[HN Gopher] Everything that turned out well in my life followed ...
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       Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design
       process
        
       Author : jger15
       Score  : 104 points
       Date   : 2024-08-06 00:14 UTC (4 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.henrikkarlsson.xyz)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.henrikkarlsson.xyz)
        
       | the_real_cher wrote:
       | > I paid attention to things I liked to do, and found ways to do
       | more of that
       | 
       | This is great advice to people who dont need to have a job that
       | takes up all their time.
        
         | trevyn wrote:
         | If you think you need a job, you're wrong.
        
           | noworld wrote:
           | Only if you need money.
        
           | gr4vityWall wrote:
           | Could you elaborate? I'd be happy to be proven wrong. I do
           | need a source of income to pay my monthly costs, and I don't
           | know how I can have one besides having a job or owning part
           | of a business.
        
             | IncreasePosts wrote:
             | Not OP, but I imagine they're getting at the fact that you
             | only need a job because of lifestyle choices you make, and
             | if you drastically cut back on that, you could work far
             | less than you currently do.
        
               | therein wrote:
               | The classic you did this to yourself. Walking across the
               | street, hit by a car? You could have decided to take the
               | bus that day.
               | 
               | Some people say stuff like that and not see anything
               | wrong with it somehow.
        
               | maximinus_thrax wrote:
               | Nature made some choices about my chronic conditions, so
               | I depend on access to healthcare. Healthcare is tied to
               | my job (I live in the USA). Should I cut back on my life
               | expectancy?
        
               | gr4vityWall wrote:
               | > if you drastically cut back on that, you could work far
               | less than you currently do
               | 
               | I don't disagree with that per se (of course there are
               | exceptions), but I don't see how that implies I'd only
               | need a job because of my lifestyle choices. Even for a
               | frugal life style where you only pay for groceries,
               | Internet and rent, I'd still need a source of income. I'm
               | assuming to healthcare either, as that's a luxury I've
               | never had. :P
        
           | therealdkz wrote:
           | UBI FTW
        
         | sophacles wrote:
         | Having a job and finding a way to do more of the things you
         | like to do are not mutually exclusive.
         | 
         | For instance - find a job that takes less of your time. Or find
         | a way to manage your time better so you don't work all of it.
         | Or both.
        
         | elliotec wrote:
         | This is great advice to people who DO have a job that takes up
         | "all their time." Find ways to do things you enjoy; maybe
         | eventually, it even leads to a job you might like more or that
         | takes up less time so that you can continue pursuing the things
         | you like.
        
       | kylebenzle wrote:
       | Sorry to be negative for no reason but I got nothing out of
       | reading this article other than the author has been extremely
       | lucky and privileged.
        
         | elliotec wrote:
         | How much of that do you think was by following his "design" vs
         | just luck and privilege falling into his lap? I think that's
         | the point he's getting at, but I don't know his backstory and I
         | don't see where you gleaned that from this post.
        
       | euvin wrote:
       | I'm not sure what this talk about luck and privilege has much to
       | do with the core ideas of the article, which I took to be:
       | 
       | * look critically at your life's successes and your interests,
       | discern what to prioritize
       | 
       | * being aware of societal abstractions and what you're "supposed"
       | to do in life affecting your choices
       | 
       | * that your current "vision" of a proper life might not be the
       | actual best fit for you, precisely because of the above
       | abstractions
       | 
       | I thought these were generally fair points, if not rephrasings of
       | common wisdom like "iterate more" and "your first idea isn't
       | perfect" and "be wary of preconceptions". If you're in a bad
       | material situation, I'm not sure that everything here suddenly
       | doesn't apply?
       | 
       | Not saying that the author isn't privileged, that the path to
       | success wasn't made easier by being able to travel, rent, and buy
       | a farm in the footnotes. But again, the advice seems to be pretty
       | universally put no matter how big or small your steps are.
        
