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What the point? Exceed your potential. Set goals like becoming rich, climb a mountain, start your company, fail many times if it takes it. Take 6 months off for

What the point? Exceed your potential. Set goals like becoming rich, climb a mountain, start your company, fail many times if it takes it. Take 6 months off for around the world travel. You said you dont have the drive as before. That’s your choice. Drive is something we can choose and cultivate. If you’re happy the way you are then that’s one thing but I for one am not going to lean on my insignificance when compared to the universe to justify why I don’t do things. If you want it, go for it!

AnonCoward4 5y ago
> Drive is something we can choose and cultivate. That sounds like hybris. I am not disagreeing that you can alter it to a degree, but it is certainly not something you choose. Just think about how you feel when you are ill and now think of people with allergies for example, that can always feel ill depending on circumstances. These limits exist always and they are different from person to person and these limits are not always set by (obvious) illnesses, but by the body in general. edit: limit => limits
- wwn_se 5y ago
  Of course you can be more driven (there is of course a limit but most are far from it). I have done it I used to be content with where I was in life. Made decent money, family, friends and hobbies. But I decided that I wanted more so I let my hobbies grow a bit and changed employer. Sure I'm not a million miles from where i was but I'm not in the same place. Once I took the first steps the next got easier and I started to look for more opportunities. Find your first step, it should be small but in the right direction. Ask to take lead on something at work or push yourself in your hobby. What I think everyone with kids should have as one of their goals is to get them one step up the ladder. Give them a slightly better chance than you had. Most successful people have successful parents, very few start from zero. My parents were middle class but I'm upper middle class.
Draiken 5y ago
Genuine question: how do you find these goals in the first place? Do you just randomly put them out there and work for it so you can tick that checkbox? Take for example starting a company. I had that goal before and today I know that'd take an enormous amount of effort and would take me away from my family and the few hobbies I have. All that doesn't guarantee I can make it, since the majority of companies fail and luck plays a huge factor there. I could set that as a goal, but is it worth it? Most people I talk to when we dive into why they set a particular goal for themselves, it comes down to a childhood dream or something set by society. That's why I don't see the point.
- hugozap 5y ago
  I think it happens organically, you start increasing your sphere of influence in some area and with some audience and gradually those goals kind of emerge as natural steps.
- auto 5y ago
  Another key aspect you need to consider is that (pseudoscience/hand-waving incoming) your brain is very good at taking all of your prior experience and extrapolating it forward, and telling you "if you do this thing, this will be the outcome". My point is, you're not considering all of the things you don't know, because you can't. It isn't just about "start a company that will probably fail based on the % of companies that actually succeed". It's about "who will I meet while trying to start the company, that could turn into a life long friend", or "what skills do I know so little about that I'll be required to exercise while starting my company that may blossom into a passion I never knew about", or "what sort of example could I be setting for my kids/family/friends who might be on the fence in regards to taking their own leaps of faith"? We're all too quick to assume we know the outcome of things, and we too easily forget the crazy, spontaneous circumstances of our youth that grew out into huge parts of our lives; that possibility doesn't go away when you're older, it's just most people tend to stop letting their lives have any risk or slack in them that could introduce those sorts of catalyst events.
  - Draiken 5y ago
    I had never really thought about it in that sense. This is a very interesting take that honestly made me a bit emotional. Thank you for this.
looshch 5y ago
> Drive is something we can choose and cultivate oh really? How one can cultivate drive if she, for example, has had several burnouts from what she used to had a drive for and it was the only thing that ever interested her for whole life? Or if he reached the ‘plateau of sustainability’ and just bored and, again, it was the only activity that kept him from strong suicidal thoughts? There is a possible case when someone just don’t give a shit about nothing through his life, what’s then? Cultivate a drive along with unstoppable thoughts continuously going to your head like ‘There is no point in absolutely anything’. And please, don’t confuse these examples with psychological diseases

AnonCoward4 5y ago

> Drive is something we can choose and cultivate. That sounds like hybris. I am not disagreeing that you can alter it to a degree, but it is certainly not something you choose. Just think about how you feel when you are ill and now think of people with allergies for example, that can always feel ill depending on circumstances. These limits exist always and they are different from person to person and these limits are not always set by (obvious) illnesses, but by the body in general. edit: limit => limits

wwn_se 5y ago
Of course you can be more driven (there is of course a limit but most are far from it). I have done it I used to be content with where I was in life. Made decent money, family, friends and hobbies. But I decided that I wanted more so I let my hobbies grow a bit and changed employer. Sure I'm not a million miles from where i was but I'm not in the same place. Once I took the first steps the next got easier and I started to look for more opportunities. Find your first step, it should be small but in the right direction. Ask to take lead on something at work or push yourself in your hobby. What I think everyone with kids should have as one of their goals is to get them one step up the ladder. Give them a slightly better chance than you had. Most successful people have successful parents, very few start from zero. My parents were middle class but I'm upper middle class.

Draiken 5y ago

Genuine question: how do you find these goals in the first place? Do you just randomly put them out there and work for it so you can tick that checkbox? Take for example starting a company. I had that goal before and today I know that'd take an enormous amount of effort and would take me away from my family and the few hobbies I have. All that doesn't guarantee I can make it, since the majority of companies fail and luck plays a huge factor there. I could set that as a goal, but is it worth it? Most people I talk to when we dive into why they set a particular goal for themselves, it comes down to a childhood dream or something set by society. That's why I don't see the point.

hugozap 5y ago
I think it happens organically, you start increasing your sphere of influence in some area and with some audience and gradually those goals kind of emerge as natural steps.
auto 5y ago
Another key aspect you need to consider is that (pseudoscience/hand-waving incoming) your brain is very good at taking all of your prior experience and extrapolating it forward, and telling you "if you do this thing, this will be the outcome". My point is, you're not considering all of the things you don't know, because you can't. It isn't just about "start a company that will probably fail based on the % of companies that actually succeed". It's about "who will I meet while trying to start the company, that could turn into a life long friend", or "what skills do I know so little about that I'll be required to exercise while starting my company that may blossom into a passion I never knew about", or "what sort of example could I be setting for my kids/family/friends who might be on the fence in regards to taking their own leaps of faith"? We're all too quick to assume we know the outcome of things, and we too easily forget the crazy, spontaneous circumstances of our youth that grew out into huge parts of our lives; that possibility doesn't go away when you're older, it's just most people tend to stop letting their lives have any risk or slack in them that could introduce those sorts of catalyst events.
- Draiken 5y ago
  I had never really thought about it in that sense. This is a very interesting take that honestly made me a bit emotional. Thank you for this.

looshch 5y ago

> Drive is something we can choose and cultivate oh really? How one can cultivate drive if she, for example, has had several burnouts from what she used to had a drive for and it was the only thing that ever interested her for whole life? Or if he reached the ‘plateau of sustainability’ and just bored and, again, it was the only activity that kept him from strong suicidal thoughts? There is a possible case when someone just don’t give a shit about nothing through his life, what’s then? Cultivate a drive along with unstoppable thoughts continuously going to your head like ‘There is no point in absolutely anything’. And please, don’t confuse these examples with psychological diseases