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>1) Do your work—do it on time and fully, if not early and overabundantly. I cannot overstate how absolutely hollow it must be that work is your #1 rule of liv

>1) Do your work—do it on time and fully, if not early and overabundantly. I cannot overstate how absolutely hollow it must be that work is your #1 rule of living The next saddest thing is that the only mention of love is a fucking Machiavelli quote

reverendsteveii 1y ago
Work != job One of my greatest pleasures has been orienting my life toward projects and away from pleasures. I now find myself doing a lot of what other people consider work, but self-directed and self-paced in a way that brings me incredible, deep satisfaction. No one, including me, forces me to do these things. I do them because I like doing them. Bodybuilding, maintaining my home, lawn and garden, cooking/brewing/fermenting, building software. I'm not an extraordinarily wealthy man but if I woke up tomorrow with "comfortably live the rest of your life based on interest alone" money I don't suspect my life would change all that much. Once you're doing that sort of work, the meaning of this rule will become clear as will its meaninglessness.
PaulRobinson 1y ago
If these are in priority order, sure. If not, it's 0.9909% of the rules of living. That Machiavelli quote is a poor take on love as part of life, I agree. In defense of TFA though, it is titled rules of effective living, not necessarily happy living. The rules on avoiding cruel people and who treat others badly are kind of like an anti-rule that works here though: if you're judicious and conscientious about that, I think you just end up with loving people around you, in every type of relationship: acquaintance, familial, friendship, intimate...
deleted 1y ago
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hex4def6 1y ago
Some of my most stressful times at work have been when I had the least stuff to do. It's nice for a few days, but when it stretches into weeks I start feeling queasy. Obviously, being buried under an avalanche of thankless work is just as bad. My ideal life would be some sprints of large effort (maybe pulling the occasional all-nighter once in a while), followed by rest / low work times. A constant amount of work, all the same, blurs the days together. Too little, and you start feeling useless. Too much (consistently) and you're overwhelmed.

reverendsteveii 1y ago

Work != job One of my greatest pleasures has been orienting my life toward projects and away from pleasures. I now find myself doing a lot of what other people consider work, but self-directed and self-paced in a way that brings me incredible, deep satisfaction. No one, including me, forces me to do these things. I do them because I like doing them. Bodybuilding, maintaining my home, lawn and garden, cooking/brewing/fermenting, building software. I'm not an extraordinarily wealthy man but if I woke up tomorrow with "comfortably live the rest of your life based on interest alone" money I don't suspect my life would change all that much. Once you're doing that sort of work, the meaning of this rule will become clear as will its meaninglessness.

PaulRobinson 1y ago

If these are in priority order, sure. If not, it's 0.9909% of the rules of living. That Machiavelli quote is a poor take on love as part of life, I agree. In defense of TFA though, it is titled rules of effective living, not necessarily happy living. The rules on avoiding cruel people and who treat others badly are kind of like an anti-rule that works here though: if you're judicious and conscientious about that, I think you just end up with loving people around you, in every type of relationship: acquaintance, familial, friendship, intimate...

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

hex4def6 1y ago

Some of my most stressful times at work have been when I had the least stuff to do. It's nice for a few days, but when it stretches into weeks I start feeling queasy. Obviously, being buried under an avalanche of thankless work is just as bad. My ideal life would be some sprints of large effort (maybe pulling the occasional all-nighter once in a while), followed by rest / low work times. A constant amount of work, all the same, blurs the days together. Too little, and you start feeling useless. Too much (consistently) and you're overwhelmed.