives than others. This is literally what privilege means. It's not an insult.
      - skavi 5y ago
        There certainly is luck involved in choosing a hobby which turns into a lucrative skill. And privilege involved when that hobby is programming which involves having sufficient access to fairly expensive machines. I think "rose colored glasses" may not be the expression you were looking for. The person you are replying to is not ignoring inequity, they are acknowledging it. Sure people will always live better lives than others, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't work towards a more fair world. Recognizing that the playing field isn't level, and that outcomes aren't controlled only by the amount of hard work you put in makes it easier to push towards a better world.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - maigret 5y ago
        You should read Nassim Taleb, especially Fooled by Randomness
      - notreallyserio 5y ago
        > There’s NO LUCK INVOLVED!! People on HN didn’t pick their major/hobby out of a hat. The picked tech because they love it and it pays well, and they have the intelligence to do it well. I don't know about you but it was certainly luck for me. I was lucky to be born where, when, and to whom. Tweak any of those variables a bit and I'd be in a completely different career. A few hundred miles east and I'd be living on a farm instead of a suburb of Big Tech City. A decade prior and I wouldn't have had access to computers in school. Different parents and I might not have had the same encouragement to get into tech. It's an incredible amount of luck when you actually think about it and don't just jerk your knee when someone uses the term privilege.
    - cm2012 5y ago
      Not to mention intelligence, willingness to work hard, etc are all highly heritable, aka genetic luck
      - axiosgunnar 5y ago
        So? Being smart sometimes has downsides, eg existential crises etc Life is not fair.
    - inglor_cz 5y ago
      This seems to me "glibly trivial". Of course most of us are relatively privileged to someone who was born blind and got cancer at the age of three, but it is a shallow observation. Luck is something that happens to a lot of people, including the unsuccessful ones, but few of us, successful or not, are willing to admit that we burnt some chance, or several of them. It is easier to blame someone else or something else (absence of necessary luck) for unsatisfactory results. It is easier to attribute certain satisfactory results in other people to their luck, without discussing the effort necessary to exploit that luck or even recognize a lucky set of circumstances and act on them (because these tend to be fleeting). We are more of a rationalizing species than a rational one, and we are really good at framing things in a way that strokes our egos.
  - sam0x17 5y ago
    > don’t dismiss it by calling it privilege There are literally millions of people who deserve / have "earned" this privilege, but aren't given it. The word lucky comes to mind.
    - quickthrower2 5y ago
      If everyone in the world was just smart and hard working enough they could all take a year off together.
      - axiosgunnar 5y ago
        And at the same time!
  - 41b696ef1113 5y ago
    >that’s just a label for an excuse by those who aren’t successful. You get what you earn in life. To take an extreme example: how hard do the children of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, etc have to work to "earn" their fortunes and success?
  - quesera 5y ago
    > Successful people aren’t successful because of privilege, that’s just a label for an excuse by those who aren’t successful. You get what you earn in life. I wish there were words to convince you of how profoundly incorrect you are about this. Unfortunately, it will probably require years and pain instead. Maybe your own pain, or if you're more fortunate you will develop empathy for others. In the meantime, some people say that reading Ayn Rand helps -- after the initial rush of affirmation, you grow to realize that she's just another writer of superhero comics. As that slowly percolates into your awareness, you start to understand humans and society are really quite complicated things, which can help you become a more tolerant person.
    - gchamonlive 5y ago
      Thanks for reminding me of Ayn Rand, lot of what I understand comes from philosophers I carelessly brushed over. I have to take some time to really dig into their work.
stareblinkstare 5y ago
Ah, so this is what privilege and luxury of time looks like. Thanks Seth - I'm sure the 99% will heed your wisdom to go surfing.
- stazz1 5y ago
  I read it as more of a "note to self..."
- AndrewOMartin 5y ago
  He must mean "surfing" hacker news.
- manachar 5y ago
  Reframe this critique: This should be the point of civilization and society. We should be working to free everyone to be able to go surfing when able. I dislike that some people get to be "privileged" enough to be able to do so as much as the next guy, but I also dislike when people act like it's wrong to aspire to this. The problem isn't that this is bad advice; the problem is that our civilization currently prevents this for most people, and instead aims to convince the 99% that they are the essential workers who can't go surfing.
