Ask HN: What life goals have you given up over the years and why?

8 points by wonderingyogi ↗ HN

8 comments

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What life goals have you given up over the years and why?

When I was a young child I wanted to be a truck driver because I spoke to them on the CB all day that was my internet and had a lot of fun. It sounded like a cool career to me at the time but then I found out what their lives were really like. Then when I was a teen I wanted to be a cop. I volunteered thousands of hours to the local PD. Then LAPD said one line that made me think long and hard about it. "We have new positions opening every day" and I knew I would have to start with them unless I could get the local PD to sponsor me and I knew what that phrase really meant, so I fell back on tech which was just a fun hobby for me.

I'm glad I gave up on those things.

[Edit] Oh yeah, and when I was a child I wanted to be a Jedi. It wasn't until the prequels much later in life that I found out I was missing the midichlorian's.

What are these midichorians you speak of? I saw all three Star Wars movies, A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and concluding with Return of the Jedi and there was never any mention of these mudichorians!
I have essentially given up the idea of discovering something meaningful. During my first company I believed we were on the cusp of unlocking some new methods of video action recognition. Now I know that our approach was way off and that the great leaps would be made several years later by google et al. I still think I am acquiring skills which will help me form a company or build products with other people who might unlock a breakthrough but I doubt I will be the one to discover it.
Practicing musical instruments. I can still enjoy making music, but I've decided that I'm never going to be great at guitar or violin or piano.

In a broader sense, I think letting go of dreams is extremely important for success.

Create an "unbucket" list for the side quests that detract from the main quests:

[1] https://taylor.town/unbucket-list

> I think letting go of dreams is extremely important for success.

Can you explain more?

Warren Buffet is credited with developing a clever system:

1. write down 25 goals

2. circle the top 5 items

3. the remaining 20 goals are your “avoid-at-all-costs list”

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I'm currently starting a business, organizing a conference, growing my family, and tending my digital garden.

In order to pursue these ambitious goals, I had to drop my secondary dreams.

I've committed to giving up music practice (and many other things) so that I can be a better founder, organizer, parent, and artist.

I will never be great at music, and that's okay.

> starting a business, organizing a conference, growing my family, and tending my digital garden

Kudos to you. If I make my goals SMART [1], maybe I can make solid progress.

[1] Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound

Thank you. I listed about 10 things I want to accomplish and somethings I thought were higher up on the list, turns out weren't. It gave me pause to realize what I really wanted to accomplished in my life.