The Hacker News Generation (Afraid of Hard Work)
simpleprogrammer.com
simpleprogrammer.com
What we haven’t told them is that nothing of any worth is obtained by any means except for good old honest hard work.
I like advice that can get through both those scenarios without making me laugh or cry.
The author talks about being "overtaken" by others if you are unwilling to withstand tedious boredom and pain in your work.
I think this is because he believes life is a race to the finish line. To make a career, to go up the ladder, all that stuff.
And then he dies, wondering why he spent his life doing so much things he didnt enjoy. He wasnt even forced by someone else to do them. He forced himself.
It all boils down to your perspective on life, and what the meaning of it is. :)
When the passion fades, I change my job and do something else. Then the passion is back. I guess its because my passion comes from learning new things in technology.
But if the author wants to sit on his ass and think there is no point in doing anything but grind, grind, grind, its his choice. The beauty of life is that we all have free choice to do what we want, and we should take full advantage of it since its the only thing we really do control. :)
I don't know how old you are but I'll assume/pretend you are in the age range he talks about (22-23 apparently). I'm 42 now so I have ~20 years on you. The things you say, the way you think, and the ideas you have at 22-23 are so different from those you'll have as a 25yo, 30y, 35yo, and 40yo. Life events will change your perspectives 10-20 times in the next 20 years, causing you to change passions once or twice (or lessen/augment your current passions). It is, quite simply, arrogance to think that, at 22-23, you know yourself. You don't. You won't know yourself for 15-20 years, I bet. I'm sure when I'm 50 that I'll think 42yo me was an arrogant fool for thinking I was qualified to give advice to a 22-23yo haha.
All in all, your comments come across as abrasive and "cock sure". Relax. You don't know what you don't know yet. How you approach this "problem" today is not how you will approach it years from now.
Example: let's say at 26yo you develop a product that becomes fairly popular quickly - enough to make you $150,000 in six months. And you did it by yourself with no help. What's next? Will you raise money and try to make $150,000,000 with it? Or will you try to keep it yourself and maybe have a lifestyle business? Whatever you say today is not what you will say in 3-4 years - you will have learned so much by then that there's no point in even speculating what you think to do then.
I'm rambling now so I'm done. Final point is "You aren't as smart as you think you are so back off the rhetoric."
Passion comes from fulfillment. Find what fulfills you.
Yes, he spotted traits many hn user have in common. But traits alone mean very little.
The real trick is having your mind under control. That way you can have success with very different attitudes. "Boring work" can be a flow activity; the "lazy way" can be a successful one.
Claiming that you have to "work hard well past the point where the work is enjoyable." is just idiotic. Sure, it can happen occasionally but people who behave like that can indeed burn out in the long term and damage their health seriously.
/edit: interesting how a little irony and a few lines of harmless opinion get you a downvote in no time.
the author of the 'I quit' article had no problem with hard work. The 'I quit' author no longer felt their work was meaningful.