  - nescioquid 5y ago
    Bad advice is driving instructions that say turn left, turn right, climb vertically 2,000 feet. You apparently write 20 "best sellers" by selling driving manuals for flying cars to people who think your book can suddenly make their honda civic fly.
  - ryanSrich 5y ago
    > The problem isn't that this is bad advice; the problem is that our civilization currently prevents this for most people, and instead aims to convince the 99% that they are the essential workers who can't go surfing. I guess I’ve never formalized my thinking about this, but I believe it’s a sad outlook on humanity if the goal is to partake in pleasure at will. There seem to be much more fulfilling pursuits. Maybe I’m taking this the wrong way.
paulpauper 5y ago
>The calendar belongs to everyone else. Their schedule isn’t your schedule unless it helps you get where you’re going. I guess this works if you are self-employed and or live alone
- yarky 5y ago
  Why though ? Specially since covid, I don't see why knowledge workers can't just follow their own schedule, subject to constraints such as "meeting at x" of course. This is an attitude more than anything I'd say, the "follow the calendar" mentality doesn't have to apply to you unless you choose so.
  - ChildOfChaos 5y ago
    A lot of employers still won't allow that even though it's possible. You have to be online on messaging services/contactable by email with quick response during normal hours, making it very hard to do much else in this time. Covid has meant more people working remotely, but hasn't changed working schedules that much from what i have seen here at least.
    - erwincoumans 5y ago
      How can you get 'in the zone' with constant messaging/on-call. I'm glad not to be in such position.
      - yarky 5y ago
        I agree entirely. Constant interruptions while programming is a no no.
      - bradlys 5y ago
        You don’t. That’s kind of the point. We still live in a world full of companies that don’t allow software engineers to work in their best environment.
    - grvdrm 5y ago
leto_ii 5y ago
like a koan. not the worst way to enter the new year.
shove 5y ago
Reminds me of one of my favorite poems (which expressed a similar idea far more eloquently imo) Telephone Booth (number 905 1/2) BY PEDRO PIETRI woke up this morning feeling excellent, picked up the telephone dialed the number of my equal opportunity employer to inform him I will not be into work today Are you feeling sick? the boss asked me No Sir I replied: I am feeling too good to report to work today, if I feel sick tomorrow I will come in early
- bebop 5y ago
  Thank you so much for including Pedro Pietri’s poem! I have not heard that poem for 15+ years and it brought back some wonderful nostalgia from my teenage years!
  - shove 5y ago
    I’m old!
- 2sk21 5y ago
  I listened to the whole album by Pietro Pietri which included this poem - loved it!
- archon810 5y ago
  I've never heard of Pedro Pietri, but that read like a Mitch Hedberg line.
racl101 5y ago
Carpe Diem! Happy New Years yall!
orblivion 5y ago
I suspect that to the wrong person at the wrong time, this would be taken as an excuse to procrastinate.
khazhoux 5y ago
"Either you run the calendar, or the calendar runs you"
- ford 5y ago
  Reminds me of a similar Henry David Thoreau quote - "Men have become the tools of their tools"
PragmaticPulp 5y ago
Pithy, but true. It's only half the story, though. Moderation and balance are the real key. Overwork is not good in the long term. But underwork can also be a problem, even when employers let it slide. Starting in my 30s, my friends who operated in the extremes of overwork or underwork started to diverge from everyone else. Overworked people were burnt out and had few friends and social connections left. Underworking people were often first to be laid off and slowly fell behind in their skills relative to everyone they were competing against for jobs. Most of them found balance and got back on track, but I know a few holdouts who went all-in on the vagabond life of traveling the world and having fun, as well as a few who have just disappeared into their work and have basically lost social skills at this point. Balance and moderation aren't really that difficult when you make them a priority. Especially in this job market where employers aren't squeezing employees as hard because everyone has so many alternate opportunities.
- pknomad 5y ago
  Oh man. I wish I had listened more carefully to this advice before the pandemic. I was not mentally in a good place couple months ago after being really burnt out working for my former employer (good team and good manager but the senior leadership really dngaf and workload reflected that as much). I was working 100+ hrs/week for weeks on end during the pandemic and really deprioritized personal connection and taking care of myself. Looking back, the pandemic gave me an excuse to overwork since I was really determined to jump into SRE/ops world of things from helpdesk after slogging away in life sciences after graduation. I've gained alot of weight (now I'm back to my pre-covid weight), lost hair, and lot of my social connections got strained. Fortunately I am still 30 so hopefully I'll be able to correct my past decisions but I'm finding out that correcting the direction of your decision becomes more difficult as you get older. Your bit about moderation and balance seem to be aligned with what Sam Altman's advice on life before 30 (especially points 3, 4, 9, and 29).
