
Design Your Way to a Happier Life - helloworld
http://www.wsj.com/articles/design-your-way-to-a-happier-life-1473446186
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troydj
It seems like the purpose of this book significantly overlaps with Cal
Newport's _So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the
Quest for Work You Love_ [1]. Newport gave corresponding talks on this topic
at Google [2] and elsewhere [3], and they cover his book's main ideas.

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-
You/dp/14555091...](https://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-
You/dp/1455509124) [2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwOdU02SE0w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwOdU02SE0w)
[3]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIMu1PGbG-0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIMu1PGbG-0)

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rublev
Similar situation, I found working remotely and remaining stationary make me
lead a happier life. Every time I find myself around others I tend to start
losing myself and it takes weeks to 'realign'.

Working towards building a remote studio and resigning myself to music for the
rest of my life.

~~~
98Windows
Maybe you aren't good at setting boundaries, so people end up taking away your
sense of self. I think it's something you could learn, are you sure running
away is the best plan?

~~~
rublev
I don't see it as running away. I just don't find meaningful connection in
casual hangouts. I've been there, it was fun for awhile. Drinking, night life,
etc. I prefer to work on projects with friends because those things take time
and are a lot more fulfilling and 'inclusive'. I've learned a lot more and
grown a lot closer to people by working on things together.

You grow to respect one another more over time when you share a foundation in
things you are both equally passionate about. The amount I've learned from
friends and also taught has made for very fulfilling life-long friendships.

The longer I've worked on things and gotten more into niche subjects the more
difficult it is to casually relate to people, I've found that a lot of my
'friends' were just acquaintances. Knew them for years, but they didn't really
know me and I didn't really know them.

If I do feel a need to unwind and casually hangout I prefer doing things like
skiing, rock climbing, hiking, etc and keeping acquaintances in those circles.
The reality is that if there's no shared foundation words become weightless.

~~~
98Windows
Aha okay I didn't get a good understanding from your initial comment.

That really resonates with me actually, when I hang out with old friends who
don't share my work and the information I'm consuming. I feel they inhibit
those parts of me, because my mind is trying to reconnect with whatever we
have in common, which is by now a small and redundant part of my self.

Aligning your work and interests with your friends seems to be a powerful way
to more happiness. It increases the amount of empathy you can have with each
other, which is the fundamental way we connect.

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dominotw
> If you don’t know what your passion is, that’s great news. Because you don’t
> have to know “what to do with your life”—you only have to do what’s next.

I'd argue that you'd have to know 'what to do with your life', this the basic
problem of fulfillment. Man cannot escape fulfillment, our most basic instinct
to feel fulfilled. You are not a mindless automaton following a todo list of
tasks all day. Kids used to be default answer for the 'fulfillment problem'
but people have started demanding more and more fulfillment from all aspects
of life.

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Todd
Related book to be published soon:

[https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Your-Life-Well-Lived-
Joyful...](https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Your-Life-Well-Lived-
Joyful/dp/1101875321)

~~~
acdanger
Kindle price: $14.99 Hardcover: $14.87

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edpichler
I wish to read that, but unfortunately WSJ don't accept international
Subscribers.

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brudgers
The |web| link was added to Hacker News to address the situation. It links to
a Google search and many popular paywalled sites display articles when the
incoming link is a Google search...including _WSJ_.

Some will block the Google link when the page has already been hit directly
and popped up a paywall. Most sites have a policy of providing the material on
the condition of resetting one's cookies and opening the |web| link in a
'private' browser, a different browser, or after clearing cookies comply with
the site's policy.

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avindroth
80,000 hours is probably the best and most reliable source for this type of
conversation.

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supersan
The article won't load,even after clicking the web link under the HN heading.
Any ideas?

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wgj
WSJ uses a dismissable ad overlay that looks like a paywall, even when linked
from Google. Just click the x to remove it.

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RCortex
Or, pursue what fascinates you? Does there need to be a book on this?

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jjfine
Why do these wsj articles always have a paywall when linked from HN?

When I follow the link from google search results there's no paywall...

[https://www.google.com/search?q=design+your+way+to+a+happier...](https://www.google.com/search?q=design+your+way+to+a+happier+life)

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detaro
Google requires the full content it indexes to be available to people
following links from Google as well, so publishers make an exception to the
paywall so they still get listed on Google.

EDIT: am I wrong?

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amelius
Ok, so in the future should we post the Google link instead? If you found the
article through Google, then I think this is fair. However, I don't know how
long a Google link remains valid.

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wastedhours
Nope - post the real link, and then there's the "Web" link under the title
which will take you to Google, and can be clicked onto from there.

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nitrogen
Unfortunately even that, with no prior visit to the site, did not work on FF
for Android (maybe due to the age of the article?).

