Ask HN: What is the most important lesson you learned this year?

66 点作者 quantisan超过 10 年前

37 条评论

1) People don't hate me. I used to constantly think that I was a nuisance to everyone. Whenever I looked at someone's body language I could only see the anger and spitefulness. I can get past that now.2) The following is copy-pasted from a previous comment of mine. It's a lesson I've not fully embraced until recently:> "I guess the hardest thing is to fully trust yourself. Other people are just noise, as their opinions aren’t necessarily more backed up than yours. They often have a unconscious secret agenda that doesn’t fully take into account your well-being and the more someone is close to you, the more biased he/she is. “Don’t take risks”, “Don’t leave this place”, “Don’t leave me”."Last but not least, get rid of toxic people. Get away from toxic environments. It takes time to heal from the negativity, the close-mindedness, the nihilism that rules upon so many lives and places.

computerjunkie超过 10 年前

Health comes first.Seriously, take care of your health and everything else will call into place. Trying to ignore something will only make it worse and not knowing whats causing the symptoms (or what caused an injury) will only make you worry more. Exercise (walking its actually really good exercise) and make it a weekly routine. You will be shocked how much of a difference it makes for your mode.I also realised that I am a social person at heart. I just finished university and I miss all my good friends who all live in different parts of the country. Not just friends, but family. Its made me realise that keeping in touch is absolutely essential no matter what.Lastly, don't be afraid.This has been something that has been nagging me all my life. I really struggled with taking risks in my just-starting-career and social/personal life. Life is too short to think "Maybe I won't be..." "I don't think..." and so on. This is part of my incredibly short list of resolutions for next year and the rest of my life.

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shorttime超过 10 年前

Paying attention to peoples' actions is more important than their words. I've heard it before but I never really paid attention to it until this year. I decided to take a new job based on the actions of my supervisors rather than their words.My immediate supv gave me an acceptable review and mentioned that I was underrated. I did my work, got it done, never moving any due dates, my focus was quality - no rework, etc. I ended up getting an engineering license, PE. They put me on a special project that only the best, most competent engineers get put on. But then they passed me over for a promotion. They promoted people with less experience, less qualifications than myself. Sure, they might have deserved it, most of us probably should have gotten more recognition than we did. But for them to pass me up and then turn around and say I was underrated, that's BS. So I took a new job, their actions, and inactions, were contrary to their words. So far the new job is much better, I get along with my immediate supv much better. The biggest thing I miss is all the cool people I met at my old job.

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PeterWhittaker超过 10 年前

Changing how you perceive yourself can change a lot about you. I used to consider myself a scientific-technology type with an artistic bent - after all, I have worked in high tech for decades and have a degree in physics.But this past year I started thinking of myself as an artist who happens to work in tech to pay the bills (I act semi-professionally and write for fun).It's like something shifted inside and all of bits got into phase with each other. Remarkable, really.

snide超过 10 年前

Work:Pick your co-founders by their honesty and humility. No matter what happens, you will build something together that you can all feel proud of.Going through my fourth start-up now in 15 years. I feel so proud and grateful working with the people I do now. No fights, no stress, just good people who think logically and do their best to support each other.Personal:Starting a family is so much more fun than anything I've ever done. Jump into it and let it envelop your being.

98Windows超过 10 年前

Before this year I have spent most of my life with more than enough social contact, often it felt like too much. But suddenly the amount of socialising and quality of it plummeted because I moved house in the summer. At first I thought that I could make it into an opportunity, that I could use my solitude to do the things I'd been putting off. It turns out however that I physically need people in my life but not only their presence, I need good quality conversation. My mood has become volatile and I'm enjoying things less. Things seem less interesting and I feel disconnected from society.Basically I learnt how much I need people in my life. I'm currently learning how to deal with their absence before I can move to a better place.

