The mind is a muscle and while it can be strengthened, like any muscle it has limits. As one grows more experienced and gets a better understanding of their mental faculties, they come to realize — subconsciously or not — that they are only good for so much thinking in a day. Thus extreme measures like the Steve Jobs-ian "uniform" and chugging soylent instead of wasting five precious minutes every day pondering what to have for lunch.
I've been immersed in "startup culture" for just over a decade now, and if I have one acute observation, it's the shift from "never not working" as an ethos to obsessing over not burning out. There is an entire genre of people thinking very hard about mind-hacks to avoid it (yes, irony alert). Looking forward to when this dude slams into the wall.
(I'm guilty of the "uniform" strategy, incidentally, went to H&M and bought 20 identical black t-shirts and 10 white button-up dress shirts, best decision ever)
((second best decision was scheduling all meetings for the second half of the afternoon))
Marshall McKusick took over Joy's role when he left to found Sun. McKusick said he thought he was capable of any programming feat Joy could do, the difference between them is that what took McKusick a month, Joy could do in four days.
I hope this blog stays up for 10 years so the author can look at it then in retrospect with years of accumulated knowledge.
> The fact is that when one truly wants something and wants it more than everything else competing for the time in their day, one will absolutely make the time for that thing. Time does not come out of thin air. It comes from the other things we occupy ourselves doing.
It just so happens that “make sure my 3.5 year old and 1 year old are safe, healthy, more or less nice to each-other, doing interesting things with their time, making steady progress learning new skills, etc.” comes before “devote my full attention to my current programming problem 24/7”.
Making that out to be a lie or personal failure just strikes me as someone who lacks life experience.
My bet is that the author sets/follows a 21st century trend that delays clicking on the family.exe or ransomware.exe email attachment :).
Knowledge work should get better with age compared to physical labor, so there may be around 2 decades on the table (married at 25 vs 45) that you are reallocating from your retired years into your prime ones, leaving upwards of 50 years to raise a family.
It may even make being a healthy octogenarian a better wind-down experience compared to the current timeline for knowledge workers in place.
The late-bloomer economy is non-existent (speaking from experience), but this could very well change to accomodate the articles narrative.
I haven't had to synchronize my biological clock to anyone yet (code for lucky) and think the Porsche analogy is a little outdated for how much time is really worth.
age = two years out of college.
I'm pushing 40. The competition for my time between doing a great job as a husband, colleague, son, family member, scientist, and human has never been greater. Indeed, at 24, I couldn't have perceived the competition between goals on which I place maximum weight.
It is possible not to have enough time to do things well. I care very much.