HACKER Q&A
📣 hnthrowaway0315

How to stop chasing difficult goals?


Throughout my life of 40+ years I have been chasing difficult goals, some are technical (like reading and implementing a PoC|GTFC paper), some are not (literally stuck to a sales person position for 3 years, thinking that I could get better at soft skills when throwing myself into a corner I hated, which of course made me hate people more).

None of them works. I dropped most of them. I don't really have the characteristics to grit through the difficulties. Even for the few that I achieved I didn't bother to continue so everything was lost. Well maybe not everything, because every time I failed, the frustration added up and stayed.

How can I be content that I am an average person, or worse than one? How can I be a sofa potato and be content with tittytainment after work and do nothing to improve myself? Every time I tried I got bored in under 7 days and started to snoop around again.

  👤 paulcole Accepted Answer ✓
You’re pretty derisive about the idea of watching TV or settling for not doing hard things and sound like you’re fishing for compliments like, “Oh you must be better/smarter/whatever than an average person.”

I’m reminded of The Breakfast Club line, “So you’re a genius because you can’t make a lamp?”

So, what would actually make you happy and satisfied?

👤 blueridge
This short post has always resonated with me:

https://medium.com/signal-v-noise/ive-never-had-a-goal-c8921...

👤 PaulHoule
Try playing Disgaea, you can grind on that forever and not hurt yourself.
👤 qntty
Why do you assume your only options are pursing goals that burn you out or doing nothing? It sounds like you need better goals but more importantly you need to get better as giving up on goals that aren’t worthwhile.
👤 strikelaserclaw
Ask yourself why you chase difficult goals, since you are asking this question i'm going to assume you chase difficult goals for some external achievement, the hard facts about external achievement is that not many people have the talent, grit and luck to achieve them, even those we think as superstars have a great deal of luck to be born at a time where their unique blend of personality, talent and skill make them succesful. Image if Newton was born during the warring states period of chinese history, he probably would have been unheard of. All this is to say, do things in your life because you want to, success and reward are just bonuses to being able to live according to how you want to.
👤 turtleyacht
Whatever you get frustrated with, write, record, or otherwise set down why. Maybe you'll pick it back up again.

What message will you leave to yourself in the next decade?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=xPfAF-VTI0w