Reflection on "LIFE IS SHORT" by Paul Graham
I was reading the essay “Life is too short” by Paul Graham. Here are the summary and key takeaways.
If you find yourself thinking that life is too short for something, you should try to eliminate it if you can. Avoid bullshits - unnecessary meetings, pointless disputes, bureaucracy, posturing, dealing with other people's mistakes, traffic jams, addictive but unrewarding pastimes.
There are two ways these bullshits gets into your life: it's either forced on you, or it tricks you.
You have to put up with the bullshit forced on you by circumstances. You cannot avoid it. E.g. You need to make money, and making money consists mostly of errands.
However, it may be that less bullshit is forced on you than you think, though. There has always been a stream of people who opt out of the default grind and go live somewhere where opportunities are fewer in the conventional sense, but life feels more authentic.
If you consciously prioritize bullshit avoidance over other factors like money and prestige, you can probably do it. It is just a matter of choice.
You can probably find employers that will waste less of your time.
If you're a freelancer or a small company, you can fire or avoid toxic customers.
As well as avoiding bullshit, one should actively seek out things that matter. But different things matter to different people, and most have to learn what matters to them.
One heuristic for distinguishing stuff that matters is to ask yourself whether you'll care about it in the future.
Fake stuff that matters usually has a sharp peak of seeming to matter. That's how it tricks you. The area under the curve is small, but its shape jabs into your consciousness like a pin.
The things that matter aren't necessarily the ones people would call "important." Having coffee with a friend matters. You won't feel later like that was a waste of time.
If life is short, we should expect its shortness to take us by surprise. And that is just what tends to happen. You take things for granted, and then they're gone. You think you can always write that book, or climb that mountain, or whatever, and then you realize the window has closed. The saddest windows close when other people die. Their lives are short too.
Paul Graham said, “After my mother died, I wished I'd spent more time with her. I lived as if she'd always be there. And in her typical quiet way she encouraged that illusion. But an illusion it was. I think a lot of people make the same mistake I did.”
To avoid being taken by surprise by something is to be consciously aware of it. Cultivate a habit of impatience about the things you most want to do. Don't wait before climbing that mountain or writing that book or visiting your mother. You don't need to be constantly reminding yourself why you shouldn't wait. Just don't wait.
Relentlessly prune bullshit, don't wait to do things that matter, and savor the time you have. That's what you do when life is short.