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Ask HN: Advice to your younger self

64 points by tmaly ↗ HN
If you could send a single sentence of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

Let's assume it could not be a lottery number or investing advice.

For me it I would tell myself to find a successful mentor

111 comments

[ 4.3 ms ] story [ 174 ms ] thread
gringoDan
You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with - choose them wisely.
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tmaly
I have sort of followed this idea in a different way. I think TF might have said this, but I think he got it from someone else.
FLUX-YOU
Stick with programming; you're better at that than anything else you'll choose to do.
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naturalgradient
You can play the 'work towards the next prestigious thing' game as long as you want but you will be happier the earlier you quit it.
hyperpape
Really torn between "sleep more" and "just start writing, but take a deep breath before hitting send/submit/post."
jonbarker
There are diminishing returns to preparation: focus less on preparation (to include going to prestigious institutions and working for prestigious companies) and more on launching, learning, and iterating. This is true in business and a variety of other fields. As an add on: learn one programming language really well, and resist the urge to spend time learning new ones!
cm2012
"diminishing returns to preparation" is a great turn of phrase.
131012
Why the add on?
Shikadi
Second this, learning multiple languages is generally seen as a good thing, opening your mind to different ways of solving problems, no?
taurath
It’s helpful to specialize at least. One should at least have a primary that they know in and out.
heavenlyblue
Any language in the area of discourse is a Turing-complete language. Therefore you can do anything you'd like to in any language.

Besides, I would be highly critical of anyone who claims to know a variety of languages since it probably means they are only familiar with a strict subset of their standard libraries and quirks. Or that knowledge is incredibly outdated.

Learning the syntax is one thing, the more time-consuming for development part is always knowing the quirks and patterns used today.

Shikadi
>Any language in the area of discourse is a Turing-complete language. Therefore you can do anything you'd like to in any language.

Well with that argument, learning brainf*ck in depth should give you all the programming experience you need to solve problems efficiently :P

Learning even the basics of a functional programming language for example (Haskell in my case) lead me to understand why things are the way they are in a few other languages. Sure you can write some solution in a few nested for loops, but why not use a list comprehension if it's more clear and less error prone for the situation? Specializing in one or two languages isn't a bad thing, but I would argue that learning even just the basics of other languages is beneficial. Understanding what tools are out there and what they're best suited to is a good thing if you ask me.

131012
I'll ponder on that. Thanks for the shared wisdom!
jonbarker
I'd say for me the way that 'overpreparation' has manifested itself is in trying to learn more languages, at the expense of expertise in one or two.
asdsa5325
I disagree. Jobs want multiple languages nowadays.
kamaal
Good jobs want you to know at-least one language well.
Dirlewanger
Do everything in college that you continuously said you were going to do but never did.
cbanek
Get a therapist and deal with your childhood issues as soon as possible, they will only grow with time.
Humdeee
Don't be afraid to be more bold with some of life's decisions; often the risk is well worth the potential outcome.
Shank
Work is important, but it's not more important than relationships: you can always find another job, but you may never find a comparable partner.
hkmurakami
Live your own life, not someone else’s life.
robhunter
Make fewer posts on social media about how you’re feeling at that moment in time
djrogers
Start running, and keep running. Oh, and mine some of that newfangled bitcoin stuff!

On the serious side though - It's a lot harder to get yourself in heathy shape in your 40s than in your 20s, and it's a LOT easier to keep a good habit than it is to make one.

spking
Work much harder in high school and college, and spend 10 more years being single.
asdsa5325
I was about to give the exact opposite advice
halfimmortal
Why spend more years being single? I'm in my twenties and hate being single.
ranprieur
Do not fixate on particular goals, but practice broadly scanning for brief opportunities.
arcticbull
Everything ends eventually, so get as much as you can out of it and stop focusing so much on whats next. And don't get hung up on things that do end!
3pt14159
Everything should be excellent—start making small changes once a month so they normalize and wake up a decade later formidable and attractive.
mdolon
Don't be afraid to quit.
Whymess
You are going to die. You have nothing to lose. Follow your heart.
tboyd47
Involve other people in your major life decisions. Ask them for advice even if you don't feel you need it. At the very least it will bring you closer.
codewritinfool
Do your own thing. Don't try to please others. Be kind. Put money in the bank every paycheck. Exercise. Tell those that you love that you do.
om3n
Big life changes (like marriage, having kids) will change your life, and it's OK that your priorities won't be the same as they were before.
asadlionpk
You know, I think about this and it's kinda sad that my priorities will have to change and have changed. My younger self won't be happy with my current priorities.
jerf
Would you be happy with your younger self's priorities now?
asadlionpk
I am not “old” yet but I am seeing change of priorities. So yes, I would be happy.
bloodorange
There's plenty of time because what you do is far more important than how (or how quickly) you do something.
ronilan
“The sentence sending time machine works.”