5 ms·

The value of advice comes from arriving at the right moment to the right person, not some platonic, universal “goodness“. For example, I wanted to drop out of

by orzig 4y ago

The value of advice comes from arriving at the right moment to the right person, not some platonic, universal “goodness“. For example, I wanted to drop out of college to work on climate change, and an adult in that community who I respected immensely told me “calm down, it won’t be too late by the time you graduate“. Not too many people needed the advice to worry less about climate change (especially 15 years ago), but it was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment so that I could focus on actually learning the fundamentals of engineering before throwing myself in

nolroz 4y ago
Did you get into climate change after finishing?
- iLoveOncall 4y ago
  Yes but not in the way you expect it, he works for an oil company now.
- orzig 4y ago
  That is a totally fair question, and I have to admit I did not - nuanced stories don’t fit in an online comment! The Great Recession hit and Obama’s climate push failed[0], so I went into healthcare (as another thing that needed fixing, and which there was political will to do something about). The lessons of all of those twists are more complex, but I still firmly believe that I got the right advice given what everybody knew at the time. [0] https://www.politico.com/story/2012/11/obama-says-climate-change-to-take-backseat-to-economy-083865 https://www.politico.com/story/2012/11/obama-says-climate-ch...
  - pmoriarty 4y ago
    This reminds me of a tale told by Lawrence Block: There's an old story about a young man who cornered a world-famous violinist and begged to be allowed to play for him. If the master offered him encouragement, he would devote his life to music. But if his talent was not equal to his calling, he wanted to know ahead of time so he could avoid wasting his life. He played, and the great violinist shook his head. "You lack the fire," he said. Decades later the two met again, and the would-be violinist, now a prosperous businessman, recalled their previous meeting. "You changed my entire life," he explained. "It was a bitter disappointment, giving up music, but I forced myself to accept your judgement. Thus, instead of becoming a fourth-rate musician, I've had a good life in the world of commerce. But tell me, how could you tell so readily that I lacked the fire?" "Oh, I hardly listened when you played," the old master said. "That's what I tell everyone who plays for me -- that they lack the fire." "But that's unforgivable!" the businessman cried. "How could you do that? You altered the entire course of my life. Perhaps I could have been another Kreisler, another Heifetz--" The old man shook his head again. "You don't understand," he said. "If you had had the fire, you would have paid no attention to me."
    - legends2k 4y ago
      Wow, profound and very true!
    - rhapsodic 4y ago
solanav 4y ago
I've heard a similar story about a young man that wanting to become a monk, went to the monastery and one of the old monks there told him: "Go get a doctorate, then come back and choose if you really want to give up everything to meditate." or something along those lines.
tsol 4y ago
The best piece of advice I received was 'slow and steady wins the race'. It's something I heard a 1000 times before and 1000 times after, and it never meant that much to me. When I heard it, though, at just the right time and it made just the right amount of sense that it totally changed my perspective on everything radically since then. It's totally changed the way I operate and the way I look at things. But I can't really communicate to other people what _exactly_ it means to me, because when I say it to other people they just hear 'slow and steady wins the race' the way I did the first 1000 times.
- barrenko 4y ago
  When the master is ready the student appears, works as well.
  - lalopalota 4y ago
    Isn't it the other way around? "When the student is ready, the master will appear." https://kagi.com/search?q=when+the+master+is+ready+the+student+appears https://kagi.com/search?q=when+the+master+is+ready+the+stude...

by orzig 4y ago

nolroz 4y ago

Did you get into climate change after finishing?

iLoveOncall 4y ago
Yes but not in the way you expect it, he works for an oil company now.
orzig 4y ago
That is a totally fair question, and I have to admit I did not - nuanced stories don’t fit in an online comment! The Great Recession hit and Obama’s climate push failed[0], so I went into healthcare (as another thing that needed fixing, and which there was political will to do something about). The lessons of all of those twists are more complex, but I still firmly believe that I got the right advice given what everybody knew at the time. [0] https://www.politico.com/story/2012/11/obama-says-climate-change-to-take-backseat-to-economy-083865 https://www.politico.com/story/2012/11/obama-says-climate-ch...
- pmoriarty 4y ago
  This reminds me of a tale told by Lawrence Block: There's an old story about a young man who cornered a world-famous violinist and begged to be allowed to play for him. If the master offered him encouragement, he would devote his life to music. But if his talent was not equal to his calling, he wanted to know ahead of time so he could avoid wasting his life. He played, and the great violinist shook his head. "You lack the fire," he said. Decades later the two met again, and the would-be violinist, now a prosperous businessman, recalled their previous meeting. "You changed my entire life," he explained. "It was a bitter disappointment, giving up music, but I forced myself to accept your judgement. Thus, instead of becoming a fourth-rate musician, I've had a good life in the world of commerce. But tell me, how could you tell so readily that I lacked the fire?" "Oh, I hardly listened when you played," the old master said. "That's what I tell everyone who plays for me -- that they lack the fire." "But that's unforgivable!" the businessman cried. "How could you do that? You altered the entire course of my life. Perhaps I could have been another Kreisler, another Heifetz--" The old man shook his head again. "You don't understand," he said. "If you had had the fire, you would have paid no attention to me."
  - legends2k 4y ago
    Wow, profound and very true!
  - rhapsodic 4y ago

solanav 4y ago

I've heard a similar story about a young man that wanting to become a monk, went to the monastery and one of the old monks there told him: "Go get a doctorate, then come back and choose if you really want to give up everything to meditate." or something along those lines.

tsol 4y ago

The best piece of advice I received was 'slow and steady wins the race'. It's something I heard a 1000 times before and 1000 times after, and it never meant that much to me. When I heard it, though, at just the right time and it made just the right amount of sense that it totally changed my perspective on everything radically since then. It's totally changed the way I operate and the way I look at things. But I can't really communicate to other people what _exactly_ it means to me, because when I say it to other people they just hear 'slow and steady wins the race' the way I did the first 1000 times.

barrenko 4y ago
When the master is ready the student appears, works as well.
- lalopalota 4y ago
  Isn't it the other way around? "When the student is ready, the master will appear." https://kagi.com/search?q=when+the+master+is+ready+the+student+appears https://kagi.com/search?q=when+the+master+is+ready+the+stude...