- cortesoft 5y ago
  Everything in moderation, including moderation.
amznbyebyebye 5y ago
People look at me like I’m insane when I tell them I’m packing up and taking a year off. I’ve f’in had enough. And that’s me, the wife and our two kids- not quite school age. No I haven’t FIREd. No I’m probably passing up a raise and a promo (or maybe not). Super linear growth requires super linear decision making. You either follow the sheeple or decide enough is enough and make some drastic change. Im not getting these years back and for the life of me can’t understand those who say, I’m gonna work till I’m 55 and then I’m done. Anyways HN fam- I’m already done. Here’s to 2022 See y’all in Penang.
- balls187 5y ago
  Why Penang?
  - haihaibye 5y ago
    Penang has some of the best street food in the world.
    - balls187 5y ago
      I'm aware, and I can eat my body weight in malaysian style satay, nasi lemak, roti chani, and muthrabak. But, eating that food for an entire year would get old quickly, especially for young kids who are (presumably) groomed on American food.
- thelittleone 5y ago
  Did the same but 1 year in Bali has now been 8. Couldn't be happier.
  - mrkentutbabi 5y ago
    How did you get the visa to stay in Bali for 8 years? Genuine question. What nationality are you?
    - 5y ago
pl0x 5y ago
Seth Godin is one of those "thought leaders" who has no real life experience besides selling "thoughts". He has the world of time selling his books and has been wrong on most of his predictions.
- MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- helloworld 5y ago
  Actually, back in the day, Seth Godin was an early -- and successful -- Internet entrepreneur: https://www.wired.com/1998/10/yahoo-acquiring-yoyodyne/ https://www.wired.com/1998/10/yahoo-acquiring-yoyodyne/
  - Danieru 5y ago
    > GetRichClick.com, a traffic distribution site transforming traffic into targeted, unduplicated visitors to sponsoring sites "Getrichclick" is not the sort of resume I want to see from someone offering advice.
cyber_kinetist 5y ago
> The calendar belongs to everyone else. Their schedule isn’t your schedule unless it helps you get where you’re going. Therefore, wage labor should be abolished. “Communism is free time and nothing else!” - jehu (https://therealmovement.wordpress.com/ https://therealmovement.wordpress.com/)
- czbond 5y ago
  Alright - get rid of wage labor and be an "entrepreneur". You'll work harder than you ever have, for much less than you've ever made, for your new found freedom.
ryandrake 5y ago
I feel like there is wisdom in "Make hay while the sun shines." When you're young and unencumbered by responsibility and family, when your cognitive abilities are at their peak, when your energy is endless, when your body is strong and healthy, when your knees work, and your fingers can type without arthritis: that's the optimal time to work and earn. Min-max that salary and stay healthy. Due to compounding interest, a dollar made in your 20's is far, far more valuable than a dollar made in your 60's. Every morsel you make and save early means your retirement comes earlier. There will never be a more efficient time to earn those days of leisure that will come later if you stay healthy. Take that vacation to Bali when you're young, and you are wasting your prime, strongest days that could be making you financially secure and/or independent. Go windsurfing for a year in Ibiza after college, and you're adding 5 years to your working life--retiring at 62 instead of 57. It didn't sound like much time when I was young, but today, as I turn elderly, I'm counting down the years until I can finally retire, and kicking myself for goofing around when I was younger. If I could do it all again, I'd have tried harder to get into big tech early, I'd have taken comp and 401(k)s and advancement more seriously. I'd have played fewer video games, traveled less, and relaxed on the beach less. Life isn't short--it's LONG, and you have a brief moment in that life to maximize your preparation for the rest of it. Use it wisely.
- stewbrew 5y ago
  Maximize your preparation as much as you want. Let's just hope you don't get diagnosed with cancer with 60. At that age more and more friends are dying and you wonder whether you shouldn't have gone more often to the beach or have travelled to Bali when you were young enough to fully enjoy the experience.
- bobthepanda 5y ago
  > Take that vacation to Bali when you're young, and you are wasting your prime, strongest days that could be making you financially secure and/or independent. Are you not taking paid vacation? Paid vacation doesn't impact your wages.
  - ddlutz 5y ago
spaetzleesser 5y ago
Sounds a little like "Self help platitude 101".
Ostrogodsky 5y ago
Or you just need to work because otherwise you will starve and/or become homeless.
- czbond 5y ago
  A lot of the responses which suggest everyone needs "endless schedule free time as a right" miss this point - either they, or someone else, is supporting their need to eat, sleep, and provide.
  - Ostrogodsky 5y ago
    One of the replies suggested that everybody should "take a Sabbatical, pack your things and travel the world" haha
