5 ms·

This article resonated a lot with me. It verbalizes what I've been trying to do over the past year or so with my own life. For me a lot of the BS elimination on

This article resonated a lot with me. It verbalizes what I've been trying to do over the past year or so with my own life. For me a lot of the BS elimination on the first pass was just getting rid of distractions and interruptions, so I cut out the phone/email/chat, etc all during my working hours except for certain times, like 10 minutes after lunch and just before the end of the day. The noise was all driving me insane. The next step was to remove things from my life that cause stress and are not worth the effort because of the BS they involve. Whether that's just life situations or clients it has been very refreshing. The next step was to kill a lot of tv/movies, and most of my free time internet usage. Finally, I started steadily filling in the new time gainings with things I really care about and the personal sense of well-being and accomplishment has improved drastically. So I have no intent of doing anything other than continuing to go down this road, I've gotten in better physical shape, better health, enjoy life more, have learned a new language, visited many new places, my stress level has dropped by at last 200%, its been a very positive journey so far.

iDemonix 11y ago
I'm trying to achieve currently what it seems you have already achieved. The problem is I cut everything out, but then there will be a moment at work where you're waiting for something (in my job for example, waiting for RHEL to install), and you decide to glance at Facebook. Then you do it a couple of times. Then you get home and decide as it's raining you won't go cycling. It all builds back up and I'm back to square one. It feels like trying to kick smoking. I have a list of stuff I want to do (fix up my motorbikes, finish my 'day van', get back in to DH mountain biking) and a list of stuff I do (video games, drink, NetFlix, Reddit), and I always seep back to the latter one. Might give it another go soon, life is short after all.
- jfaucett 11y ago
  I think the biggest thing is to start very small. Seriously, very very small. I had for years done more or less what you describe. So I finally just decided to start super baby simple and have one tiny little goal and accomplish it. For me it was hard to eliminate looking up my news sites when I had a free minute or two. Eventually, I just deleted my bookmarks and edited my /etc/hosts and that did the trick for me. But I didn't try to cut out those distractions and start a workout routine at the same time. Also I didn't try to start anything else until the last goal had become kind of routine (like brushing your teeth in the morning). There are still many things on my list to see and do and there's still stress in my life, but I feel with this method of one micro step at a time you slowly chip away in unnoticeable steps until now for me a little over a year later you've made a big noticeable dent. oh yea, I finally quit smoking too :) EDIT: most of my goals also had to do with eliminating stress. For instance, my "learning the language" was to just turn on the radio and listen to interesting talk shows in swedish and occasionally look up words, all which was very relaxing for me. My exercise is swimming which is super enjoyable for me and something I always look forward to (even when I didn't have the time to do it). I don't know what it would be like if you do not actually look forward to or enjoy your goals...
  - greggman 11y ago
    Does that fact that you're here on HN suggest that it's not quite working? I ask because HN is my biggest time sync. It's the thing I grab whenever there is a moment of free time and even when their isn't. I type it into my browser without even thinking about it. I banned it once with /etc/hosts and that lasted about 3 months or maybe it was 6. I'd still read on my phone but that wouldn't happen except out and about or at bathroom breaks. Then at some point I turned it back on. When it got bad again I blocked it in /etc/hosts. But, it's available in a VM. I'd hoped that would be enough to discourage me but it's not. Instead my habit now is to launch the VM. It is slightly better than unblocked because I still type it into my main browser and the block keeps me off until I eventually use the VM I'd guess I spent 2-4 hours a day on it. I woke up a 8:30 today. Other than a shower I've been on HN. It's 10:10
    - mbrock 11y ago
      Virtue ethics could be a useful framework for thinking about it. Alasdair MacIntyre in After Virtue talks about the concept of a tradition as forming a narrative backbone for a person's life and actions. Conversation is also crucial, and traditions can be seen as extended conversations. I suggest that Hacker News is a place where such a tradition is constructed and maintained. It gives rise to an "imagined community" [2] of this profession of startup development (which is tied into the tradition of open source hacking in interesting ways, sometimes conflicting). In that sense browsing HN is not merely a bad habit. Maybe the negative tendency is to become a more passive participant, or just gossiping all day. Ideally the site would feed into a larger pattern of creative action, instead of only providing some click buzz relaxation. So we could think about how to use the conversation to give wind to our sails, so to speak—or just how to be more active in the actual tradition, not just the discussion surrounding it. That's a big discussion and I've already spent an hour writing this comment, after deleting a long and boring explanation of the MacIntyre book's thesis... So I'll just say that Cal Newport's new book Deep Work was pretty inspiring for me, and it's a quick read. I think you could formulate a dialectic where deep work and community conversation feed into each other. It's like how books are the deep artifacts that conversations can orient themselves around, and the books themselves are like concentrated results of sometimes decades-long conversations. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Virtue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Virtue [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagined_community https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagined_community [3]: http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/ http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/
