> When someone emails or calls to say, “Let’s meet on Tuesday at 3”, the appropriate response is: “I’m not keeping a schedule for 2007, so I can’t commit to that, but give me a call on Tuesday at 2:45 and if I’m available, I’ll meet with you.”
> Or, if it’s important, say, “You know what, let’s meet right now.”
"Strategic Incompetence — The best way to to make sure that you are never asked to do something again is to royally screw it up the first time you are asked to do it."
I haven't read the full article thoroughly, but this is a good "life hack" thing to keep in your back pocket. Use with care.
A flip side to it: if you want to get someone else to do things for you, tell them they're really good at it, even if they're not especially (only works with certain personalities :)
I feel like at some point you need to come clean about these things, though. Otherwise, you start stringing yourself up with a web of lies.
Lots of people have strong opinions on Marc Andreessen going every direction, so it’s best to probably try and determine that for yourself and you can start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Andreessen
I just find it amusing that you can hold forth on lifehacker stuff and people will take you seriously. If the article was "Pmarca guide to rebuilding the small-block Chevy 350" or "Pmarca guide to Indonesian literature" then that would raise judicable questions of authority.
The world is always filled with people trying to learn how to impose some amount of order upon their disorderly lives. People look up to him, or discovered him through his blog when he was actively writing it (including yours truly) and either learned something from it or didn’t. At the very least, Marc Andreeson wasn’t just some random dude in 2007 that made a habit of posting Lifehacker-esque blog entries and if he had posted a guide to rebuilding a small-block Chevy 350 I would have skipped over it that day in NetNewsWire.
Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity (2007) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24586831 - Sept 2020 (9 comments)
Marc Andreessen on productivity, scheduling, reading habits, work - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24534674 - Sept 2020 (99 comments)
Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity (2007) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19357028 - March 2019 (68 comments)
Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity (2007) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6974035 - Dec 2013 (1 comment)
The Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity (2009) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5098744 - Jan 2013 (1 comment)
Marc Andreessen’s Productivity Trick to Feeling Marvelously Efficient - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4690262 - Oct 2012 (42 comments)
Marc Andreessen - Guide to personal productivity - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=886015 - Oct 2009 (27 comments)
The Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26385 - June 2007 (2 comments)