
The days are long but the decades are short (2015) - hvo
https://blog.samaltman.com/the-days-are-long-but-the-decades-are-short
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m463
_" Every man has two lives... the second one starts when he realizes he only
has one."_ \- Confuscious

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yig
This strikes me as a misattributed quote. Source?

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sieabahlpark
Wouldn't that be your job? He gave what he thought the source was.

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tasogare
No, he didn’t give the source. Confucius have books attributed to him, a
source would include the book and a precise location. It’s seems indeed
misattributed.

For example: « The people may be made to follow a path of action, but they may
not be made to understand it. » Analects, VIII, 9. [1]

Also Confucius didn’t speak nor write English, which didn’t exist at the the
time, so it’s better to give the translator name when there is various
interpretations. (James Legge in this case).

[1]
[https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=1297](https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=1297)

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avindroth
Yeah, this is true. Without this kind of attribution, you can make up
anything.

“Frogs are made of soup juice.” -Confucius

...doesn’t count.

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elevenbits
This is better than most of these "tips for a good life" lists, but I feel
like it too misses a certain level of overarching consistency. Almost every
item has a situation in which the "correct" thing to do is exactly the
opposite of what is recommended. How do you make that decision?

As with all of these lists, I always wonder whether this is what the author
thinks now, _after attaining success_ , or if these principles are what they
relied on _during the process_? Or perhaps even _what they wish they did_ now
that they have more time to think about it?

A commenter below mentions "life is not an optimization problem" \-- but isn't
it? You're fundamentally making decisions every day that balance your
constraints against your goals, interests, and passions. If you just let your
life go by without making some real decisions, won't you just regret what you
didn't do later?

The reason you have to optimize like this is because a lot of these
principles, should you attempt to leverage them to make a decision, provide
contradictory advice. Part of this is due to the subjective terms (ie,
definitions of extreme vary), but if you're going to use this list as a
template or an inspiration, eventually you have to resolve what these things
mean to you. I certainly haven't figured that all out and don't expect I ever
will; I don't see how anyone could without having experienced all possible
things.

All that being said, there are definitely some items that are clearly
beneficial and don't put you in decision making paralysis, such as 18 or 24.
But there are others that leave me more confused, such as "Don't waste time"
or "Don't worry so much". How am I to know if an activity is time wasted until
after I do it or if worrying is excessive or warning me about a real issue?

Finally, if you don't identify as neurotypical, what items apply, don't apply,
or apply differently? How do you live your life if what everyone else says to
do doesn't (seem to) work for you?

Not trashing Sam's thoughts here for sure, but I've read dozens of these
things and never came away without having more questions then when I started.

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hkmurakami
Protect your basic security. But if you have basic security (this depends on
your stated in life), follow your heart.

(Follow your heart =follow your intuition = your intuition is your mind
drawing from all your knowledge and experience to guide you)

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rokhayakebe
The day is slow, Friend, but the Decade will be fast

Spend less time adrift

Be kind when it matters

Be kinder when it does not matter

Time > Money, Spend it well

Everything will pass, just stay your course

Always Do or Learn new things

Forgive, Forget, or at least Let Go

Say "Thank You" thrice

The day is slow, Friend, but the decade will be fast

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rzzzt
"Life is short. And life is long. But not in that order":
[https://youtu.be/SNgyEmYyQF4](https://youtu.be/SNgyEmYyQF4)

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diego
"how to succeed: pick the right thing to do." How do you know it was the right
thing? Because you succeeded.

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xmprt
The criteria for me is if I regretted doing it. Which usually isn't often.

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mirimir
OK, gotta quote a band whose name isn't mentionable in polite company.
(Actually, a name that couldn't be said on the radio, but whatever.)

> It's better to regret what you have done, than what you haven't done.

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dang
Discussed at the time:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9454440](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9454440)

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jdance
There is something about these lists that just doesnt work. They absolutely
dont help for me. I have thought they do at many times in my life but reading
one again I’m like, ”what?”. This isnt even remotely actionable for me, its
just some mad random philosophical collection. It LOOKS good but it lacks
something very fundamental. I wish I could see exactly what it is thats
missing. I have kind of found what that is now in my own life, if just barely,
but I’m not clear enough about it to verbalise it even for myself. Maybe when
I can completely see it I can write a blog post of my own :)

I would say this list would not have helped the author at all in accomplishing
whatever it is that he has. I may be wrong but I have really tried to believe
it :)

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vecplane
32) Be a doer, not a talker.

I try to be a doer, and I'm often frustrated at work by talkers, but the
feeling is tempered by this:

26) Don’t screw people and don’t burn bridges. Pick your battles carefully.

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closeparen
Articles like this seem almost calculated to be maximally devastating to
lonely people.

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mikelyons
The reticular activation system in your brain hones in on what you're focusing
on in your life, this is how the law of attraction works.

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closeparen
I tend to think the brain hones in on item #1 of a list.

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mikelyons
yeah but you know when you want to buy a car and you start seeing them
everywhere? it's probably not #1 but your reticular activation system is honed
for it by your desire for the car.

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k__
And another person younger and more successful than me.

But well, the article is from 2015, so maybe I got a few months to make it big
:D

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echelon
Most founders skew older. You've got time. Find the right problem and don't
compare yourself.

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k__
I know but it's hard.

The older you get, the wiser you are, but also the more people younger than
you start becoming succesful

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ju-st
> Making money is often more fun than spending it

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taneq
Making money often involves doing something useful. Being useful is fun.

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scotty79
One of my teachers in college said: "life is not an optimisation problem"

Just live it. Doesn't stress if it's optimal.

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seieste
That's something you hear from people who have already achieved some success.
But when you're trying to make enough money to live comfortable and also want
to have a social life, it IS an optimization problem.

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inimino
It's a satisficing problem to make enough money to support your life. But that
problem itself is just one part of life, and life is life, not an optimization
problem, or indeed any kind of problem to be solved.

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snowmaker
This is still one of my favorite pieces of writing. I try to re-read it at
least once a year.

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sangd
I think you should categorize them into: 1\. Most important 2\. Important 3\.
Not important It's a long list, they're mostly meaningful. I feel some are
subjective to personal opinions.

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mhb
Maybe, if it took more than a couple of minutes to read the whole thing.

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Cactus2018
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_flies_like_an_arrow;_frui...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_flies_like_an_arrow;_fruit_flies_like_a_banana)