AussieWog93 5y ago
It's all well and good to say this, and even act it out occasionally, but if I approach life in general with that mindset then who will provide a secure environment for my daughter?
Layvier 5y ago
I'm already doing that, the main issue is then getting back on people's schedule. I somehow end up going to sleep at 6am if I follow my mood...
Subsentient 5y ago
Joke's on you. I don't have any good days. :^)
rozim 5y ago
Folks might be inspired by reading Die with Zero - I sure was.
- varsketiz 5y ago
  Could you tell us more about your inspiration :))?
  - rozim 5y ago
    I thought the book made a good case for frontloading enjoyment in your life and not putting off such things until a distant future glorious retirement. They also talked about income smoothing, which is essentially a justification for, under some situations, spending more money that you "should" earlier, because later, you'll be older & less able to enjoy it -- and hopefully later you'll be making more money too anyway.
symlinkk 5y ago
Just don’t work bro! Problem solved!
divbzero 5y ago
Warren Buffett is known for keeping his calendar open so he can keep his own time: “I better be careful with it. There is no way I will be able to buy more.”
thinky_thoughts 5y ago
Following my creative desires has taken me out of my corporate engineering job and through waves of wonder and waves of and disaster (including financial, for awhile), and now after all of that, to a project I'm perfectly suited for and deeply passionate about, with some of the smartest people I've ever met. The thing about sayings like this - they're not just a thing you do, they're a practice you develop and a flow that you become more skillful at adhering to. I've been through hell and back following what's felt true to my creative instincts, and as brutal as it's been, along the way I've by necessity internalized what meaningful work means to me and what freedoms I'm (not) willing to sacrifice. It can be a brutal path, but (at least in my experience) every level you become more skillful at it and the flexibility and sense of trust in yourself translate in powerful ways to creative and professional potency. If you intentionally hone them in that direction. My 2c, at least. It's a worthwhile journey.
jonah 5y ago
One way to look at it is through the eyes of a Regret Minimization Framework. Which path leads to the fewest or least serious regrets later in life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regret_%28decision_theory%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regret_%28decision_theory%29 https://fourweekmba.com/regret-minimization-framework/ https://fourweekmba.com/regret-minimization-framework/ https://hn.algolia.com/?q=regret+minimization+framework https://hn.algolia.com/?q=regret+minimization+framework
sabhiram 5y ago
Sounds like someone has been listening to Alan Watts :)
paulsutter 5y ago
“The memories of a man in his old age are the deeds of a man in his prime” Make those deeds count. Start that company. Take that year off to travel. Do the big memorable things, not the long tedious slog You’ll still feel young when others are retiring
oldinitcoding 5y ago
I am 59 and one of my best pleasures is to program and learn, sometimes I would prefer to develop an useful program than to surf in Ibiza, the more you know the more you enjoy learning,
mbfg 5y ago
A rich person ascribing to perceived effort, what should be ascribed mostly to luck of circumstance.
- 11thEarlOfMar 5y ago
  Effort and luck of circumstance are both on a spectrum. It's rare to become wealthy simply with extremes of either diligence or luck. Regardless, the unlucky can generally do better by being diligent versus not being diligent. It's the part you can control.
btorresgil 5y ago
“Their schedule isn’t your schedule unless it helps you get where you’re going.“ - someone who is not a parent
mattwilsonn888 5y ago
Finally a blog post that respects my time and delivers the message despite.
thenerdhead 5y ago
This feels like a common theme for videos, blogs, etc of the whole "I wasted my 20s or 30s". You’ve probably heard the old analogy that there is an imbalance of our time, money, and energy depending on what stage we are in throughout our lives. If you haven’t, it’s the idea that when we’re young, we have no money. When we’re middle-aged, we have no time. And when we’re elderly, we have no energy. Work will always follow Parkinson's Law which is an old adage that work will expand to fill the time allotted. If you do not choose to take control over your time, your work can take over your life. Our time is precious. It’s the one resource we cannot replenish, yet we treat it like disposable income or energy. Rather we should say No to more things(especially work related). It’s the single word that will give you time, money, and energy. No gives you more autonomy and allows you to consistently follow through with your routine or spur of the moment activities. This simple word is the difference between seeing your outcomes and reaching your goals yet nobody does it. Yes lives on as a commitment. No is a decision.
neycoda 5y ago
When you're feeling good, do what you can to improve your life or enjoy it. When you're feeling bad, do what you can get through it.

