

"Don't you dare waste your fucking time" - danielh
http://23moments.com/dont-you-dare-waste-your-fucking-time

======
F_J_H
Reminds me of "Instantes" by Jorge Luis Borges:

If I were able to live my life anew, In the next I would try to commit more
errors. I would not try to be so perfect, I would relax more. I would be more
foolish than I've been, In fact, I would take few things seriously. I would be
less hygienic. I would run more risks, take more vacations, contemplate more
sunsets, climb more mountains, swim more rivers. I would go to more places
where I've never been, I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans, I would
have more real problems and less imaginary ones. I was one of those people
that lived sensibly and prolifically each minute of his life; Of course I had
moments of happiness. If I could go back I would try to have only good
moments.

Because if you didn't know, of that is life made: only of moments; Don't lose
the now.

I was one of those that never went anywhere without a thermometer, a hot-water
bottle, an umbrella, and a parachute; If I could live again, I would travel
lighter. If I could live again, I would begin to walk barefoot from the
beginning of spring and I would continue barefoot until autumn ends. I would
take more cart rides, contemplate more dawns, and play with more children, If
I had another life ahead of me.

But already you see, I am 85, and I know that I am dying.

~~~
anatoly
Sorry to butt in all pedantic, but I was unable to confirm that Borges wrote
this poem (it's usually presented as a poem), and found a few online
conversations where it's claimed it has been attributed to several different
writers and is of uncertain authorship.

~~~
zackattack
For some reason this comment bothers me, mostly because it's something that
_I_ do. I will often interrupt a beautiful moment with some irrelevant fact or
correction. I notice that I always apologize for it, either politely like you
did, or just in my head. Man to man, let's be honest, is it worth it?

~~~
hernan7
I guess it depends how much of a Borges fan you are. For fans like myself,
seeing "Instantes" attributed to Borges is like seeing "Twilight" attributed
to Shakespeare.

Actually, "Instantes" started life as a Reader's Digest (prose) article in
1953. Over time, it was transcribed by several anonymous scribes, rendered in
free verse, and attributed to different authors. I remember seeing it
published in an Argentinian newspaper as a Borges poem (Clarin? if I remember
correctly) sometime in the '80s, shortly after Borges' death. I think that was
the first time it was attributed to Borges.

For more information:

<http://reelyredd.com/blog/2009/04/>

<http://www.borges.pitt.edu/bsol/iainst.php>

Last link is a hyper-pedantic article in Spanish by a Borges scholar, with
quote by Borges himself on the subject: "[If I was to live this life again] I
would do the same things. Because one is like one is, no?"

~~~
anatoly
Thanks, this clears things up considerably.

------
wallflower
A darker story: I was out of state, at a friend's house party, a few years ago
and the discussion got non-superficial late in the night, as it sometimes
does. His friends were talking about a friend who was not there.

Some time prior, this woman had an argument with her mother that escalated
into all-out shouting, petty criticisms, damning accusations, anger. The last
thing she yelled to her mother was "F __* y __!!"

The next morning her mother died suddenly. At the party, her friends were
discussing how she regrets to the utmost of her life - that unfortunate and
final send off. How she would give anything to undo what cannot be undone. How
hard it is for this woman to try to forgive herself (the most important person
of all to forgive).

I know it's a cliche but this is a true story. You may not see someone you
love again - so don't part in anger. Don't curse out your parents or your
significant other.

~~~
scotth
Or realize that these moments are just part of a relationship's ebb and flow.
To have someone die during the low point doesn't erase all the previous
positive experiences.

~~~
wallflower
I understand where you are coming from. But I think it is quite another thing
to actually experience.

~~~
jongraehl
I have a hard time believing that she won't get over it. But who knows, people
are crazy.

------
heed
I apologize if I come across as snarky, it is not my intent, but I don't like
being told what I should do. There's no 'right' way to go about using your
time, and wasting it is completely subjective. If I'm about to die and all I
want to do is watch TV, there's nothing wrong with that. I don't have to
provide value, I don't have to travel, I don't have to take risks, I don't
have to watch sunsets, I don't have to do anything, if I don't want to.

Her message is good, and I found it very moving like many of you, but I can't
agree that 'doing' something is always the best thing for everyone. Do what
you want, as long as you aren't hurting anyone else's ability to do what they
want.

~~~
sonofjanoh
You missed the message. That's the whole message, to do what YOU want and not
what someone else tells you or make you think you have to. Do more of what
gives you pleasure and fulfilment. Be it watching a sunset or chasing storms
or whatever unless pleasure is to hurt someone...

~~~
heed
The message I heard was 'get up and do something before it's too late,' so I
could have very well missed part of what was intended. All I'm saying, is
doing nothing is perfectly acceptable as well.

------
rmanocha
Reminds me of "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. That was one of the most
inspiring talks I've ever heard. Check it out if you haven't yet -
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo>

~~~
ashishbharthi
I got the exact same thought. I still remember seeing above YouTube link on
google homepage and clicked on it. I missed my dinner, my wife kept calling
me, but I just got sucked into Randy's talk. It definitely changed me and how
I look at my life. I think this is another powerful message. Thanks for
sharing this.

