Re: [silk] What Should I Do With My Life, Redux

[Deepa Mohan]

On Tue, Aug 30, 2016 at 3:39 PM, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 30, 2016 at 3:13 PM, Deepa Mohan  wrote:
>
> Reading this instead of writing the theatre review I am supposed to be
>> writing. But I decided that I shouldn't say, "I'll get round to
>> clicking on this link later"...so tell me, am I procrastinating or
>> not?
>>
>
> http://99u.com/articles/7286/the-power-of-structured-procrastination

It gets even better, When I finally got a Round Tuit, I found that the
site where I was to post the review has crashed, and will take a week
or so to be up again. I am now truly pro the nation of Crasti!

Re: [silk] What Should I Do With My Life, Redux

[Udhay Shankar N]

On Tue, Aug 30, 2016 at 3:13 PM, Deepa Mohan  wrote:

Reading this instead of writing the theatre review I am supposed to be
> writing. But I decided that I shouldn't say, "I'll get round to
> clicking on this link later"...so tell me, am I procrastinating or
> not?
>

​http://99u.com/articles/7286/the-power-of-structured-procrastination​


-- 

((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] What Should I Do With My Life, Redux

[Deepa Mohan]

Reading this instead of writing the theatre review I am supposed to be
writing. But I decided that I shouldn't say, "I'll get round to
clicking on this link later"...so tell me, am I procrastinating or
not?

Deepa.

On Tue, Aug 30, 2016 at 3:00 PM, Mohit  wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 30, 2016 at 11:52 AM, Simmi Sareen 
> wrote:
>
>> Or if you need a really funny take on procrastination, I will highly
>> recommend this WaitbutWhy post. Tim Urban is my favourite procrastinator.
>>
>> http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html
>>
>
> I had read it before. Tim Urban is an amateur :)
>
> Regards,
> Mohit

Re: [silk] What Should I Do With My Life, Redux

[Simmi Sareen]

>
> Sorry, I'm late to this - a classic case of putting off reading long
> content till i feel i can do justice to it :)
> (if you need innovative justifications for procrastination, let me know -
> i'll send you some...eventually!)
>
>
Or if you need a really funny take on procrastination, I will highly
recommend this WaitbutWhy post. Tim Urban is my favourite procrastinator.

http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html

Re: [silk] What Should I Do With My Life, Redux

[Mohit]

Sorry, I'm late to this - a classic case of putting off reading long
content till i feel i can do justice to it :)
(if you need innovative justifications for procrastination, let me know -
i'll send you some...eventually!)

I think it's a fairly decent list.
One rule that has worked for me is "ignore the parts that don't work, use
the ones that do". So, just listing down 4 points that worked for me, with
comments in brackets. (Please note I'm not saying others are bad - some of
them are great, but really obvious, and others don't work for me, but might
work for someone else).

1) Never put your family, friends, or significant other low on your
priority list. Prefer a handful of truly close friends to a hundred
acquaintances. Don’t lose touch with old friends. Occasionally stay up
until the sun rises talking to people.  Have parties.
(Friendships are fairly high on my list, but i disagree with the part about
acquaintances)

2) Life is not a dress rehearsal—this is probably it.  Make it count.  Time
is extremely limited and goes by fast.  Do what makes you happy and
fulfilled—few people get remembered hundreds of years after they die
anyway.  Don’t do stuff that doesn’t make you happy (this happens most
often when other people want you to do something).  Don’t spend time trying
to maintain relationships with people you don’t like, and cut negative
people out of your life.  Negativity is really bad.  Don’t let yourself
make excuses for not doing the things you want to do.
(This is excellent! Saying "no" to things that don't matter to/work for
you, is the only way you are going to have the time & energy to focus on
the things that do)

17) If you think you’re going to regret not doing something, you should
probably do it.  Regret is the worst, and most people regret far more
things they didn’t do than things they did do.  When in doubt, kiss the
boy/girl.
(Advice I'd give my kids, with a caveat "just as long as it doesn't land
you in court" :p )

21) Tell your parents you love them more often.  Go home and visit as often
as you can.
(Very good advice - and unfortunately, most of us will realise it too late!)

Regards,
Mohit

Re: [silk] What Should I Do With My Life, Redux

[Shenoy N]

On 17 August 2016 at 13:47, Thaths  wrote:

> (Sorry for the top post, posting from my mobile)
>
> Narendra, perhaps I was too hasty in writing the advice off. There are some
> good points on the list, for sure. When you have a bulleted list with more
> than 30 items of it, some of them are bound to land.
>
> As I've grown older what I've come to understand about myself is that
> theory is easy, practice is hard. All of us know the golden rule. How many
> of us practice it (especially with our loved ones who are most deserving of
> it)?
>
>
> That's so true! However. I've been able to change a bit by being conscious
of something. For example I've more or less stopped hanging out with people
who irritate or depress me. But then I guess that's not so much of a habit
as a choice. Habits are nearly impossible. And things like "love that
person more" is silly because you can't force yourself to love someone more
or less than you already do. Or can you? Also, things like keeping your
burn rate low is really not a choice for most of us. We burn out because
that's the way we are

-- 
Narendra Shenoy
http://narendrashenoy.blogspot.com

Re: [silk] What Should I Do With My Life, Redux

[Sriram Karra]

I got to this point, and then took the advice. :P

On Wed, Aug 17, 2016 at 10:13 AM, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:


> 6) Talk to people more.  Read more long content and less tweets.  Watch
> less TV.  Spend less time on the Internet.
>
>

Re: [silk] What Should I Do With My Life, Redux

[Thaths]

(Sorry for the top post, posting from my mobile)

Narendra, perhaps I was too hasty in writing the advice off. There are some
good points on the list, for sure. When you have a bulleted list with more
than 30 items of it, some of them are bound to land.

