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Comment by swayvil | Hacker News Reader

I used to be nuts. And you know what, I went with it.

I could focus on a project 24-7-365. That's how great projects get done. And people who get great projects done are what we call "geniuses".

I'm better now. Sometimes I think of the great projects that I could do but then I think, "no thanks, life is bigger than that".

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In what way is life bigger than that? You'll be dead in the blink of an eye relative to any meaningful timescale. And so will everybody and everything you know. All that will be left is what you create and leave behind.

Okay for some this is children, but that's hardly a legacy in many cases. You have greatness born to fools and fools born of greatness, so in the end you're just leaving your mark as a roll of the dice which is hardly unique in any case.

But what we create and help bring to light are things that can reshape and redirect humanity, changing our path forever.

Good that you're better. Maybe try to work lightly (2 hours a day) on a project someday and see if you can complete it without herculean focus or dedication.

It's not like that, in my experience at least. I can do amazing things in 6 weeks, but it involves eating, breathing, and sleeping the system/problem/project. It turns out there are 1000 hours in 6 weeks (including sleep time), and if you have the problem loaded into your brain as its 'default mode network', then it takes over and you can get massive cross-functional efficiencies (including dreaming up solutions in your sleep). Working the equivalent for 2 hours/day would take years and does not generate anywhere close to the kind of energy or output that the parent is referring to.

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