Whenever there’s an Ask HN along the lines of “What should I focus on in college?” my response is hooking up with as many chicks as possible. I always get downvoted to oblivion, but I’ll take this study as confirmation.
There have been a couple posts on HN recently that rhyme with this article. It's starting to make me think that ambition might be a bit more of a curse than a blessing.
Not a controlled experiment, just a study of self-reported “values” and well-being survey data. It appears it was only tracking very short term effects, on the order of days, which seems like it would ignore the presupposed benefits of long term achievement.
If I play video games every weekend instead of developing a career and building a family, maybe I’ll feel better in the short term (though, having done that, I doubt it?), but how will I feel in 10 years?
Also the title lists “Hobbies vs Achievements” which isn’t exactly what the study seems to be, they list “self direction vs conformity” which isn’t really the same thing at all.
But based on the quality of the pseudoscience ads, maybe neurosciencenews.com is more of the latter.
I had a similar experience that I struggled to understand until now. Thanks to the article, I can approach it from a fresh perspective.
I enjoy cycling, running, swimming, and sports in general. When I bought my first fitness watch and heart rate monitor, I expected to enhance my enjoyment of these activities. However, I found that the focus on achievement diminished my experience. For instance, if I recorded a slightly slower pace than before, it negatively impacted my enjoyment of the workout because I had concrete numbers to compare. Without the tracking, I could simply go for a run and feel good about it, and that was enough for me
I think it affects people differently, I'm neutral when I can't push hard, but having a tracker helps me push harder and I feel rewarded when I do. So I'm not getting the negative side of it.
On the flip side, I train only for health purposes, I don't love anything of what I do, so we react differently to similar stimulus
Absolutely! I take pleasure in simply exercising because I know how good it is for me and not orienting on performance.
I suppose the old adage of "enjoy the journey, not the destination" applies. Though I recognize some folks might really enjoy the destination. It's really how the mind frames it I suppose.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 34.3 ms ] threadIt's not always about money, it's about having the time; ask any high-schooler who has to do a ton of extra-curriculars after a long day at school.
If I play video games every weekend instead of developing a career and building a family, maybe I’ll feel better in the short term (though, having done that, I doubt it?), but how will I feel in 10 years?
Also the title lists “Hobbies vs Achievements” which isn’t exactly what the study seems to be, they list “self direction vs conformity” which isn’t really the same thing at all.
But based on the quality of the pseudoscience ads, maybe neurosciencenews.com is more of the latter.
I enjoy cycling, running, swimming, and sports in general. When I bought my first fitness watch and heart rate monitor, I expected to enhance my enjoyment of these activities. However, I found that the focus on achievement diminished my experience. For instance, if I recorded a slightly slower pace than before, it negatively impacted my enjoyment of the workout because I had concrete numbers to compare. Without the tracking, I could simply go for a run and feel good about it, and that was enough for me
On the flip side, I train only for health purposes, I don't love anything of what I do, so we react differently to similar stimulus
Absolutely! I take pleasure in simply exercising because I know how good it is for me and not orienting on performance.
I suppose the old adage of "enjoy the journey, not the destination" applies. Though I recognize some folks might really enjoy the destination. It's really how the mind frames it I suppose.