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chm超过 10 年前

I'll add something to what user quantisan said:Don't spread yourself too thin. I'm young, still in graduate school and have plenty of good ideas I'd like to work on. This year I've learned to make choices about my lifestyle, projects, interests and to prioritize some. As a one-man team, to be successful you need to focus. Of course if I could delegate things would be different.[1][1]:<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8743203" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8743203</a>

edw519超过 10 年前

Right Hand == Back Brakes, Left Hand == Front Brakes.Set your firmware to apply the back brakes first when suddenly encountering the unexpected.My inner program had me subconsciously apply the front brakes first, so I flew over the handle bars and lost most of this year recovering from a serious bicycle accident.Take care of yourself or not much else matters.

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Stately超过 10 年前

I'm too young/immature/irresponsible to be productive working remotely. And I feel too isolated/lonely to enjoy the freedom it provides. Turns out it wasn't the office environment what I hated from my job a year and a half ago, it was the toxic office environment. Just started a new job in an awesome team and it's like being born again.

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quantisan超过 10 年前

I moved across the Atlantic to co-found a startup this year. I learned a lot about product and customer development, etc. The usual stuff people talk about a lot. But I'm surprised at how much I got to learn about myself.The most important lesson for me is realising the effectiveness of knowing yourself. Know your strengths, weaknesses, how to handle stress, how to handle conflict, know what you want, don't want, what you value, best environment for innovative thinking, etc.Knowing yourself well helps you become more optimal in everything that you want to achieve.

blakesterz超过 10 年前

That securing a bunch web servers full of WordPress and Drupal sites is next to impossible now. The bad guys are so good it's just amazing.

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ColCh超过 10 年前

1) I've learned that I'm NOT ALWAYS RIGHT. Furthermore, I'm almost all the time don't right.2) I've understood that I absolutely know NOTHING.... 20 age man.

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adimania超过 10 年前

Life lesson: Take care of your health. Tech lesson: Encrypt everything.

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imaginenore超过 10 年前

Creating a community is much harder than creating a website for that community.

Spearchucker超过 10 年前

Try different things.If you're always returning to one approach, you're missing out.Only agile, ever, means you're missing out on amazingly useful RAD practices. If you swear by refactoring, you may be doubling development time because thinking a design through before starting might've saved you learning it while typing code. If you only ever build native apps, you may not know when a web app is a better solution. Functional programming is cool, but OO is also cool.

schappim超过 10 年前

1) Back yourself.2) People don't read. People don't read. People don't read. (Everyone: Customers, Co-workers, Business partners etc). So don't rely only on text based conversations.

japhyr超过 10 年前

I learned how to write a book. I've been working on Python Crash Course, which will come out this spring. It's been an incredible learning experience.I have learned the most from having my work critiqued by so many people - an initial editor, a technical editor, a copy editor, and a production editor. It's been humbling and enlightening every step of the way. I can't wait to get back to programming again, and apply what I've learned from writing at a professional level to building things with code. My technical work will be much stronger; writing a book has forced me to reexamine much of what I thought I knew about programming, in a really good way.<a href="http://www.nostarch.com/pythoncrashcourse" rel="nofollow">http://www.nostarch.com/pythoncrashcourse</a>

eddotman超过 10 年前

1) Sometimes big life decisions are no-win scenarios: there isn't always a solution that leaves every party happy.2) It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that what you're doing is 'harder' than what others are doing. Everything is hard if you're pushing your limits.

hacknat超过 10 年前

There is pleasure to be found in even the most mundane tasks by taking the opportunity to do it the best, most efficient, most beautiful way possible.I still get annoyed when I feel a task is beneath me, but I've been trying hard to find something new to learn in it and to be mindful about how the task can be done well. Lately it's been dealing with lots of text files and classes that have tons of fields in them. No problem, just a chance to get to know the *nix tool chain and emacs just a bit better. I'm still not doing the best at this, but I've gotten better, and I've found that it's making me happier and making me a better Engineer in the more important tasks as well.