611 points by enigmatic02 5y ago

Friendly reminder that being able to pack up and take a sabbatical year off is still privilege. If you can't just get up and leave to enjoy your good days, don't blame yourself. Most people can't.

bluedevil2k 5y ago
> is still privilege The guy worked hard and earned his year off, don’t dismiss it by calling it privilege. He has the skills and intelligence and hard working habits to earn the year off, this is not privilege. Successful people aren’t successful because of privilege, that’s just a label for an excuse by those who aren’t successful. You get what you earn in life.
- gchamonlive 5y ago
  Can everybody earn a year off after working hard? No, because this is privilege. To be born in a rich country. To have family structure to study and go to college, to have a stable job and a successful career after graduation. To be lucky enough to choose a career that is in demand. Or to open a business that is successful. People underestimate A LOT how much of a role luck plays in successful careers. Sure hard work is necessary, but you can very well burn out and still be unsuccessful. If you can't see this, maybe this is your privilege that is blinding you from what most people go through in life.
  - bluedevil2k 5y ago
    I think “privilege” is just the excuse used by people who aren’t willing to work hard, aren’t willing to put the extra time into learning a new skill, or aren’t willing to acknowledge that they didn’t get blessed genetically. It’s easier to create some label and blame everything on that. “Oh, I’m not rich at age 30. Must be privilege.” “Oh, I got passed over for that promotion. Must be their privilege”. People need to take some self ownership - the world isn’t a fair place. Stop blaming someone else and have a little introspection about why you aren’t the one taking a year off. I mean, your statement “To be lucky enough to choose a career that is in demand” just misses the mark so entirely. There’s NO LUCK INVOLVED!! People on HN didn’t pick their major/hobby out of a hat. The picked tech because they love it and it pays well, and they have the intelligence to do it well. If someone chooses to be a street musician, they can’t blame “privilege” when they can’t take a year off. “maybe this is your privilege that is blinding you” - no, maybe your rose colored glasses are blinding you here. Not everyone can take a year off, the world is unfair, and some people will live better lives than others. Deal with it.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - violiner 5y ago
      > Not everyone can take a year off, the world is unfair, and some people will live better lives than others. This is literally what privilege means. It's not an insult.
    - skavi 5y ago
      There certainly is luck involved in choosing a hobby which turns into a lucrative skill. And privilege involved when that hobby is programming which involves having sufficient access to fairly expensive machines. I think "rose colored glasses" may not be the expression you were looking for. The person you are replying to is not ignoring inequity, they are acknowledging it. Sure people will always live better lives than others, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't work towards a more fair world. Recognizing that the playing field isn't level, and that outcomes aren't controlled only by the amount of hard work you put in makes it easier to push towards a better world.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - maigret 5y ago
      You should read Nassim Taleb, especially Fooled by Randomness
    - notreallyserio 5y ago
      > There’s NO LUCK INVOLVED!! People on HN didn’t pick their major/hobby out of a hat. The picked tech because they love it and it pays well, and they have the intelligence to do it well. I don't know about you but it was certainly luck for me. I was lucky to be born where, when, and to whom. Tweak any of those variables a bit and I'd be in a completely different career. A few hundred miles east and I'd be living on a farm instead of a suburb of Big Tech City. A decade prior and I wouldn't have had access to computers in school. Different parents and I might not have had the same encouragement to get into tech. It's an incredible amount of luck when you actually think about it and don't just jerk your knee when someone uses the term privilege.
  - cm2012 5y ago
    Not to mention intelligence, willingness to work hard, etc are all highly heritable, aka genetic luck
    - axiosgunnar 5y ago
      So? Being smart sometimes has downsides, eg existential crises etc Life is not fair.
  - inglor_cz 5y ago
    This seems to me "glibly trivial". Of course most of us are relatively privileged to someone who was born blind and got cancer at the age of three, but it is a shallow observation. Luck is something that happens to a lot of people, including the unsuccessful ones, but few of us, successful or not, are willing to admit that we burnt some chance, or several of them. It is easier to blame someone else or something else (absence of necessary luck) for unsatisfactory results. It is easier to attribute certain satisfactory results in other people to their luck, without discussing the effort necessary to exploit that luck or even recognize a lucky set of circumstances and act on them (because these tend to be fleeting). We are more of a rationalizing species than a rational one, and we are really good at framing things in a way that strokes our egos.
- sam0x17 5y ago
  > don’t dismiss it by calling it privilege There are literally millions of people who deserve / have "earned" this privilege, but aren't given it. The word lucky comes to mind.
  - quickthrower2 5y ago
    If everyone in the world was just smart and hard working enough they could all take a year off together.
    - axiosgunnar 5y ago
      And at the same time!
- 41b696ef1113 5y ago
  >that’s just a label for an excuse by those who aren’t successful. You get what you earn in life. To take an extreme example: how hard do the children of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, etc have to work to "earn" their fortunes and success?
- quesera 5y ago
  > Successful people aren’t successful because of privilege, that’s just a label for an excuse by those who aren’t successful. You get what you earn in life. I wish there were words to convince you of how profoundly incorrect you are about this. Unfortunately, it will probably require years and pain instead. Maybe your own pain, or if you're more fortunate you will develop empathy for others. In the meantime, some people say that reading Ayn Rand helps -- after the initial rush of affirmation, you grow to realize that she's just another writer of superhero comics. As that slowly percolates into your awareness, you start to understand humans and society are really quite complicated things, which can help you become a more tolerant person.
  - gchamonlive 5y ago
    Thanks for reminding me of Ayn Rand, lot of what I understand comes from philosophers I carelessly brushed over. I have to take some time to really dig into their work.

stareblinkstare 5y ago

Ah, so this is what privilege and luxury of time looks like. Thanks Seth - I'm sure the 99% will heed your wisdom to go surfing.