- alexandercrohde 11y ago
  I think every human can identify with this. I think it's time for us to start questioning if we really "Want" to do these things so much (exercise) why we don't do them. Do we just want to have done them (it'd sure be nice if I had a nice bod, I should workout. I should learn 12 languages and 3 instruments too!)? Or do we think we want them? Or is there some perverse reason why our body keeps us from doing what we truly want to do in that moment?
myle 11y ago
I am following a similar strategy (almost identical) but it is not as rosy as described here. You may lose friends because they may think you don't care enough about them since you don't call them frequently anymore (and emails do not work for everyone). You are unreachable through the modern messengers because you refuse to waste time on a gazillion of them. Other people update their friends through Facebook. If you opt for an alternative like email (async and focusing on message) then you may be weird for some. Being focused is great and indeed makes wonders in productivity. Nevertheless, in most cases around 6 hours of quality mental work is the limit. The rest you have to do a lower mental effort activity. That means either writing boilerplate code, answering emails, meetings, reading hn but possibly not learning a new language or meeting new people. Stress levels fell because you are in control of your life or so you feel since you have limited external signals. That may not be true but you can't be sure always since you have limited environmental feedback. Nevertheless, being ultra responsive means less control also for me (without getting too philosophical). All in all, I agree with all the steps listed above. That does mean they are the path to enlightenment for everyone or without drawbacks. Having mentioned that, I feel that for a similar strategy was net positive. Mostly because context switching has large costs and because our modern world makes money by distracting us (feeds us with us about superficial needs/lifestyle and forcing us to measure our sense of self on metrics based on narrow minded philosophies -- consumerism of info(/)products).
- geomark 11y ago
  "our modern world makes money by distracting us" I'm not getting involved in the overall discussion, just wanted to highlight this gem. This is so true. In a conversation about Netflix's announcement of worldwide availability the other day I put it this way - so much of the economy is based on cultivating and indulging in mindlessness. If you cultivate mindfulness you see how pointless and wasteful so much of people's activities are.
  - matthewmacleod 11y ago
    This is a deeply ugly and patronising thought.
kendallpark 11y ago
I resonated with the article as well, for similar reasons. I think trimming the fat from you life, so to speak, frees up so much time for meaningful endeavors. > The next step was to kill a lot of tv/movies, and most of my free time internet usage. So I actually figured out that TV was the devil in early high school and stopped watching it almost entirely. There are very particular shows that I will follow and if that show isn't playing, the TV is off. I also don't watch movies to kill time. I pretty much only watch movies with friends or if it's a movie that I suspect will be thought provoking. I'm still working on the internet distraction piece. I'd love to hear strategies for wasting less time on the internet. > Finally, I started steadily filling in the new time gainings with things I really care about I was very fortunate that I've had this mentality from the start. I pursue what interests me. Whatever that is. Don't care if it's weird, or if I'm the oddball. I just go for it. That has led me to have the most random diverse group of hobbies/skills/life pursuits. I'm a programmer. All-American football player (and national champion). Football coach. Gamer. I'm darn good at drawing/illustration. Pretty good cook as well. I like to sew. Now I'm in med school. I look back at everything I've accomplished, the skills I've developed, the friends I've made along the way, and the future ahead of me, and I feel like I've had a full 25 years. Like I could die tomorrow and not be too upset about how I spent my time. I often look at other people's lives and wonder who they would be if they simply went after the things they enjoyed.
jasonwen 11y ago
What I noticed i was doing was taking shortcuts for the past year so I can work more on my startup. First few years I barely hung out with friends. Big mistake. Smaller shortcuts, like eating unhealthy to save some time, not showering everyday, shaving, to optimize my working time, was taking a toll on quality of life in the long term. Therefore I said to myself no shortcuts! This drastically increased my quality of life almost instantly as i take my time now to do "normal" things in life without rush. Actually enjoying it. I also neglected working out and to do things I really like, always thinking I'll get to it once my startups takes off. Since I decided not to work after 6pm, I suddenly have a lot of free time which gave me the possibility to workout without feeling guilty and do other stuff I like. I think I can further optimize by doing things like you described and will try some of them. Thanks for sharing.

