A lot of the points can be boiled down to "work very hard". But what if you simply are the type of person who doesn't like working? Another point is do what makes you happy. For some lucky folks, work makes them happy, but there's a lot of us who don't like it. And no, it's not just a specific job. A lot of us are just kinda lazy to be perfectly honest. The things I enjoy most are running, eating fine meals, quality times having beers with friends, traveling, reading and playing video games. I do work so I can support myself so that I can do those other things, but I certainly wouldn't work if I didn't have to (and I've worked and saved long enough that I'm fairly wealthy and won't have to for very much longer).
I think one of the reasons is that I don't care about social status or material possessions or competing at who can make the best chat app or anything like that, and work just feels like a grind to me. Sure, some of it is better than other parts, but in the end, I'd always rather be doing something else. I also am not usually impressed with other peoples' career achievements, and getting a promotion or a better job doesn't give me any sort of feeling of accomplishment or 'high', just, well I guess I'm a few years closer to being wealthy enough to get out of this bullshit.
A lot of people will look down on me for this, but I'm ok with that as I'm not trying to win a popularity contest. I just don't think "work hard" is necessarily the best advice to all people. I do think work is important as it's a means of contributing to society, and in the end, I'm glad I did my part, but after I have enough to "get out", I'll have satisfied my conscience to spend the rest of my days having good times and doing things that really make me happy.
I was 5 minutes late to work every morning, because of taking my son to school in the neighborhood where our new house was being built. I didn't want him to have to move schools in the middle of the year.
Boss said "This won't do. You'll have to examine your priorities."
I thought about it all day, that night. Next morning I got to work (5 minutes late), went in his office, said "I examined my priorities. Work is #12." and I left.
One of the things I always feel when I read something like this is that I am running out of time. I'm 29, so this is a comparison that's easy to make. And because I feel like maybe you guys will have the same reaction I wanted to show you this:
http://www.businessinsider.com/people-who-became-successful-...
There may be a better version of this article out there, but the essence is that it's not too late to start to be great at something. So don't let the stress of a successful 30 year old get you wound up.
our culture is so tone deaf to aging, you turn 30 and think life is behind you, old man before death's door ..
(anyone know the W.Blake drawing?)
in another decade 19yr olds will be drafting up long blog posts about recipes for success, how they made it, legacy concerns et al.
its like the old man's domain got poached, and now old people have nothing to say they are so far out there .. :]
"1) Never put your family, friends, or significant other low on your priority list."
I would have worded this as:
"Always put your family, friends, and significant other at the top on your priority list."
Or, at the very least, "above work".
> When in doubt, kiss the boy/girl
I got slapped in the face doing that in middle school.
Those of you on HN that are past the 30+ mark. What would you add to this list?
Since these lists are always a lot about friends and family let me list some non-mainstream insights I've gained about my own life:
1. Social activities are mostly a waste of time.
2. If you want to sit at home 24/7 programming then do it.
3. Don't make it a habit coming up with excuses. Learn to say no without an excuse attached.
4. Some people are not meant to be in a relationship. If you're in a healthy and happy relationship but things still feel off, considering terminating it.
"Aim to be the best in the world at whatever you do professionally. "
"Become the best at one specific thing. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things. The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don’t recommend anyone even try."
ref http://pmarchive.com/guide_to_career_planning_part2.html
" 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."
How do you fix this? For the last 10 years of my life I've basically woken up each morning and wished I hadn't. I don't like what I do. I can't afford to not do it anymore. I don't even know what, if anything, I would actually enjoy waking up for.
"Summers are the best." Agreed! Although I think fall in the midwest is my favorite combination of season and location. Too bad it always goes by so quickly.
I guess Sam is aging now :) Thats when you start thinking - "wow! this is how I feel about life and it totally makes sense. Let me share with the world". And now you understand why elderlies love to talk and give "sound" advice to any person without grey hair.
Sam has achieved a lot already at the age of 30. I will be 30 next year, and am not even close. There are a lot of decisions you make timely can change your life significantly. That's what I need to do.
I have been fighting depression since last two years...I thought to quit quite a few times. I tried to resist. But when the pressure rise...sometimes I thought to do a suicide.
I have been suffering from a depression that I didn't get what I deserve...an opportunity that can change my life. While being capable, talented, named among rising marketers around the world, mentioned in a McGraw Hill published best seller.
I wish there is a way to survive. I wish I could tell the world that I am equally capable of making things happen.
Trying hard and will resist to quit until the depression kill me forever.
37) Don't assume that those older than you are any less intelligent or capable of understanding a problem; they were, after all, your age once and possibly even smarter than you at this point.
> "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"
remember the old adage future billionaires of HNs: "if it flys, floats or flirts, it's cheaper to rent it".
