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I think what he meant was something more along the lines of: Don't let self-sacrifice inhibit your ability to accomplish the things you want to. Helping others
by unimpressive 15y ago
I think what he meant was something more along the lines of: Don't let self-sacrifice inhibit your ability to accomplish the things you want to.
Helping others is pretty much a necessity on the road to personal growth. To build tools that only you use stunts your ability and your ability to impact the world. Right now I'm on personal projects building things for other people to use, even though I myself have no need of the tools I'm building. In the process however, I'm learning things building those tools, like socket programming and interface design.
I win, and so does everyone I'm building for.
- kevinalexbrown 15y agoI have no problem with that. But the idea that I should reject doing things that benefit a large number of people just because they don't simultaneously benefit me in an optimal way is scary. If you're optimizing for your own personal growth, then you're only going to choose to do something that benefits others when it benefits you more than anything else you might choose to do with your limited time and resources. Now look, I know, maybe I'm just being selfish and optimizing for my personal happiness when I donate to a cause I believe in, maybe Bill Gates just does philanthropy because he 'made crappy products' and needs to feel good about himself. But I don't believe that those choices are optimal for personal growth, and I believe that the world turns on them.
- nostrademons 15y agoI'm reminded of Paul Buchheit's post from yesterday "Be good to yourself, and to others. It's actually not possible to do one or the other - you must do both, or neither."