Debate about Steve at Lifehacker

[michael.shearer]

Here is a link to an article Steve wrote that has stirred some serious debate:
Why you shouldn't get a job - Lifehacker

check it out!

[Trina]

It looks like a few people took Steve's article a little too personally. LMAO.

[michael.shearer]

I work an 8-4 job, but try my hand in building something else to support me in the future. I don't take offense to Steve (but I've been living a life of personal development for years, so I have broken past the blame stage). I've read a lot of Steve's work and I think it is honest and smart. It is up for me to apply what I think works and dismiss that which does not...but not refute it just because I don't understand or use it.

Trina---strange, I looked at your profile and noticed our birthday is one day off and we are the same age. Cosmic.

[Trina]

Originally Posted by michael.shearer

I work an 8-4 job, but try my hand in building something else to support me in the future. I don't take offense to Steve (but I've been living a life of personal development for years, so I have broken past the blame stage). I've read a lot of Steve's work and I think it is honest and smart. It is up for me to apply what I think works and dismiss that which does not...but not refute it just because I don't understand or use it.

Trina---strange, I looked at your profile and noticed our birthday is one day off and we are the same age. Cosmic.

Haha, congratulations on being a Leo.

And I agree... people need to learn to apply what works and dismiss what doesn't. They can't expect Steve Pavlina to speak absolutely. He is Steve Pavlina, not God for goodness sake. LOL.

[Savage]

I wrote the original "10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job" article in a very tongue-in-cheek manner so it would challenge people and hopefully entertain them a bit too. Personally I don't care whether people decide to be employees or self-employed -- there are pros and cons of each path. I could have written the article in a more balanced way, but I wanted to have some fun with it and do something a little creative. I remember as I hit the "Publish" button on that one, I was thinking, "I'm gonna get a lot of hate mail for this one."

Many people take it too seriously, but if the article didn't strike a nerve that was already swollen, they wouldn't react so defensively.

That article has been one of my top 5 in terms of popularity. People keep linking to it because they want to agree or disagree with it. It's been mentioned on at least 30 other blogs in just the past 24 hours. Meanwhile I just stay out of the debate and enjoy the additional traffic.

A wonderful positive result is that at least a dozen people emailed me to say that article was the catalyst that caused them to finally start their own business. Sometimes people just need a little extra push to get them going in the direction they already know they want to go. Some people get mad after they read it; others use it as fuel.

[michael.shearer]

Maybe this forum post will get trackbacked and people will find some relief in your additional comments...nevertheless, that which creates conflict within us is a great teacher/lesson.

I still respect your crackpot ways, Steve.

[Katrina]

I think we're all missing the most important thing...

Did the teachers grade the cereal box math homework? Because if they did, I wasted a lot of good paper in school...

[Trina]

Originally Posted by Katrina

I think we're all missing the most important thing...

Did the teachers grade the cereal box math homework? Because if they did, I wasted a lot of good paper in school...

LMAO!!! Yes, that is the all important answer to life, the universe, and everything...

Steve??

[Savage]

The cereal box story was actually true. I was the top math student in my high school class, but I'd get bored because the assignments weren't challenging me. Especially during calculus class, I felt like I just knew the material intuitively. My mom was taking college math classes while she was pregnant with me, including calculus, so perhaps I did actually learn it earlier.

To keep myself from dying of boredom while still doing the required gruntwork, I began doing my math assignments creatively. This included doing them on cereal boxes, in crayon, on a 2" x 2" piece of paper, in a spiral pattern around a page, and other wacky ideas. Every day I would turn in something new. I especially loved seeing the teacher's reaction when I turned in Tony the Tiger. I remember when we'd do polar graphs, I'd color them in with colored pencils and turn them into artwork.

Although my classmates thought I was nuts, it was my way of keeping my sanity and not dying of boredom. After several weeks of this though, even that became boring, so during the Xmas break my senior year, I did the rest of my calculus homework for the year and turned in a big stack when I returned after the break. I didn't know which problems would actually be assigned, so I simply did them all. I told the teacher, "I'm done for the year." I spent the rest of the semester in that class writing programs for my programmable calculator, including a playable blackjack game that graphed each card one pixel at a time.

Fortunately I had a very tolerant teacher, so he gave me full credit for all my assignments. I doubt he even looked at them.

I've always loved blending mathematics and art, which is probably what originally drew me into game development. It's also something I love about running this web site -- the perfect blend of programming and prose, neither capable of succeeding without the other.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

I've always loved blending mathematics and art, which is probably what originally drew me into game development. It's also something I love about running this web site -- the perfect blend of programming and prose, neither capable of succeeding without the other.