Rarely does it make sense to buy a jet until you're utilizing over 100 hrs annually. Charter->JetCard->Fractional->Ownership
I find this unremarkable. It's good advice for sure and most people would casually agree with it, but it's not consistent with what YC is doing nor preaching. That doesn't give the advice much weight in my opinion.
He sadly didn't include one of his more insightful, recent Tweets. https://twitter.com/sama/status/593111270095630336
Or perhaps that falls under #18 on the list.
If I had to pick the best line in that blog, it'll be this: "You become an average of the people you spend the most time with."
maybe he got his position in life based on luck... who is to say the same advice will get anyone anywhere? i think its thoughtful and enjoyed reading it... but i prefer to take all words with a grain of salt.
Might be due to the competitive nature that we are living in this world. Things moving fast and everyone competes to be better, working longer hours each day . The hectic life that we experiencing daily make us feels like time past faster.
That was great. I actually heard the music in my head and expected #37 to be "Trust me on the sunscreen".
> 11) Go out of your way to be around smart, interesting, ambitious people.
That is hard.
> ... but the decades are short
And there are only ten of them. Don't waste them.
If I could pick where to live my decades again this is what I'd do:
1st decade in South America. Learn to play and love your family.
2nd decade in Europe. Learn to study and admire art.
3rd decade in USA. Learn to make money.
4th decade in Australia. Learn to raise a family.
5th decade in Africa. Learn to love nature.
6th decade in Germany. Learn to philosophize.
7th decade in India. Learn to pray.
8th decade in the caribbean. Learn to enjoy life.
9th decade in an asylum. Learn to make friends for the last trip.
You won't make it to the tenth decade. Enjoy it while it lasts.
The title reminds me of a Modest Mouse lyric: "The years go fast. And the days go so slow." Great commentary on life and how time seems to pass.
>Youth is a really great thing. Don’t waste it. In fact, in your 20s, I think it’s ok to take a “Give me financial discipline, but not just yet” attitude. All the money in the world will never get back time that passed you by.
This is kind of conflicting with the 'keep your personal burn rate low', and I don't really agree with it. Here's why: most young people who burn a ton of money do it on something stupid, like buying a new car they can't afford, or going on a series of expensive holidays they will barely remember, or wasting money on expensive clothing labels.
When you're in your twenties, keeping your personal burn rate low is imperative, and the excess needs to go into investment. The wonders of compounding really start to kick in right when you need it the most down the track.
I was pushed towards making investments early on and hands down they were the best decisions I ever made. It meant forgoing party holidays with friends I don't talk to anymore, and having old cars and having to stay in sometimes.
So developing financial discipline early is paramount, because the investment habit gets harder and harder as you go on, as life's luxuries and personal expectations go up and up.
For the record, eating ramen while working on startups falls into the investment category, as long as you're serious about making it work.
I don't know how rich sama is, and maybe wasting a bit of cash was fine because the cash rolled in, but for the majority of people in their early twenties, starting saving and investing 10-20% of your income now. And definitely stay away from expensive iTems bought on credit. The worst thing you can do is develop a credit habit - you'll spend the majority of life setting up someone else's retirement.
A lot of these posts seem to just accept that 'not everyone is as lucky as us'.
I agree, but not because of the same reasons.
I went through a period in my life when I just realised that playing silly games wasn't worth it any more. I gave up on the idea of being an 'adult', whatever that means.
As a human being I have judgement and I know what me arriving late / not arriving to work means. I don't need to be told.
If I am ill, I don't come. If you have a system of 'sickness days', you can employ someone else. Because I am an honest person and I do not want my basic human tendencies to be policed. Biology doesn't care about your employment contract.
I enter and leave work when I want to. 99.9% of the time this is normal office hours, but if something important comes up, life comes first.
I think this is perfectly reasonable.
It means I will be paid less. It means I probably won't be CEO of an investment bank. I don't care.
I am a human being, not a cog in a machine. I'll give up my roof, my food, my clothing before I subject myself again.
Adding my 2 cents to the chatter about becoming a parent and the changes in the brain.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/01/what-happe...
> Whether or not money can buy happiness, it can buy freedom, and that’s a big deal.
For me freedom was more important than absolute wealth. I found that freedom need not be very expensive. The idea is to convert your savings into income overtime. First become a software development consultant, then keep building your reputation and rates consequently by delivering results. Then invest your savings in income generating assets.
There are a few things I experimented with that yielded some results:
a) Buy economical/smaller commercial real estate and rent it out to companies
b) Lend money on interest to people you trust. Initially give them small amounts and depending on their ability to consistently pay interest, you may lend them more money on some kind of securities (their real estate properties etc).
c) Research annuities and invest in various annuities. I am yet to explore this option fully.
