

Simple Truths Smart People Forget - edo
http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/01/10/10-simple-truths-smart-people-forget/

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scrrr
Weird. How did this spammy self-help blah-blah make it to the front-page? Must
be a slow news day or simply vanity: "Hey, I am smart, I want to see what
truths I forget! Vote up, cause we're all smart here."

~~~
joshfinnie
I am starting to think that certain people upvote things to read later if they
are blocked by their corporate firewall (like this site for me). As HN gets
more popular, I think the trend is for these votes to get more frequent while
the old-timers still don't upvote much at all.

I have been thinking of this for a while, and this might seem like a good
enough of an example. Anyone else have any thoughts?

~~~
brlewis
Just counting old-timer votes doesn't seem to change the ranking much:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2073513>

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somebodyelse
#11 People who understand psychographics will cater content to you by stroking
your sense of intellectual superiority.

~~~
rwmj
#12 there seems to be an endless supply of this drivel / content spam being
upvoted in HN.

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torial
Perhaps it is a new kind of SEO?

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rwmj
I think it's just the old type of SEO ...

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crazydiamond
#2 – Happiness and success are two different things.

Could not agree more. Our definition of happiness often includes "Success".
And people's definition of success is quite relative, depending on other
people's current perceptions and ideas of how we should be or what people
envy, or image.

I retired 6 years back, spend more time sitting and walking in parks, feeding
and playing with stray dogs, and remaining in the present moment. I've never
been happier. Others see mine as a life wasted - dropping a high paying job,
loads of money to spend, and becoming a miserly bum !

~~~
frobozz
I strongly disagree - Success is "The accomplishment of an aim or purpose"
(OED), not "becoming a high-powered executive with a tastefully thick, subtly
off-white, watermarked business card" or whatever mystery definition of
success this article seems to be using. It has absolutely nothing to do with
other people.

Anyone who claims to be successful but not happy, has failed in setting the
right goals, and is therefore not truly successful.

You are evidently successful, because you are happy. Your goal seems to be to
retire from work and chill out in the park. A goal which you have achieved.
The surfer in the article appears to have the succeeded in being able to surf
all the time.

~~~
crazydiamond
I was not going by dictionary definitions, but by what people around me seem
to think. In my country, success has very much to do with whether you are in a
coveted job (usually meaning an MBA or engineer/doctor/civil services). This
changes over the years, e.g. software engineer came and went. MBA is now going
out.

People feel they are happy if they are conforming to the societal definition
of success. Your society may be quite different.

~~~
frobozz
Dictionary definitions only reflect the actual meaning of words in
conventional use by the speakers of the language. If the OED were
prescriptive, then the definition of success would simply be "outcome",
whether positive or not, as that is the original meaning of the word.

Perhaps your language has a different word which is conventionally translated
into English as "success", but would better be translated as "prestige". In
that case, you are right - happiness and prestige are two very different
things. History is littered with notoriously unhappy, yet highly prestigious
individuals.

I do concede that achieving a degree of prestige is a popular goal, and it is
an obvious way of demonstrating success; but prestige is not synonymous with
success.

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pieter
#4 – Having too many choices interferes with decision making.

I think most of us are painfully aware of this in everyday live. At least, I
find it very hard to buy a new TV or stereo or phone, because I want to have
the best device for my budget. Comparing all devices from all manufacturers on
all interesting dimensions (size, price, power usage, brightness, CI+ support,
...) is almost impossible. The result is that I usually either buy nothing, or
buy the product from Apple.

~~~
ZoFreX
I've given up on having the best device for my budget in some arenas. I want a
new TV, but I'm not going to evaluate all the options. The time it would take
to do so is worth more than the value I can gain by finding the best TV for my
budget, so it would be a net loss.

I'm finding it's quite liberating when you stop caring! Even if I do evaluate
every option I often feel unsatisfied after a purchase, worried I got the
wrong thing, and more often than not a better option comes along a week later.
For my new TV I will walk into a shop, ask them for the best ones for my price
range, pick one that seems good, and I'll be happy with it. Who cares if a
better model comes out the next week for the same price? Not me, anymore!

~~~
mgkimsal
With consumer electronics, I think that's a wise move. There's very little
difference in most devices that are in the same price range these days. I
don't recall that being the case 20-30 years ago.

