5 ms·

That's great when you have the luxury to make that choice. Most of us don't. "Hell yeah" would be spending the remainder of my days in my villa on hawaii-beach

by moe 17y ago

That's great when you have the luxury to make that choice. Most of us don't. "Hell yeah" would be spending the remainder of my days in my villa on hawaii-beach, throwing pool-parties. Oh wait, I don't have a villa on hawaii-beach.

sho 17y ago
"Oh wait, I don't have a villa on hawaii-beach." And never will, with that attitude.
- moe 17y ago
  Thanks for the instant analysis. FWIW I was referring to his assertion that choosing only the candy projects is the recipe to success. It's not. There are plenty "Hell-yeah" projects that you'd better not touch.
  - sho 17y ago
    Your point being? At least specifying that you're actually excited about an activity narrows the field. And then you can perform further due diligence/deep thought etc at will.
    - moe 17y ago
      Well, take your last two sentences and then tell me, what does the original article add to that? Exactly. And that was the reason for my original, snide remark. He said no more than "Work on what you love" in way too many words. Which is both, a beautiful thing to say, and an utterly useless piece of advice in the real world.
      - sho 17y ago
        Well, fair enough, but it's always good to have a reminder, plus he rephrases the idea into something a little less abstract than "work on what you love", while giving a useful suggestion how to know what it is you love (something that makes you say "hell yeah!"). Personally I quite liked his retelling. I know a few people who would benefit from taking that advice. So I think the article did add something, yes.
chime 17y ago
I would disagree with that. This doesn't apply just to vacation itineraries but more so to projects you are either thinking of starting yourself or are being invited to join. This being Hacker News, many of us here get ample opportunities to join software projects that seem interesting. From open-source utilities to apps built on the latest frameworks, we have more than enough ways to keep us busy if we so choose. Many of the founders working on their primary startups have second or third pet ideas that they always want to work on but can never find the time to. That is what this "hell yeah!" is about. From personal experience, I can say that in 2007 and 2008, I got into the habit of saying "ok yes" to every project that came across my way. A couple of those projects got me ample fame (Wired.com front page, TC, newspaper articles) and some even got me pretty good income. However, having too many things that needed to be done at the same time left me feeling unaccomplished, unhealthy, and frankly miserable, despite the fact that I was building some pretty neat things. I decided to change things earlier this year and now I've stopped working on any side projects other than my main job. As side projects, I've started training for ultramarathons. It has absolutely nothing to do with computers but I find it a lot more satisfying personally than "yet another website idea." When I asked myself if I want to run one hundred miles in 36 hours non-stop, I immediately said "HELL YEAH!" So I started training. A few months into the training, I got a bit jealous of all these startups getting funding and fame, so I thought about working on a startup again. I had a few ideas, some old and some new but none of them screamed "HELL YEAH!" Nevertheless, I bought a domain or two, built a logo/theme, and thought if I just crossed over the initial hurdle of disinterest, I'd find the excitement to continue. It never happened. I still think that one of my ideas is solid and it could work quite well. However, it just doesn't scream "HELL YEAH!" to me right now so for the moment, it is on the sidelines. On the other hand, I'm getting more and more excited by the day because my 100-mile race ( http://chir.ag/20090621 http://chir.ag/20090621 ) is coming up soon - Sept 5-6. It has been exciting throughout the duration, though I felt miserable, overworked, and weak many times. The take-home lesson for me is that the passion doesn't dwindle though the motivation, strength, and energy might waver frequently. Once the passion is gone, so is the project. "HELL YEAH!" is passion and if you don't have that for something, don't dive head-first into it at the risk of rest of your life.
- moe 17y ago
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
diiq 17y ago
Nope; nor do I. But I think the article asks you to choose the most exciting, scary, and stimulating things available to you. I need to eat; I can go grab a burger, or I can walk up to that red-headed girl and find out where she's eating. And if nothing in your future is a '10' then adjust your scale.
- sho 17y ago
  Huh? Don't adjust your scale, change the things in your future!
colinplamondon 17y ago
Maybe you should get to work on fixing that, then.