Overall I am happy with my progress so far, that afforded me to take a year off in India (living relatively well in a 4000 sq.ft villa).
I am 31, I just have 1 advice to share. Be patient, your time will come and you've got more time than you think you have.
It's funny how a 30 yo gives advices like he's an old (wise) man :-)
You barely become a real adult at 30 (before you're just a "legal" adult) and there's a lot more experience needed to advise people about their lives.
Oh and fwiw, I'm 37 and still don't feel qualified to teach people about their lives.
> How to succeed: pick the right thing to do (this is critical and usually ignored)
How does one even find the right thing to do?
Awesome advice. Reminds me of this response on Quora - "How should a 24-year-old invest time?":
http://www.quora.com/How-should-a-24-year-old-invest-time-1/...
1) Never put your family, friends, or significant other low on your priority list
2) Don’t spend time trying to maintain relationships with people you don’t like, and cut negative people out of your life.
Unfortunately, for me, those two points are in contradiction.
All good advice. Wish I knew it when I was starting out. I should have made more friends, I should have taken more risks, I should have found ways to avoid stress so I wouldn't end up sick and disabled.
It may sound a bit weird but here's one from me:
ponder over the internals (design) of your own self at least once in your life.
>> Occasionally stay up until the sun rises talking to people.
Ha! Just wait 'till you hit 40 my friend..
Brings to mind the "Notebooks of Lazarus Long" portions of Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love". Viewed from 52 years old you make me wish my thoughts had been as coherent when I was 30. Good stuff.
I hate these types of lists. But this one in particular seemed quite good.
I believe that the title captures everything. Similar with having kids too, btw. Anything worth doing does require a lot of work. Long days, and you forget the time periods.
There is so much crap that comes out of startup guys, but occasionally one comes across a diamond. I'm bookmarking the page. This is wisdom.
I agree with all the points, but, as with most things, the gulf between knowing and doing is gigantic.
This is actually some really great advice to hear upon graduating from college. Thank you.
Really helpful, but the question is too hard to concentrate so many things on one person.
I agree with this list almost entirely, except I would move #18 to #1.
A lot of wisdom in a young man. I did not know he is just 30.
37) make shorter lists
Are we really at the point where a 30 year old can offer sage advice on living life? Wow.
As a counterpoint to "be the best you can be in your profession": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIJdFxYlEKE [PyCon keynote by Jacob Kaplan-Moss on 'mediocre developers'].
I can't help comparing this set of advices to its 2000y old stoics counterparts (no offense being intended to OP).
1) Never put your family, friends, or significant other low on your priority list.
> stoic way: definitely a stoic's one, we're meant to love nature and mankind.
2) Life is not a dress rehearsal—this is probably it. Make it count.
> stoic way: there's no joy in pursuing anything, because you'll always want more, thus you can't have it all and will feel unfullfilled.
3) How to succeed: pick the right thing to do
> stoic way: "How to die at peace: achieve tranquility" ~ do not seek success nor something to do.
4) On work: [...] it’s hard to be totally happy/fulfilled in life if you don’t like what you do for your work.
> stoic way: a fullfilled life is a life where you let nothing harms your tranquility.
5) On money: Whether or not money can buy happiness, it can buy freedom, and that’s a big deal.
> stoic way: true freedom comes when you don't own nothing and owe nobody.
6) Talk to people more.
> stoic way: learn and teach, but do not expose your inner feelings, let them pass on you.
7) Don’t waste time.
> stoic way: to embrace fatalism is to achieve tranquility. Time is meant to be contemplated.
8) Don’t let yourself get pushed around.
> stoic way: yes, don't let other's aggressivity have an impact on your tranquility
9) Have clear goals for yourself
> stoic way: yes, definitely, but those goals should get you to tranquility
10) However, as valuable as planning is, if a great opportunity comes along you should take it.
> stoic way: only if that opportunity will let you achieve a more peaceful state of mind
11) Go out of your way to be around smart, interesting, ambitious people.
> stoic way: be around peaceful, calm, wise people.
12) Minimize your own cognitive load from distracting things that don’t really matter.
> stoic way: yes, if what really matters is one own tranquility
13) Keep your personal burn rate low.
> stoic way: yes, if by a low personal burn rate you mean a high tranquility level
14) Summers are the best.
> stoic way: there's not real winter on mediterranean coasts :)
15) Don’t worry so much.
> stoic way: yes, definitely, never forget that your life is meant to an end sooner or later, always be prepared for that moment, die in peace.
16) Ask for what you want.
> stoic way: you should get rid of the feeling that you want things, it's a infinite loop.
