[HN Gopher] Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage
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Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage
Author : alihm
Score : 38 points
Date : 2025-07-04 21:11 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (maalvika.substack.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (maalvika.substack.com)
| alganet wrote:
| substack considered harmful
| moritzwarhier wrote:
| headline is enough, rest is probably fluff anyway (haven't
| clicked, headline sounds thoughtful & reasonable)
| afeuerstein wrote:
| I found this to be a good read, and I can only recommend at
| least skimming it through.
| moritzwarhier wrote:
| Thanks!
| Myzel394 wrote:
| Why's that?
| alganet wrote:
| it rewards viral, vague behavior that only draws clicks but
| doesn't actually generate knowledge
| vasco wrote:
| The windmills are that way
| alganet wrote:
| running into a windmill considered harmful
| labrador wrote:
| Being lazy is a clever form of productivity
|
| "I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person
| will find an easy way to do it."
|
| -- Bill Gates
| pedalpete wrote:
| What is "too ambitious"?
|
| Are there dreamers who overthink and never get anything done?
| Absolutely!
|
| Are there also people who do what other people regularly say is
| impossible? Also an absolute yes.
|
| Ambition has nothing to do with it. There are doers and there are
| talkers.
| wrs wrote:
| I'm very good at one thing (thank goodness), but I do some other
| things that I'm not good at, to remind myself how nice it feels
| to just do something without the pressure of having to be good at
| it.
|
| I also think being a beginner at other things reminds me that
| failure is what learning feels like, which gives me some
| perspective when my "real" job feels difficult although I'm
| supposedly so good at it.
|
| When I look back at big things I've done, they're all the result
| of just "doing the thing" for a long time and making thousands of
| course corrections. Never the result of executing the perfect
| crystalline plan.
| cl42 wrote:
| In the spirit of July 4, John Lewis Gaddis explores a similar
| theme in "On Grand Strategy". This is one of my favourite
| explorations, where he compares Abraham Lincoln and John Quincy
| Adams:
|
| > Compare Lincoln's life with that of John Quincy Adams. Great
| expectations inspired, pursued, and haunted Adams, depriving him,
| at critical moments, of common sense. Overestimations by others--
| which he then magnified--placed objectives beyond his reach: only
| self-demotion brought late-life satisfaction. No expectations
| lured Lincoln apart from those he set for himself: he started
| small, rose slowly, and only when ready reached for the top. His
| ambitions grew as his opportunities expanded, but he kept both
| within his circumstances. He sought to be underestimated.
|
| The point -- being too ambitious can slow you down if you're not
| strategic.
| SeanAnderson wrote:
| I find it surprisingly difficult to lower my standards once I
| feel committed to an idea. I wish this article leaned a little
| more into ways to address that sort of dilemma.
|
| Don't get me wrong, I agree fully with the article. I put it into
| practice plenty well in many areas of my life. I've made great
| progress with my diet, self-care, and physical fitness routines
| by keeping my goals SMART.
|
| And yet, a few years ago, I got this idea in my head for a piece
| of software I wanted to create that is, if not too ambitious,
| then clearly asking all of me and then some. The opening
| paragraph of the article really resonated with me -- "The artwork
| that will finally make the invisible visible."
|
| And so, I've chipped away at the idea here and there, but I find
| myself continually put off by "the gap" - even though I know it's
| to be expected and is totally human.
|
| Part of me wishes I had never dared to dream so big and wishes I
| could let the idea go entirely. Another part of me is mad and
| ashamed for thinking like that about a personal dream.
|
| Anyway, don't know where I'm going with all this. Just felt like
| remarking on the article since it struck close to home.
|
| P.S. if you haven't seen the Ira Glass video, I'd take a look.
| It's pretty inspirational. Here's Part 3 which is what the
| article was referencing.
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2wLP0izeJE
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