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I used to think that the older I got, the easier it would be to knuckle down and get an hour or two of meaningless work done so I could move on to something mor

by spking 3y ago

I used to think that the older I got, the easier it would be to knuckle down and get an hour or two of meaningless work done so I could move on to something more important or interesting. But actually the opposite has been the case, possibly due to overall declining energy levels.

Swizec 3y ago
> I used to think that the older I got, the easier it would be to knuckle down and get an hour or two of meaningless work done You’re thinking about it wrong. The trick is to do less and less of the shit you don’t like doing as you age, sorry I mean as you gain experience. Leverage your career capital into doing more of the work that fires you up and less of the work that doesn’t. There’s always things you just “have to” do, but you’d be surprised how many of those are optional. A lot of the stuff that bores you to tears, is boring because nobody cares about it getting done. High chance that nobody will even notice if you don’t.
- pmoriarty 3y ago
  "The trick is to do less and less of the shit you don’t like doing as you age, sorry I mean as you gain experience." So this is why the people who've climbed the corporate ladder don't seem to jack shit?
  - Swizec 3y ago
    No, that’s because a lot (even most) of their time gets sucked into glue work. Every time you ask someone a question, they answer. Great! Takes 5 minutes right? What you don’t see are the other 30 people doing the same thing.
slothtrop 3y ago
Some people work around this by front-loading some hobbyism in their day, starting in the morning and getting up early. I've reached a point now I feel drained after a work day, whether I concentrated a lot or found it boring. And controlling for sleep. For this reason, if something I'm interested requires more overhead, I try to do some early or at least plan and set it up, so that once work is done I can just go through the motions without thinking about it too much.

by spking 3y ago

Swizec 3y ago

> I used to think that the older I got, the easier it would be to knuckle down and get an hour or two of meaningless work done You’re thinking about it wrong. The trick is to do less and less of the shit you don’t like doing as you age, sorry I mean as you gain experience. Leverage your career capital into doing more of the work that fires you up and less of the work that doesn’t. There’s always things you just “have to” do, but you’d be surprised how many of those are optional. A lot of the stuff that bores you to tears, is boring because nobody cares about it getting done. High chance that nobody will even notice if you don’t.

pmoriarty 3y ago
"The trick is to do less and less of the shit you don’t like doing as you age, sorry I mean as you gain experience." So this is why the people who've climbed the corporate ladder don't seem to jack shit?
- Swizec 3y ago
  No, that’s because a lot (even most) of their time gets sucked into glue work. Every time you ask someone a question, they answer. Great! Takes 5 minutes right? What you don’t see are the other 30 people doing the same thing.

slothtrop 3y ago

Some people work around this by front-loading some hobbyism in their day, starting in the morning and getting up early. I've reached a point now I feel drained after a work day, whether I concentrated a lot or found it boring. And controlling for sleep. For this reason, if something I'm interested requires more overhead, I try to do some early or at least plan and set it up, so that once work is done I can just go through the motions without thinking about it too much.