stazz1 5y ago
I read it as more of a "note to self..."
AndrewOMartin 5y ago
He must mean "surfing" hacker news.
manachar 5y ago
Reframe this critique: This should be the point of civilization and society. We should be working to free everyone to be able to go surfing when able. I dislike that some people get to be "privileged" enough to be able to do so as much as the next guy, but I also dislike when people act like it's wrong to aspire to this. The problem isn't that this is bad advice; the problem is that our civilization currently prevents this for most people, and instead aims to convince the 99% that they are the essential workers who can't go surfing.
- nescioquid 5y ago
  Bad advice is driving instructions that say turn left, turn right, climb vertically 2,000 feet. You apparently write 20 "best sellers" by selling driving manuals for flying cars to people who think your book can suddenly make their honda civic fly.
- ryanSrich 5y ago
  > The problem isn't that this is bad advice; the problem is that our civilization currently prevents this for most people, and instead aims to convince the 99% that they are the essential workers who can't go surfing. I guess I’ve never formalized my thinking about this, but I believe it’s a sad outlook on humanity if the goal is to partake in pleasure at will. There seem to be much more fulfilling pursuits. Maybe I’m taking this the wrong way.

paulpauper 5y ago

>The calendar belongs to everyone else. Their schedule isn’t your schedule unless it helps you get where you’re going. I guess this works if you are self-employed and or live alone

yarky 5y ago
Why though ? Specially since covid, I don't see why knowledge workers can't just follow their own schedule, subject to constraints such as "meeting at x" of course. This is an attitude more than anything I'd say, the "follow the calendar" mentality doesn't have to apply to you unless you choose so.
- ChildOfChaos 5y ago
  A lot of employers still won't allow that even though it's possible. You have to be online on messaging services/contactable by email with quick response during normal hours, making it very hard to do much else in this time. Covid has meant more people working remotely, but hasn't changed working schedules that much from what i have seen here at least.
  - erwincoumans 5y ago
    How can you get 'in the zone' with constant messaging/on-call. I'm glad not to be in such position.
    - yarky 5y ago
      I agree entirely. Constant interruptions while programming is a no no.
    - bradlys 5y ago
      You don’t. That’s kind of the point. We still live in a world full of companies that don’t allow software engineers to work in their best environment.
  - grvdrm 5y ago

leto_ii 5y ago

like a koan. not the worst way to enter the new year.

shove 5y ago

Reminds me of one of my favorite poems (which expressed a similar idea far more eloquently imo) Telephone Booth (number 905 1/2) BY PEDRO PIETRI woke up this morning feeling excellent, picked up the telephone dialed the number of my equal opportunity employer to inform him I will not be into work today Are you feeling sick? the boss asked me No Sir I replied: I am feeling too good to report to work today, if I feel sick tomorrow I will come in early

bebop 5y ago
Thank you so much for including Pedro Pietri’s poem! I have not heard that poem for 15+ years and it brought back some wonderful nostalgia from my teenage years!
- shove 5y ago
  I’m old!
2sk21 5y ago
I listened to the whole album by Pietro Pietri which included this poem - loved it!
archon810 5y ago
I've never heard of Pedro Pietri, but that read like a Mitch Hedberg line.

racl101 5y ago

Carpe Diem! Happy New Years yall!

orblivion 5y ago

I suspect that to the wrong person at the wrong time, this would be taken as an excuse to procrastinate.

khazhoux 5y ago

"Either you run the calendar, or the calendar runs you"

ford 5y ago
Reminds me of a similar Henry David Thoreau quote - "Men have become the tools of their tools"

PragmaticPulp 5y ago

Pithy, but true. It's only half the story, though. Moderation and balance are the real key. Overwork is not good in the long term. But underwork can also be a problem, even when employers let it slide. Starting in my 30s, my friends who operated in the extremes of overwork or underwork started to diverge from everyone else. Overworked people were burnt out and had few friends and social connections left. Underworking people were often first to be laid off and slowly fell behind in their skills relative to everyone they were competing against for jobs. Most of them found balance and got back on track, but I know a few holdouts who went all-in on the vagabond life of traveling the world and having fun, as well as a few who have just disappeared into their work and have basically lost social skills at this point. Balance and moderation aren't really that difficult when you make them a priority. Especially in this job market where employers aren't squeezing employees as hard because everyone has so many alternate opportunities.