17) If you think you’re going to regret not doing something, you should probably do it.
> stoic way: to regret something is only a consequence of wanting something, consider not wanting something at first
18) Exercise. Eat well. Sleep. Get out into nature with some regularity.
> stoic way: Excercise because it reminds you of your limits. Eat only what's necessary because it makes you enjoy good meals when it occurs.
19) Go out of your way to help people. Few things in life are as satisfying.
> stoic way: learn to love people whatever they do, few things in life can have more impact on your peace of mind that letting others behaviors perturbs you.
20) Youth is a really great thing. Don’t waste it.
> stoic way: youth is meant to prepare you to be a fullfilled elder, and in that sens you should not waste it.
21) Tell your parents you love them more often.
> stoic way: you sould tell yourself repeatedly how much you'll be sad when you'll loose your parents, because that will let you seek and enjoy their company more often. That works for family and friends too, of course.
23) Learn voraciously.
> stoic way: learn, then teach
24) Do new things often.
> stoic way: do less, seek peace of mind, that's where lies the feeling of an accomplished life
25) Remember how intensely you loved your boyfriend/girlfriend when you were a teenager? Love him/her that intensely now.
> stoic way: see 21)
26) Don’t screw people and don’t burn bridges. Pick your battles carefully.
> stoic way: avoid battles, battles lead to anger, anger lead to a crippled life by destroying your tranquility
27) Forgive people.
> stoic way: you sould have nothing to forgive at first, because you should not let others have impact on your peace of mind. However if someone asks for forgiveness, then let it be.
28) Don’t chase status.
> stoic way: definitely a stoic advice, don't chase fame.
29) Most things are ok in moderation. Almost nothing is ok in extreme amounts.
> stoic way: things are ok in scarcity, that's when you enjoy it most when it occurs.
30) Existential angst is part of life. [...] Nothing is wrong with you for feeling this way; you are not alone.
> stoic way: true, we are not alone and we are all humans. But that is false to suggest that it's ok the suffer angst, we should not let us be angst-ridden.
31) Be grateful and keep problems in perspective. Don’t complain too much. Don’t hate other people’s success (but remember that some people will hate your success, and you have to learn to ignore it).
> stoic way: oh yes, "you have to learn to ignore it", that's is very stoicish :)
32) Be a doer, not a talker.
> stoic way: be a thinker
34) Think for a few seconds before you act. Think for a few minutes if you’re angry.
> stoic way: think, then do nothing
35) Don’t judge other people too quickly. You never know their whole story and why they did or didn’t do something. Be empathetic.
> stoic way: yes, be empathetic, but do not judge at all, because it gives you no more tranquility
36) The days are long but the decades are short.
> stoic way: your life is long, as long as you contemplate every single moment
Disclaimer #1: I'm not a native english speaker
Disclaimer #2: I've been introduced to Stoic philosophy by "A guide to the good life", where William B. Irvine make a good digest of Seneca, Epictetus and others. I'm in no way an expert and may (must) have made mistakes here.
Pray.
Can't agree more.
tl;dr: YOLO
Make shorter lists?
I think that when you have kids you realize that actually "The days are short but the dacades are long."
I have been part of three times "their whole life", and still, not a decade gone by.
Heh getting close to 30 I felt awkward reading this one:
> 20) Youth is a really great thing. Don’t waste it. In fact, in your 20s, I think it’s ok to take a “Give me financial discipline, but not just yet” attitude. All the money in the world will never get back time that passed you by.
Compounding interest takes time and not a lot of money, don't let that time pass you by.
Really helpful, but the question is too hard to concentrate so many things on one person.
See you at 40 ~~ ha ha.
> Ask for what you want.
That advice will land you in jail.
Sam seems so wise, even for somebody so young! Everything he writes is a pleasure to read. Calm, considered, sometimes controversial, but always worth digesting.
> 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
I get that this is aimed at the startup crowd, but I've always felt that this sentiment is pretty privileged. We, the elite, get to cherry pick our work and do what we like. But I bet 9/10 people will never feel they have this luxury, and 8/10 will be right.
> Most people pick their career fairly randomly...
And in the truest sense of "most people" I would bet that "most people take whatever work they can get, and sometimes something sticks" is probably more accurate.
I know these sentiments are a bit cynical, I just can help but feel sometimes that it's irresponsible to dump the "you can be/do anything!" sentiment on our youth when the reality is nowhere near that for most of them. I understand we need ideals and motivation to make them a reality, but more flowery advice doesn't seem to be the best tactic.
Regardless, Sam is an amazing individual who has done an enormous amount for others and the startup community. This isn't meant to disparage his views or advice; ironically, I think it's just hardest to give truly sage advice when you're trying to be sage.