14 ms·
There's no speed limit (2009)
- hezekiah 15y agoIt's this kind of rah-rah self-congratulatory unquestioning cheer-leading that is bringing me back to Hacker News less and less often. Read more and you learn the truth: this guy practiced his ass off for a long time, and that's how he got good. "Speed learning" is bullshit. There are enough studies showing a direct correlation between the time spent practicing an activity and your skill level that I don't need to mention them here. But this correlation of practice time holds not only for music but for chess, flying an airplane, basketball, virtually any activity of skill. And yes, programming. It takes around 3,000 hours of study to be competent in something, and about 10,000 hours to be an expert. There are no shortcuts. You can be Bobby Fischer and in your first chess tournament you're still going to get your ass kicked just like he did. But if you do all chess, only chess, all the time, for years, you can compete. One of the most important thing I teach my kids is, there is no magic. People are always trying to force magic upon you, usually when selling something, or to puff themselves up. But the reality is there is no magic. It's all hard work just to get to ground zero. Then you need luck. Some may see this as pessimistic, or self-destructive, but I see it as just the opposite. It's only when you've been liberated from spoonfed bullshit that you can start to live and experience life in full.
- SteveAllen 15y agoOh good. Let's repost this every single month.
- SteveAllen 15y agoOh good. Let's repost this every single month.
- 1_wave 15y agoDerek, What is the relationship of cell behavior to, 1. tribalism & 2. music (answer may be rendered in form of improvisation dance/one man silent opera)
- sivers 15y agoI just did an interpretive dance to explain my answer. Man, you shoulda seen it. I'm exhausted now, but it was awesome.
- stacymcardle 15y agoI work so hard and am always just getting by. Never ahead of the game. This effects my happiness because I feel a lack of freedom when money is always such an issue. I'm looking for a way to accept what is and find happiness in other ways, than say, my dream of going to Europe. Meditation seems to calm me but I feel a sense of disgust in myself because I am not making a good living, even though I should be proud of myself for working so hard and being good at what I do. Thanks for any thoughts.
- jonmb 15y agoSivers, just wanted to thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience. I know it has had an effect on me. Everyone, I highly recommend you check out Derek's "Uncommon Sense" videos, available free here: http://www.appsumo.com/sivers/ http://www.appsumo.com/sivers/
- sivers 15y agoThanks Jon! I really appreciate it. That's really nice to hear.
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- lfittl 15y agoNo - he's talking about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berklee_College_of_Music http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berklee_College_of_Music
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- frobozz 15y agoI don't see how it is useful. a) The first instance of Berklee shows the full name, which isn't "University of California, Berk(lee|eley)". b) It consistently says Berklee in the article, never Berkeley, so there's no confusion caused by inconsistency. c) Your comment implies that the author is an idiot who can't even spell the name of the college he attended; which is impolite at best.
- sivers 15y agoIt's OK. It's a common confusion. My senior year (at Berklee) the company that prints up our report cards sent them to Berkeley California. Kind of an ongoing joke. ("Where did you go to school?" - "Berklee" - "Oh wow, that's really prestigious!" - "... College of Music." ".... oh.")
- personlurking 15y agoConversely, I was speaking with someone overseas and mentioned I used to live in Berkeley, California and his response was, "oh, so you play music?"
- sivers 15y agoSurprised to see a post of mine here on Hacker News. (First time in a long time. Thanks!) Feel free to ask me absolutely anything here.
- aamar 15y agoI've seen this post before, but I was glad to reread it. A bit off-topic, but could you tell us about your sleep schedule?
- sivers 15y ago6 hours has always been enough for me. At Berklee, I'd get a piano room every night at 10pm until midnight, when they closed. Then I'd sleep from 1am to 7am, practice some more, and go to class. I was quite driven. Kind of like someone who really feels if they just work their ass off they can be the next Zuckerberg, 20 years ago, being a successful musician felt more attainable. It felt like if I just practiced my ass off, wrote a lot of great songs, and put myself where the action is, I could be successful. That kind of "I can almost taste it" feeling is the most amazing motivation, isn't it? My friends called me "the robot" because I never hung out, never partied, never sat around in the cafeteria eating with them. I'd just grab a peanut butter sandwich and get back to work. Couldn't waste a single minute on the road to success!
