You woulda thought....

[mangosteen]

Ten Things I Wish I'd Learned By Now

1. There are very few goals that are more important than the journeys to attain them.
   
2. Without a goal, developing random skills in the abstract isn't all that satisfying.
   
   
   
   1. This goes double for musical instruments.
      
   2. This goes triple for physical fitness.
      
   
   
3. Doing something "just to say I did it" is not sufficient motivation.
   
4. Buckaroo Banzai is my role model, and has been for quite some time.
   
5. Survival strategies are not necessarily a subset of success strategies.
   
6. The vast majority of people I'll encounter in my career don't care about my success or failure. They just want to get their work done.
   
7. There is this geek fantasy of working on something gigantic alone and in secret, and then unveiling it whole and complete to an adoring world. Yup, still a fantasy.
   
8. "Things that I don't want" may be phrased in the same way as "Things that I want", but they are not the same thing.
   
9. Comparing my achievements to any one of my peers is silly at the best of times. Comparing my achievements to all of my peers' is even sillier.
   
10. The Internet will be there in the morning. Yes, really. Get some sleep.
    

This list took a couple of days to write out. It was worth the time.

Comments

[boxcat.livejournal.com]

Amen, brother.

[blue-estro.livejournal.com]

The Internet will be there in the morning. Yes, really. Get some sleep.

But, but, but..... there is someone wrong on the internet right now!

[i-leonardo.livejournal.com]

> This list took a couple of days to write out. It was worth the time.

nicely done.

[guywithmonsters.livejournal.com]

Buckaroo Banzai is my role model, and has been for quite some time

AMEN!

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Number 9 is one I still struggle with myself. A therapist told me that it's quite normal for high-achievers to surround themselves with even more high achievers, but most "normal" people would struggle to match even half the skills of a high-achiever - you'd have to be a superhuman to equal the abilities of a whole group of them. I'd been explaining to him that I felt very dissatisfied because I saw all the achievements of my friends and I wasn't managing the same stuff, only for him to point out that it's pretty unusual for most people to know one such person, let alone a whole group of them - and that to a lot of "normal" people I'm one of those high-achievers they struggle to equal. Which was rather sobering to me.

So these days when I'm struggling to "keep up" with all my ridiculously talented friends and falling short, I find it helps when I remind myself of all the things I can do - and take for granted I can do - which other people would envy me for. I find it does help me gain a little perspective on the matter.

[xeger.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes :) Reminding people that really, in something so close to 100% of the time, they shouldn't be comparing themselves to the achieivements of (Knuth|Stevens|Einstein), and finding themselves lacking...

[reddragdiva]

As long as we remain convinced of each others' brilliance, we'll be fine ;-)

[meirion.livejournal.com]

7: in 250 years someone might notice if you succeeded.

And 11: Coming to see your friends considered helpful (yeah, I miss you).

[soong.livejournal.com]

7. But you really must look at this excellent solution for ____ I have worked out!
5. Survival strategies have a lower probability of failure, and a lower expected value. Success strategies have a higher probability of failure, but a higher expected value?

[mangosteen]

There's also the possibility that, given a very constrained timeframe and sufficient duress, a survival strategy can have a -EV and still be the best choice.

It's when one imagines urgency that is not there, and duress that is not there, and chooses a survival strategy based on imagined constraints, that it gets ugly.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

The Internet will be there in the morning. Yes, really. Get some sleep.

This is one of the biggest struggles in my life.

[fj.livejournal.com]

Yeah whatever. If I didn't compare I would never get to validate what a loser I am, people!

Driven any cars into mountains lately?

[drwex]

Or are you planning to take up neurosurgery?

(the very first computer I was allowed to name myself was called HB88)