Top all-time · #44
Derek Sivers
Personal blog · sivers.org · on HN as siversphilosophyculture
Derek Sivers's personal blog at sivers.org covers philosophy and culture. Since 2008, 605 different Hacker News readers have linked it 1,051 times, most often “Ideas are just a multiplier of execution”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-18, and you can follow it by feed.
Sometimes recommended · 11 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Derek Sivers' site for short personal essays on work, money and life, and for his book notes. Commenters cite specific posts as advice, such as the 'Hell yeah' essay and the 'Do things that don't scale' post.
- Recommended for · 11 comments
- Commenters call one essay "great" and say they "loved it", call the booklist worth a look, and call the FAQ, book notes and a post a "nice example" or "good pie
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Derek Sivers official site. Thoughts on philosophy, culture, self-improvement. Author of Useful Not True, How to Live, Hell Yeah or No, Anything You Want.
Most-linked posts?
- Ideas are just a multiplier of execution35 people · 39 mentions · first linked 2009-07-28
- There's no speed limit (2009)23 people · 25 mentions · first linked 2009-12-01
- Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them.22 people · 26 mentions · first linked 2009-06-16
- Memorizing a programming language using spaced repetition software (2013)20 people · 21 mentions · first linked 2013-02-20
- Derek Sivers: Books I've Read20 people · 21 mentions · first linked 2016-01-05
- How to hire a programmer to make your ideas happen17 people · 18 mentions · first linked 2010-06-19
- Reading list for those who love to learn16 people · 17 mentions · first linked 2009-06-18
- Ideas are just a multiplier of execution (2005)15 people · 27 mentions · first linked 2013-09-12
- There Is No Speed Limit (2009)15 people · 15 mentions · first linked 2012-04-17
- Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them (2009)11 people · 12 mentions · first linked 2013-01-11
What Hacker News says?
https://sivers.org/horses
Comment linking /horses
on “Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub”Submitted Don't add your 2 cents as a story · 719 points
HN discussionYep. That's the one. Here are my notes on it: http://sivers.org/book/ArtAndFear
Comment linking /book/ArtAndFear
on “I'm learning to code by building 180 websites in 180 days. Today is day 115”Submitted There's no speed limit (2009) as a story · 699 points
HN discussionMy solution to this is to keep my programming as a "hobby", to only do it for love without regard for money - and have an unrelated day job to fund my living expenses. This is also what Derek Sivers recommends https://sivers.org/balance
Comment linking /balance
on “Extremely disillusioned with technology. Please help”Submitted A real person, a lot like you as a story · 624 points
HN discussionThose have been helpful for me: - Everything as practice (great thread IMO https://www.reddit.com/r/getdisciplined/comments/8zf5uw/need... ) - “Without adversity there is no advance”, just offer the boring parts of your job as sacrifice or use as mindfulness practice, or execute them now with 100% of your attention (eg making coffee at the office say) - Don't complain about stuff you can do in two minutes (mentally)…
Comment linking /book/PersonalMBA
on “Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?”Submitted I’m a very slow thinker (2016) as a story · 604 points
HN discussionAlso: https://sivers.org/dbt
Comment linking /dbt
on “Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure”Submitted OK, Milt Olin, I'll start writing again as a story · 578 points
HN discussionGreat article. I also like Dereck Sivers post on manual work: http://sivers.org/hi doing things that don't scale
Comment linking /hi
on “Do Things that Don't Scale”Submitted The day Steve Jobs dissed me hard as a story · 567 points
HN discussionIt's an assessment of your Windows expertise based upon the specifics the experience you relayed, not ad hominem . By your own admission your familiarity with the Windows landscape is based largely on experience gained more than seven years ago and with an obsolescent version of the OS. Dunning-Kruger effects are the result of one believing that they have more expertise than the do. With regards to the Windows ecosy…
Comment linking /below-average
on “Y Combinator is funding the future of spam in Windows”Submitted Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them (2009) as a story · 507 points
HN discussionSometimes you can beat free! You can outlive the free / freeware competitors, because they're often not making money! Remember Google often kills off their services. They bought Picasa & the Nik Photography Collection & made them both available for free... now Picasa is gone (even though there's a ton of customers who still want it), and Google sold the Nik Collection to DxO and it's back to costing $70 again. And F…
Comment linking /cs
on “Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?”Submitted The day Steve Jobs dissed me in a keynote (2010) as a story · 442 points
HN discussionI've personally been thinking about this for some time and wondering if in the real world this looks like building as much as possible at the database level and treating your DB as a state machine for your app, aiming to disallow whole classes of errors and communicating the design of the business logic at the SQL functions/triggers/data layer, separate from the API, Services, Programming Language, and Frontend laye…
Comment linking /pg
on “How to Build Good Software”Submitted It's all who you know? as a story · 442 points
HN discussionHere is one nice example: https://sivers.org/pg
Comment linking /pg
on “Things I wished more developers knew about databases”Submitted Delegate or die: the self-employed trap as a story · 423 points
HN discussionOld guy here. I don't think you'll find the answers to the questions you're asking. Or, if you're like me, you will find answers. but they might change with each new chapter of your life. At the risk of sound like a broken HN record, I urge you to check out Derek Sivers' FAQ at https://sivers.org/faq I am also finally reading through Cal Newport's immensely popular So Good They Can't Ignore You which directly addres…
Comment linking /book/SoGood
on “Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?”Submitted Why was this secret? as a story · 411 points
HN discussionThe answer for me has been “work on what I want to work on” and it has gradually shifted to be something that helps other people. So, for me, I think you’re better off starting doing something you want and seeing where that takes you. Also, this: https://sivers.org/hellyeah
Comment linking /hellyeah
on “Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?”Submitted What if you didn't need money or attention? as a story · 395 points
HN discussionListen this, it might help: https://sivers.org/ml
Comment linking /ml
on “Life is Short”Submitted There's no speed limit. (The lessons that changed my life.) as a story · 386 points
HN discussionIf there were ever a case for a second passport, this is one. You can get buy one for $135,000. This is what Derek Sivers did. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3944339 https://sivers.org/comfort http://www.sovereignman.com/lifestyle-design/how-to-obtain-a...
Comment linking /comfort
on “Statement from Edward Snowden in Moscow”Submitted My loss as a story · 348 points
HN discussionSee also Derek Sivers' "A real person, a lot like you": http://sivers.org/real .
Comment linking /real
on “I am very real”Submitted I assume I'm below average as a story · 340 points
HN discussion