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mindcrime超过 10 年前

Basically everything @computerjunkie said, is what I came here to say. Having my own health risks and mortality exposed when I had a heart-attack a few weeks ago[1], really drove that home. I now really realize that the whole "yes, it can happen to YOU" thing really is true. I know I can't just ignore health & fitness issues with impunity.The importance of eating a healthy diet, working out more, reducing stress, etc., are a lot more vivid to me now.On a related note however, perhaps ironically, is that I now feel a renewed sense of "There's only so much time left on the clock, so if I want to accomplish things, I have to sell out and go 101% to achieve then now". I'm still trying to figure out how to balance those notions.I mean, let's say I could work less and live an extra 10 years. Let's say that's the difference between, I dunno, making it to 75 vs 85. The questions I ponder now is "how rewarding will the years between 75 and 85 be?" and "how much do I care about that?", etc. I know it sounds a bit morbid, but it's a real question. I've never been all that scared of dying, but I am very afraid of being old, frail, crippled, helpless, etc.So there ya go... try to live like a rockstar now, flame out fast and die young, or go for the longest life you can live. How do you decide that? Fuck if I know... if I figure it out, I'll let you know.And on an even less related note... well, at least vis-a-vis career / tech / etc... facing mortality did emphasize another thing to me. Since you don't know how much time you get, if there are things you really want to do, do all you can to do them as soon as you can. Sure, sometimes strategy dictates waiting, and sometimes procrastinating is just easy... but they say that people on their death-beds don't regret the things they did, but rather the things they didn't do. An example from my life: I've had a few tattoo ideas I've wanted to get done for years, but keep putting it off for no real reason. Now I don't know why I get waiting. And there are plenty of similar examples. So yeah, I'd say one important lesson is "do stuff now". :-)

devgutt超过 10 年前

You don't need to launch your product at all. Start small. Monopolize this small subset of customers and make them love your product. Don't waste your time trying investors and accelerators before market fit.

kerrsclyde超过 10 年前

Moving to a different part of the country doesn't necessarily change as much as you think (and I thought it would change everything).

pcnc超过 10 年前

1) Carefully choose the people that are going to sit next to you whenever "the big thing of your life" is going to happen.2) ALWAYS, but ALWAYS use contracts, even when doing something together with your relatives, long-life friends and "that guy from university which was ever helpful".3) Think you're worth more than you're getting? Ask away.4) Learn to accept critique and not dismiss it. Accepting it and making efforts to improve on its basis is the way towards personal (and professional) growth.5) Nobody is always right, learn how to gracefully lose a dispute.6) Take time for yourself, don't rush head-first into any opportunity, don't accept every invitation, learn how to refuse. This will save you time, headaches and integrity.

almassapargali超过 10 年前

Saying "I don't know". Before everytime somebody asks me something I'd answer anything but "I don't know", just because they asked me I was expected to know answer, and I kinda didn't want to break expectations. But then I started answering "I don't know" and it feels really great. Now every time I answer so unless I'm absolutely sure on my answer.

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abefight超过 10 年前

Listen fewer to the music to increase my productivity.

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wallflower超过 10 年前

That nothing ever stays the same. You can't assume the company or project you are working on will remain the same. Management comes and goes, good people come and go. In the end, what matters are your relationships outside of work. Even then, those can change (but not as much). Sometimes the people you don't see that often can be important in your life.

slashnull超过 10 年前

Cool tech is only cool when used to build cool products.Crazy obvious, I know! But it is a thing I learned this year.

fsloth超过 10 年前

I started to learn to play the guitar. I haven't played anything in twenty years... It's wonderfull to discover that drilling the chords over and over again starts to eventually pay up.

bjoe_lewis超过 10 年前

Anything - simple or complex, can be explained. If you are not able to explain something to a child, then you probably don't know about it well enough.

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pearjuice超过 10 年前

We will never see 2014 again in our current time system.

_RPM超过 10 年前

I learned that C is important. And that I should learn it. And I have become proficient in it this year.

7Figures2Commas超过 10 年前

That "stuff" you stepped in on Market Street is probably what you think it is.

eanplatter超过 10 年前

Small consistent effort generates massive change. Emphasis on consistent.

chatmasta超过 10 年前

1) Every end has at least one means.2) Bullshit should be applied only carefully.

throwawayaway超过 10 年前

i cannot be trusted to write nice emails to people and keep a decent rapport/cadence. ergo, i am not destined to be in charge of people or have customers.

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subrat_rout超过 10 年前

Focus! Focus! Focus!

amrnt超过 10 年前

tl;dr Always say NO, big no!