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Yeah, nice motivational speech. It bores me. It bores me like the 50 near identical articles that hit HN before it. "Hell yeah" is completely great when it ha

by moe 17y ago

Yeah, nice motivational speech. It bores me. It bores me like the 50 near identical articles that hit HN before it. "Hell yeah" is completely great when it happens. But most projects, even the "Hell yeah"-projects take much longer than that feeling can possibly last. Everybody who has built a startup knows that it inevitably becomes very tedious at a point. A few months into the gruntwork the "Hell yeah" turns more into a "God damn". In my opinion the "God damn"-part is much more relevant than the "Hell yeah"-part. Many people start "Hell yeah"-projects. Few survive through the "God damn"-phase.

chime 17y ago
I don't think you read the last paragraph I wrote. I said it clearly that even on projects that I am passionate about, there is a lot of miserable grunt-work, just like any startup. I think we just have different meanings for what "hell yeah" here means.
tmikew 17y ago
Missing the point. Every "Hell yeah" project does not turn out to be easy or even fun. In fact I agree that finishing any project is usually tough, some aspect of it sucks. Why are so many things left unfinished? Doesn't matter what the project is pick one. Where I work there is unlimited demand for time and features and projects compared to finite time available to work on them. The most successful folks have learned the skill of figuring out what to say no too. In the face of unlimited demand, one might as well only choose the "Hell yeah" stuff. Life is better that way. It took me a long time to figure that out. If all of the stuff one said "Hell yeah" to was easy life would be boring. Running a 100 miles doesn't sound to easy to me. If one does survive the hard phase on a "Hell yeah" project that is what the best things life are made of. Might as well try out as many "Hell yeah" things as possible. I am pretty sure my wife wasn't saying "Hell yeah" when my 3 children were being born. But I could have missed something...

by moe 17y ago

chime 17y ago

I don't think you read the last paragraph I wrote. I said it clearly that even on projects that I am passionate about, there is a lot of miserable grunt-work, just like any startup. I think we just have different meanings for what "hell yeah" here means.

tmikew 17y ago

Missing the point. Every "Hell yeah" project does not turn out to be easy or even fun. In fact I agree that finishing any project is usually tough, some aspect of it sucks. Why are so many things left unfinished? Doesn't matter what the project is pick one. Where I work there is unlimited demand for time and features and projects compared to finite time available to work on them. The most successful folks have learned the skill of figuring out what to say no too. In the face of unlimited demand, one might as well only choose the "Hell yeah" stuff. Life is better that way. It took me a long time to figure that out. If all of the stuff one said "Hell yeah" to was easy life would be boring. Running a 100 miles doesn't sound to easy to me. If one does survive the hard phase on a "Hell yeah" project that is what the best things life are made of. Might as well try out as many "Hell yeah" things as possible. I am pretty sure my wife wasn't saying "Hell yeah" when my 3 children were being born. But I could have missed something...