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A lot of the points can be boiled down to "work very hard". But what if you simply are the type of person who doesn't like working? Another point is do what m

A lot of the points can be boiled down to "work very hard". But what if you simply are the type of person who doesn't like working? Another point is do what makes you happy. For some lucky folks, work makes them happy, but there's a lot of us who don't like it. And no, it's not just a specific job. A lot of us are just kinda lazy to be perfectly honest. The things I enjoy most are running, eating fine meals, quality times having beers with friends, traveling, reading and playing video games. I do work so I can support myself so that I can do those other things, but I certainly wouldn't work if I didn't have to (and I've worked and saved long enough that I'm fairly wealthy and won't have to for very much longer). I think one of the reasons is that I don't care about social status or material possessions or competing at who can make the best chat app or anything like that, and work just feels like a grind to me. Sure, some of it is better than other parts, but in the end, I'd always rather be doing something else. I also am not usually impressed with other peoples' career achievements, and getting a promotion or a better job doesn't give me any sort of feeling of accomplishment or 'high', just, well I guess I'm a few years closer to being wealthy enough to get out of this bullshit. A lot of people will look down on me for this, but I'm ok with that as I'm not trying to win a popularity contest. I just don't think "work hard" is necessarily the best advice to all people. I do think work is important as it's a means of contributing to society, and in the end, I'm glad I did my part, but after I have enough to "get out", I'll have satisfied my conscience to spend the rest of my days having good times and doing things that really make me happy.

EazyC 11y ago
I think the difference between you and the people that want to work hard to "make the best chat app" is that the sense of fulfillment and the concept of living a good life between you and this group comes from two different things. For you it's just being happy by being with friends and family etc while for others its accomplishing something they truly believe in whether it's some college kid trying to make the next chat app or Elon Musk trying to make humanity an interplanetary specie. That sense of fulfillment is attained from different things - and that's ok. Everyone has their things that make them feel fulfilled, and they are not always the same. You just have to be honest with yourself to know what that is.
eli_gottlieb 11y ago
That's how I feel about most work, but I still take a level of pride in doing it well and learning new things from it. I think a job is a good fit for me when I like it enough that it doesn't need to be one of my rare passion projects.
peteretep 11y ago
> A lot of the points can be boiled down to "work very > hard". But what if you simply are the type of person who > doesn't like working? Another point is do what makes you > happy. For some lucky folks, work makes them happy, but > there's a lot of us who don't like it. I think regularly getting in to "flow" is a key to happiness. Video games - one of the things you enjoy - seems to be something that gets people in to flow. Could you find work like that? You laden "work" with a lot of assumptions.
dabernathy89 11y ago
> A lot of us are just kinda lazy to be perfectly honest. I'm glad i'm not the only one who feels this way sometimes.
bonesmoses 11y ago
I'm a bit older than the author, and for me, it has come down to this: "The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." The article contains a lot of good, sensible statements. But it was clearly written for, and by, someone with far more ambition than I'll ever have. Maybe I'm just burned out from all the Work Hard rhetoric that got me here, but nobody on their death bed laments that they didn't spend enough time at the office.
- mathattack 11y ago
  Maybe I'm just burned out from all the Work Hard rhetoric that got me here, but nobody on their death bed laments that they didn't spend enough time at the office. Perhaps, but a lot may have lamented not having more financial security.
npizzolato 11y ago
> A lot of the points can be boiled down to "work very hard". But what if you simply are the type of person who doesn't like working? A slightly cynical person might point out that the CEO of a VC has much to gain by blogging about the virtues of "working very hard" to those who might form startups.

EazyC 11y ago

I think the difference between you and the people that want to work hard to "make the best chat app" is that the sense of fulfillment and the concept of living a good life between you and this group comes from two different things. For you it's just being happy by being with friends and family etc while for others its accomplishing something they truly believe in whether it's some college kid trying to make the next chat app or Elon Musk trying to make humanity an interplanetary specie. That sense of fulfillment is attained from different things - and that's ok. Everyone has their things that make them feel fulfilled, and they are not always the same. You just have to be honest with yourself to know what that is.

eli_gottlieb 11y ago

That's how I feel about most work, but I still take a level of pride in doing it well and learning new things from it. I think a job is a good fit for me when I like it enough that it doesn't need to be one of my rare passion projects.

peteretep 11y ago

> A lot of the points can be boiled down to "work very > hard". But what if you simply are the type of person who > doesn't like working? Another point is do what makes you > happy. For some lucky folks, work makes them happy, but > there's a lot of us who don't like it. I think regularly getting in to "flow" is a key to happiness. Video games - one of the things you enjoy - seems to be something that gets people in to flow. Could you find work like that? You laden "work" with a lot of assumptions.

dabernathy89 11y ago

> A lot of us are just kinda lazy to be perfectly honest. I'm glad i'm not the only one who feels this way sometimes.

bonesmoses 11y ago

I'm a bit older than the author, and for me, it has come down to this: "The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." The article contains a lot of good, sensible statements. But it was clearly written for, and by, someone with far more ambition than I'll ever have. Maybe I'm just burned out from all the Work Hard rhetoric that got me here, but nobody on their death bed laments that they didn't spend enough time at the office.

mathattack 11y ago
Maybe I'm just burned out from all the Work Hard rhetoric that got me here, but nobody on their death bed laments that they didn't spend enough time at the office. Perhaps, but a lot may have lamented not having more financial security.

npizzolato 11y ago

> A lot of the points can be boiled down to "work very hard". But what if you simply are the type of person who doesn't like working? A slightly cynical person might point out that the CEO of a VC has much to gain by blogging about the virtues of "working very hard" to those who might form startups.