- bh42222 15y ago6 hours has always been enough for me. Yep, that's at least one genetic advantage you have on most of us.
- EvilTerran 15y agoYeah, that "I have no innate abilities" line didn't quite sit right with me -- there's one, at least. My first thought there was "attribution error".
- joering2 15y ago> Yep, that's at least one genetic advantage you have on most of us. I think I kind of have the same problem as you do: not enough/too much sleep that messes up my day. But is this "genetic" like you saying? I don't think so. Can you point to any directions where to read about this, or at least, how to get better on sleeping enough hours? Thnx.
- aangjie 15y agoDarn it.. Sometimes i wish i had found a teacher like this. i.e: someone who could teach at my pace and not the class' average pace.
- sivers 15y agoI think you have to go outside the school to find those kind of teachers. They've got an intrinsic motivation to prove they can teach better than the school's standard pace.
- j45 15y agoI had two massively influential mentors like this in middle and high school. Both were teachers who cleared the path for me. Instead of the curriculum other students did I was given one that challenged me.
- jseliger 15y agoIn schools as they're currently structured, there's virtually no incentive to do this kind of thing, and quite strong disincentives to: taking special interest in a particular student is often viewed with sexually-tinged suspicion. Most students, including the smarter ones, don't really understand this, which is also part of the problem; I wrote "How to get your professors' attention, along with coaching and mentoring" (http://jseliger.com/2010/10/02/how-to-get-your-professors%E2%80%99-attention-or-how-to-get-the-coaching-and-mentorship-you-need/ http://jseliger.com/2010/10/02/how-to-get-your-professors%E2...) in part to remedy this knowledge deficit.
- raheemm 15y agoDerek, wow you were a driven kid! What lead you to be in such a hurry to get through school?
- sivers 15y agoI was in a hurry to get famous! I wanted to be a rock star. Ain't no fun waiting 'round to be a millionaire! Gotta hurry.
- silverbax88 15y agoMy favorite nugget: " I run across kids all the time who say they want to be a great musician. I tell them I can help, and tell them to show up at my studio at 9am if they're serious. Almost nobody ever does." I've learned this after so many years. Everyone talks about wanting to be successful. No one ever means it. Having someone just show up is a miracle.
- unimpressive 15y agoAs goes the famous Woody Allen quote that a large portion of life is just showing up. If a hacker gave me an offer like that I'd feel incredibly foolish not showing up. But then I guess you can discount that as talk until such a situation were to actually present itself. But yeah, the disconnect between peoples words and their actions is laughably ridiculous.
- matwood 15y agoActions speak louder than words. A lot of people say a lot things, but few act. Showing up and doing something puts a person ahead of many.
- dmd149 15y agoIt's definitely helpful to understand that there is no real speed limit. Conversely, I think it's also useful to think that there's no rush. I sometimes get in my head that "if I don't have X millions by the time I'm 30, I'll be a failure." I realized it's too stressful to think that way. It's probably more important to think there are no speed requirements at all. Move as slow or as fast as you need/want. Great post!
- bkmartin 15y agoI would say that maybe you should refine your metrics? What significance is x millions? Is that how success is defined? Or do you define success by doing something great? Typically when you do something great, in the world of products and business, the money follows. If you can turn out a great product in x months that gains hundreds of thousands or millions of users, would that be a better metric? I'm not saying your metric is wrong, I'm just challenging you to consider what the proper metric of success is for you. The author didn't use $ as his measuring stick, he used a skill or status. So do you want to make $, or do you want to make awesome stuff, or do awesome things? Figure it out, then use it to define your metrics and drive your success. I can't see how, "there's no rush", can be remotely true. You only get x days, if day x is = tomorrow then you only have 1 more day. You never know when day x = tomorrow, so I would say there is always a rush.
