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I feel like the internet creates a distortion here. Sites like HN make us feel like everyone is out there creating like crazy and doing all this amazing stuff.

by city41 15y ago

I feel like the internet creates a distortion here. Sites like HN make us feel like everyone is out there creating like crazy and doing all this amazing stuff. The reality is a very small minority of people are doing this. Most people don't create much of anything. At least, anything they could have a major break through on. Most people have day jobs and will always have day jobs. Most people come home from work and watch TV. It takes serious discipline to take an idea through to success. If I had to guess, discipline is a very important trait for startup success. Maybe you'll never be that disciplined, or maybe it's something you can work on. I can say for sure I am much more disciplined now (at the ripe age of 34) than in my 20s. Yet I still question if I have what it takes to truly do a startup. To the OP: I think you should just relax and enjoy yourself, let nature take over. Not every idea has to be worth a million dollars. My current project and the one just before it basically have no chance of ever making me any money. I did them because I enjoyed them. I think that is more important and more likely to lead you in a direction you want to go.

jaggederest 15y ago
I mean, I feel pretty good when I take the trash out on the right day and finish a book - he's setting a pretty high bar if he's assume everyone has to make a startup, let alone succeed at it.
andrewflnr 15y ago
Arguments based on "most people" are not compelling to me. To me, the correct standard to measure my performance against is my potential. And I know I fall far short. I feel I should have accomplished more by now, I could have. I know others have. I too feel the call of new ideas all the time, and have the same lack of discipline. I've brought precious few of my ideas to state that could possibly be called "done", and none to the glorious state I had imagined. I'm not even talking about making money, just making good stuff for people to enjoy. Perhaps the biggest difference between me and the author is that I'm still only 20 and still in school. To accomplish half the things I want to before I die, I'll have to grow a ton more self-discipline, and sometimes I wonder if I can do it. To tell me and people like me "relax, other people are lazy too" is not that helpful. It's true, "most people" never fully realize their potential. They have all kinds of bad habits and issues. When have other people's mistakes been an excuse for mine?
- city41 15y ago
  I'm not saying "relax, other people are lazy too". That's the other extreme. Not all of us are Jeff Bezos or John Carmack. But we're not all Homer Simpsons either. There's a healthy, realistic middle ground in there somewhere. If you feel you are a Bezos, then by all means go for it. I'm sure many on HN feel they are that and many are probably correct, too. But I'm also not sure it's healthy to cut ourselves down and hate on ourselves because we might not be living up to an unrealistic standard.
  - mvzink 15y ago
    I wonder if Bezos thought he was a Bezos.
- gnaritas 15y ago
  > I feel I should have accomplished more by now, I could have. Perhaps the I could have is the little lie we tell ourselves to soften the blow to our ego. Something to think about. The problem with living inside your own head is that unlike everyone else, you judge yourself by what you think you could be rather than what you are. It's a sort of self deception at play.
  - aridiculous 15y ago
    > The problem with living inside your own head is that unlike everyone else, you judge yourself by what you think you could be rather than what you are. It's a sort of self deception at play. I really like what you said here. When I think about my more "well-adjusted" friends, I see that they have a solid set of criteria to compare their achievements against: a decent job, an apartment, having friends. It amounts to a basic societal checklist that they can succeed against. Living in your own head is like extending the goal every time you reach it. It's like having a carrot attached to a stick that moves with you.
    - sliverstorm 15y ago
      Aka "moving goalposts". I know the feeling oh-so-well, for I have inflicted it upon myself all my life.

by city41 15y ago

jaggederest 15y ago

I mean, I feel pretty good when I take the trash out on the right day and finish a book - he's setting a pretty high bar if he's assume everyone has to make a startup, let alone succeed at it.

andrewflnr 15y ago

Arguments based on "most people" are not compelling to me. To me, the correct standard to measure my performance against is my potential. And I know I fall far short. I feel I should have accomplished more by now, I could have. I know others have. I too feel the call of new ideas all the time, and have the same lack of discipline. I've brought precious few of my ideas to state that could possibly be called "done", and none to the glorious state I had imagined. I'm not even talking about making money, just making good stuff for people to enjoy. Perhaps the biggest difference between me and the author is that I'm still only 20 and still in school. To accomplish half the things I want to before I die, I'll have to grow a ton more self-discipline, and sometimes I wonder if I can do it. To tell me and people like me "relax, other people are lazy too" is not that helpful. It's true, "most people" never fully realize their potential. They have all kinds of bad habits and issues. When have other people's mistakes been an excuse for mine?

city41 15y ago
I'm not saying "relax, other people are lazy too". That's the other extreme. Not all of us are Jeff Bezos or John Carmack. But we're not all Homer Simpsons either. There's a healthy, realistic middle ground in there somewhere. If you feel you are a Bezos, then by all means go for it. I'm sure many on HN feel they are that and many are probably correct, too. But I'm also not sure it's healthy to cut ourselves down and hate on ourselves because we might not be living up to an unrealistic standard.
- mvzink 15y ago
  I wonder if Bezos thought he was a Bezos.
gnaritas 15y ago
> I feel I should have accomplished more by now, I could have. Perhaps the I could have is the little lie we tell ourselves to soften the blow to our ego. Something to think about. The problem with living inside your own head is that unlike everyone else, you judge yourself by what you think you could be rather than what you are. It's a sort of self deception at play.
- aridiculous 15y ago
  > The problem with living inside your own head is that unlike everyone else, you judge yourself by what you think you could be rather than what you are. It's a sort of self deception at play. I really like what you said here. When I think about my more "well-adjusted" friends, I see that they have a solid set of criteria to compare their achievements against: a decent job, an apartment, having friends. It amounts to a basic societal checklist that they can succeed against. Living in your own head is like extending the goal every time you reach it. It's like having a carrot attached to a stick that moves with you.
  - sliverstorm 15y ago
    Aka "moving goalposts". I know the feeling oh-so-well, for I have inflicted it upon myself all my life.