It seems like the purpose of this book significantly overlaps with Cal Newport's _So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love_ [1]. Newport gave corresponding talks on this topic at Google [2] and elsewhere [3], and they cover his book's main ideas.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You/dp/14555091... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwOdU02SE0w [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIMu1PGbG-0

Similar situation, I found working remotely and remaining stationary make me lead a happier life. Every time I find myself around others I tend to start losing myself and it takes weeks to 'realign'.

Working towards building a remote studio and resigning myself to music for the rest of my life.

Maybe you aren't good at setting boundaries, so people end up taking away your sense of self. I think it's something you could learn, are you sure running away is the best plan?

I don't see it as running away. I just don't find meaningful connection in casual hangouts. I've been there, it was fun for awhile. Drinking, night life, etc. I prefer to work on projects with friends because those things take time and are a lot more fulfilling and 'inclusive'. I've learned a lot more and grown a lot closer to people by working on things together.

You grow to respect one another more over time when you share a foundation in things you are both equally passionate about. The amount I've learned from friends and also taught has made for very fulfilling life-long friendships.

The longer I've worked on things and gotten more into niche subjects the more difficult it is to casually relate to people, I've found that a lot of my 'friends' were just acquaintances. Knew them for years, but they didn't really know me and I didn't really know them.

If I do feel a need to unwind and casually hangout I prefer doing things like skiing, rock climbing, hiking, etc and keeping acquaintances in those circles. The reality is that if there's no shared foundation words become weightless.

Aha okay I didn't get a good understanding from your initial comment.

That really resonates with me actually, when I hang out with old friends who don't share my work and the information I'm consuming. I feel they inhibit those parts of me, because my mind is trying to reconnect with whatever we have in common, which is by now a small and redundant part of my self.

Aligning your work and interests with your friends seems to be a powerful way to more happiness. It increases the amount of empathy you can have with each other, which is the fundamental way we connect.

> If you don’t know what your passion is, that’s great news. Because you don’t have to know “what to do with your life”—you only have to do what’s next.

I'd argue that you'd have to know 'what to do with your life', this the basic problem of fulfillment. Man cannot escape fulfillment, our most basic instinct to feel fulfilled. You are not a mindless automaton following a todo list of tasks all day. Kids used to be default answer for the 'fulfillment problem' but people have started demanding more and more fulfillment from all aspects of life.

Related book to be published soon:

https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Your-Life-Well-Lived-Joyful...

Kindle price: $14.99 Hardcover: $14.87

it's the same book as in the article.

I wish to read that, but unfortunately WSJ don't accept international Subscribers.

The |web| link was added to Hacker News to address the situation. It links to a Google search and many popular paywalled sites display articles when the incoming link is a Google search...including WSJ.

Some will block the Google link when the page has already been hit directly and popped up a paywall. Most sites have a policy of providing the material on the condition of resetting one's cookies and opening the |web| link in a 'private' browser, a different browser, or after clearing cookies comply with the site's policy.

80,000 hours is probably the best and most reliable source for this type of conversation.

The article won't load,even after clicking the web link under the HN heading. Any ideas?

WSJ uses a dismissable ad overlay that looks like a paywall, even when linked from Google. Just click the x to remove it.

Try the web link in an incognito window?

Or, pursue what fascinates you? Does there need to be a book on this?

Why do these wsj articles always have a paywall when linked from HN?

When I follow the link from google search results there's no paywall...

https://www.google.com/search?q=design+your+way+to+a+happier...

Google requires the full content it indexes to be available to people following links from Google as well, so publishers make an exception to the paywall so they still get listed on Google.

EDIT: am I wrong?

Ok, so in the future should we post the Google link instead? If you found the article through Google, then I think this is fair. However, I don't know how long a Google link remains valid.

Nope - post the real link, and then there's the "Web" link under the title which will take you to Google, and can be clicked onto from there.

Unfortunately even that, with no prior visit to the site, did not work on FF for Android (maybe due to the age of the article?).

Or you could use something like "Wait, Google Sent Me" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9531941

That post's link is borken.

I vote links to wsj be automatically rejected during submission.

Ok, I guess not. A hint that users will likely not be able to view it without going against the content owners wishes?

> Why do these wsj articles always have a paywall when linked from HN?

It wouldn't be a stretch for someone from YC to at least contact the WSJ and see if they can get a whole through the paywall.