- dmd149 15y agoIt's more the mindset I'm concerned with. An extrinsic outcome oriented mindset leads to a lot of stress. Whenever I've set demanding performance goals for myself within a short time frame like write 10 blog posts a month or something similar, I don't enjoy the process and I usually don't end up writing all 10. On the other hand, if I say my goal is to get in the habit of writing one sentence everyday, the end result is much better and I'm less stressed about it. I think process oriented goals can actually end up being more productive than outcome oriented goals.
- steerb 15y agoIs this a way of saying one should always live on the edge of incompetence? Edit: I ask this, because I have difficulties applying your ideas on fields where I don't have any good teachers around (e.g., lets say I want to become a better cook).
- sivers 15y agoSorry your question got a little lost & downvoted. See another reply, above, about the difficulty in finding a great teacher.
- raheemm 15y agoDerek, ended up reading the followup article about advice you gave to an incoming Berklee class where you mention: Focus. Disconnect. Do not be distracted. This is your #1 most important challenge. If you master focus, you will be in control of your world. If you don't, it will control you. Seems like focusing nowadays is almost impossible. There are so many time sucks, so close at hand.
- sivers 15y agoYes! I agree! This is one of our biggest current challenges! Actually, Paul Graham has written two of the best essays about it: http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html and http://www.paulgraham.com/distraction.html http://www.paulgraham.com/distraction.html “Focus” by Leo Babauta is quite good, too: http://sivers.org/book/Focus http://sivers.org/book/Focus
- hef19898 15y agoI'm almost jealous that you had a teacher as great as you did! We need more Kinos!!!
- sivers 15y agoI'm jealous of my past self, too. I wish I had a new Kimo in my life, that could help me deeply grok programming as intensely as he did.
- hef19898 15y agoI guess I'm even more pissed with myself then jealous, because the only time I actually had Kimo in my life I myself weren't ready for that. Now I think I would be, but the opportunity is gone... So, let's hope you meet more than one Kimo in your life time!
- Porter_423 15y ago"There's no speed limit." I'm going to keep that line very present from now on - I'm sure it is going to appear often!
- f4stjack 15y agoGreat article, loved it. I also liked the booklist (http://sivers.org/book http://sivers.org/book).
- reason 15y agoThis is a great article. My problem is, however, that I take it to the extreme: I set unrealistic goals for myself seeing as there are about 50 different things I want to learn outside of school. I almost always never meet my goals, and I become really discouraged. It also seems like most successful people can point to an event, person, etc, in their past that served as a great turning point in putting them on the path to success. I just can't seem to put myself in a position for that to happen. Derek, any tips?
- vidar 15y agoJust pick one thing and finish it. This does take discipline, but it is the obvious way forward.
- sivers 15y agoFirst: Don't be a donkey. http://sivers.org/donkey http://sivers.org/donkey Also, ask yourself of those 50 different goals, which is something you HATE NOT doing? http://sivers.org/hatenot http://sivers.org/hatenot Focus on that goal, and let go of the rest. See my other reply here about the conditions of "flow". One is that you need to be getting immediate positive feedback on your actions. Maybe your 50 different goals aren't giving you any progress feedback, because they never get enough of your time to make progress? Imagine kind of like some people take a 10-day meditation retreat, or a 7-day fast, maybe what you need is like a 10-day "ONLY ONE GOAL" retreat. Pick the one thing that matters most, and only work towards that one thing. It's almost physically painful to ignore the other 49 at first, but soon the rewards from that one will be worth it. Then it feeds on itself, and perhaps could be your turning point.
- reason 15y agoAwesome. The One Goal Retreat sounds like a great idea. I'll give it a shot - thanks!
- Aushin 15y agoIs it possible to be a semi-donkey? I have, if I were to try to count, 4 major 'things' going on in my life right now. One is keeping fit, one is keeping up with free online learning resources like Udacity, one is my job, and one is learning to play guitar. Are you suggesting that if I don't drop three of those, I won't succeed in any of them? That worries me a bit, because the job part takes up LOTS and LOTS of time, far more than the other three combined.
