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Not a trick of the programming trade, but: life will not be clean, smooth and according to plan. Learn how to deal with things getting messy and derailed, and t
by kaffekaka 1y ago
Not a trick of the programming trade, but: life will not be clean, smooth and according to plan. Learn how to deal with things getting messy and derailed, and to accept that you "lost your streak" or whatever. Tomorrow is a new day, it is always ok to start over.
Do optimize for the long term, but also realize you could be dead by next morning.
- bionsystem 1y agoOne life trick I learned way too late is that you're allowed to have fun, on your trade or on the side. One should enjoy a few light-hearted or relaxed moments every week. For some reason I was convinced that one should seek productivity at every moment, which is the fastest way to burn out.
- kaffekaka 1y agoI completely agree. Enjoying life here and now is such an important aspect. For me, bouldering is such an activity. It demands maximum focus on tiny details in order to climb a piece of rock, which is completely pointless to do. Pure fun.
- bionsystem 1y agoI do bowling now and read your post as if you did as well :) Completely pointless and quite fun too.
- edoceo 1y agoIf you're looking for a game with a point, try darts!
- garrickvanburen 1y agoOr Kubb! It has a high silliness factor
- kaffekaka 1y agoI enjoy the solitude of bouldering by myself out in the forest. Solo Kubb is possible but wouldn't feel the same.
- cindyllm 1y ago[dead]
- swat535 1y agoAnother life trick I've learned is that you are also allowed to: 1. Say no and disagree with people 2. Walk away from any relationship (personal or professional) 3. Do what you like, believe what you like (as long as you are not harming yourself or others). 4. Move 5. Hire experts to work for you (if you can afford it) 6. Spend your money as you please 7. Engage in conversation with strangers 8. Drastically change your life (new career, new field of study, etc) 9. Talk to strangers. It took me a long time to realize that being an adult means taking control of my life, make decisions and being okay with their consequences because _I_ made them.
- EasyMark 1y ago#9 isn't on its own line, and it's wrecking my need for consistency
- piskov 1y agoYet you are not bothered with the fact that it’s the same as #7
- UK-Al05 1y agoFor most people 8 is difficult because it took them ages to build up to a salary that pays as well as they do now, and they simply can't afford to do that again.
- apples_oranges 1y agoWhenever I start thinking along these lines I end up imagining how damn difficult life must be for many others on planet Earth, and how easy we've got it.
- kaffekaka 1y agoYes indeed. I am truly grateful having been born in a peaceful, rich country. No bombs dropping, no famine, no crazy dictator.
- DSingularity 1y agoSad reality is some peaceful countries are peaceful but invest so much to destabilize other nations and thus ruin it for many millions of people.
- noreplydev 1y agodamn
- frontfor 1y agoSome might object to this analogy, but I view life like investing in an index fund. It’s a diversified bet across many aspects of life and many projects (akin to how an index fund is a diversified bet across companies, sectors, geographies). Many of the bets will fail (much like many companies in the market will crash or delist), but some will deliver so much return they carry the rest, but you don’t know which ones and when ahead of time. It will be volatile, but if you persist and survive in the long run the expected outcome tends upwards.
- zigman1 1y agoNot trying to be rude towards you, but I am always a bit shocked and a bit sad hearing people take their life as an investment strategy. I understand your point of view, but life also needs to be lived, not experienced as a constant chart moving up and right. My brother was/is like that, who is calculating profits and opportunities when hanging out with his friends, and will stay friend with someone as long as he will get something out of that himself. I find it a bit weird. However, I understand if you are coming from a poor background, most of your life resolves around how to improve it, so me not knowing anything about you, I am not judging you for this, just find it different.
- OJFord 1y agoThat seems like a very different take on life than GP describes, that just happens to use the same analogy on the surface.
- quuxplusone 1y agofrontfor described "life as an investment account" and recommended a long-term strategy investing in index funds. zigman1 described "life as an investment account" and gave anecdotal evidence that a short-term "day-trading" strategy could be a bad idea. They're both saying the same thing... although zigman1 didn't seem to realize it. (Perhaps through being unfamiliar with jargon like "index funds" and how that differs from day trading.)
- 1y ago
- martini333 1y ago> Tomorrow is a new day Today is a new day.
- gchamonlive 1y agoWhile we don't know what the purpose of life is, it is definitely not to beat death at the individual level. Do things because you enjoy and care about them. This way if you have to start over it's yet another gift, because it's always your choice.
- spacecadet 1y agoJust like all things, even when viewing the outcome of the long run, will see noise/errors along the way that just didnt have any real impact in the end. An insanely nerdy analogy lost to most... A car may run rough at idle but strong at high RPM, because any ground loop noise is lost in the high frequency output.
- wickedsight 1y ago> you could be dead by next morning I feel like this is often overlooked in financial planning. Everything is aimed at planning for (early) retirement. Meanwhile, the '$1 today is more valuable than $1 tomorrow' trope isn't just true for monetary value, but also for the value $1 might bring. $1 today can buy memories for the rest of your life. It can bring experiences with family members and friends. Having $1 million in the bank in 40 years will never buy back time you may have wasted working to save that money. I'm not saying that people shouldn't save or invest money for the long term, but I do think more people should take into account what they lose today by only focusing on the long term... Especially when that long term might never come.
- bionsystem 1y agoI agree, we hear too much about how to save and not enough about how to spend properly.
- bombcar 1y agoThe “Die with Zero” book may go a bit overboard but I think the general message is a good one - do not OVER sacrifice today (and your youth) for a wealthy future you can’t enjoy. The Bogleheads forum is full of “I scrimped and saved and now have millions but I can’t even bring myself to buy a used Toyota.” It’s such an old problem it’s mentioned in Ecclesiastes 2:21-23! Another way to look at it is you have time, effort, and savings; you need to balance them all because time will run out. A local college kid can do things that Buffett will never be able to do, because he has youth and years, and no billions can buy those.
- transportgo 1y agoBut Buffett can do things a poor old person cannot.
- ultrablack 1y agoBut can he go for a run?
- 1y ago