------
jacoblyles
This is not to be confused with "never work towards a long term goal" or
"never invest in the future", which is the primary criticism I have of the
"live for the day" moral.

It's rational to say "forget about 10 years from now" if you have two years to
live. It's not rational if you're expecting to live 50 or 60 more years, even
if there is some standard deviation to your expectation.

------
Tichy
The problem is, despite all good intentions (which famously pave the road to
hell), I am still not sure how to live a meaningful life. It is easy to make
decisions on the spot, but really hard to stick to something over the long
time. I don't have any working system for staying on track.

What do you use to manage your life? I have at times put down my goals on
paper, but those sheets of paper just got lost under the pile of other papers
(bills, other plans and what not). Maybe daily checks would be the thing -
just write a new plan every day, with adjustments from the daily experience?

~~~
megamark16
This might sound lame but for me it's Twitter. I'm back on Weight Watchers try
to drop the 20 pounds I put over the holidays and new year, so I'm tweeting my
weigh ins every Friday. I slipped up a little yesterday; everybody at work
brought in their superbowl leftovers. But you can bet that I'm back on today,
because I'd really like to have something positive to tweet about Friday, and
"the whole world" is watching :-)

I'm doing the same thing with one of my side projects (or trying to anyway).
I'm tweeting about little updates, every step closer to a closed beta, and I
plan on continuing to tweet about the ups and downs as they come. I have
enough followers who I greatly respect that I'd feel pretty silly if I didn't
follow through.

~~~
illumin8
If you really want to understand why it's difficult to lose weight, and "hack"
your body like you hack on computers, I highly recommend a book called
Ultrametabolism by Dr. Mark Hyman.

In the last 3 months I've lost 20 pounds, just by doing mainly these 3 things:

1\. Eat breakfast every day, and make sure it has protein. 2\. Eat only whole
grains and no refined flour, pasta, and avoid simple carbs. 3\. Eat plenty of
fats, including nuts, avocadoes, olive oil, and other healthy fats.

I've done all of this while eating filling breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along
with snacks in between meals and even dessert like chocolate brownies, dark
chocolate, etc.

Not only have I lost 20 pounds, I can eat this diet for the rest of my life
and be completely healthy. This is the diet that humans evolved on, whole
grains, fresh vegetables, fruits, and lean meats. The diet is very similar to
Mediterranean or Asian diets.

Some other benefits, since I switched to this diet, I have more energy, my
cholesterol is perfect, and my blood sugar levels don't spike.

The entire secret to this diet is that by eating whole grains and avoiding
simple carbs, you avoid foods that turn into sugar in the blood and cause your
blood sugar to spike. These foods like breads/pastas/etc give you quick
energy, but then cause a crash later, causing you to eat even more food. Also,
your body can't deal with that much sugar in the blood so it stores it as fat.
By eating whole grains, your body takes longer to digest them, releasing blood
sugar at a slow, even rate. Thus, you have energy all day and don't crash, or
get hungry between meals.

edit: I also want to point out that the author of the book has done
considerable scientific medical research, and his diet is based on empirical
research, not pseudo-science like many diets.

~~~
Evgeny
_This is the diet that humans evolved on, whole grains, fresh vegetables,
fruits, and lean meats._

I don't think that humans could evolve on whole grains because these only
became available with the invention of agriculture sometime between 10 and 20
K years ago.

Also, some studies link the spread of agriculture to the huge drop in human
health. That's why I personally removed all grains from my diet completely.

As for the rest of the post, I completely agree.

Edit: found a couple of links

[http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/03/paleopathology...](http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/03/paleopathology-
at-origins-of.html)
[http://www.environnement.ens.fr/perso/claessen/agriculture/m...](http://www.environnement.ens.fr/perso/claessen/agriculture/mistake_jared_diamond.pdf)

~~~
illumin8
Very good point, but a lot of the whole grains I eat are things like organic
lake wild rice, which is actually a wetlands grass plant that has probably
been eaten since before modern agriculture was invented. Do you do a
paleolithic diet? I heard about that, but to be honest, eating raw red meats
sounds pretty scary, unless you're going to be eating grass-fed animals that
are not grown in a "factory farm" like most meat is now.

edit: I read your links and found them very interesting. I think one of the
problems that agricultural societies in general have is that they started
milling their whole grains into flour. The articles mention tooth decay as a
problem of modern agricultural societies. Flour is a huge problem because it
is easily processed and turns into sugars quickly, growing bacteria that
causes tooth decay.

