6 ms·

From a book called Rework [1]: "When you want something bad enough, you make the time - regardless of your other obligations. The truth is most people just do

by MarkMc 14y ago

From a book called Rework [1]: "When you want something bad enough, you make the time - regardless of your other obligations. The truth is most people just don't want it bad enough. Then they protect their ego with the excuse of time." I think virtually everyone in the UK has the means to eat healthy if they really want to. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Rework-Jason-Fried/dp/0307463745 http://www.amazon.com/Rework-Jason-Fried/dp/0307463745

rahoulb 14y ago
37Signals also sprinkle their stuff with "this works for us, we're not saying it's for everyone". They are outliers, and much as I love and am inspired by them, if what they said was so easy, why aren't we all working four day weeks from home, whilst racing multi-million pound sports cars?
mtrimpe 14y ago
king_jester was talking about the poor. I doubt telling poor people to want it more badly is going to have a huge positive effect.
- ctdonath 14y ago
  Many poor are content with their condition, unwilling to take even basic steps to improve. Harsh as this sounds, and downvote-bait it seems, I've worked at helping the poor and found (to my dismay) most of them are in that condition because they refuse to choose to do better. Yes, they don't want it badly enough.
  - adeaver 14y ago
    And there are many that aren't. Don't make the mistake of assuming that just because a few are content that everyone in that position is.
  - jhaywood 14y ago
    Make sure you're not confusing resignation with contentment.
  - RBerenguel 14y ago
    I've seen lots of people complaining about not having money to pay the rent (or mortgage)/food/textbooks for kids but going on holidays (or skiing, or binge drinking) every possible moment. It's not general, there are lots of people making as best as they can with the resources they have. But there are also a lot of people who don't even try and just say they can't.
adeaver 14y ago
The idea that everyone has time to do 'X' if they only wanted it bad enough is complete BS. For people that work two jobs, have a family to take care of, commute several hours, have a sick spouse and sleep there is no more time in the day. No matter how badly you want it. Unless you or the author of Rework know of a magical formula to make the day longer than 24 hours or how to operate on little to no sleep.
- ctdonath 14y ago
  If surviving on that arrangement doesn't work, change the arrangement. Move somewhere with a cheaper standard of living. Reduce expenses to where one spouse can stay home. Find another job closer. Unplug the TV already. Seriously. Yes, if you want it badly enough you'll do it. I moved 1000 miles, changed jobs twice, worked 2 jobs at once for years, have a family to care for, cut the commute from 2 hours to 15 minutes, and operate on limited sleep. TV? about 4 hours a month. Every time I thought "I can't do this but I have to" I found a way. Now I work a dream job at a startup, support a family of 4, and live in a nice area. Yes, we know of the "magical formula": use your brain and make it happen; you're the only one stopping you.
  - adeaver 14y ago
    I'm not sure if you are just naive or intentionally contrary. Please, explain to me how a family that can barely afford rent and meals can move 1000 miles away and find work. It's not really that easy to find a new job in a town you've never been to. Or a couple in which one is handicapped or seriously ill can 'change the arrangement' You made your situation better. Congratulations. I mean that. But assuming everyone can do it because you did is borderline arrogant. There is no silver bullet solution and saying that anyone can do it if they want to bad enough is just stupid and ignorant.
    - ctdonath 14y ago
      Intentionally contrary, as I see a glaring over-application of "poor" and "can't". This country was founded on people having very little walking very long distances to build homesteads from nothing. I'll agree there are some people who truly can't make the changes I indicated; we have a social safety net for them, and I do put in a weekly effort to help them. Most who whine "I can't" can, they just won't. Obviously there are exceptions, and a short aphorism of "you'll do it if you want it bad enough" is not expected to have encyclopedic thoroughness covering those few genuine cases who really, truly, can't; it's directed at the other 99.99% whose only real barriers to success is themselves.
CodeMage 14y ago
That kind of comment can only be excused by lack of experience. Try "making time" when, for example, you've got a job where you can't bring your food with you (and would have nowhere to heat it up even if you were permitted to bring it), a long commute and a family to spend time with. And I'm talking about a middle-class example. Now add being poor on top of that.
- abduhl 14y ago
  What job is this that you can't bring your food with you? I've worked in some pretty remote places in some pretty shitty environments all the way to middle of a metropolis with a bunch of suits and I've been able to always plan ahead and bring something to eat if I can't go out. If you can't heat your food up then don't pack something you need to heat up. If your food needs to be warm to eat and it doesn't go inside a Thermos then don't bring it or learn to eat it cold. Life's hard. Deal with it.
  - nsxwolf 14y ago
    There seems to be a strange subconscious myth, in the US anyway, that you must have a "hot meal" every day or you are being nutritionally deprived somehow. I say subconscious because no one ever defends the point directly or explains what the benefit is. This comes up a lot in political discussions of child hunger and school lunch programs. "X millions of children don't get even one hot meal a day!"
    - scarmig 14y ago
      It's more about what cold meals stereotypically are--some processed cereal, two slices of wonderbread with some bread and ham in them--that drive that rhetoric. Sure, a cold corn and arugula quinoa salad is certainly much healthier than the vast majority of meals, hot or cold. But on average hot meals are likely slightly better.
- nsxwolf 14y ago
  The eating at work part doesn't need to be a factor. Just eat dinner. You don't really need 3 meals a day.
andyjohnson0 14y ago
"I think virtually everyone in the UK has the means to eat healthy if they really want to." For too many people this is simply not true. People living in poverty face a number of challenges to eating healthily. For example: - Cost. Fresh healthy food is becoming more costly due to exchange rate commodity price fluctuations. See [1][2]. - Access. If there are no shops nearby that sell fresh food (and this is becoming increasing common in some areas of the UK, see [3] or google "food desert") then time and/or transport need to be expended to get the food home. A person working 12+ hours a day on a couple of low paying jobs (say, factory work and then office cleaning)may not have the time to walk miles to a supermarket and do child care. - Fuel. Gas and electricity are expensive in the UK. Cooking veg, pulses, grains, etc. requires fuel. Batch cooking to use-up cheap bulk-bought food also requires a freezer to store it, which in turn uses electricity that might not be affordable. Some people lack the resources to be able to afford a cooker and/or freezer. A useful but rather depressing read on the situation in the UK is "Food Poverty and Health" from the Royal Colleges of Physicians Faculty of Public Health [4]. [1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/datablog/interactive/2011/jun/07/decade-global-food-prices?INTCMP=SRCH http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/datablog/intera... [2] http://www.which.co.uk/documents/pdf/the-impact-of-rising-food-prices-which-report-259301.pdf http://www.which.co.uk/documents/pdf/the-impact-of-rising-fo... [3] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/food-deserts-depriving-towns-of-fresh-fruit-and-vegetables-764804.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/food-deserts-... [4] http://www.fph.org.uk/uploads/bs_food_poverty.pdf http://www.fph.org.uk/uploads/bs_food_poverty.pdf
- ctdonath 14y ago
  Cost: you're setting the standard of "fresh healthy" too high. I've got a can of assorted seeds, enough to sow an acre of all the veggies you need - $40, get busy. Assorted frozen veggies (flash-frozen minutes after picking, so yes they're fresh) are $1/pound; canned works too, and actual fresh is also available if you look with care. Access: you can arrange transport a couple times a month to someplace selling healthy/cheap/durable food. If you truly are in a "food desert" (a wildly over-applied term), do what you would do if in a real desert: MOVE. Fuel: canned & dried foods don't need refrigeration. Scrap wood burns. Yes I cook over a scrap fire on occasion. Electricity is cheap for a $4 crock-pot.

