[HN Gopher] How I Choose What to Work On (2023)
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How I Choose What to Work On (2023)
Author : freemh
Score : 95 points
Date : 2025-03-25 11:54 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (tynan.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (tynan.com)
| yfw wrote:
| > I would rather be poor than make a lot of money doing something
| I hate.
|
| I too would love to have that choice. But my wife and kids might
| disagree
| HPsquared wrote:
| It depends just how miserable it makes you, and the rest of the
| family's views. I wouldn't want my parent/spouse to be
| absolutely miserable just so I can have nicer things. Also a
| parent who is absolutely ground-down by their work might have
| psychological problems as a result which could negatively
| affect the child, or at minimum less time/energy to directly
| give to the family.
| treffeer wrote:
| This is what Kafka's Metamorphosis is about.
|
| Most everyone only ever talks about parts 1-2, probably
| because that's the beetle stuff. Everyone in his household is
| miserable and depressed and he is killing himself working
| hard to try to carry that burden for his family, just barely
| holding everything together, to the point it breaks him and
| he transforms.
|
| Part 3 is his slow death and then a quick denouement takes
| place after dies, and it's about how happy and healthy
| everyone else is after he's stopped making himself ill trying
| to give them something they clearly are happier without.
| libertine wrote:
| The subtle thing is that the family becomes the main
| character in the second half of part 2 into part 3, once
| they start getting agency.
|
| > it's about how happy and healthy everyone else is after
| he's stopped making himself ill trying to give them
| something they clearly are happier without.
|
| You can even say that in the end everyone feels relief,
| like they got rid of a burden.
| tonyedgecombe wrote:
| In general kids follow their parent's lead for things like
| this.
| Alacart wrote:
| It's also entirely possible, maybe even likely, for people to
| get burnt out doing something they love because we don't set
| the natural boundaries we would with something we're strictly
| doing pragmatically.
|
| I still think it's the best way to live, but the saying "do
| what you love and you'll never work a day in your life" really
| is double edged.
| dantastic wrote:
| (2023)
| mentalgear wrote:
| About section:
|
| > Formerly, I was a pickup artist (as featured in the book The
| Game) and professional gambler.
|
| (probably soon to be purged from the site)
| verzali wrote:
| I doubt that. He's been quite open about it for years and
| posted plenty of posts about what he did.
| tynan wrote:
| Haha I doubt it too.
| smokel wrote:
| Note that there is a difference between _wanting to have more
| money_ and _wanting to make more money_.
|
| The author seems to be lucky in being born with the latter trait,
| but most humans luckily don't.
|
| If you're in the other group, feel free to simply ignore this
| advice. Make money to support yourself and your surroundings, but
| don't feel sad that you can't constantly do the things you love.
| It is just not how reality works.
| mehphp wrote:
| Can you elaborate on the difference, I'm not sure I get it.
| smokel wrote:
| I, for one, love to think about having a lot of money that I
| can spend on fun things. I do, however, not love coming up
| with schemes all day to actually transfer that money from
| someone else's pocket to mine first.
| ddorian43 wrote:
| People want the "end result" of making money (having money),
| not the "process" of making money.
|
| Say you make a startup, you "make money" by working hard for
| 5 years, but you "have money" only when you exit in the end.
| stronglikedan wrote:
| There's people that would be happy winning the lottery, and
| others that would be happier if they had worked for it.
| tonyedgecombe wrote:
| If you have the first trait but not the second then you are
| pretty much doomed to misery (unless you happen to be very
| lucky).
| Imustaskforhelp wrote:
| "build the right thing, charge something reasonable"
|
| Damn. I like this statement very much. Though I might as well a
| do with the build and maybe honorable
|
| "build/do the right thing, charge something reasonable , be
| honorable"
| chiffre01 wrote:
| I like the idea of autonomy and fulfillment. That said, the
| values expressed here seem to contradict the reliance on cheap
| flights and promotion of cruise tourism, both heavily petroleum-
| dependent and environmentally unsustainable industries.
|
| I'm curious how this fits into the broader framework of doing
| meaningful values-driven work.
