Hacker News Reader

Comment by bpchaps | Hacker News Reader

I honestly can't tell if this is real. My dislike started strong, but his reference to useless MBTI crap and peddling of his book in some annoying non-ironic form turns me even more towards disliking, nearing hatred, to him and those like him. It's nonsense on top of nonsense all the way down.

If it's real - then he's a self loathing twat who doesn't know how to push his own boundaries. If he can do arts and do any job and essentially anything wants, all because of his look-at-me-I'm-an-ENTP qualities, then he's not obviously pushing his own boundaries and is only acting as a detriment to everybody. Do something to improve others' lives. Don't tell anybody you did it. It's difficult yet possible, time consuming yet financially awful, and gloriless yet commendable. Just do it, asshole. It'll make you feel good about yourself and what you do. Sheesh louise.....

If it's not real - learn to mark a clearer point.

I need a break from this site.

View on HN

That's not particularly fair. The vitriol is palpable and unjustified. He's just thinking out loud. Yes, there is ego and yes, there is entitlement, but in the end we all face similar problems.

You probably clicked through to find some relevance to your own life (excuse the assumption - I did, at least). I'd imagine you got annoyed round about when you found out there was a book for sale, eroding any potential value the post may have had.

But did it? If his writing made you think, made you upset, made you question anything, it was 'interesting' in the HN sense and, to my mind, at least, stands alone as a clever piece of literature. Art, essentially.

Thank you! :)

Yes, a lot of that vitriolic anger is, in fact, because he's trying to sell a book.

Thing is, I agreed with the message very strongly. It's a message that I hold dear and it's something I try to live my life by on a day to day basis. But the reason this strikes anger in me is because the message he's pushing sells himself, his potential and many others like him incredibly short. It's a flat idea that could be so much more, but it's not. And it's used to sell a book. Fuck that.

You know you're probably right. I haven't pushed my own boundaries. Part of the big reason has been that I've enjoyed starting things but have been terrible at finishing them and it has always bothered me. Even upset me to great extent. But I agree, having the ability and taking action are two different things and there is serious lacking on the "taking action" department for me.

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” ― Calvin Coolidge

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/101882.Calvin_Coolid...

Interestingly enough, he also reportedly said: “Don't you know that four fifths of all our troubles in this life would disappear if we would just sit down and keep still?”

A lesson I teach myself everyday now. Persistence and hard work. Thank you for sharing.

I don't mean to come off too harshly. Yes, I'm frustrated, but I think it's justified. From personal experience and from tons of psychology research, talking how you're talking in that post and what I'm assuming your book is about, is how you mentally settle to a point that limits what you can do. You put yourself in a closed box by thinking this way, and you should do your damnedest to avoid it.

It took a hard breakup, a motorcycle accident, getting fired and a long due out-of-continent vacation within a two month period of time to get me to realize it. And also a similarly angry person.

A year ago, I considered myself a completely useless pile of shit. Last week, for the first time, somebody called me their 'hero' for acting to help others using passion and persistence, rather than just talking about it. It's a strange and almost overwhelming thing to hear. If I'd settled, I wouldn't have been able to get to where I am now.

Strangely co-incidental. I'm currently going through a divorce myself. Add to that a voluntary sabbatical from work that I quit last year because I hated getting into the comfort zone. Since then I've been spending a lot of time alone, trying to do different things, and of course writing what made sense to me. This book was not even planned for when I first started writing to be honest and yes, I strongly agree on not putting any limits on who we can or want to be because of a certain personality type or a test. I just believed that the reason I wasn't able to choose "one" thing to pursue in life was because I shied away from making that commitment to excelling in one thing. In my book, I'm only trying to convey that it's important to understand the pros and cons of our choices in life on who we want to be, since it's easy to get carried away by the lure of Entrepreneurship or life-hacking. I did try both and I hated it. I now know that I would never enjoy pursuing either of those paths and would be happier by simply writing and following my curiosity.

Fair enough! It sounds like you're definitely on an awesome track in the right direction and very similar to the one I'm going down. It's... uh.. dynamic, eh?

And again.. sorry if I sounded too harsh there. My gears get ground up pretty easily on this subject considering it's something that hits so close to home.

Best of luck. :)

Thanks and totally understand! :) Wishing more heroic moments for you in life! I wish I could be someone's hero! haha.. Great going! :)

>If it's not real - learn to mark a clearer point.

Pro-tip: skip to the end of a long post to read the punchline and find out if it is real or not. (tldr: its not)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com