- krmmalik 15y agoI think there are a whole load of kids out there that could benefit from a "no speed limit" policy. I think the larger problem is that there aren't enough teachers that can set the pace. I remember, as a kid, reading an article in the paper about how two 10 year old kids had completed a computing A level course (i'm from the UK). I was 11 myself at the time and so much wanted to do that course. My parents looked in many places and couldnt find a way for me to be able to take that course any sooner than what the national curriculum had prescribed. After a few years, i got distracted and lost my enthusiasm and determination. I'm having the same problem learning Node. js right now. I had been trying to teach myself, but my progress was going rather slowly. Then along came a mentor that help me achieve in just a few hours what i wasn't able to achieve in over a month. And then he disappeared, and im stuck at snails pace again. Maybe that's just the story of my life, or maybe that the story, period.
- sivers 15y agoGreat point! Finding an outstanding teacher is HARD! It's never clear where to look. Great performers are usually not great teachers. And great teachers aren't always great performers themselves. Any advice, anyone?
- invalidOrTaken 15y agoI think this will become a more and more common problem, especially in our field. Things move so fast that if you're just trying to keep up, you'll soon find yourself the most knowledgeable on the subject in your local area. This is great if you want to sound impressive, but not so great if you're trying to learn. The best option is of course to find a Kimo. Failing that, getting really good at interacting with people online might be the best option; if you're learning something independently, you're probably learning it online, and if you're learning it online, then other learners(however few) are only a click away.
- krmmalik 15y agoIts a good point actually, and i guess i just lost sight of things on the way. You are right, hanging around online is where i'm likely to find the most Kimo's
- grn 15y agoVisit Kimo's website (http://www.kimowilliams.com http://www.kimowilliams.com) and listen to the music. It's really nice.
- el_zorro 15y agoI have found that this is very true. Right now, I'm studying physics at the undergraduate level. It's hard, but at the same time it doesn't feel challenging. I don't feel like I get very much out of my lessons. However, I did manage to get myself a job in one of the space science labs here on campus. I have learned so much from that work, simply because it is expected that I be as capable as the graduate students I work with. I have learned much, much more advanced physics and internalized it than I could ever do in my basic physics class. It's the challenge that educates you.
- kickstart 15y agoDerek, this thread really resonates with me. I've been at a crossroads between 2 distinct paths for several years. Path A is a road I've been on for almost 14 yrs, and I've grown weary of it. W/o going into explanation, things have slowed on that road, and won't move forward w/o considerable effort. But I know exactly what needs to be done, there's little risk, it's very practical, and I will have company in the process, which I've come to realize is very important to me. On the other hand, I've always wondered about this Path B, w/o ever having taken any significant steps towards it. So I'd be starting from scratch, and yet it seems much less complex than Path A. I wouldn't have any company for probably a few years on Path B, so it's sure to be a lonely road at first. In the end it would be quite rewarding I'm sure, but I'd be letting down a lot of people by abondoning Path A. And I'm fairly certain that there's not enough time to pursue both Paths and do either one of them justice. Your thoughts on this??? Many thanks...
- sivers 15y agoABSOLUTELY WITHOUT A DOUBT, choose Path B. Life is f'ing short! When you're old and looking back on your life, you'll mostly remember the changes, the big events. These big changes are the hooks you hang your memories on. You'll always remember that 2012 is the year you chose Plan B. You'll remember this big change in your life, and all the other new experiences it's going to create. This is part of living a full life! This is crucial! 14 years is plenty of time on Path A. You got the benefits out of it. You learned your lessons. You've been there, done that. Time to go! I can't emphasize this enough. I think it's SO important. Every time I've made a major change in my life, it's always turned out for the better. Sometimes I even thought they were failures, in the moment - (divorce, selling my company, etc) - but they always turned out wonderful.
