Re:Ask HN: What is it like to be old? What advice would you ...
by trykondev on Sunday September 20, 2020 @08:51PM
(#24538740)
This is something I worked on developing in my 20s. For me, what worked was finding an "ethical role model" -- someone who acts ethically and has a good sense of right & wrong -- and trying to model my choices based on what I thought that person would choose. Sometimes this would literally involve asking them "what do you think I should do?" and sometimes I'd just try to infer.
My ethical role model was my younger brother, who is one of the best people I know, and is someone who always seemed to have a good sense of "you shouldn't do that" or "this is the right thing to do, even if it's hard".
I committed to evaluating my decisions based on "what would my brother think of this" and I'm very proud to say that now, in my early 30s, I consider myself to be a very ethical person who does the right thing most of the time, even when it's inconvenient, and even when it's hard. I definitely could not have said that about myself a decade ago.
No idea if that will work for others, but it definitely worked for me!
My ethical role model was my younger brother, who is one of the best people I know, and is someone who always seemed to have a good sense of "you shouldn't do that" or "this is the right thing to do, even if it's hard".
I committed to evaluating my decisions based on "what would my brother think of this" and I'm very proud to say that now, in my early 30s, I consider myself to be a very ethical person who does the right thing most of the time, even when it's inconvenient, and even when it's hard. I definitely could not have said that about myself a decade ago.
No idea if that will work for others, but it definitely worked for me!