         | lemonwaterlime wrote:
         | Some people will go out of their way to live a life without
         | principles. They will go so far as to discount any success as
         | the result of luck or privilege or some other externality such
         | that the only reasonable response must be that there is no
         | point to doing anything but live a random life, day-by-day. To
         | such individuals, no amount of planning or reflection can get
         | you out of your situation or lead to a better life. If you have
         | resources, you will have more. If you have none, you are doomed
         | to fail. Or you can get lucky.
        
       | aliasxneo wrote:
       | The initial comments on this post seem unreasonably negative. I
       | did have to stop and process things a bit, but the underlying
       | idea deeply resonates with me. This is quite the nugget:
       | 
       | > The context is smarter than you. It holds more nuance and
       | information than you can fit in your head. Collaborate with it.
       | 
       | Sometimes, I feel like our mental models can form outside of a
       | context (e.g., a classroom setting), and we are tempted to
       | "force" the context to mold to the existing mental model. The
       | problem, as the author describes, is the context tends to be far
       | more complex than your rudimentary mental model.
       | 
       | Instead of forcing the mental model, allow the context to inform
       | and grow it to be reasonable for the current situation. I find
       | this particularly valuable in the field of platform engineering
       | where this sort of behavior is prevalent. Every software team is
       | different, and contexts can vary to a large degree. Instead of
       | taking "the best platform approach" and trying to make your team
       | conform to it, go "be" in the team and let that experience inform
       | what the "best platform approach" is.
        
         | euvin wrote:
         | > Sometimes, I feel like our mental models can form outside of
         | a context (e.g., a classroom setting), and we are tempted to
         | "force" the context to mold to the existing mental model. The
         | problem, as the author describes, is the context tends to be
         | far more complex than your rudimentary mental model.
         | 
         | Right. A lot of common wisdom I hear seems to agree, like
         | "professional work > university courses", "experience > reading
         | theory", "iterative launches > the perfect launch", "just
         | play/draw/code/practice more". The line about the context being
         | smarter seems like an amalgamation of all of that, where direct
         | experience with the "context" (the real world) yields a
         | subconscious amount of depth you can't even imagine beforehand,
         | much less with rigid external abstractions drilled into you.
        
         | theGnuMe wrote:
         | You should listen to this week's episode of Hidden Brain.
        
       | ochronus wrote:
       | I see how this mental model is helpful for a lot of people. I
       | think the points he's making about the "unfolding" topic are
       | universally great; at first glance, it looks like a
       | straightforward idea, but we fail at keeping it in mind when we
       | do the actual thinking. I've added a couple of his questions in
       | that section to my journaling template.
        
       | theGnuMe wrote:
       | Marry the right person.. well at least don't marry the wrong
       | person. And if you do marry the wrong person get out quick!
        
       | Avisan wrote:
       | I'm particularly intrigued by the idea of unbundling complex
       | problems to gain deeper insights. This approach seems to offer a
       | powerful way to challenge assumptions and find innovative
       | solutions.
        
       | jebarker wrote:
       | The idea of discovering a life that fits you rather than trying
       | to predict it up front makes sense to me. In my life I think I've
       | found most success, enjoyment and reward when I've followed my
       | gut as opportunities arise. But I'm not really sure what the
       | guiding reward signal is. Without up front choosing you want to
       | be rich, high status, surrounded by a loving family, popular, for
       | example, how do you make the near-term tactical choices well? Is
       | it just "do what feels right"?
        
       | unraveller wrote:
       | Reminds me of the advice "Find your passion and let it kill you"
       | only lets flip it so you compromise endlessly first and just
       | accept the life this process finds. Neither approach is truly
       | ever followed by their proponents, it just rings humble and
       | selfless and without responsibility. How agreeable.
       | 
       | Why would my vision for life be an error and the visions that
       | come from interacting with others or "the context" be without
       | error?
       | 
       | You get better at vision when you maintain higher standards for
       | yourself, not when you loosen aims as failure approaches and look
       | at your happiness from 30,000 feet in a daily journal. You do
       | have to decide who you want to be at some point, always with
       | limited information. But willing a great life for yourself is in
       | no way like designing inanimate products to be released.
        
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       (page generated 2024-08-10 23:00 UTC)