- kickstart 15y agoI was afraid you'd say that. Opting for Path B would actually make life a lot easier than you realize. An endless list of very time-consuming tasks disappear if I finally get off Path A, and a huge weight would be lifted from my shoulders. Of course Path B seems the obvious choice. But previous attempts on that path have several times ground to a halt, admittedly because I get in my own way. I can't help but wonder: why am I not pysched? Shouldn't my desire be enough to push me forward? If I knew I wanted it badly enough, would I even need to have this conversation with you? Btw, you and I are acquainted - we went to Berklee together. It'll be something if this exchange ends up being the turning point. Thanks again for taking the time!
- acak 15y agoAn interesting place to compare comments at. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=970945 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=970945
- GFischer 15y agoI remembered having seen it here before (it's a classic and worth revisiting) Previous discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=970945 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=970945
- apa-sl 15y agoWow, great story! I have understood similar thing just recently a year ago but I am already "old" (28 years). Nevertheless I totally agree - there is no speed limit! Funny thing that lately I have made a second approach to the piano from the scratch and... it worked! After just 4 weeks I am far better that during the first attempt few years ago and few months of learning. This time I simply have found the right teacher which is constantly challenging me. Hope that finally I will also manage to make it happen business wise with Y-Combinator! ;-)
- richardk 15y agoI don't buy this, I spent the first two years of my degree working as this guy suggests and completely burnt myself out. Now I take things easy, I'm still getting good grades and I'm a lot more relaxed. The other things I want to learn (not covered in my degree) can wait. But... maybe I'm just a chump...
- edw519 15y agoWow, what a great thread! Just another thing that makes Hacker News so good: read something written by an expert and then engage in a discussion with that expert. Derek, please go to www.askolo.com and register today. This is a brand new Hacker News inspired site built specifically for this purpose. These guys are trying to build and reach critical mass and your presence there would be greatly appreciated by me and many others, I'm sure.
- villagefool 15y agoThis is the second time today that I hear about Askolo, seems more then a quincidence (heavy PR going on?). How are they different from Quora?
- mds101 15y agoI believe the difference is you ask a question to a specific person. And all these questions and answers are laid out on a single page in a nice interview style. And considering that most of the guys being asked and those doing the asking are all pretty smart guys, it makes for super interesting reading. Not that you would get any of that from their landing page though. Read the page for Patio11 to get an idea of how great it is.
- jedc 15y agoI can only imagine they're a YC startup, based on the people I see active there after I registered. (PG, JL, other YC partners) With Demo Day today, things are picking up PR-wise. :)
- WA 15y agoOn a side note regarding askolo: I'm not so sure if the name is perfectly chosen. You know that olo is ASCII art for a penis and balls? http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=olo http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=olo This reminds me of the story when VW advertised their Golf GTI with "Turbo Cojones". Somehow, the marketing department (in Germany?) obviously didn't realize the meaning of "cojones". edit: typo
- mmaunder 15y agoGreat blog entry and often quoted on HN: https://www.google.fr/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=site%3Anews.ycombinator.com+http%3A%2F%2Fsivers.org%2Fkimo https://www.google.fr/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8...
- daspanters 15y agoHi Derek, Loved your book, two quick questions, (1) Up to today, how far did you get in using RoR for your new projects and (2) what is your "Kimo's advise" on speed learning it ? (coming from the Microsoft world).
- sivers 15y ago(1) I'm torn on Rails. It's so so so SO much ecosystem to learn just to make a basic web app. I find that I'm much more attracted to Sinatra. Also I prefer Sequel to ActiveRecord. Also, I really want to try playing with the architecture of a JSON REST API back-end and a JavaScript front-end (like Backbone.js). So for that, it seems Sinatra + Sequel suits me better. I'm trying this way for now, and if it doesn't work out, I'll commit a few hundred hours to learning Rails whole ecosystem. (Then I guess keeping up with it constantly.) (2) Oooh. Good question. It wasn't advice that made the difference. It was a style of teaching. Standing above me, pushing me further than I knew, but somehow still on the edge of my abilities. Making me figure things out for myself instead of giving me the answer. The closest I've seen someone come to systemizing it is Code School : http://www.codeschool.com/ http://www.codeschool.com/ I love that style of "here's a little info, now figure out this problem."
