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I gotta say, articles(to use that term loosely) like this are really starting to grind my gears. There are so many of them. Every person and their dog is tryin

I gotta say, articles(to use that term loosely) like this are really starting to grind my gears. There are so many of them. Every person and their dog is trying to become some sort of popular culture icon by sharing with us their incredibly profound inner dialogue. They all have advice for how to live our lives, and none of them can agree. If you take the sum of their advice, you have to do everything at once. Gotta grind for that success. But don't grind too much. Also, remember to meditate. Disconnect from the internet. But don't become too disconnected, because you have to stay up to date on current events, because otherwise you can't keep up with the twittersphere. Which you should avoid, because it's toxic, by the way. But not too much, because important people say important things there! This article is particularly bad. It's only a few paragraphs, and it still manages to be so self-contradictory that if you actually read it through, you're literally no wiser in the end, because the advice boils down to "Sometimes you need to relax, but you can't relax all the time." Gee, thanks. Pretty ironic, considering the subject of this article.

lajisam 4y ago
Agree, far too many of them here at HN.
mms__ 4y ago
> They all have advice for how to live our lives, and none of them can agree. If you take the sum of their advice, you have to do everything at once Well yeah, different people have different views of how to accomplish stuff. You should have to reason a bit about what you read to figure out your own approach
- nudgeee 4y ago
  Agree, after years and years of being inundated with self-help messages, platitudes, and coming-of-age teachings, I find most of it comes from a good place — however the messages are so context specific that it probably doesn’t apply to you in your current juncture in life right now. I find what is crucial when it comes to taking advice, is figuring out when advice makes sense to you — and try to synthesize it as food for thought within your world view (or not).
edmundsauto 4y ago
And so much of it is rehashed ancient philosophy, such as "moderation in all things". So much of is basically the Tao Te Ching, or astrology. That is to say, it's not true! but over millennia, humans have found it to be useful. Try not to get annoyed by writing that isn't meant for you (assuming you don't get any value out of it, it's a tautology that you are not the intended audience.)
- sifar 4y ago
  >> So much of is basically the Tao Te Ching, or astrology. I am having difficulty parsing your comment. You are equating Tao Te Ching and astrology in the same bucket ? One is a philosophy, a way of looking at life - the other I don't know what to call it. And if you say that both are ways of looking at the world then we can apply that yardstick to everything and it doesn't get us anywhere. >> That is to say, it's not true! but over millennia, humans have found it to be useful. What part of core ancient philosophies about how one should conduct oneself are not true but useful ?
  - mayankgoel28 4y ago
    Something like "Let go of all attachments". Sure, it's great advice, but being attached to some things is life, even though they can potentially have negative effects (such as attachment to a SO, family, job, body-part).
    - sifar 4y ago
      As with many ancient sayings, they are pretty information dense, have multiple interpretations and need to unrolled in context specific cases and not be taken literally. >> Let go of all attachments. You find this in Hindu, Buddhist and even some stoic philosophies. It doesn't mean you literally don't feel for any thing/objects in life, leave every thing and become an ascetic. In fact it is the opposite - immersed in your life, you recognize the attachment you have towards the person/object, feel the joy/sadness(and everything in between) that you derive from it, yet don't be consumed by it, don't make it the center of your life. Don't get attached to being reciprocated or the results as these are out of your control. Learn to let it go if it is not part of your life anymore. Life finds a way, as Dr. Malcolm would say. At least that is how I see it.
tapvt 4y ago
I mostly agree with you, but I did find some value in the quotation (paraphrased, because I’ve closed the article) “Focus on doing the right things rather than doing things right.”
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
lysergia 4y ago
I think the gist of the article is: Sometimes (not always) the winning move is not to play. I have experienced this phenomenon before where my best ideas are had in the shower, or a software bug is resolved after going for a walk in nature. Another way of putting this is: avoid the target to hit it.
chocolatemario 4y ago
I think articles like this just don’t belong on hackernews. This seems like a train of thought turned blog post. Maybe this guy thinks he is a guru, but it seems like it’s simply an attempt to formalize his musings. I’ve no qualms with this as a post, but it’s why I’m on this forum.

lajisam 4y ago

Agree, far too many of them here at HN.

mms__ 4y ago

> They all have advice for how to live our lives, and none of them can agree. If you take the sum of their advice, you have to do everything at once Well yeah, different people have different views of how to accomplish stuff. You should have to reason a bit about what you read to figure out your own approach

nudgeee 4y ago
Agree, after years and years of being inundated with self-help messages, platitudes, and coming-of-age teachings, I find most of it comes from a good place — however the messages are so context specific that it probably doesn’t apply to you in your current juncture in life right now. I find what is crucial when it comes to taking advice, is figuring out when advice makes sense to you — and try to synthesize it as food for thought within your world view (or not).

edmundsauto 4y ago

And so much of it is rehashed ancient philosophy, such as "moderation in all things". So much of is basically the Tao Te Ching, or astrology. That is to say, it's not true! but over millennia, humans have found it to be useful. Try not to get annoyed by writing that isn't meant for you (assuming you don't get any value out of it, it's a tautology that you are not the intended audience.)

sifar 4y ago
>> So much of is basically the Tao Te Ching, or astrology. I am having difficulty parsing your comment. You are equating Tao Te Ching and astrology in the same bucket ? One is a philosophy, a way of looking at life - the other I don't know what to call it. And if you say that both are ways of looking at the world then we can apply that yardstick to everything and it doesn't get us anywhere. >> That is to say, it's not true! but over millennia, humans have found it to be useful. What part of core ancient philosophies about how one should conduct oneself are not true but useful ?
- mayankgoel28 4y ago
  Something like "Let go of all attachments". Sure, it's great advice, but being attached to some things is life, even though they can potentially have negative effects (such as attachment to a SO, family, job, body-part).
  - sifar 4y ago
    As with many ancient sayings, they are pretty information dense, have multiple interpretations and need to unrolled in context specific cases and not be taken literally. >> Let go of all attachments. You find this in Hindu, Buddhist and even some stoic philosophies. It doesn't mean you literally don't feel for any thing/objects in life, leave every thing and become an ascetic. In fact it is the opposite - immersed in your life, you recognize the attachment you have towards the person/object, feel the joy/sadness(and everything in between) that you derive from it, yet don't be consumed by it, don't make it the center of your life. Don't get attached to being reciprocated or the results as these are out of your control. Learn to let it go if it is not part of your life anymore. Life finds a way, as Dr. Malcolm would say. At least that is how I see it.

tapvt 4y ago

I mostly agree with you, but I did find some value in the quotation (paraphrased, because I’ve closed the article) “Focus on doing the right things rather than doing things right.”

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

lysergia 4y ago

I think the gist of the article is: Sometimes (not always) the winning move is not to play. I have experienced this phenomenon before where my best ideas are had in the shower, or a software bug is resolved after going for a walk in nature. Another way of putting this is: avoid the target to hit it.

chocolatemario 4y ago

I think articles like this just don’t belong on hackernews. This seems like a train of thought turned blog post. Maybe this guy thinks he is a guru, but it seems like it’s simply an attempt to formalize his musings. I’ve no qualms with this as a post, but it’s why I’m on this forum.