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Comment by bigred100 | Hacker News Reader

I would think it’s more valuable when you’re younger due to the compounding effects of skills or knowledge gain

I think this drives the point of the OP: some of us obsess over the optimal solution and it dries up our happiness.

It all depends on what you value. As an older person, my experience is that those who view life as a mission to accumulate up as much wealth, possessions and skills as possible end up miserable. Life is a journey to be enjoyed each day, not some sort of mission with an achievable end-point. You don't "win" life by accumulating the largest pile of tangible assets. I've found that those who are the happiest work hard enough so that they have enough money to do the things they want to do, with a little extra saved up for contingencies. Its a cliche, but life truly is a journey and not a destination.

Yes. When young, we do not know, nor can we plan with any certitude, what may come. Que sera, sera. We can turn the wheel on the kiddie cars at the carnival, but we can only pretend we're steering. (For most of us.)

But when we are 20 years old, we can be certain we'll only be under 30 for a short time. With all that being under 30 entails ... of unreplaceable value. With good health and some luck, it will never be easier to travel, to meet a broad range of people ... to learn from and share with. To have the surplus energy to enjoy becoming good at something that might become a career (while realizing that advances in technology may make it obsolete!).

Life in a well-worn rut may be the only choice for some ... but those who stay free may find new paths.

Interesting. But when you're older, you have less time. Scarcity usually drives up value.

How to reconcile these two ideas?

Valuable to you, yes. Valuable to others, only if you're lucky.

Depends on what you mean by older. You have less time because you chose to have less time. Let's ignore 40 hours for work and 56 hours for sleep, the rest is based on choices you made along the way. Could be kids or commitments or location demands or _____, but the scarcity of time does not change with age, it changes with the accumulation of decisions that consume that time.

I wish there was only 40 hours for work. At my current place 45-50 is more common. Add another 10-12 hours of commuting, at least 2-3 hours for personal grooming (and my wife is probably double that), and exercise/stretching which becomes increasingly important as you age. So, yes, there is little time for hobbies after accounting for my kids, my wife, the dog, the housework, etc.

Less time in the absolute sense, as in "you die sooner so you have fewer minutes alive remaining". Not "you choose to spend your time differently.

It's more valuable in terms of exploitation vs exploration [1] -- i.e. it's more important to do what you know you like and not just patiently spend time on something you don't

1. http://algorithmstoliveby.com/

The ones who realize this have a greater chance at achieving long term security.

Learning things before the right time can become a hindrance. In my case the first year and a half of Uni couldn't have been more boring, I basically learned nothing new but had to spend a shitload of time doing just homework meant for people to learn the concept not prove they know the concept, and that absolutely killed all my motivation to do Uni.

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