As long as you stick to whole grains, and not "crushed" or milled grains, you
should be ok. Brown rice instead of white rice, buckwheat, quinoa, wild rice,
amaranth, and a host of others. The important part is not to break or remove
the outer shell or husk of the grain. The husk has most of the vitamins and
fiber in it anyway.

~~~
Evgeny
Actually, the author of the blog I linked mentions a few times that all non-
industrial cultures were fermenting their grains before eating them, which is
supposed to get rid of antinutrients such as lectins or phytic acid. But I did
not go deep into the details of that.

And no, paleo does not mean eating raw red meet - cooked is fine according to
most sources I came across. Some indeed do eat raw, but I think it's the
'hardcore' minority.

------
keeptrying
People have pointed out in this discussion that its hard to actually live a
meaningful life. Especially in the US it can be hard to learn how to lead one.

I've been delving into Buddhism over the last 5 months because of a family
situation of mine that I have had to deal with and I think to be able to live
a meaningful life all you have to do is help someone else who: 1\. Really
needs your help. 2\. Can do nothing (by the nature of his/her predicament) for
you in return at this very moment. 3\. needs help on a continual basis. Ie, a
long term commitment which then implies that you going to work everyday is
helping someone else. That would be living a meaningful life.

I think thats why having kids is living a meaningful life.

My recommendation: Put an underprivileged kid in India through college who
wouldn't otherwise be able to afford it. <http://www.ffe.org> (100% of your
money is given to the children as the administration fees are paid for by a
separate fund).

It takes a long time to get to this thinking though. I mean think about it: If
you had only $2000 in your bank, the only way you could give $2000 to charity
is to be able to either give up all your dreams/aspirations or at least put
them on hold. That is very hard to do ...

~~~
koningrobot
To have a kid is to _create_ such a person who really needs your help, can do
nothing in return, and needs help on a continual basis. This is a horrible
thing to do! Not to mention that those created will most likely do the same
thing in turn, reinforcing the vicious cycle.

You don't quite seem to be _advising_ people to lead a meaningful life by
having kids, but it's close. Your recommendation to help people in need who
are already born, though, is sound.

------
ScottWhigham
Wow that made me cry like a baby. That was intensely powerful on many levels.
Thanks for sharing.

------
tpyo
But... but.. I have to go to school! And write essays no one will ever want to
read, essays that don't even aspire to be something interesting!

~~~
mildweed
Then write essays that matter. Every assignment is an opportunity for
greatness. The same is true after school too; every project is an opportunity
for greatness.

~~~
tpyo
That's what I usually try to do. It's the ones on literature that get me.
There's not much to be said about a play by Shakespeare.

~~~
KC8ZKF
<http://www.orwell.ru/library/reviews/tolstoy/english/e_tas>

~~~
tpyo
(Briefly, it's an essay on someone who disparaged Shakespeare, but was ignored
and forgotten.)

Why did you link this?

------
mortenjorck
I'm incredibly, ecstatically glad my only wake-up call has been a general
"hey, do you realize you're going to get old?" rather than something life-
threatening. But it has caused me to make this resolution:

Never pass the time.

If you want to waste some time, make the conscious decision to. Enjoy the
restfulness of doing nothing for awhile. But never be _bored._ There is
_always_ something worth doing, even if it's just driving to the library and
checking out a book. There's so very much in this world to learn, to
experience, to explore, and whether you're hopping on a jet to go find it
yourself or just basking in the richly-woven words of a great book about it,
you owe it to yourself to at least give it a look. The world is too
interesting, the universe is too interesting, humans are too interesting to
waste your time with throwaway things. I can't tell you what those throwaway
things are for you, but you know them. They're not important. Use your time
for the things that are.

------
blackswan
Have less; do more.

------
swombat
What would you do if you found out, right now, that you have exactly 2 years
left to live? Nothing more, nothing less. Exactly two years, and then you'll
die in your sleep.

What would you do with those 2 years?

PS: "I'll train myself not to sleep" is not a good answer.

~~~
axod
FWIW, I don't think I'd do much different than I currently do (Which I think
is a reasonably good sign). Would you?

~~~
Psyonic
Not necessarily. As I commented elsewhere, I doubt any medical students would
stay in school for the entirety of those 2 years, if they weren't going to be
able to use that knowledge anyway.

------
hopeless
As one of those that has lived (through a car accident) this resonates so
strongly. There are elements of my life that I'm deeply unhappy about but I'm
working on changing them.

These changes won't overnight but what scares me more than anything is that it
won't happen quick enough. I've seen the end game and it isn't scheduled
months in advance or decades away in our future...

...it might be that you kiss your pregnant wife goodbye in the morning and
simply disappear.

~~~
keeptrying
Help someone out on a constant basis and then whatever your doing is
meaningful ... www.ffe.org

------
sidsavara
Surprised that HN likes this. I wrote a post on this topic too:

[http://sidsavara.com/personal-development/today-is-your-
gold...](http://sidsavara.com/personal-development/today-is-your-golden-
ticket)

Since people enjoyed this video, here's the HN link -
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1112797>

------
Mz
I didn't really learn to live until I spent a year at death's door. Since
there is no cure for my disorder, even getting well doesn't remove the "death
sentence" I am living under. I find it is a gift and very freeing.

------
jff
I wish I hadn't wasted my time clicking on that.

~~~
philk
And yet you were perfectly willing to waste your time on a snarky reply.

