
Three Types of Passion - danspodcast
http://blog.figuringshitout.com/nov-5th-day-23-three-types-of-passion/
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synnik
"People with a passion with nothing are the ones who are content to lead an
ordinary life. They are the ones who can grow up, go to school, get married,
get a good job, buy a house in the suburbs, raise children and grandchildren
and die utterly content with their lives."

This isn't quite fair. This describes people who are passionate about their
family, their wives, their children. Maybe passionate about home repair. Maybe
about their local community. Or even spots. And that doesn't even cover the
fact that most ordinary suburban folk have hobbies about which they are
passionate.

The article overall just seems to be placing labels on people, but leaving me
with a question to the author of, "So What?"

~~~
sumeeta
Right, and labeling them is not much different from calling them dumb.

I think something's wrong with us "passionates." Why aren't we seeing any
value in these everyday "content" people?

~~~
synnik
I am one of those everyday "content" people. I used to be "passionate"...
doing startup work, personal projects, climbing mountains (literally), etc.

You know what? I'm happier now. I have more burdens, I'm in worse health, I
have little personal time.

Yet somehow... still happier. Go figure.

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yosho
like most things in life that we try to place into distinct and separate
categories... it really can't be broken down that easily, I believe it's more
of a spectrum of passion types where someone can fall anywhere from 0 passion
to infinite passion.

And if you think about it that way, isn't that basically the same thing as
saying we're all a little bit different in personality? Replace passion with
commitment, honesty, intelligence, curiosity and you could make the same
argument for each.

~~~
shalmanese
My point in this piece was that it's a mistake to think if this as a continuum
and that these are actually 3 discrete classes. Misunderstanding arises for
not appreciating this.

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Mrcooner2000
Dilemma: 1) The people who have "passion for everything" do not know about
this trait of theirs. 2) The people who have "passion for nothing" do not
agree to it. 3) The people who have "passion for one thing" have fear of going
berserk.

Those who understand all these points are the fourth category people.

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evanjacobs
It's also worth noting that people can move between 0, 1 and N passionate
things during their lifetimes.

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mjw
Interesting rhetorical device, but I think a lot of people would have a hard
time fitting themselves tidily into one of those categories. I'm probably more
of a 3, although it can vary depending on what state of mind I'm in!

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raintrees
I would rate myself as a 3, and one way I can tell is that I click on too many
of the links at HN each day. Much time spent, not a lot done, other than...
learning!

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steveklabnik
"There are only three numbers in Computer Science. Zero, One and N."

Anyone know who said this? Google only gives a few results... that's what his
thesis reminds me of.

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lionhearted
Starts slow, gets more interesting in the middle. The "people passionate about
one thing", "people passionate about many things" is a bit cumbersome - I was
mentally filling in "specialist" and "generalist" and "neither" for his
points, which isn't quite precise but close enough. Still, interesting enough
and short read, I'd recommend it's worth the read. Beginning is underwhelming,
but some interesting observations in the middle.