by MarkMc 14y ago

rahoulb 14y ago

37Signals also sprinkle their stuff with "this works for us, we're not saying it's for everyone". They are outliers, and much as I love and am inspired by them, if what they said was so easy, why aren't we all working four day weeks from home, whilst racing multi-million pound sports cars?

mtrimpe 14y ago

king_jester was talking about the poor. I doubt telling poor people to want it more badly is going to have a huge positive effect.

ctdonath 14y ago
Many poor are content with their condition, unwilling to take even basic steps to improve. Harsh as this sounds, and downvote-bait it seems, I've worked at helping the poor and found (to my dismay) most of them are in that condition because they refuse to choose to do better. Yes, they don't want it badly enough.
- adeaver 14y ago
  And there are many that aren't. Don't make the mistake of assuming that just because a few are content that everyone in that position is.
- jhaywood 14y ago
  Make sure you're not confusing resignation with contentment.
- RBerenguel 14y ago
  I've seen lots of people complaining about not having money to pay the rent (or mortgage)/food/textbooks for kids but going on holidays (or skiing, or binge drinking) every possible moment. It's not general, there are lots of people making as best as they can with the resources they have. But there are also a lot of people who don't even try and just say they can't.

adeaver 14y ago

The idea that everyone has time to do 'X' if they only wanted it bad enough is complete BS. For people that work two jobs, have a family to take care of, commute several hours, have a sick spouse and sleep there is no more time in the day. No matter how badly you want it. Unless you or the author of Rework know of a magical formula to make the day longer than 24 hours or how to operate on little to no sleep.