Truly, a coder's strength flows from the source...

[Andrew Brunelle]

Steve, I love how you turn your articles into something people can actively debate about. It's so interesting to see how certain people feel about the things you write about. It's just I find you're one of the people who embraces his creativity so much and I am starting to do that in the last year or so. I find that when you regain control of something that had remained dormant for many years, you definitely get a windfall of crazy ideas, dreams, and other synchronicities that allow you to get on your real path. I thoroughly cannot wait for my next creative endeavor. Thank you.

[escapee]

If you are a boss , you definitely would not want your A++ staffs to read the article unless you would like your top talents to be your new competitors or leave for better I would imagine those who say negative things about the articles are mostly in the top management post or bosses who are in the position to direct, manage and hire. but i could be wrong .

Personally, i think the article is truly a fun read, I have forwarded to countless friends (in the working class ) and they all enjoyed reading it very much.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

The cereal box story was actually true. I was the top math student in my high school class, but I'd get bored because the assignments weren't challenging me....

Fabulous. In high school, my writing skills were just accepted by teachers. After I'd done the first 2 or 3 papers in each English (or Lit, or whatever) class according to specifications, I'd spend the rest of the semester turning in "creative interpretations" of the assignments.

Examples include:
*after reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, our assignment was to write a 5 pg "one day in the life of (self)." The paper I turned in was a 15pg short story, with an antagonist (in my head) named "Bad Day." Teacher apparently kept the paper and handed it out to her class for several years, as my little brother ran into it when he took the class 5 years later.

*I once turned in a 3-pg essay that was exactly 1 sentence long, entitled "Mrs. (teacher) visits the rainforest and finds nothing nearly as annoying as a run-on sentence" (It was a critial review of another teacher's presentation on her trip to the Amazon basin.)

*My re-application to the yearbook committee prompted the principal (who didn't see most of my creative work) to call a meeting for the English department -- "what are you teaching these kids?" Rather than writing "I was in yearbook last year," as we were instructed to write, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek "Top 10 Reasons (the teacher) is Awesome" list. Pure suck up, very funny; the teacher got it when she saw it, as it included gratuitous use of the word "superfluous," which we yearbook kids maintained as a running joke.

*My Latin "curses" assignment is still up in Magistra's classroom. Framed. I cursed the teacher, the class, and Latin in general. Excessively, then I burned the edges of the parchment I wrote it on for emphasis. (I was also responsible for orchestrating the group "murder" of Magistra on the Ides of March... in the cafeteria... with ketchup.)

*At Latin state competition, I was lauded for being the only perfomance contestant to use any props... mostly because of the glitter, although "masks" was the theme I was pushing for... with 4 different masks to "become" the characters in the story. (The competition is to write a myth, then tell it in front of judges.)

*When my gifted class published a book, they forced me to be the editor, because they claimed that no else would put as much "flair" into it as me. Fine, bastards, sweet-talk me into taking the monkey work.

I made over 100% in every Eng, lit, and comp class I ever took. I also had a 36 on the verbal section of the ACT. Not to be smug or anything; I just love written expression. Kinda makes me wonder why I didn't try to major in Eng or Lit in college...

[Wanderer]

Very inspiring as always Steve
keep it up

[dECLAN]

Steve's blog is successful mainly because he does not spout the same old worn out concepts or subscribe to the consensual reality that most people do.

The very same people will tell you not to start a business because it is fraught with risk yet are happy to do an unfulfilling job day after day and never ask themselves is there more out there?

[trekr5]

Declan

Amen to that!

[Niki]

Steve, your articles are Great !

No doubt about it.

It's the way you look at things that makes you, your blog and this forum what it is. Something truly amazing. It changes lifes of people around the whole wide world. Myself , i got inspiration, ideas, motivation from every article you write. The content of your articles means more then diamonds or gold to me.
About 6 months ago, i was preparing myself to go to the "legion etrangere" yes the legion in france. I did not see, what life and me could be!
But now i'm studying, and i'm doing an amazing job! Everything is easy for me because i know i can do it, and so it is for everybody else. You can do whatever you want and when you want it.
And i know it thanks to you !

Steve Thanks!!!

And sorry about my english.

[Paul C]

Originally Posted by dECLAN

Steve's blog is successful mainly because he does not spout the same old worn out concepts or subscribe to the consensual reality that most people do.
[/I]

That's the one.

---

Lotus, what you wrote about your highschool days really made me smile. I can really agree with expressing oneself through the written word.

One of the things I must thank Steve for is helping me find the courage to express my own creativity.