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> In the US they may very well think of that as failure, especially if they are VC funded Man, if anything, this is the part that’s weird. There’s this very w

> In the US they may very well think of that as failure, especially if they are VC funded Man, if anything, this is the part that’s weird. There’s this very weird undercurrent of keeping track of who is “winning” in the US. Is it not possible that someone who shepherds a hypergrowth startup to IPO, is just as of much a winner as the bootstrapped founder who has a profitable, sustainable business with a handful of employees? I get it - everyone wants to win. But in hyper focusing on winning, you may lose sight of the fact that there’s lots of ways to win. The last part of this comment is the last part of Jerry Maguire, because I think Jerry’s mentor Dicky Fox has the right idea about this: ”Hey, I don't have all the answers. In life, to be honest, I failed as much as I have succeeded. But I love my wife. I love my life. And I wish you my kind of success.”

jajko 2y ago
People chasing such carrots on sticks are not healthy, happy nor balanced individuals. Every single one of them has something fundamentally broken deep inside, unquenchable thirst to over-compensate for that itch, which can manifest ie as greed. In most cases in fact its just broken childhood mostly via broken father figure, source of eternal income for most psychologists since those issues are not actually fully fixable, at best they can be tamed a bit and folks brought into acceptance. Add some lower intensity mental issues and voila. Of course neither money nor power work for such issue, but if one surrounds themselves with enough people repeating such mantras, it may eventually feel like they are right. At least for some time. Nothing for regular folks here, unless one specifically says and feels that pursuit of happiness is not really on their agenda. Also, would be nice if somebody compared mental issues drug consumptions US vs Europe say split by jobs. I literally know 0 people, peers, IT colleagues nor friends who take anything on mental health, we are just bunch of relatively happy balanced folks here who are not in frequent dread over some bigger protracted health issue that can wipe one out, don't have to worry about saving up a million or two for out kids universities, have enough time to relax on vacations, fully paid sick days etc. Once one is not desperately poor, this is how proper quality of life looks like, not some numbers on accounts.
- cushychicken 2y ago
  I think you have a kernel of insight in this take, but I have to be frank: I really don’t think you frame this or phrase it in a very kind or generous way. I say this as someone who has personally experienced the kind of struggles you talk about in such unflattering terms. (I lost my dad to heart failure at age 7, and have struggled with major depression for most of my adult life.)

jajko 2y ago

People chasing such carrots on sticks are not healthy, happy nor balanced individuals. Every single one of them has something fundamentally broken deep inside, unquenchable thirst to over-compensate for that itch, which can manifest ie as greed. In most cases in fact its just broken childhood mostly via broken father figure, source of eternal income for most psychologists since those issues are not actually fully fixable, at best they can be tamed a bit and folks brought into acceptance. Add some lower intensity mental issues and voila. Of course neither money nor power work for such issue, but if one surrounds themselves with enough people repeating such mantras, it may eventually feel like they are right. At least for some time. Nothing for regular folks here, unless one specifically says and feels that pursuit of happiness is not really on their agenda. Also, would be nice if somebody compared mental issues drug consumptions US vs Europe say split by jobs. I literally know 0 people, peers, IT colleagues nor friends who take anything on mental health, we are just bunch of relatively happy balanced folks here who are not in frequent dread over some bigger protracted health issue that can wipe one out, don't have to worry about saving up a million or two for out kids universities, have enough time to relax on vacations, fully paid sick days etc. Once one is not desperately poor, this is how proper quality of life looks like, not some numbers on accounts.

cushychicken 2y ago
I think you have a kernel of insight in this take, but I have to be frank: I really don’t think you frame this or phrase it in a very kind or generous way. I say this as someone who has personally experienced the kind of struggles you talk about in such unflattering terms. (I lost my dad to heart failure at age 7, and have struggled with major depression for most of my adult life.)