As I've grown older what I've come to understand about myself is that
theory is easy, practice is hard. All of us know the golden rule. How many
of us practice it (especially with our loved ones who are most deserving of
it)?

Thaths

On Wed., 17 Aug. 2016, 10:54 am Shenoy N,  wrote:

> On 17 August 2016 at 13:05, Thaths  wrote:
>
> > Ah, the folly of youth. Thinking that at 30 one has figured out the
> secrets
> > of a well lived life.
> >
> >
> > Haha! That's what I always feel too, whenever people start distributing
> wisdom. That said, they ARE wise words, wiser than most I have read,
> especially about going out of your way to hang out with smart, interesting
> people and the bit about not getting pushed around.
>
> Narendra Shenoy
> http://narendrashenoy.blogspot.com
>

Re: [silk] What Should I Do With My Life, Redux

[Shenoy N]

On 17 August 2016 at 13:05, Thaths  wrote:

> Ah, the folly of youth. Thinking that at 30 one has figured out the secrets
> of a well lived life.
>
>
> Haha! That's what I always feel too, whenever people start distributing
wisdom. That said, they ARE wise words, wiser than most I have read,
especially about going out of your way to hang out with smart, interesting
people and the bit about not getting pushed around.

Narendra Shenoy
http://narendrashenoy.blogspot.com

Re: [silk] What Should I Do With My Life, Redux

[Thaths]

Ah, the folly of youth. Thinking that at 30 one has figured out the secrets
of a well lived life.

Thaths

On Wed., 17 Aug. 2016, 7:43 am Udhay Shankar N,  wrote:

> Which parts of this list do you agree (or disagree) with?
>
> Udhay
>
> http://blog.samaltman.com/the-days-are-long-but-the-decades-are-short
>
> The days are long but the decades are short
>
> I turned 30 last week and a friend asked me if I'd figured out any life
> advice in the past decade worth passing on.  I'm somewhat hesitant to
> publish this because I think these lists usually seem hollow, but here is a
> cleaned up version of my answer:
>
> 1) Never put your family, friends, or significant other low on your
> priority list.  Prefer a handful of truly close friends to a hundred
> acquaintances.  Don’t lose touch with old friends.  Occasionally stay up
> until the sun rises talking to people.  Have parties.
>
> 2) Life is not a dress rehearsal—this is probably it.  Make it count.  Time
> is extremely limited and goes by fast.  Do what makes you happy and
> fulfilled—few people get remembered hundreds of years after they die
> anyway.  Don’t do stuff that doesn’t make you happy (this happens most
> often when other people want you to do something).  Don’t spend time trying
> to maintain relationships with people you don’t like, and cut negative
> people out of your life.  Negativity is really bad.  Don’t let yourself
> make excuses for not doing the things you want to do.
>
> 3) How to succeed: pick the right thing to do (this is critical and usually
> ignored), focus, believe in yourself (especially when others tell you it’s
> not going to work), develop personal connections with people that will help
> you, learn to identify talented people, and work hard.  It’s hard to
> identify what to work on because original thought is hard.
>
> 4) On work: it’s difficult to do a great job on work you don’t care about.
> And it’s hard to be totally happy/fulfilled in life if you don’t like what
> you do for your work.  Work very hard—a surprising number of people will be
> offended that you choose to work hard—but not so hard that the rest of your
> life passes you by.  Aim to be the best in the world at whatever you do
> professionally.  Even if you miss, you’ll probably end up in a pretty good
> place.  Figure out your own productivity system—don’t waste time being
> unorganized, working at suboptimal times, etc.  Don’t be afraid to take
> some career risks, especially early on.  Most people pick their career
> fairly randomly—really think hard about what you like, what fields are
> going to be successful, and try to talk to people in those fields.
>
> 5) On money: Whether or not money can buy happiness, it can buy freedom,
> and that’s a big deal.  Also, lack of money is very stressful.  In almost
> all ways, having enough money so that you don’t stress about paying rent
> does more to change your wellbeing than having enough money to buy your own
> jet.  Making money is often more fun than spending it, though I personally
> have never regretted money I’ve spent on friends, new experiences, saving
> time, travel, and causes I believe in.
>
> 6) Talk to people more.  Read more long content and less tweets.  Watch
> less TV.  Spend less time on the Internet.
>
> 7) Don’t waste time.  Most people waste most of their time, especially in
> business.
>
> 8) Don’t let yourself get pushed around.  As Paul Graham once said to me,
> “People can become formidable, but it’s hard to predict who”.  (There is a
> big difference between confident and arrogant.  Aim for the former,
> obviously.)
>
> 9) Have clear goals for yourself every day, every year, and every decade.
>
> 10) However, as valuable as planning is, if a great opportunity comes along
> you should take it.  Don’t be afraid to do something slightly reckless.
> One of the benefits of working hard is that good opportunities will come
> along, but it’s still up to you to jump on them when they do.
>
> 11) Go out of your way to be around smart, interesting, ambitious people.
> Work for them and hire them (in fact, one of the most satisfying parts of
> work is forging deep relationships with really good people).  Try to spend
> time with people who are either among the best in the world at what they do
> or extremely promising but totally unknown.  It really is true that you
> become an average of the people you spend the most time with.
>
> 12) Minimize your own cognitive load from distracting things that don’t
> really matter.  It’s hard to overstate how important this is, and how bad
> most people are at it.  Get rid of distractions in your life.  Develop very
> strong ways to avoid letting crap you don’t like doing pile up and take
> your mental cycles, especially in your work life.
>
> 13) Keep your personal burn rate low.  This alone will give you a lot of
> opportunities in life.
>
> 14) Summers are the best.
>
> 15) Don’t worry so much.  Things in life are rarely as risky as