| tonyedgecombe wrote:
| It's an interesting question, should you factor other people's
| consumption into your own environmental impact? I suppose you
| are enabling it although I doubt it would have any impact on
| the cruise industry if he shut up shop, clients would just
| select another agency to book through.
| martindbp wrote:
| "If you do something you love, you will become good at it much
| faster than something you don't love, and when you are good at
| something you will have some opportunity to commercialize it."
|
| This sums up my life philosophy very well at this point. It also
| applies to kids and education, as I encourage my boy to do the
| things he loves (happens to be Minecraft and its thousands of
| mods, commands and other things to learn), and gently guide him
| over time to a place where he might be able to commercialize his
| skills in the future. It's amazing to see what a child is able to
| learn when they are obsessed.
| smjburton wrote:
| > Part of the reason I've been able to do this is because I've
| always designed my life such that it can benefit from having
| money (pinball arcade rooms and all that...) but is also
| compatible with having no money.
|
| Good observation from the OP. Living lean opens up the
| possibility to do more things; but it also requires sacrifices
| that most aren't able to make, and why it's so difficult to work
| on the things you want to. Sometimes it's nearly impossible to
| give up life's commitments, comforts, and responsibilities.
| eCa wrote:
| I'm just not sure how to square that quote with this from the
| about page:
|
| > I reside in Las Vegas but also spend a lot of time in Hawaii,
| Budapest, and elsewhere. I'm a minimalist nomad.
|
| No matter how minimalist one is, traveling is difficult with no
| money.
| smjburton wrote:
| I saw that too but took it to mean that he lives lean even
| when times are good by traveling as minimalistic as possible
| (cheapest flights, hotels, gear), and has set his life up in
| a way that he could survive even if he has very little to no
| money.
| tynan wrote:
| Tynan here. I've bought small apartments with groups of
| friends in Hilo, Budapest, Tokyo, and bought a small island
| in Canada. My share of all four of those cost under $50k. So
| most of the time when I travel I go to places I have my own
| place. I don't do a ton of touristy stuff, because I've been
| to all these places dozens of times, but instead more or less
| live a life like a local there, which doesn't cost more than
| my life in Vegas.
|
| I still have to buy flights, but there are a lot of well
| known methods (points, etc) to get really cheap flights.
|
| Even back when I really had no money, a buddy and I just
| rented cheap apartments around the world for a year and gave
| up our places at home. It cost very little.
| PetitSinge wrote:
| > I would rather be poor than make a lot of money doing something
| I hate.
|
| This post and quote resonated with me. I love my work and have
| been fortunate to make enough disposable income to enjoy life and
| support my family. And it is funny how the money seems to follow
| the passion-- something that wasn't obvious to me for several
| years. However, I would stop well short of saying that I'd rather
| be poor than make money doing something I hate. I grew up poor
| and I can still recall moments from my childhood of being
| unhoused, not having meals or clean clothes, standing in line at
| food pantries, and of my mother and grandparents going without to
| ensure me and my siblings had something. Now, I admittedly
| haven't read the author's other posts to know his background, but
| for me I'd rather work just about any job than subject myself or
| family to poverty and it's longer term psychological and physical
| health complications.
| tynan wrote:
| I'm the author. I'm married but don't have kids. I distinctly
| remember when I first visited Hilo, Hawaii when I was 15,
| thinking that if I had to be homeless there, it would be better
| than having a job I hated. For years I lived in a tiny 21' RV
| behind a gas station in SF.
|
| Now I'm married, and I would certainly sacrifice a lot for my
| wife. I don't have kids, but I would also sacrifice a lot for
| my nieces and nephews.
|
| What I should have said is that I'd rather live a very
| materially basic life than do work I hate. If I couldn't afford
| clothing/food/housing/etc. I'd do whatever I needed to.
| barrenko wrote:
| Agh, the glory days of when tynan and sebastian marshall inspired
| what I would do later on in life (it's vagabonding, sort of
| vagranting). Also, his gear posts are really interesting.
| tynan wrote:
| Happy to hear it! --Tynan
| lucaspauker wrote:
| I think this is the best insight into why OP is successful: "Once
| I have a business, my priority is to make it the best possible
| option for the user"
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(page generated 2025-03-28 23:01 UTC)