I went shopping with my grandfather a couple years ago for a new monitor for
his computer. We got a flat panel 20" for about $160 (IIRC). It was a name he
hadn't heard of. He was only looking at the Sony and Dells initially, cause he
hadn't heard of the other company before. We spent a few minutes looking at
the 'off brand' one, and we went with it, saving about $40. Absolutely no real
diff in the quality, weight, performance of this one vs the 'name brands' in
this case - certainly not for his needs.

~~~
ajays
I think that is because in the old days, brands manufactured their own stuff.
Today, major brands subcontract out manufacturing and assembly to some no-name
outfit in China.

Now, if the owner of said outfit has ambitions, he'd want to sell his stuff
(that he sees being sold by the big names at 2x the cost) directly to the
consumer. But he has no brand name; so it'll end up being sold as some generic
name as "lucky star" or "super max"; or he'll license the brand-name from an
old brand (I'm looking at you, Westinghouse).

The classic story is that of Lenovo. They used to make Thinkpads for IBM; and
then one day decided to just buy the brand from IBM.

I heard once that there are basically only 3 laptop manufacturers in the
world; all the laptops you see (Dell, HP, Gateway, Acer, etc. etc.) are all
made by one of these 3.

So, to answer your question: compare the specs of the no-names with those of
the big-names. If you find specs that are mostly identical, then you're
basically getting the same thing at a lower price. However: you won't get the
customer service and after-sales support that big-names carry. Plus, there's
the possibility that the no-name may be selling the stuff that the big-name's
QA rejected, so the quality may be suspect.

------
Peroni
_No matter how you make a living or who you think you work for, you only work
for one person, yourself._

This advice is the key to remaining motivated in a job that doesn't challenge
you. The best manager I have ever worked for got me thinking from the
perspective that I should treat the organisation I work for like it was my own
business. Once I applied that mentality I found that I was a lot more focused
and determined to have an impact on the bottom line.

I still spend half my day on HN though!

~~~
rick888
I can only think that way for so long. Because eventually, your boss or
manager will push the company in a direction you don't agree with..and then it
will make you realize why you want to have your own company.

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edw519
#11. The proper marketing can make even the most mediocre content
irresistible.

    
    
      - turn prose into a list
      - target a specific audience
      - challenge them by telling them they're doing something wrong
    

For example:

"Common Sense" --> "10 Simple Truths" --> "10 Simple Truths for Smart People"
--> "10 Simple Truths Smart People Forget".

~~~
patio11
Cosmo copywriting: it works. (You could write a book on how playing on
people's aspirations to be Smart People, 10X Engineers, etc etc works at
getting their attention, too. It's almost as effective as "... That
$DISFAVORED_OUTGROUP Doesn't Want You To Know")

~~~
pavel_lishin
10 Simple Truths That'll Drive Him Crazy In Bed

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bane
_Having too many choices interferes with decision making._

I think humans are optimized for pair-wise decision making. We do "okay" with
3 or 4 things but beyond that, I've noticed a distinct inability for most
people to make wise decisions.

I'd also add #11: Most people don't make rational decisions. I've noticed that
quite often, even in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary (all
signs point to "this is a bad decision!") people will continue to make poor
decisions. They usually survive that by also having an amazing ability to
justify poor decision making.

and #12: Most people make their way in the world more less/fine with IQs of
around 100. If you believe you are smart, you should be able to do anything
that any normal person can do if you set your mind to it. And normal people
can get an impressive amount of mileage out of 100 IQ points. I've noticed
that many very smart people tend to use their intelligence as a crutch or
excuse for why they can't do something. Usually it's w/r to socialization, but
can also affect other areas -- simple things like paying their bills on time
or showing up to meetings on time. The stereotype of the absent minded
professor comes to mind.

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grigy
Regardless of what have been said above I like to be reminded. It helps to
stay afloat.

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larrik
I completely disagree with #8. A bad friend can be a cancer in your life, and
blaming yourself for their failures is an extremely common way of dragging
yourself down. Assuming that it's usually something to do with yourself, or
that it's better to forget the past is just asinine.

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pqs
The author wrote "smart" in the title, but the content is valid for everybody,
smart or not. ;-)

I guess the use of "smart" in this title is just marketing to atract readers.
Everybody knows that most people think that they are smarter than the mean!
;-)

~~~
erikstarck
I think you could replace "smart" with "ambitious" because a lot of this is
advice for people to simply slow down a bit and reflect.

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bgray
#7. Though this example may be hold true, I don't always relate corporate
promotions to being 'good' at something. One thing that I've definitely
learning is the people you know (your 'visibility') is as important (maybe
more) than what you know.

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pornel
From the guidelines:

> If the original title begins with a number or number + gratuitous adjective,
> we'd appreciate it if you'd crop it. E.g. translate "10 Ways To Do X" to
> "How To Do X," and "14 Amazing Ys" to "Ys."

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BerislavLopac
"Happiness and success are two different things."

My favorite take on the topic is the old one:

Success is when you have what you want. Happiness is when you want what you
have.