pknomad 5y ago
Oh man. I wish I had listened more carefully to this advice before the pandemic. I was not mentally in a good place couple months ago after being really burnt out working for my former employer (good team and good manager but the senior leadership really dngaf and workload reflected that as much). I was working 100+ hrs/week for weeks on end during the pandemic and really deprioritized personal connection and taking care of myself. Looking back, the pandemic gave me an excuse to overwork since I was really determined to jump into SRE/ops world of things from helpdesk after slogging away in life sciences after graduation. I've gained alot of weight (now I'm back to my pre-covid weight), lost hair, and lot of my social connections got strained. Fortunately I am still 30 so hopefully I'll be able to correct my past decisions but I'm finding out that correcting the direction of your decision becomes more difficult as you get older. Your bit about moderation and balance seem to be aligned with what Sam Altman's advice on life before 30 (especially points 3, 4, 9, and 29).
cortesoft 5y ago
Everything in moderation, including moderation.

amznbyebyebye 5y ago

People look at me like I’m insane when I tell them I’m packing up and taking a year off. I’ve f’in had enough. And that’s me, the wife and our two kids- not quite school age. No I haven’t FIREd. No I’m probably passing up a raise and a promo (or maybe not). Super linear growth requires super linear decision making. You either follow the sheeple or decide enough is enough and make some drastic change. Im not getting these years back and for the life of me can’t understand those who say, I’m gonna work till I’m 55 and then I’m done. Anyways HN fam- I’m already done. Here’s to 2022 See y’all in Penang.

balls187 5y ago
Why Penang?
- haihaibye 5y ago
  Penang has some of the best street food in the world.
  - balls187 5y ago
    I'm aware, and I can eat my body weight in malaysian style satay, nasi lemak, roti chani, and muthrabak. But, eating that food for an entire year would get old quickly, especially for young kids who are (presumably) groomed on American food.
thelittleone 5y ago
Did the same but 1 year in Bali has now been 8. Couldn't be happier.
- mrkentutbabi 5y ago
  How did you get the visa to stay in Bali for 8 years? Genuine question. What nationality are you?
  - 5y ago

pl0x 5y ago

Seth Godin is one of those "thought leaders" who has no real life experience besides selling "thoughts". He has the world of time selling his books and has been wrong on most of his predictions.

MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
helloworld 5y ago
Actually, back in the day, Seth Godin was an early -- and successful -- Internet entrepreneur: https://www.wired.com/1998/10/yahoo-acquiring-yoyodyne/ https://www.wired.com/1998/10/yahoo-acquiring-yoyodyne/
- Danieru 5y ago
  > GetRichClick.com, a traffic distribution site transforming traffic into targeted, unduplicated visitors to sponsoring sites "Getrichclick" is not the sort of resume I want to see from someone offering advice.

cyber_kinetist 5y ago

> The calendar belongs to everyone else. Their schedule isn’t your schedule unless it helps you get where you’re going. Therefore, wage labor should be abolished. “Communism is free time and nothing else!” - jehu (https://therealmovement.wordpress.com/ https://therealmovement.wordpress.com/)

czbond 5y ago
Alright - get rid of wage labor and be an "entrepreneur". You'll work harder than you ever have, for much less than you've ever made, for your new found freedom.

ryandrake 5y ago

I feel like there is wisdom in "Make hay while the sun shines." When you're young and unencumbered by responsibility and family, when your cognitive abilities are at their peak, when your energy is endless, when your body is strong and healthy, when your knees work, and your fingers can type without arthritis: that's the optimal time to work and earn. Min-max that salary and stay healthy. Due to compounding interest, a dollar made in your 20's is far, far more valuable than a dollar made in your 60's. Every morsel you make and save early means your retirement comes earlier. There will never be a more efficient time to earn those days of leisure that will come later if you stay healthy. Take that vacation to Bali when you're young, and you are wasting your prime, strongest days that could be making you financially secure and/or independent. Go windsurfing for a year in Ibiza after college, and you're adding 5 years to your working life--retiring at 62 instead of 57. It didn't sound like much time when I was young, but today, as I turn elderly, I'm counting down the years until I can finally retire, and kicking myself for goofing around when I was younger. If I could do it all again, I'd have tried harder to get into big tech early, I'd have taken comp and 401(k)s and advancement more seriously. I'd have played fewer video games, traveled less, and relaxed on the beach less. Life isn't short--it's LONG, and you have a brief moment in that life to maximize your preparation for the rest of it. Use it wisely.

stewbrew 5y ago
Maximize your preparation as much as you want. Let's just hope you don't get diagnosed with cancer with 60. At that age more and more friends are dying and you wonder whether you shouldn't have gone more often to the beach or have travelled to Bali when you were young enough to fully enjoy the experience.
bobthepanda 5y ago
> Take that vacation to Bali when you're young, and you are wasting your prime, strongest days that could be making you financially secure and/or independent. Are you not taking paid vacation? Paid vacation doesn't impact your wages.
- ddlutz 5y ago

spaetzleesser 5y ago

Sounds a little like "Self help platitude 101".

