Comment by makach | Hacker News Reader

Comment by makach | Hacker News Reader

I remember I built this exact same thing. I was bored at work and made a small counter of how much money I earned per second, and I enjoyed very much how the number was incrementing. I started gold plating the application, adding features, animations. Soon I was able to configure how much would I make pr day, how much remained of the day. How much remained of the week..

Then I started thinking about averages, and added in configuration to the timeline that would show approximately how far I had progressed until retirement, and then approximately estimated lifespan remaining.

I had it running for a day or so, and just by watching the time tick away made me realize something, I discovered something profound and important to me. The application disgusted me, and I deleted everything.

I don't want to be reminded, it depressed me. Today, I try to cease the moments, and enjoy every seconds. Even the bad things are good. Everything is precious and specially wonderful. I am fortunate to have a unique perspective and my life is easy.

Some things are better not to know, to think about or speculate about.

> I don't want to be reminded, it depressed me.

I wholeheartedly agree. Weeks are a powerful visualization, but by comparing yourself to others in this way, you're setting yourself up for failure. Extreme success as pictured takes a mix of discipline and brilliance that's mixed with privilege, luck, health and extreme focus on a single area (leaving behind large sacrifices in others).

As my therapist used to say: To compare means to hurt.

The only race you should ever be running is the race against yesterday's Yourself and a visualization like this isn't helpful for that.

If you're after success and still procrastinating, the solution isn't adding more pressure, it's self-forgiveness [1], refusing to judge yourself [2] and being good to yourself.

If you do a week calendar, take the second picture of Tim's Wait but Why and make every week one where you either improved someone's life or had fun, preferably achieving both.

Everything else is irrelevant.

Source: I've been struggling with this all my life.

[1]: https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/dont-delay/200903/... [2]: https://www.tinyhabits.com/book

> Today, I try to cease the moments

You mean "seize". Ceasing moments sound like you're a meditating monk trying to shut down any thoughts...

yes.

I built something similar called "wage clock" that ran in the system tray. The killer feature was you could set sub timers for things like going for coffee or to the bathroom. All of us 20-somethings in our first real job loved it and it was a big reason i quit my big corporate sales job and returned to school to study comp sci.

I too now think it's unhealthy to equate time so directly with rewards, but overall i have fonder memories than you i think...

I think it would be funny if you could have a counter for a meeting i.e. how much is this meeting costing us in salaries. Then keeping the meeting short would be appreciated!

I did that in one place I worked. We had big scrum retrospectives that dragged on a lot. I used to comment how much the meetings cost. Might have made myself a little unpopular. :)

I pointed out how much each individual lecture cost to everyone in college :). That went over well. Especially to those who would skip some lectures.

But just look at the median loan amount in the USA of $31000 then print a repayment schedule of 15yrs at 7% and you get

Cumulative Payments: $50,154.17 Total Interest Paid: $19,154.17

that is like 38% of the original loan amount that needs to be paid in after tax wages in interest to the government. That is a lot if you’re not doing CS/ENG/medicine! IMO it is one of the main things eroding g the financial position of the middle class and lower middle class.

I built a similar app, but without the money factor. It just tells me what percent is left of the day, month, year, and my (estimated) lifetime.

I'm just about to hit 50% on the life meter. It's very motivating.

> I'm just about to hit 50% on the life meter. It's very motivating.

I feel like the exact opposite of this. Thinking about hitting x% on the life meter makes me feel kind of depressed. Could you share your mindset behind this thought?

I think it starts with being happy with what I've accomplished in life already.

I look and I think, "wow, I've already done so much, and I'm not even 1/2 way there!"

But if you're not happy with what you've already accomplished, I can see how it would be a demotivator.

Thanks for checking it out and sharing your experience! I feel that building that tool or seeing this visualization helps certain people make your realization.

>Even the bad things are good.

This piqued my curiosity. Would you mind elaborating?

Not the parent but I get this. Some things can inexplicably open your eyes to how valuable life is; a cursory study of Buddhism and later Stoicism did it for me.

I'm convinced the secret to happiness is simply reminding yourself how much worse life could be.

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