ctdonath 14y ago
If surviving on that arrangement doesn't work, change the arrangement. Move somewhere with a cheaper standard of living. Reduce expenses to where one spouse can stay home. Find another job closer. Unplug the TV already. Seriously. Yes, if you want it badly enough you'll do it. I moved 1000 miles, changed jobs twice, worked 2 jobs at once for years, have a family to care for, cut the commute from 2 hours to 15 minutes, and operate on limited sleep. TV? about 4 hours a month. Every time I thought "I can't do this but I have to" I found a way. Now I work a dream job at a startup, support a family of 4, and live in a nice area. Yes, we know of the "magical formula": use your brain and make it happen; you're the only one stopping you.
- adeaver 14y ago
  I'm not sure if you are just naive or intentionally contrary. Please, explain to me how a family that can barely afford rent and meals can move 1000 miles away and find work. It's not really that easy to find a new job in a town you've never been to. Or a couple in which one is handicapped or seriously ill can 'change the arrangement' You made your situation better. Congratulations. I mean that. But assuming everyone can do it because you did is borderline arrogant. There is no silver bullet solution and saying that anyone can do it if they want to bad enough is just stupid and ignorant.
  - ctdonath 14y ago
    Intentionally contrary, as I see a glaring over-application of "poor" and "can't". This country was founded on people having very little walking very long distances to build homesteads from nothing. I'll agree there are some people who truly can't make the changes I indicated; we have a social safety net for them, and I do put in a weekly effort to help them. Most who whine "I can't" can, they just won't. Obviously there are exceptions, and a short aphorism of "you'll do it if you want it bad enough" is not expected to have encyclopedic thoroughness covering those few genuine cases who really, truly, can't; it's directed at the other 99.99% whose only real barriers to success is themselves.

CodeMage 14y ago

That kind of comment can only be excused by lack of experience. Try "making time" when, for example, you've got a job where you can't bring your food with you (and would have nowhere to heat it up even if you were permitted to bring it), a long commute and a family to spend time with. And I'm talking about a middle-class example. Now add being poor on top of that.

abduhl 14y ago
What job is this that you can't bring your food with you? I've worked in some pretty remote places in some pretty shitty environments all the way to middle of a metropolis with a bunch of suits and I've been able to always plan ahead and bring something to eat if I can't go out. If you can't heat your food up then don't pack something you need to heat up. If your food needs to be warm to eat and it doesn't go inside a Thermos then don't bring it or learn to eat it cold. Life's hard. Deal with it.
- nsxwolf 14y ago
  There seems to be a strange subconscious myth, in the US anyway, that you must have a "hot meal" every day or you are being nutritionally deprived somehow. I say subconscious because no one ever defends the point directly or explains what the benefit is. This comes up a lot in political discussions of child hunger and school lunch programs. "X millions of children don't get even one hot meal a day!"
  - scarmig 14y ago
    It's more about what cold meals stereotypically are--some processed cereal, two slices of wonderbread with some bread and ham in them--that drive that rhetoric. Sure, a cold corn and arugula quinoa salad is certainly much healthier than the vast majority of meals, hot or cold. But on average hot meals are likely slightly better.
nsxwolf 14y ago
The eating at work part doesn't need to be a factor. Just eat dinner. You don't really need 3 meals a day.

andyjohnson0 14y ago

"I think virtually everyone in the UK has the means to eat healthy if they really want to." For too many people this is simply not true. People living in poverty face a number of challenges to eating healthily. For example: - Cost. Fresh healthy food is becoming more costly due to exchange rate commodity price fluctuations. See [1][2]. - Access. If there are no shops nearby that sell fresh food (and this is becoming increasing common in some areas of the UK, see [3] or google "food desert") then time and/or transport need to be expended to get the food home. A person working 12+ hours a day on a couple of low paying jobs (say, factory work and then office cleaning)may not have the time to walk miles to a supermarket and do child care. - Fuel. Gas and electricity are expensive in the UK. Cooking veg, pulses, grains, etc. requires fuel. Batch cooking to use-up cheap bulk-bought food also requires a freezer to store it, which in turn uses electricity that might not be affordable. Some people lack the resources to be able to afford a cooker and/or freezer. A useful but rather depressing read on the situation in the UK is "Food Poverty and Health" from the Royal Colleges of Physicians Faculty of Public Health [4]. [1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/datablog/interactive/2011/jun/07/decade-global-food-prices?INTCMP=SRCH http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/datablog/intera... [2] http://www.which.co.uk/documents/pdf/the-impact-of-rising-food-prices-which-report-259301.pdf http://www.which.co.uk/documents/pdf/the-impact-of-rising-fo... [3] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/food-deserts-depriving-towns-of-fresh-fruit-and-vegetables-764804.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/food-deserts-... [4] http://www.fph.org.uk/uploads/bs_food_poverty.pdf http://www.fph.org.uk/uploads/bs_food_poverty.pdf

ctdonath 14y ago
Cost: you're setting the standard of "fresh healthy" too high. I've got a can of assorted seeds, enough to sow an acre of all the veggies you need - $40, get busy. Assorted frozen veggies (flash-frozen minutes after picking, so yes they're fresh) are $1/pound; canned works too, and actual fresh is also available if you look with care. Access: you can arrange transport a couple times a month to someplace selling healthy/cheap/durable food. If you truly are in a "food desert" (a wildly over-applied term), do what you would do if in a real desert: MOVE. Fuel: canned & dried foods don't need refrigeration. Scrap wood burns. Yes I cook over a scrap fire on occasion. Electricity is cheap for a $4 crock-pot.