- daspanters 15y agoYou have no idea how valuable your responses are to me, I consider it a priviledge that you took the time to answer my questions, thank you very much! I like the idea also of going Sinatra, use Rails functionality if needed but otherwise keeping it simpler, there is always the chance to go with the full-blown version (Rails). Thanks again for sharing and taking the time!
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- j45 15y agoAwesome thread. I had two massively influential mentors like this in middle and high school. Both were teachers who cleared the path for me. Instead of the curriculum other students did I was given one that challenged me. 95% if I got the new computer lab setup over the weekend. I was pushed to help integrate technology into all the schools clubs, which in turn required me to join a whack of clubs I never would have, nor made diversely interested friends. While I was in school, much of this did happen outside the classroom. By saving my school 50 to 80,000/year in network administration costs. By creating (or saving) this much value I was supported with my own office, phone number, expense account to buy books or things for learning, attend conferences, and generally have my run of the school, including a pre-signed pad of late slips to use when I ran late from my commitments. There was so much that got built as a byproduct of my time because I was going so fast. The difference 10 or 15 years later? I had far fewer responsibilities to other areas of my life (and others) back then. Age inevitably eats up more time and it's a reality, if you want a balanced life with more than just work in it. This might be a kiss of death to some startup types, but it presented a new challenge to me and I ended up pursuing a consulting business to forever float me while chasing startup ideas.
- S_A_P 15y agoDerek, One thing I have noticed about many of your blogs/talks is that you have an innate sense of optimism. Is this a learned trait of yours or was this something you picked up as you made your way through life and found success? While I dont feel that I am a pessimist, I do wish I could improve my sense of optimism/anything is possible with work/focus. Any tips? Thanks and I always enjoy your posts.
- sivers 15y agoMy optimism is a little bit innate, but mostly learned. It was something I got from Tony Robbins : that you can choose how you want to feel about anything. (We usually act like we can't help the way we feel. But we can consciously choose and change how we feel.) No matter what happens, you can choose to ask, "What's great about this?" Even if you're not in the mood. Even if cranky or pissed-off, you can still force yourself to ask that, out of habit. Then the pessimism slowly dissolves, and you start to get optimistic again. Then it feeds off itself. Somehow when you're optimistic, things go your way more often. Then that encourages you further, etc. Actually these days I'm SO optimistic that it can work against me! I optimistically over-estimate my ability to do things. I optimistically think I'll just get fit and healthy through good intentions. Etc. Sometimes a dose of painful pessimism can achieve more. (Though I guess if you realize that's the attitude that would be more helpful for you, you can choose to be pessimistic, too. As long as you know it's an intentional choice.)
- SatvikBeri 15y agoThe book Succeed covers the topic of what kinds of optimism and pessimism help you achieve your goals pretty thoroughly (http://www.amazon.com/Succeed-How-Can-Reach-Goals/dp/0452297710/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1332871610&sr=8-3 http://www.amazon.com/Succeed-How-Can-Reach-Goals/dp/0452297...). Two big takeaways: 1. Be optimistic when setting high level, year-long goals. But be pessimistic when drawing out all the implementation details of what you'll actually have to do to achieve those goals. 2. Be pessimistic about the difficulty of anything you want to achieve, but optimistic about your ability to conquer those difficulties.
- kenrikm 15y agoI skipped the second part of my degree (I have an Associates) instead I went and got a job, I moved from the junior designer to the manager within less than a year (Managing people who had been there for 15+ years) and Art Director within two years where I ended up hiring an employee who had spent those two years in "The same program" that I would have been had I not ignored the "speed limit" to this day that employee is still just "a designer". Remember, you make your own rules in life. Walls only exist in your head.
