[lmm]

Meh. Maybe not so many people should be trying to be outliers. Maybe society would be better off if we stepped back from the always-on, up-or-out culture and accepted that most people are average and (rightly!) value consistency more than upside. (Is it unfair to immediately wonder if the article was written by someone with an upper-class upbringing, who's always had access to a safety net that most people don't?)

[BigHatLogan]

I hope this doesn't come off as hostile, but you're on a forum that is hosted by the most renowned startup incubator. This is basically a bastion for the "always-on, up-or-out culture" you're weary of. It's completely acceptable to be weary of it, but I find this comment as odd as going to an NBA forum and expressing exasperation over NBA talk.

[nickd2001]

'This is basically a bastion for the "always-on, up-or-out culture" you're weary of'. True, but HN also is frequented by people simply interested in tech, and interested to see comments from silicon valley and elsewhere they're building "disruptive" tech right now. And some from academia. Some people may feel addicted to challenging Elon-Musk-school-of-work-ethic type comments. Personally I feel drawn to respond to people that seem unhappy with their lot, often from comparing themselves to the always on up-or-out crowd. Getting a friendly response from people that "don't buy into that s**" might hopefully help them.

[BigHatLogan]

Yeah, fair enough. That is a good point. Well said.

[ZephyrBlu]

This is written about career/job, but it applies to a whole bunch of different things like relationships, friendships, where you live, etc.

I highly recommend Ben's post dedicated to outliers where he explores this a bit more: https://www.benkuhn.net/outliers/.

> Maybe society would be better off if we stepped back from the always-on, up-or-out culture and accepted that most people are average and (rightly!) value consistency more than upside

Based on how I'm interpreting this you have it backwards. I don't think outlier results with high upside generally benefit from being "always-on" or "up-or-out culture" because that is too far on the exploit side of things to ever find outliers!

My belief is that more slack and time to explore are more likely to produce outliers.