4 ms·

> I just think being passionate about one subject to the exclusion of everything else is dangerous, no matter the industry or lifestyle. Probably true. But you

by ef4 15y ago

> I just think being passionate about one subject to the exclusion of everything else is dangerous, no matter the industry or lifestyle. Probably true. But you don't get to be Mozart or Van Gogh by being well-balanced. ;-)

felideon 15y ago
You could be a Leonardo da Vinci, though.
- batista 15y ago
  Ha, we had the same thought!
stcredzero 15y ago
But you don't get to be Mozart or Van Gogh by being well-balanced. My translation: The actions and intentions of most people are aimed at not becoming Mozart or Van Gogh -- as in not dying destitute in your 30's and being buried in a pauper's grave.
bad_user 15y ago
The world only had one Mozart and one Van Gogh. There never was and never will be a second Mozart or a second Van Gogh. As such, the statement itself taken literally is extremely silly and doesn't have enough details to be interpreted figuratively. Let's say for the sake of argument that you mean "genius that contributes works of art". One common trait of such a person, besides being incredibly talented, is persistence. This would imply in the minds of lesser individuals that such a genius is impossible to have a well-balanced life. However, the pitfall of such a mentality is that having work-life balance does NOT mean diving the time equally between work and life and is extremely relative, being a function of the individual itself, his work, his culture and the society around him. What this means is that the actual amount of time spent on doing something is actually less important than the quality. Say, if you're spending 5 hours with your son but being distracted by problems at work you're going to please yourself and your son less than a single hour of enjoying the present moment. This goes for anything you want to do ... top athletes and top violinists spend less time practicing than their peers, but the training is a lot more intense. And to answer your implied conclusion ... quite the contrary, being a genius capable of creating things is correlated with a sane mind and a sane mind needs a good work-life balance.
batista 15y ago
No. You get to be Leonardo Da Vinci though, who was a painter, a sculptor, an inventor, a thinker and a ladies man.
hack_edu 15y ago
Were Van Gogh a programmer today he would have been late blooming second-career type rockstar cowboy coder that burned out in a half a dozen years before killing himself. He was an amazing artist (my favorite of his time) but is exactly the cautionary tale that your 501-type would point to. ... actually, that sounds like _why but without the whole suicide thing in real life.

by ef4 15y ago

felideon 15y ago

You could be a Leonardo da Vinci, though.

batista 15y ago
Ha, we had the same thought!

stcredzero 15y ago

But you don't get to be Mozart or Van Gogh by being well-balanced. My translation: The actions and intentions of most people are aimed at not becoming Mozart or Van Gogh -- as in not dying destitute in your 30's and being buried in a pauper's grave.

bad_user 15y ago

The world only had one Mozart and one Van Gogh. There never was and never will be a second Mozart or a second Van Gogh. As such, the statement itself taken literally is extremely silly and doesn't have enough details to be interpreted figuratively. Let's say for the sake of argument that you mean "genius that contributes works of art". One common trait of such a person, besides being incredibly talented, is persistence. This would imply in the minds of lesser individuals that such a genius is impossible to have a well-balanced life. However, the pitfall of such a mentality is that having work-life balance does NOT mean diving the time equally between work and life and is extremely relative, being a function of the individual itself, his work, his culture and the society around him. What this means is that the actual amount of time spent on doing something is actually less important than the quality. Say, if you're spending 5 hours with your son but being distracted by problems at work you're going to please yourself and your son less than a single hour of enjoying the present moment. This goes for anything you want to do ... top athletes and top violinists spend less time practicing than their peers, but the training is a lot more intense. And to answer your implied conclusion ... quite the contrary, being a genius capable of creating things is correlated with a sane mind and a sane mind needs a good work-life balance.

batista 15y ago

No. You get to be Leonardo Da Vinci though, who was a painter, a sculptor, an inventor, a thinker and a ladies man.

hack_edu 15y ago

Were Van Gogh a programmer today he would have been late blooming second-career type rockstar cowboy coder that burned out in a half a dozen years before killing himself. He was an amazing artist (my favorite of his time) but is exactly the cautionary tale that your 501-type would point to. ... actually, that sounds like _why but without the whole suicide thing in real life.