- merraksh 15y agoPrevious discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=970945 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=970945
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- jseliger 15y agoI teach English Honors composition, and on the last day of each semester I send this as part of my "Last E-mail:" Now for the small message that's really big. This is the post that could but probably won't change your life: "There’s no speed limit. (The lessons that changed my life)": http://sivers.org/kimo http://sivers.org/kimo . I say "could," because most of you probably won't click the link; of those of you who do, most of you won't read the whole thing; of those of you who do, most of you won't get it; of those of you who do, most of you won't implement it. On the off chance that one out of 50 of you let this change your life, however, I'm sending it. The writer of "There's no speed limit" also wrote a book called Anything You Want, and reading it is probably one of the best ways you can spend an hour. (This is after I tell them about the not clicking the link, not reading it, etc.) in class.
- sivers 15y agoWow! Thanks Jake! I really appreciate it.
- jseliger 15y agoThanks for writing Anything You Want. I've written about it on my blog (http://jseliger.com http://jseliger.com) and elsewhere; I'm actually working on an essay about how to think about science and becoming a scientist that mentions a section from "There Is No Speed Limit." Good writing is good writing.
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- wkriski 15y agoWhere are you? What are you doing now? What is your next big project? Love Awaken the Giant Within. I've been trying to sell online guitar courses for many years, but now I've settled on doing well-paying remote IT contracts and taking months off in between to practice jazz guitar improvisation. I love sharing what I've learned but I guess it doesn't have to be a money maker, just something we all instinctively love to do.
- sivers 15y agoLiving in Singapore : http://sivers.org/singapore http://sivers.org/singapore Learning Rails, JavaScript, jQuery, Backbone.js Programming these things: http://50pop.com/code http://50pop.com/code That's all. :-)
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- norswap 15y agoHonestly, I don't believe it. I know nothing about music, but at least in my field of study (computer science) I doubt this can apply. There is a limit and it is very plain: time. You can only soak in so much knowledge at a time, and knowing in theory is very different from knowing in practice (but you definitely need both). Practice takes time, especially if you practice to understand theory. You have to make mistakes, they are the single most important thing to understand something in my experience. You need the "haha" moment when you understand why something doesn't work and how it has driven theory/research in the field. You can go maybe go faster than the computer science program at X. Maybe twice or thrice as fast, if you're gifted. But you cannot go as fast as you want, that is just wishful thinking.
- felideon 15y agoHi Derek, thanks for an awesome thread and your many enlightening blog posts. (I'm surprised you're surprised to see a post of yours here :P) What advice do you have for a generalist? I feel I can learn things quickly, but I don't get great at anything -- maybe due to a lack of motivation and a surplus of procrastination. I'm a back-end programmer who likes front-end development, only because I'm not a great UI designer (but would love to be). I also love playing the piano and singing, but I haven't had a lesson in 12 years. (People tell me I have a nice voice.) I'm bilingual and fluent in a third language, and I could easily learn more if I had more time. The path I'm currently on is to keep working and practicing front-end development, and possibly learn how to design. As I hone those skills I plan to start building software to one day quit corporate America. On the other hand, I love the music as a hobby thing, but feel that I'm not great. (I'm surrounded by very talented musicians from my wife's side of the family.) I'm not even sure what my question is, but any advice would be s/kind of cool/greatly appreciated/. Edit: I think my problem is not knowing what to focus on, and whether or not I should specialize in something or keep learning new things. (And if so, how to choose that something.)
- sivers 15y agoFelipe: Sorry I didn't see your question until hours later. See http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3761474 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3761474 It's not your exact question, but similar, and led to some other comments in that thread. I hope that helps.
- felideon 15y agoNo worries, I figured you had taken off. Thanks for responding and bringing your other comment to my attention — I glossed over it too quickly to make the connection. Cheers, best of luck on your new projects.
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- killa_bee 15y agoPeople who think "going to college is for chumps" (and there are a lot of you on HN) should do this instead. It's not that hard to graduate college in 2-3 years.
- cfinger 15y agoAbsolutely love this. When you're really interested, find a teacher that will teach at your own rate. Too often the answer is "Don't worry about that, you'll learn it next semester". A phrase that you should never hear from a teacher!