by moe 17y ago

sho 17y ago

"Oh wait, I don't have a villa on hawaii-beach." And never will, with that attitude.

moe 17y ago
Thanks for the instant analysis. FWIW I was referring to his assertion that choosing only the candy projects is the recipe to success. It's not. There are plenty "Hell-yeah" projects that you'd better not touch.
- sho 17y ago
  Your point being? At least specifying that you're actually excited about an activity narrows the field. And then you can perform further due diligence/deep thought etc at will.
  - moe 17y ago
    Well, take your last two sentences and then tell me, what does the original article add to that? Exactly. And that was the reason for my original, snide remark. He said no more than "Work on what you love" in way too many words. Which is both, a beautiful thing to say, and an utterly useless piece of advice in the real world.
    - sho 17y ago
      Well, fair enough, but it's always good to have a reminder, plus he rephrases the idea into something a little less abstract than "work on what you love", while giving a useful suggestion how to know what it is you love (something that makes you say "hell yeah!"). Personally I quite liked his retelling. I know a few people who would benefit from taking that advice. So I think the article did add something, yes.

chime 17y ago

I would disagree with that. This doesn't apply just to vacation itineraries but more so to projects you are either thinking of starting yourself or are being invited to join. This being Hacker News, many of us here get ample opportunities to join software projects that seem interesting. From open-source utilities to apps built on the latest frameworks, we have more than enough ways to keep us busy if we so choose. Many of the founders working on their primary startups have second or third pet ideas that they always want to work on but can never find the time to. That is what this "hell yeah!" is about. From personal experience, I can say that in 2007 and 2008, I got into the habit of saying "ok yes" to every project that came across my way. A couple of those projects got me ample fame (Wired.com front page, TC, newspaper articles) and some even got me pretty good income. However, having too many things that needed to be done at the same time left me feeling unaccomplished, unhealthy, and frankly miserable, despite the fact that I was building some pretty neat things. I decided to change things earlier this year and now I've stopped working on any side projects other than my main job. As side projects, I've started training for ultramarathons. It has absolutely nothing to do with computers but I find it a lot more satisfying personally than "yet another website idea." When I asked myself if I want to run one hundred miles in 36 hours non-stop, I immediately said "HELL YEAH!" So I started training. A few months into the training, I got a bit jealous of all these startups getting funding and fame, so I thought about working on a startup again. I had a few ideas, some old and some new but none of them screamed "HELL YEAH!" Nevertheless, I bought a domain or two, built a logo/theme, and thought if I just crossed over the initial hurdle of disinterest, I'd find the excitement to continue. It never happened. I still think that one of my ideas is solid and it could work quite well. However, it just doesn't scream "HELL YEAH!" to me right now so for the moment, it is on the sidelines. On the other hand, I'm getting more and more excited by the day because my 100-mile race ( http://chir.ag/20090621 http://chir.ag/20090621 ) is coming up soon - Sept 5-6. It has been exciting throughout the duration, though I felt miserable, overworked, and weak many times. The take-home lesson for me is that the passion doesn't dwindle though the motivation, strength, and energy might waver frequently. Once the passion is gone, so is the project. "HELL YEAH!" is passion and if you don't have that for something, don't dive head-first into it at the risk of rest of your life.

moe 17y ago

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

diiq 17y ago

Nope; nor do I. But I think the article asks you to choose the most exciting, scary, and stimulating things available to you. I need to eat; I can go grab a burger, or I can walk up to that red-headed girl and find out where she's eating. And if nothing in your future is a '10' then adjust your scale.

sho 17y ago
Huh? Don't adjust your scale, change the things in your future!

colinplamondon 17y ago

Maybe you should get to work on fixing that, then.