Ostrogodsky 5y ago

Or you just need to work because otherwise you will starve and/or become homeless.

czbond 5y ago
A lot of the responses which suggest everyone needs "endless schedule free time as a right" miss this point - either they, or someone else, is supporting their need to eat, sleep, and provide.
- Ostrogodsky 5y ago
  One of the replies suggested that everybody should "take a Sabbatical, pack your things and travel the world" haha

AussieWog93 5y ago

It's all well and good to say this, and even act it out occasionally, but if I approach life in general with that mindset then who will provide a secure environment for my daughter?

Layvier 5y ago

I'm already doing that, the main issue is then getting back on people's schedule. I somehow end up going to sleep at 6am if I follow my mood...

Subsentient 5y ago

Joke's on you. I don't have any good days. :^)

rozim 5y ago

Folks might be inspired by reading Die with Zero - I sure was.

varsketiz 5y ago
Could you tell us more about your inspiration :))?
- rozim 5y ago
  I thought the book made a good case for frontloading enjoyment in your life and not putting off such things until a distant future glorious retirement. They also talked about income smoothing, which is essentially a justification for, under some situations, spending more money that you "should" earlier, because later, you'll be older & less able to enjoy it -- and hopefully later you'll be making more money too anyway.

symlinkk 5y ago

Just don’t work bro! Problem solved!

divbzero 5y ago

Warren Buffett is known for keeping his calendar open so he can keep his own time: “I better be careful with it. There is no way I will be able to buy more.”

thinky_thoughts 5y ago

Following my creative desires has taken me out of my corporate engineering job and through waves of wonder and waves of and disaster (including financial, for awhile), and now after all of that, to a project I'm perfectly suited for and deeply passionate about, with some of the smartest people I've ever met. The thing about sayings like this - they're not just a thing you do, they're a practice you develop and a flow that you become more skillful at adhering to. I've been through hell and back following what's felt true to my creative instincts, and as brutal as it's been, along the way I've by necessity internalized what meaningful work means to me and what freedoms I'm (not) willing to sacrifice. It can be a brutal path, but (at least in my experience) every level you become more skillful at it and the flexibility and sense of trust in yourself translate in powerful ways to creative and professional potency. If you intentionally hone them in that direction. My 2c, at least. It's a worthwhile journey.

jonah 5y ago

One way to look at it is through the eyes of a Regret Minimization Framework. Which path leads to the fewest or least serious regrets later in life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regret_%28decision_theory%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regret_%28decision_theory%29 https://fourweekmba.com/regret-minimization-framework/ https://fourweekmba.com/regret-minimization-framework/ https://hn.algolia.com/?q=regret+minimization+framework https://hn.algolia.com/?q=regret+minimization+framework

sabhiram 5y ago

Sounds like someone has been listening to Alan Watts :)

paulsutter 5y ago

“The memories of a man in his old age are the deeds of a man in his prime” Make those deeds count. Start that company. Take that year off to travel. Do the big memorable things, not the long tedious slog You’ll still feel young when others are retiring

oldinitcoding 5y ago

I am 59 and one of my best pleasures is to program and learn, sometimes I would prefer to develop an useful program than to surf in Ibiza, the more you know the more you enjoy learning,

mbfg 5y ago

A rich person ascribing to perceived effort, what should be ascribed mostly to luck of circumstance.

11thEarlOfMar 5y ago
Effort and luck of circumstance are both on a spectrum. It's rare to become wealthy simply with extremes of either diligence or luck. Regardless, the unlucky can generally do better by being diligent versus not being diligent. It's the part you can control.

btorresgil 5y ago

“Their schedule isn’t your schedule unless it helps you get where you’re going.“ - someone who is not a parent

mattwilsonn888 5y ago

Finally a blog post that respects my time and delivers the message despite.

thenerdhead 5y ago

This feels like a common theme for videos, blogs, etc of the whole "I wasted my 20s or 30s". You’ve probably heard the old analogy that there is an imbalance of our time, money, and energy depending on what stage we are in throughout our lives. If you haven’t, it’s the idea that when we’re young, we have no money. When we’re middle-aged, we have no time. And when we’re elderly, we have no energy. Work will always follow Parkinson's Law which is an old adage that work will expand to fill the time allotted. If you do not choose to take control over your time, your work can take over your life. Our time is precious. It’s the one resource we cannot replenish, yet we treat it like disposable income or energy. Rather we should say No to more things(especially work related). It’s the single word that will give you time, money, and energy. No gives you more autonomy and allows you to consistently follow through with your routine or spur of the moment activities. This simple word is the difference between seeing your outcomes and reaching your goals yet nobody does it. Yes lives on as a commitment. No is a decision.

neycoda 5y ago

When you're feeling good, do what you can to improve your life or enjoy it. When you're feeling bad, do what you can get through it.