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- Bjartr 15y agoI am very jealous you found someone to guide and challenge you like that.
- ivancdg 15y agoIt seems to me that one of the reasons CDBaby was/is so successful is because its primary customers are musicians, rather than consumers of music. Strictly speaking CDBaby sells to both categories (it sells a service to musicians, and CDs to customers). But to me, as a professional musician, it seems that people buy less music in product form now. Therefore the real customers for music-based products are...the musicians themselves. There are more musicians than ever before. All are competing against one another. As a result, they are willing to spend their disposable income on promotions, marketing. Providing a service like CDBaby's was a brilliant way of tapping into that emerging market. What made it disruptive was: the price-point, the musician-friendly ethos, the dependability and speed of the customer service. As a musician/entrepreneur, it seems to me that very few startups realize that they may be more successful asking musicians to pay for something than finding 'customers' for their 'products' in the old fashioned (read: recording industry) mold. Of course spinning the story to sound musician friendly is delicate...and essential. Do you see other opportunities for charging the growing contingent of musicians for a service that is worthwhile?
- ricardobeat 15y agoIn most universities there is a speed limit: you can't "test out" of classes unless you've had them somewhere else, and pre-requisites, minimum optional credits and required internships prevent you from speeding through. I really wish most courses would be 2 years long. Plenty of time to get the university experience and learn all you need, everyone's head is already far out after the 8th semester.
- lukifer 15y agoHear, hear. When I tested into an advanced math class in 7th grade, I was able to learn the prerequisite semester of pre-algebra in less than an hour by sitting down with a great teacher and plowing through the material. But in my scholastic life, this experience was the exception, not the rule. I understand the desire to teach to the slowest students; no one should ever be left behind, and faster does not inherently equal better. But we are doing both young people and society a disservice when we don't find ways for the quick learners to hit escape velocity so they can get to things that genuinely challenge them.
- jhuni 15y agoThe speed of light (c) is the cosmic speed limit.
- kpennell 15y agoI really appreciate your writing, TED talks, ideas, and the humble and positive way in which you present your work. I think one of the problems I struggled with the most with this type of thinking is feeling like I'm being conceited or thinking that "I'm special" when I try to remove speed limits. I've always learned a lot of things fairly fast but I think I limited myself by subconsciously not wanting to feel better than other people.
- sivers 15y agoYes! Absolutely! It takes a strong ego to say, "Hell I'm better than all these other mofos. Get out of my way, slow-pokes!" It's got a competitive edge to it. You'd need that same attitude if competing in sports. And, like sports, it doesn't mean you're a jerk for wanting to achieve as much as you can, or more than everyone else. It's just a relative-comparison thing that gives you an extra boost. You need to feel you're special, that the rules don't apply to you, Neo. ☺
- petegrif 15y agoJust a GREAT post. Thanks.
- acchow 15y agoUhhhh...ok, so you learned music theory quickly. Take a shot at any algebra (ring theory, algebraic topology) and you'll quickly discover there is a very concrete speed limit. (This also holds true for all fields of pure mathematics, its just more pronounced in algebra).
- krosaen 15y agoI wonder if the most important advice from this is to believe you can succeed rather than the idea of keeping a break-neck schedule. In my experience, success in learning something new starts with a sustainable daily practice; if you actually spend a half hour a day at something, you will see results in a couple of months. For instance, you could have made your way through the ml-class.org lectures and absorbed all of the material, or made your way through all the beginner lessons from justinguitar.com. That's not to say someone couldn't spend 5 hours a day blazing through the ml-class.org lectures, but if spending 30 minutes a day means you can actually stick with it, that's a whole lot better than spending 5 hours a day for a week and then burning out. Same goes for fitness - 30 minutes a day of walking for the rest of your life is sooo much better than doing 2 weeks of p90x and burning out. If you can do p90x ever day for the rest of your life, kudos to you, but I've witness at least 2 friends buy and then burn out on p90x before getting any meaningful results.
- dtbx 15y agoIt's called the Pygmalion effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_effect