treebot
Joined 5 years ago
Joined 5 years ago
Doing other activities that induce this sort of anxiety can help too. I've been a combat athlete my whole life, and the anxiety you get before a match is like no other. Not being able to sleep the night before is the norm, and I've seen people vomit before matches. Plus, it's not a few engineers watching you, but rather a whole crowd of people watching you, with half of them cheering for you to lose. After this experience, live coding interviews are a cake-walk. I get nervous as well with a pounding heart and nervous sweats, etc. But I tell myself I've been here before, and perform as best as I can in spite of it, like I've done before. I generally don't perform quite as well in the interview or match as I do when no one's watching, but that's just how it goes. Learning to perform under pressure like that is a skill that needs to be cultivated.
I was really good at a sport through high school and college. And one thing I noticed very early is that how good I was didn't make me happy. Sure, in the instant I won, I was happy. But then I went back to practice the next day, and was just focused on the next opponent. And then when I lost, I was crushed. I didn't become any happier as a person or enjoy my life more or anything as I got better at the sport. I cared a lot about getting better. What actually made me happy was just doing the sport itself, especially in the moments where I let go of the outcome. It's the old, appreciate the journey, not the destination. It's really true!
I also know a lot of people who are really good at things. They are no happier than anyone else. It's not something to be jealous of, or feel bad that you are not like them.
I also will say that I started to focus on achievement a lot less when I had a kid. It became obvious to me that what I did for my kid was infinitely more important than what I achieved for myself, and pursuing success for myself was really just a kind of game.
This is the truth, and is why Republicans are doing what they are doing. It's not because Republicans are bad and Democrats are good. It's because Republicans are going to lose otherwise.