
Ask PG: Do you ever get overwhelmed? - clicks
I just saw the story "Y Combinator-Backed Zenefits Gives Small Businesses A One-Stop Shop For Finding And Managing Employee Benefits" on Techcrunch, and was quickly reminded how difficult I found my short stint in that line of work to be (office side of managing employee benefits). YC is investing in such an incredibly large variety of startups, and getting into many different big industries. I can barely imagine the kind of work it must be to research everything so you can make good decisions<p>Between maintaining HN, being a VC who many founders look up to for advice, etc., doesn't it ever get a little too much? If yes, what do you do to keep your composure?
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pg
There are around 20 people working full or part time for YC now, including 5
of us doing what I used to do alone in the old days. There are 47 startups in
the current batch, which works out to less than 10 apiece. So things are
actually pretty easy right now.

Last night's server troubles took more out of me than anything I've had to
deal with in YC proper.

~~~
benhamner
A different way to frame the question: "what keeps you up at night?" (beyond
the very uncommon event of HN being down)

Massive quantity of emails? YC startups that aren't the rare runaway success?
YC startups that are the rare runaway success? Meta issues around YC?
Something unrelated to YC? Pressure to live up to the pg legend irl? Not being
disciplined about avoiding overworking? Something in your private life that's
not appropriate to share? Anything?

~~~
someperson
After Elon Musk mentioned his sleeping patterns on a couple of recent
interviews (answer: 6 hours a night), I've been curious to learn about the
sleeping patterns, diets and work habits of exceptionally productive people.

I wish biographies on the world's most influential people discussed this (or
at least I would like to read scientific studies on this)... Warren Buffet and
Bill Gates are famously fond of burgers so I'd expect unfortunately diet
habits have more to do with where you live than what you accomplish :(

~~~
idiopathic
When I was at college I read that Margaret Thatcher slept just 4 hours per
night, and I was so envious, wishing I had that extra time every day. Three
years ago my wife and I had twin girls and that meant very little sleep at
night for me (night shifts were my responsibility as my wife still kept her
paid job). In the last year the kids sleep fine, which means I get to sleep
better, but strangely I still wake up after four hours without any need to. A
few months ago I learned that Thatcher had twins as well :-)

~~~
ses
The cynic might say having only four hours of sleep didn't do her any favors,
based on some the decisions she made in her time as PM.

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mehulkar
I watched an interview with the Reddit founders and at a couple points they
were close to tears overwhelmed with the kind of community they had helped
enable. When I first saw this Ask PG, I thought that's the kind of "overwhelm"
the OP was asking about. This forum alone and the number of people it touches
would be enough to overwhelm me from time to time.

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DigitalSea
PG isn't alone. YC do have staff, so it's not a one-man operation. If PG were
running everything by himself then yes, he probably would be overwhelmed but
there are a lot of people PG can call upon to help him out.

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dschiptsov
btw, there is a mood, like so-called flow, when you just do it, just as best
as you can, without even worrying of anything. It is like surfing - you just
keeping your balance and going with a wave.

Being overwhelmed is a side-effect of fears, doubts and ignorance - what they
call insecurity. As long as one tames them, uninterfered awareness is what
remains.

It is like a performance of professional musician or painter - you just do it
out of habit.

Just doing with relaxed mind is also called Zen.)

~~~
ma2rten
That is not Zen. Zen is a state of meditative absorption, that is incomparable
to any wordily happiness.

see <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhy%C4%81na_in_Buddhism>

~~~
danieldk
Equanimity is one of the effects of Zen practice and also has an effect on
daily life.

Wordily life - mental life is a false dichotomy: both are impermanent and
inseparable. Is pain in a finger something of matter or something of mind?

~~~
ma2rten
What is actually wanted to say is this: Zen is a blissful state that can be
reached during meditation, which is said to feel like a 30 minute orgasm. Thus
it is not the same as flow.

I just wanted to point that out, because people seem to be using the word Zen
quite liberally for everything that is related to being in the present moment.
This might lead to misconceptions.

~~~
locopati
"a blissful state that can be reached during meditation, which is said to feel
like a 30 minute orgasm. Thus it is not the same as flow."

Nor is that the same as Zen

