Becoming the person who does the thing

Identity, Stereotypes, and “People Like Me”

• Many relate to never trying sports, gyms, or dancing because it “wasn’t what someone like me does.”
• Commenters link this to group identity, media stereotypes (nerds vs jocks), and peer pressure.
• Several describe later realizing that competence mostly came from consistent practice, not innate “type,” and that self-labels (“I’m not sporty,” “I’m bad at math”) quietly limit behavior.
• Some see identity bundles as slippery slopes: starting pushups feels like “becoming a jock,” or becoming vegetarian feels like joining “those people.”

Habits, Useless Rituals, and Discipline

• A Steiner-inspired exercise of building a completely useless daily habit is discussed as practice for willpower and habit formation.
• Supporters say useless habits strip out emotional reward and outcomes, forcing pure discipline and showing “you can change.”
• Others ask why not just build useful habits directly; one reply is that this is like practicing on easy, low-stakes problems first.
• Steiner’s broader philosophy and Waldorf schools draw criticism as pseudoscientific and ideologically problematic.

Exercise: Gyms, Classes, and Alternatives

• Several advocate gyms and small group classes for beginners: equipment enables progressive loading, instructors teach form, and social context lowers friction and boosts effort.
• Others strongly prefer “meaningful” activities (hiking, climbing, team or combat sports) over gym routines they experience as boring or “mindless.”
• A counterargument is that lifting can itself be highly engaging and technical if taken seriously, with deep focus on form, progression, and psychology of effort.
• One theme: “just show up” for 5–15 minutes, allow yourself to leave, and let consistency matter more than intensity.

Motivation, Identity, and Goals

• Some echo the article/“Atomic Habits”: focus on “being the kind of person who does X,” not on distant outcomes.
• Others argue motivation is the real mystery; identity shifts and narratives often feel like post hoc rationalizations of underlying drives.
• Debate over whether behavior change follows identity change, or vice versa, with examples from fitness, reading, parenting, and religious vs secular family choices.

Physical vs Mental/Spiritual Fitness

• Several push back on ranking mental or spiritual fitness above physical; poor health or chronic injury is described as dragging everything else down.
• Others emphasize an interdependent system: body, mind, and emotions all reinforce or undermine each other, making strict hierarchies “unclear.”

Brain Adaptation and Homeostasis

• A side thread invokes Ashby’s “Homeostat” and experiments with inverted vision, flipped bike controls, and new keyboard/layouts to explain how the brain relearns patterns.
• This model is used to justify “change something, then adapt” as a simple life strategy, and to explain why many different diet or habit systems can all appear to work.

Meta: Why This on Hacker News, and Why So Many Life Lessons?

• Some question why these self-help style pieces dominate HN; others say deliberate self-reprogramming is inherently “hackerish.”
• There’s extensive reflection (and some cynicism) about tech workers in their 20s–30s writing “sage” life advice:
  • Explanations include being very online, personal branding, a reflective personality type, and tech’s fast-changing environment.
  • Critics see a lot of shallow, platitudinous writing; defenders note that even younger people can share genuinely useful insights from limited but real experience.