

Is effort a myth? - bdfh42
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/10/is-effort-a-myt.html

======
tdavis
_If you somehow pulled this off, then six months from now, you would be the
fittest, best rested, most intelligent, best funded and motivated person in
your office or your field. You would know how to do things other people don't,
you'd have a wider network and you'd be more focused._

What if you just want to chill and watch TV all day?

I think the last thing people need is more advice on how to reduce fun in
their lives and replace it with work, especially under the guise of "becoming
successful." If you're 40 years old, have no job and live at home and you're
completely happy with that, I would consider you a success.

The worst part about society is the fact that it creates arbitrary tiers where
you must reach to be "better" or "more successful" or some other meaningless
vapid term. Then it goes further, like this article, and defines "good" stuff
you should do that will help you be "successful" or just "happier." I have no
plans to follow most of these suggestions for all kinds of reasons... lets
see... I hate writing thank-you notes, speaking, volunteering and spending a
weekend with people I could be caught up with in an afternoon.

Do what makes you happy. Define your own success. Stop taking canned advice
about life from people who know nothing about yours. Make your own damn
decisions. I work a ton because I love it, not so I can die with more money or
feel better than the next guy. Do whatever makes you feel good and the rest
will work itself out.

Edit: Quick clarification. If this were an article about how to be more fit,
rested, intelligent, funded and motivated for the sake of those things, then I
would totally endorse it. But if you really wanted to be all those things,
you'd be doing that stuff already because it's pretty damn obvious. You
wouldn't be wasting those 120 minutes on stuff that wasn't making you happy;
you'd replace that stuff with other stuff that made you happy. Pretty straight
forward.

~~~
rthomas6
"You wouldn't be wasting those 120 minutes on stuff that wasn't making you
happy; you'd replace that stuff with other stuff that made you happy. Pretty
straight forward."

As a talented procastinator who is occasionally lazy, this is not always the
case for me. Many times I will spend my time doing things that make me happier
in the short term but less satisfied in the long term. Articles like this do a
good job of motivating me.

~~~
tdavis
I am the worst procrastinator ever so I know where you're coming from.
However, procrastinating / being lazy occasionally doesn't change the fact
that I know what I _should_ be doing. All the article motivated me to do was
rant about the article ;)

------
dazzawazza
People have little faith in effort because they feel it's too easy to be
labelled a failure.

For example if you spend months studying only to fail a course there is no one
to blame but you. If you don't study in the first place and blame society,
genes or circumstances then you are blameless. You were dealt a bad hand, luck
isn't on your side... I'm sure you've spoken and heard these words.

This isn't to say that society, genes or circumstances DON'T effect outcome
(in a myriad of complex overlapping ways) but they have become scape goats for
many peoples lack of endeavour in life.

~~~
qwph
_For example if you spend months studying only to fail a course there is no
one to blame but you._

In that situation, I think you should retake the course at the first
opportunity, and keep retaking it until you pass.

There's a difference between failing and giving up.

~~~
whacked_new
I really like this mentality, but 1. society does not, 2. time does not, 3.
time does not.

But in a happy world, I would swear by this sentiment.

~~~
whacked_new
er... oops, 3. was meant to be "money does not"

~~~
qwph
Learn to fail privately, quickly and cheaply? ;)

Less flippantly, if you don't do something because you think you won't
succeed, then there's no chance of you succeeding. If you try something, don't
succeed, learn from the experience and try again, there's a chance that you
may succeed.

------
13ren
One's beliefs about whether intelligence is fixed or malleable is a factor
that affects how much effort one makes, according to these studies:

[http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-raising-
sm...](http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids)

~~~
Alex3917
What's actually more important, and more apropos, is whether you have an
internal or external locus of control. Attributing outcomes to intelligence is
just one factor that tends to externalize that locus.

~~~
yters
That's why it is so bad there are so many authoritative forces telling us we
don't have free will.

------
JesseAldridge
In the software world, if you're exerting a lot of effort, you're probably
doing it wrong.

