Ask HN: how to get tough

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=280500

by rugoso • 18 years ago

3 9 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Do you have any good ideas about how to consciously get tougher (without necessarily working on a successful startup).

In pg's latest essay, he mentions toughness as "a quality you need to win". He also has mention how many of the founders have got a lot tougher since they began to work in their start up. So I'm guessing there is something you can do consciously to get tougher.

comatose_kid• 18 years ago

Lie under a coconut tree, and have a friend climb up the tree and drop coconuts on your abdomen [1].

References [1] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZxGYtOXUP4

alaskamiller• 18 years ago

Start a fight club but don't talk about it

tstegart• 18 years ago

Do something really hard that takes you past your limits. It doesn't have to be a start-up, it could be anything (like running a marathon).

gaius3• 18 years ago

Regularly place yourself in situations where failure is a distinct possibility.

Start to observe that failure is actually less likely than you thought it was.

Repeat until desired level of toughness is acquired.

gaius3• 18 years ago

Here's an example which I didn't have time to post earlier. My main sport is offshore/ocean racing. A race typically lasts several days and covers a few hundred miles. The weather has to be pretty bad before a race gets called off. Check out news from last year's Fastnet - of 300 boats that entered, we (Nisida) were among the 50 or so that actually finished the course. No-one died that time, but people do die on the Fastnet.

When you're out there, you're getting flung around, it's cold, it's wet, watches are 3 hours on 3 hours off unless there's work that needs to be done, in which case you just have to get on with it. The needs of the boat come first and the skipper's word is law. Heading upwind to counterbalance the sail, the crew sits out on the rail - when I say 3 hours off that can mean, clip yourself on and sit out on deck in the rain and the wind and the waves breaking over the deck and pull your hood down and try to snooze. If not you can go below but if it's rough you probably won't get much rest - I've had friends break arms, collarbones below decks. It's a brutal sport, physically and mentally.

But there isn't the option to say, stop the boat, I want to get off. You're out in the middle of the ocean, just you, the crew and the boat. You're on your own. And unless everyone has their shit together, everyone is in danger. Your friends are in danger. You have no choice in the matter, yet you chose to be there, of your own free will. Yeah, the first time out will show you who you are, and if you need to change and you can change, it'll happen there too.

DanielBMarkham2• 18 years ago

Sports where you have to have your shit together beat the heck out of sports where it doesn't matter.

Something invigorating about the whole process -- makes you feel alive.

browndog• 18 years ago

Make a list of things you have a mental block against. Then make opportunities to do them. Every failure that you learn and recover from makes you stronger. Practice your decision-making skills. Act on your decisions. And communicate decisively. Good luck!

Ask HN: how to get tough

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