These Are the Last Words I Have to Say; That’s Why This Took So Long to Write

GEEK告别Lifehacker发言

Jason Fitzpatrick — Today's my last day 
at Lifehacker. Indulge me for a moment as I reflect on working for Lifehacker and bid you all a fond farewell.


Normally this time of day on a Sunday you'd see a featured workspace. This time around it'll be some reflections and a dash of advice. Here's a look back at my years at Lifehacker and a distillation of all my lifehacking advice into a final closing note.
Getting Started and Google-Fu for the Dalai Lama

It all started almost four years ago when Lifehacker put out a call for their first ever intern. At the time I was working a crazy schedule but figured, what the hell? I was already reading Lifehacker so why not make a little money helping out, right? Here are some choice quotes from my intern application:

My house is networked, my xbox modded, my backups automated, my task lighting subdued and swanky, my google-fu astounds the Dalai Lama, and I dream in assembly code. [...]

I also swear by Odin's beard to blow all my meager intern pay on funding the Pirate/Ninja Olympics in Serbia. Seriously.

Full size
My house is still networked, my xboxes still modded (and many of them replaced with nettop XBMC units), my task lighting subdued and swanky, and my Google-fu still astounds the Dalai Lama (he's always emailing me asking me to help him find new ways to troll China). I've kept swearing by Odin's beard and I did blow a lot of my intern pay on the Pirate/Ninja Olympics—it turns out there aren't that many pirates and ninjas around and their predisposition for slaying their enemies really made the whole thing a one-off event, alas. Photo by pseudoxx.

Between then and now I kept plugging along, researching articles and then writing them, slowly writing more and more. It's roughly 4,500 articles later and I've finally learned the most valuable lesson one can learn when studying and writing about lifehacking: you have to take your own advice.
Time to Deploy Operation Ultimate Lifehack

I've written guides for all of you about slowing down, making more time for your personal life, balancing your work loads, getting enough sleep, and otherwise improving your lives.

Many of those guides I wrote while hardly sleeping, juggling being a dad, husband, teacher, student, writer, and more all at one time. I was falling prey to the fate of good advice givers; I dolled out awesome tips but I was burning the candle too fast to apply them to my own life. Photo by nattu.

Now it's time to start living the life I've been telling you all to live and clean out my desk at Lifehacker. I'm not leaving because I don't love Lifehacker. I've loved sharing my ideas with millions of people. I've loved appearing on radio shows across the world to share those ideas with millions more. I've given speeches about lifehacking, answered questions about lifehacking from readers from Berkeley to Beijing, and been a part of the lives of millions who wanted to find a way to use their computers more efficiently, plan their days more effectively, and ultimately have more time to do the things they love. I'm leaving because it's time to take my own advice, scale back, and spend more time with my family.
Thank You for Being a Friend*

Before I leave, I need to dole out a mountain of thanks.

First, I thank you the readership of Lifehacker. All my writing, hacking, screenshot taking, warranty voiding, and inquiry would have been much less satisfying without all of you to read and critique the things I created. Of all the BBSes, web sites, forums, and more I've frequented over the years you've proven to be some of the most civil and insightful internet citizens I've had the pleasure of encountering. You've sent me your tips, your photos, your questions, and your good will. Thank you.

Second, I thank the staff at Lifehacker including one in emeritus, Gina Trapani—I will forever have a soft spot for her and her early tutelage and guidance in the art of blogging. I've logged a lot of hours here—chatting with Kevin and Whitson in the early hours as we waited for the West coast crew to rise and join us, hashing out ideas with everyone in our weekly meetings and daily emails, passing down my alpha-intern tips to the new interns—and you've all made them fun. I'll miss the action of working for a publication that runs the press hot and serves up interesting articles to millions daily. Thank you guys for making it a great experience.

(*Is there any situation in which quoting the theme song to the Golden Girls is inappropriate? I think not.)
On Forwarding Addresses and Ever Afters

Where to now? I'm not vanishing, just making time to live a little. You can always keep up with me at JasonFitzpatrick.com the nexus of all my random Facebook updates, Twittering, and article writing. You can also find me over at How-To Geek answering questions and doling out weekly doses of geek history. If you thought the posts I wrote here (the weekend ones especially) were random and fun you should really follow me and my antics to see all the random stuff I dredge up in a week. The internet is an infinite playground for someone with my eclectic and geekish tastes.

Finally, it's time for me to share my last bit of advice for the Lifehacker readership before I go.

The only commodity we have is time. Somewhere—in your mind, on a notepad, stashed in a virtual notebook—you have a list of things you'd like to be doing with your time before it all slips away. Do what you have to do to take those ideas out of storage and make them happen. You can trade and barter for a lot in life but you can never buy back time. Go live.





|These Are the Last Words I Have to Say; That’s Why This Took So Long to Write|