Csikszentmihalyi did research around what gives people joy. From that, he introduced the concept of Flow in 1975, which is often misunderstood.
Flow is my definition of joy. You do something that needs intense focus. The focus makes you lose sense of self and time. You're too focused to be self-conscious. You don't overthink. You move fluidly.
I don't have fixed hobbies. I did boxing for half the year just because I love the feel of redirecting energy from my toes to my fists. But something like climbing or basketball works too.
Work can give flow too, it's just programming and writing the way we're usually taught is quite bad for it. One hack is to write at the speed of thought and then edit it afterwards, instead of doing block by block.
Meditation makes everything more pleasurable because you learn to silence all the internal voices and ambient thoughts. You learn to empty your mind and other emotions. You focus on the present. And once you can do this, you can apply the same to work or other less joyful activities.
As for purpose, it's the long term, the infinite game as described by Carse. Not just the afterlife, but what lies beyond death - family, community, country, humanity, ethics. Purpose has been solved many centuries ago, just RTFM.
muzani
I don't know how to answer this question.
I derive joy from writing about things I care about. I derive joy from writing code. I derive joy from working out and seeing myself getting stronger. I derive joy from knowing I'm becoming a better person.
My purpose? I don't know. I just want to be financially successful and help people who have known me when I was a nobody, and also people who need assistance.
I don't really know how to answer this.
chistev
Experiencing new things with people i enjoy being around. People tend to stay in their comfort zones, and miss out on things that could become their new favorite hobby, food, or destination. There's so much in this world to experience and learn from, and it does take courage sometimes to step out of the comfort zone. But I find that doing so with friends encourages me to take that step more easily, and results often become core memories.
ibtheory
Building things that'll still work in five years. fixing someone's annoying tuesday problem. cooking a meal without a screen involved.
most of my week is screens, the joy is whatever forces slowness.
mattbaconz
I’ve been having a lot of trouble with the state of the world these days. Returning to the teachings of the stoics has really helped me (Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius)
“Some things in this world are up to us, while others are not.
Up to us are our faculties of judgment, motivation, desire, aversion —in short everything that is our own doing. Not up to us are our body and property, our reputations and our positions —in short everything that is not our own doing.”
The things you control are in you. Maximize those and find satisfaction in that. The things outside of your control are not your concern. Let them go.
tim-tday
I care about being at peace; my entire life has been "the next thing". Started in my childhood and continues into my mid 40-s. Nothing is sweet, nothing is savoured. It's always "what's next?"
My joy and my purpose is to help those around me and to get the feedback that they appreciate it. My purpose is to earn money so my wife can do the things she loves and not have to worry about working, so my mom's health is looked after and so, at some point, I can go do something that brings me peace.
tinktank
I think it's important to focus on self-development / mastery of skills, even if they are theoretically replaceable by an AI or technology more generally.
For example – maybe AI will make 90% of video editing work unnecessary. But knowing how to edit video properly, when to cut, how to tell stories, etc. is an invaluable skill that is worth learning.
I think this applies to pretty much any skill. Just because a computer can do it doesn't mean it's not worth mastering on an individual level.
keiferski
doing something that you love, creating something new using AI, well happiness comes from within, you create the feeling while doing something that you love
hgsocket
I think world is big. I mean: universe, technologies, quantum effect, love. There are many interesting things besides AI.
What I really trust - only technologies can help us to improve our life and make unlimited experience.
cromlehg
i used to and still care about science and tech, im not much of an arts person but have a very strong opinion that narrow AI cant ever replace human creativity
it can be an enhancer/augmenter though, so almost all the work that used to be meaningful should still be the same
about the world, i mean all the hype is powered by giants and they are the ones who feed on it so public narrative is polluted for their personal gains apart from a niche group of people.
comments (10)
Flow is my definition of joy. You do something that needs intense focus. The focus makes you lose sense of self and time. You're too focused to be self-conscious. You don't overthink. You move fluidly.
I don't have fixed hobbies. I did boxing for half the year just because I love the feel of redirecting energy from my toes to my fists. But something like climbing or basketball works too.
Work can give flow too, it's just programming and writing the way we're usually taught is quite bad for it. One hack is to write at the speed of thought and then edit it afterwards, instead of doing block by block.
Meditation makes everything more pleasurable because you learn to silence all the internal voices and ambient thoughts. You learn to empty your mind and other emotions. You focus on the present. And once you can do this, you can apply the same to work or other less joyful activities.
As for purpose, it's the long term, the infinite game as described by Carse. Not just the afterlife, but what lies beyond death - family, community, country, humanity, ethics. Purpose has been solved many centuries ago, just RTFM.
muzani
I derive joy from writing about things I care about. I derive joy from writing code. I derive joy from working out and seeing myself getting stronger. I derive joy from knowing I'm becoming a better person.
My purpose? I don't know. I just want to be financially successful and help people who have known me when I was a nobody, and also people who need assistance.
I don't really know how to answer this.
chistev
ibtheory
most of my week is screens, the joy is whatever forces slowness.
mattbaconz
“Some things in this world are up to us, while others are not. Up to us are our faculties of judgment, motivation, desire, aversion —in short everything that is our own doing. Not up to us are our body and property, our reputations and our positions —in short everything that is not our own doing.”
The things you control are in you. Maximize those and find satisfaction in that. The things outside of your control are not your concern. Let them go.
tim-tday
My joy and my purpose is to help those around me and to get the feedback that they appreciate it. My purpose is to earn money so my wife can do the things she loves and not have to worry about working, so my mom's health is looked after and so, at some point, I can go do something that brings me peace.
tinktank
For example – maybe AI will make 90% of video editing work unnecessary. But knowing how to edit video properly, when to cut, how to tell stories, etc. is an invaluable skill that is worth learning.
I think this applies to pretty much any skill. Just because a computer can do it doesn't mean it's not worth mastering on an individual level.
keiferski
hgsocket
cromlehg
it can be an enhancer/augmenter though, so almost all the work that used to be meaningful should still be the same
about the world, i mean all the hype is powered by giants and they are the ones who feed on it so public narrative is polluted for their personal gains apart from a niche group of people.
malaiqa