Hacker News Reader

Comment by alangibson | Hacker News Reader

You're both right. To be fair, it reads like he was saying

> Your job is NOT safe.

in service of

> Take their fucking money, build a big emergency fund, save, invest, and focus on the rest of your life outside of work.

View on HN

I understand this rationale, but personally I have an extremely hard time disconnecting from work. It sucks 40 hours a week, which is most of my "alive" time, also sucks my brain stamina. Finding life outside of work is not easy, and considering that your main "alive time" activity is something that shouldn't be a pleasure, and is a f*cking battle, feels bad.

A full time job is generally under 2,000 hours a year while you’re awake ~5,840 (16 * 365) hours a year.

Overtime, long commutes, and thinking about the job at home can make it seem like all you do is work, but it’s possible to spend 40 hours a week having fun while you also have a full time job. Remember use your vacation and sick days, and say no to excessive unpaid overtime.

I refuse to work anywhere that requires me to work over 40 hours a week. You can ask up front what that expectation is and start looking for another job if they violate it.

Most people don't have nearly inexaustible amount of energy, so they need to rest and recuperate (merely just sleeping will not do it for them). So, if they have a demanding job, the 40 hours of week of having fun outside of work will largely consist of vegging on the coach in front of some TV show, or some similar low-energy activity.

People can always find a reason to rationalize why they’re not doing what they say they want to be doing.

It could also be possible that other people experience mental fatigue differently than you do.

It’s also possible people are talking about mental fatigue when they’re really dealing with depression.

If you’re mentally exhausted from work then going for a walk through a park is relaxing enough to regain some energy. If you’re depressed then you would still be vegging out on the weekend.

Which isn’t to say vegging out sometimes is a bad sign. Watching TV is fun in moderation.

Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that what I said is true.

> People can always find a reason to rationalize why they’re not doing what they say they want to be doing.

Believing that's true can help you decide if you are responsible for not reaching your goals or if you truly are the victim of circumstance.

What you wrote is true only in the narrowest sense: of course people “can” rationalize. People also “can” fly to the moon. That doesn’t mean that is what people are doing, and it comes across as deeply unempathetic to express as a default assumption.

It's not my default assumption. It's just true.

I understand that people can be legitimately held back by circumstances outside of their direct control. That is also true.

I believe that on average people tend to like to take credit for their accomplishments and find someone/something to blame for their lack of accomplishments.

Ask the people who would've gone pro if their high school coach hadn't been a dick. Or who got passed over for a promotion because of work politics.

Repeatedly claiming your opinion is true does not make it so.

It doesn’t make it false either.

If the other poster has some evidence for what he believes he can divine about what other people are thinking, I’d love to hear it.

Literally looking at the world and talking to people.

I get that you don't want it to be true but that doesn't make it false.

Saying "The sun rises in the east" over and over doesn't make it true. It's true because it's true no matter how many times I say it.

You can see the sun rise in the east. Despite what you seem to believe, you cannot see what is going on inside someone else’s head, which is essentially what you are claiming to be able to do.

I don't need to see into their heads. They have mouths and I have ears. I can literally hear people talk and not take accountability for their situations.

Perhaps internally they are taking accountability but all the evidence I have says that many do not.

That's perhaps true, but the lack of energy is also simultaneously true. Just a tougher-than-usual week at work can give me crippling headaches from pushing myself to the brink. The time after work is definitely spent recuperating, so that I can fight another day.

No, it’s definitely true. Other things can be true as well, of course.

But if you’re not accomplishing the things you want to accomplish you should deeply consider the possibility that you’re lying to yourself before you accept that your circumstances are at fault.

For some people, yeah. For others - you don't argue with a an attack of crippling headache, you lie paralysed in a convulsive spasm, waiting for it to pass. And then you remember that you perhaps should rest more.

I didn't say:

> You can always find a reason to rationalize why you're not doing what you say you want to be doing.

I did say:

> People can always find a reason to rationalize why they’re not doing what they say they want to be doing.

That statement is true.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com