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Comment by stared | Hacker News Reader

A good friend of mine has a 365x100 rectangle on his (high res) display. As a reminder that it is small, yet he has less days in his life than pixels in this rectangle. And every day spent not on a worthwhile project is a great loss.

A modern, sobering memento mori, I would say.

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Because in their death bed one often says "I wish I worked on more worthwhile projects"?

The inverse being: Why don't I just end it all right now?

One answer possibly being: Hmmm, better find some stupid project, and occupy myself, before I really consider whether I'd find a convincing answer to that question. Oh cool, they open sourced this childhood video game!

There is an enormous range between working on a worthwhile project and end it all right now. The point was that very few people lay on their death bed and wish they spent more time working. Typically they wish for more time with their family, or in the general sense more experiences.

Personally, I love the experience of learning something new and hence enjoy a lot of programming. I will not be wishing on my death bed to have written yet another CRUD app. If I die before my wife, I will have wanted more time with her - traveling if possible.

Oh, so that was the point?

An e-mail I received right before reading this post:

"THANK YOU for your excellent customer service. Your videos on YouTube -- while I little over my head -- tell how you have a passion for electronics and creating solutions. I have told several people about you and I hope it brings you business.

Thank you for sharing your talents with the world."

It is so hard to imagine that reflecting on this e-mail might bring me some satisfaction on my death bed ?

I never understood the big deal about death bed. I don't care much about what I think when my i am old and senile.

I'm sure I'll have huge regrets no matter what I do.

I've watched both my parents as well as several other close friend die, and none of them really expressed any regrets. What's the point? Most people live the best life they can, and I've never known anyone to spend their last years or hours mired in regret. They actually seem to mostly reminisce about the highlights of their life, whatever they were.

There's no guarantee that you'll be old or senile when you're ok your deathbed. If you are, great. If not, the regrets will sting a lot more.

Found your channel for those who might be interested. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRzx5KAxuUZAjiXbaJpVxuw

Cheers mate :)

Life is a series of projects.

Seems sensible to make them as worthwhile as possible.

That's a good way to look at it.

To me, worthwhile projects is about personal achievement, reaching your potential, and giving back to society. So yes, I do wish I had more time to work on more worthwhile projects.

No. It can be assumed that people here enjoy working on projects. Projects that interest them. The deeper meaning of this statement, in my opinion, is that every day you spend doing something that you dont like is a very big deal because, as this graph illustrates, there aren't really that many days available to waste.

I would.

Here "worthwhile projects" is not about more clients, money or the HN front page. It's not about work - it's about passion (often - hobbies, side-projects, etc).

Isn't really that no-one says at h[ei]r deathbed "I wish I wrote that book; now this story is lost forever."?

I wonder if the 'tick a box per day' model is a proper visualization of your life. You age, health and knowledge define your potential of doing and accomplishing things e.g.

-- the majority of your top quality relationships are build in the first third of your life

-- you are very attractive for females between 25-40

-- you can learn certain things very fast as a kid

-- you age exponentially after a certain biologic age et cetera

> 365x100 rectangle

I like that!

> And every day spent not on a worthwhile project is a great loss.

Does anybody really values days of life based only on the "projects"?

I keep a journal since three years and I mostly write about current "projects" (be them work or my own things) and future ideas.

To answer, yes, a day in which I haven't done anything useful is not really worth as much as a day in which I have, and it will be forgotten (unless I happen to be traveling (rare) or have met someone interesting (rarer)).

It depends on how you define "project."

Most people have life goals that filter into professional, personal, family, etc. Some goals might not sound like projects "go on more vacations with the kids," but require a sequence of things to be done in order for them to be feasible.

In "the end," the ones that are most valuable will probably not be the professional things, particularly in the technical space. Most because they'll feel especially inconsequential 10 years out. The professional projects I spent weeks and months on a decade ago are problems largely solved and turnkey in 2016. That said, they're fulfilling, and that's why we enjoy doing them and challenging ourselves.

So unless you're doing some really monumentally important-for-humanity professional projects, their value is probably ephemeral. They should play into a larger set of life goals.

And "entertaining myself" is not a worthwhile project? In a nihilistic way, it's hard to argue that anything's more important.

"Go now, and die in what way seems best to you." - Denethor

I guess you can s/worthwhile project/entertaining myself, and the message stays the same.

that is also an interesting idea I may do

You might find this interesting - it adds a bit of dynamicness to it

http://learnforeverlearn.com/candle/

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