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.