

Ask HN: how to get tough - rugoso

Do you have any good ideas about how to consciously get tougher (without necessarily working on a successful startup).<p>In pg's latest essay, he mentions toughness as "a quality you need to win". He also has mention how many of the founders have got a lot tougher since they began to work in their start up. So I'm guessing there is something you can do consciously to get tougher.
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tstegart
Do something really hard that takes you past your limits. It doesn't have to
be a start-up, it could be anything (like running a marathon).

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comatose_kid
Lie under a coconut tree, and have a friend climb up the tree and drop
coconuts on your abdomen [1].

References [1] - <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZxGYtOXUP4>

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gaius
Regularly place yourself in situations where failure is a distinct
possibility.

Start to observe that failure is actually less likely than you thought it was.

Repeat until desired level of toughness is acquired.

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gaius
Here's an example which I didn't have time to post earlier. My main sport is
offshore/ocean racing. A race typically lasts several days and covers a few
hundred miles. The weather has to be _pretty bad_ before a race gets called
off. Check out news from last year's Fastnet - of 300 boats that entered, we (
_Nisida_ ) were among the 50 or so that actually finished the course. No-one
died that time, but people do die on the Fastnet.

When you're out there, you're getting flung around, it's cold, it's wet,
watches are 3 hours on 3 hours off unless there's work that needs to be done,
in which case you just have to get on with it. The needs of the boat come
first and the skipper's word is law. Heading upwind to counterbalance the
sail, the crew sits out on the rail - when I say 3 hours off that can mean,
clip yourself on and sit out on deck in the rain and the wind and the waves
breaking over the deck and pull your hood down and try to snooze. If not you
can go below but if it's rough you probably won't get much rest - I've had
friends break arms, collarbones below decks. It's a brutal sport, physically
and mentally.

But there isn't the option to say, stop the boat, I want to get off. You're
out in the middle of the ocean, just you, the crew and the boat. You're on
your own. And unless everyone has their shit together, everyone is in danger.
Your friends are in danger. You have no choice in the matter, yet you chose to
be there, of your own free will. Yeah, the first time out will show you who
you are, and if you need to change and you _can_ change, it'll happen there
too.

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DanielBMarkham
Sports where you have to have your shit together beat the heck out of sports
where it doesn't matter.

Something invigorating about the whole process -- makes you feel alive.

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gaius
Scuba diving, mountaineering, you can always tell who gets it. Take
responsibility for your own life and your friends lives in the most direct way
possible, and make friends that you trust completely with your own.

I got no respect for tourists who go bungee jumping and think they're
"extreme" when someone else has made sure they're actually perfectly safe.

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DanielBMarkham
I'm not into hard physical sports -- love to get back to them, but lately I've
been extremely out of shape.

My thing is flying. As an instrument pilot, it's all in my head. You go up in
a dark, rainy night and it's just you and the airplane. There are no "easy"
buttons. You're managing dozens of variables real-time all the while keeping
the plane level. In hard IMC on a low approach, there's no goofing off -- even
for a couple of seconds. You get those "what the heck am I doing here"
moments, but then again, there are experiences that I've had that you could
never reproduce. Either your shit is together or -- you're dead. It's a mind
game where the stakes are your life.

Good stuff.

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alaskamiller
Start a fight club but don't talk about it

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browndog
Make a list of things you have a mental block against. Then make opportunities
to do them. Every failure that you learn and recover from makes you stronger.
Practice your decision-making skills. Act on your decisions. And communicate
decisively. Good luck!