Increasing your productivity by a factor of 100 in normal, real world work is
not something that happens very often due to physical limitations. But in the
software world, where you can rewrite the basic laws that govern you, gains
like this are a lot more attainable.

In the physical world you have to work hard and you have to work smart. But in
the software world, working smart is much, much more important.

~~~
briancooley
In that case, putting in extra effort would be learning how to build better
tools (or in your terminology, craft better basic laws).

------
run4yourlives
Surprisingly, this is actually a pretty good article. I like is little 120
minute idea.

~~~
Retric
It's not a bad list, but IMO it's still missing the point. I was just promoted
to "Senior Consultant" not because I worked really hard, instead I worked 40
hours a week and focused on doing the kinds of things they cared about. 4
years ago I was making a lot less money and working a lot harder and longer,
because I failed to work hard on the right sorts of things. I think maximizing
the return on effort is something few geeks do and while it can be fun to pull
an allnighter fixing buggy networking code, it's not going to help the rest of
your life because chances are nobody at the next job is going to care. Go
home, get some sleep, tomorrow you can become the well rested hero.

"Luck" is often more about noticing opportunity than anything else. The are
probably millions of ways you could get enough money to retire in 7 years, but
noticing them requires an open mind.

PS: When your 4x as productive as the next guy you don't need to stay up late
to get ahead. It's still an option if your trying to become rich but there is
little value in doing that for someone else.

~~~
ojbyrne
I've observed that people who work minimum wage (or close to it) work a heck
of a lot harder than the rest of us.

~~~
ctingom
I've observed that people who have a stake in the profits (or close to it)
work a heck of a lot harder than the rest of us.

~~~
ojbyrne
Until they realize there are no profits. Then they don't work at all.
Especially if just as they're getting close to profits, a new "adult" CEO is
brought on board at 5x the salary that the people "close" to the profits were
being paid, and breaking even gets pushed 5 years (and 2 rounds of dilution)
into the future.

~~~
swdesignguy
Yeah, that would suck.

------
portfolioexec
I agree with this guy: I think you make your own luck.

If you take aggregate effort in a community and average it out, then there's
an equal probability of that special event happening to anyone. If however you
are that person who puts in the extra effort and brings up the average, you
are turning the odds in your favour and increasing the likelihood that the
special event actually happens to you.

Think of it as everyone buying one lottery ticket, but you buy more than
one... your odds of success are proportional to the effort you've put in.

Thoughts?

------
gwsaines
I agree with dazzawazza, the fear of being "that guy" that tries really hard
only to fail spectacularly is hard to avoid. Honestly, in my work I have found
that working hard and being diligent often produces "lucky" circumstances. I
hate that old saying about challenges being opportunities in disguise, but so
far it's proven true for me.

I read an article a while back on YC about the virtue of failing
spectacularly. I couldn't find it searchyc.com (maybe someone else can find
it?), but the gist was that it's far more noble to try your hardest and fail
in as grandiose way as possible. I like that idea because it seems more alive
and pure, but I certainly hope my startup doesn't end up like that. :)

------
lsc
effort is necessary but not sufficient. You need to put effort into areas
where you can improve. As a child I wasted years learning how to write by
hand. I still can not write legibly. Continuing down that path would be a
waste, even if the skill wasn't completely obsolete.

there are traps like this everywhere. You need to recognize areas where effort
isn't bringing you returns, and somehow reorganize your life so that you don't
have to do those things. find someone who isn't good at something you are good
at, and vis-a-vis and trade. (this becomes much easier once you can hire
people.)

------
zandorg
A good article. I wonder if inspiration counts as luck? His advice to read
non-fiction contributes to inspiration, however.

~~~
arockwell
You don't (usually) get inspired sitting on your ass doing nothing, so I
wouldn't count inspiration as luck.

------
jameson541
Hardwork is essential.If you studied the course perfectly and write the exam
then you will pass definately.If you doesn't write exam well,then the result
is fail,you must blame yourself for any result ie.. success or failure.so we
must not believe myth.
==============================================================

jameson

<http://www.crystalrecovery.com>

