
You Don’t Have “Plenty of Time” - deegles
http://startingstrength.com/training/you-dont-have-plenty-of-time
======
nostromo
You know, once in a while, you should take a break from objectives and just
enjoy life.

> But days gone by are days gone by. What can you do from here – from today –
> to commit fewer errors? Because the truth is you don’t have plenty of time.

These motivational posts tend to sound kind of sad and hollow to me. I love to
lift weights myself, but if someone told me that a day spent with friends or
family and not in the gym was an error -- I'd laugh.

Does anyone really think that when they're an old man looking back, they're
going to wish they had spent more time in the gym to deadlift 800 instead of
"just" 700? Or will they wish they had spent more time enjoying life and
taking it a bit easier?

~~~
csallen
What's the point in spending your entire life just so you can look back in
your final months and be pleased? I can't think of a reason why your happiness
at the end of your life is any more important than your happiness in the
middle of your life. Rather, a life well-spent is one in which the sum total
of your happiness over time was at a max. That means factoring in what's
important to you _now_ , even if it won't matter to you later on.

~~~
Retra
> Rather, a life well-spent is one in which the sum total of your happiness
> over time was at a max.

That's a bit too selfish for me. I'd rather spend my life making more than one
person happy.

~~~
mden
If that's what makes you happy ;)

------
Fordrus
It's all quite true. It's also, at times, a grindingly soul-crushing attitude
that'll suck the joy out of your life and the excitement out of your soul.
Every training cycle, every sleep/wake learning cycle, every moment where you
could be amassing power for future endeavors, they are all viciously, cruelly,
incessantly marching on, demanding you take advantage of them or suffer the
consequences of weakness: not getting the promotion, being the one who is laid
off, not landing the deal- it's all encapsulated in this attitude.

And it is _awful_.

But I don't believe it _has to be_.

You can _balance_ your life around gaining whatever kinds of strength you
need, while also accepting the need not only for the rest and recovery
required to cement your gains of physical strength or mental skill, but
because you need to replenish your - well, whatever it is that makes you
decide that staying alive is worth the trouble. And if there's only fear of
lost achievement there, well, I feel like I've experienced that for part of my
life, and it's fairly miserable and relatively ineffective at causing a person
to, as the author admonishes, _actually put things into effect_.

I'm going to go get some balance right now, I've been itching to play
Overwatch all week, I am going to go and do it! :D

------
wrong_variable
When it comes to sticking to gym I really like Terry Crew's advice.

If in your head you try to think of the "120Kg" deadlift you need to do, it
might be hard to motivate yourself given that it might remind you of the pain
involved.

A easier technique is to think "I am going to go to gym and browse HN on the
sofa", 50% of the battle is to get yourself to the gym and once you are there
its much easier to do the 120Kg deadlift.

After thinking about why I constantly fail to make going to the gym a routine
- a big part of the problem is physiological.

~~~
trentmb
I got a pull up bar and some gymnast rings.

It's amazing how much of a mental hurdle _going_ to the gym was.

Now, I literally walk in my door, tear off my shirt, drop trow and get to
work.

~~~
sseagull
100% agreement here.

I'm actually in the process of "discovering" bodyweight exercising, and am
pretty excited to try it (waiting for a minor muscle strain to heal first. It
should be good in a few days)

I always got bored with weights and hated going to the gym. Just too big of an
activation barrier and it always felt a bit too competitive, especially when
first starting.

~~~
davidivadavid
In case you haven't come across it yet, I recommend checking out the Reddit
Recommended Routine from /r/bodyweightfitness:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommend...](https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine)

------
firasd
_“lots of the traps within ‘Plenty of Time’ are not due to us choosing other
priorities. The traps are choosing comfort.”_

I think this hits the nail on the head. It's a mistake to think it's too late
and what remains of life is going to rush you by, and it's also a mistake to
think that time is unlimited. The way I resolve these two contrary directions
is to figure out: when you're in the moment, what do you want to spend your
life doing?

~~~
falcolas
> what do you want to spend your life doing?

Enjoying the life I have built for myself. After all, there's not really
"Plenty of Time" left...

------
deegles
Applies to many things besides strength training...

------
austinjp
You may care to read this:

[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-
fiv...](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-
of-the-dying)

It seems likely our attitudes change as we age. Perhaps not, perhaps the
imminence of death warps perspective. However, dying with minimal regrets is
surely something to cherish.

Anyway, whatever works for you.

------
athenot
These little delays or justifications to give in to comfort are actions that
amount to a high opportunity cost. And I find that I am generally pretty bad
at estimating opportunity costs at the moment where I have the choice to make
the highest impact on them.

------
forgotpwtomain
This rings very true. It's very easy to do workaholic coding and neglect
everything else and the trouble is that in the process of neglecting things
long enough, you forget how valuable they were.

~~~
rrecuero
Well said. In the end the only thing that matters are human connections.
Achievement is a distant second

~~~
dpark
I wonder how people with monumental achievements feel about that. Did Einstein
feel that his life would have been better if he'd accomplished less but spent
more time with family and friends? How about Erdos? Jobs? Gates (does he feel
that way now)?

I suspect that people with truly significant achievements probably
didn't/don't regret how they spent their time. People whose achievements
mostly involve climbing the corporate ladder instead of seeing their kids'
soccer games? Yeah, I bet a lot of them regret it.

~~~
rrecuero
Well said. I guess I could rephrase it as helping people. The great
influencers you mentioned all managed to helped a lot of people through their
achievements. For most of us, it is easier to help directly through human
connection.

------
cyanbane
I understand the mentality and applaud it. That being said, you have got to
have balance between drive of craft and living life. Great read though for
sure.

------
pyed
Trust me, I do.

------
epimetheus
This guy has good points, but he thinks 2007 was "way before facebook?" I
thought I was a late joiner at late 2005 / early 2006, and I was 28 at the
time; it seems pretty clueless to think 2007 was anything like 'before'
facebook, let alone 'way before' Facebook.