iDemonix 11y ago

I'm trying to achieve currently what it seems you have already achieved. The problem is I cut everything out, but then there will be a moment at work where you're waiting for something (in my job for example, waiting for RHEL to install), and you decide to glance at Facebook. Then you do it a couple of times. Then you get home and decide as it's raining you won't go cycling. It all builds back up and I'm back to square one. It feels like trying to kick smoking. I have a list of stuff I want to do (fix up my motorbikes, finish my 'day van', get back in to DH mountain biking) and a list of stuff I do (video games, drink, NetFlix, Reddit), and I always seep back to the latter one. Might give it another go soon, life is short after all.

jfaucett 11y ago
I think the biggest thing is to start very small. Seriously, very very small. I had for years done more or less what you describe. So I finally just decided to start super baby simple and have one tiny little goal and accomplish it. For me it was hard to eliminate looking up my news sites when I had a free minute or two. Eventually, I just deleted my bookmarks and edited my /etc/hosts and that did the trick for me. But I didn't try to cut out those distractions and start a workout routine at the same time. Also I didn't try to start anything else until the last goal had become kind of routine (like brushing your teeth in the morning). There are still many things on my list to see and do and there's still stress in my life, but I feel with this method of one micro step at a time you slowly chip away in unnoticeable steps until now for me a little over a year later you've made a big noticeable dent. oh yea, I finally quit smoking too :) EDIT: most of my goals also had to do with eliminating stress. For instance, my "learning the language" was to just turn on the radio and listen to interesting talk shows in swedish and occasionally look up words, all which was very relaxing for me. My exercise is swimming which is super enjoyable for me and something I always look forward to (even when I didn't have the time to do it). I don't know what it would be like if you do not actually look forward to or enjoy your goals...
- greggman 11y ago
  Does that fact that you're here on HN suggest that it's not quite working? I ask because HN is my biggest time sync. It's the thing I grab whenever there is a moment of free time and even when their isn't. I type it into my browser without even thinking about it. I banned it once with /etc/hosts and that lasted about 3 months or maybe it was 6. I'd still read on my phone but that wouldn't happen except out and about or at bathroom breaks. Then at some point I turned it back on. When it got bad again I blocked it in /etc/hosts. But, it's available in a VM. I'd hoped that would be enough to discourage me but it's not. Instead my habit now is to launch the VM. It is slightly better than unblocked because I still type it into my main browser and the block keeps me off until I eventually use the VM I'd guess I spent 2-4 hours a day on it. I woke up a 8:30 today. Other than a shower I've been on HN. It's 10:10
  - mbrock 11y ago
    Virtue ethics could be a useful framework for thinking about it. Alasdair MacIntyre in After Virtue talks about the concept of a tradition as forming a narrative backbone for a person's life and actions. Conversation is also crucial, and traditions can be seen as extended conversations. I suggest that Hacker News is a place where such a tradition is constructed and maintained. It gives rise to an "imagined community" [2] of this profession of startup development (which is tied into the tradition of open source hacking in interesting ways, sometimes conflicting). In that sense browsing HN is not merely a bad habit. Maybe the negative tendency is to become a more passive participant, or just gossiping all day. Ideally the site would feed into a larger pattern of creative action, instead of only providing some click buzz relaxation. So we could think about how to use the conversation to give wind to our sails, so to speak—or just how to be more active in the actual tradition, not just the discussion surrounding it. That's a big discussion and I've already spent an hour writing this comment, after deleting a long and boring explanation of the MacIntyre book's thesis... So I'll just say that Cal Newport's new book Deep Work was pretty inspiring for me, and it's a quick read. I think you could formulate a dialectic where deep work and community conversation feed into each other. It's like how books are the deep artifacts that conversations can orient themselves around, and the books themselves are like concentrated results of sometimes decades-long conversations. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Virtue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Virtue [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagined_community https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagined_community [3]: http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/ http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/
alexandercrohde 11y ago
I think every human can identify with this. I think it's time for us to start questioning if we really "Want" to do these things so much (exercise) why we don't do them. Do we just want to have done them (it'd sure be nice if I had a nice bod, I should workout. I should learn 12 languages and 3 instruments too!)? Or do we think we want them? Or is there some perverse reason why our body keeps us from doing what we truly want to do in that moment?

myle 11y ago

I am following a similar strategy (almost identical) but it is not as rosy as described here. You may lose friends because they may think you don't care enough about them since you don't call them frequently anymore (and emails do not work for everyone). You are unreachable through the modern messengers because you refuse to waste time on a gazillion of them. Other people update their friends through Facebook. If you opt for an alternative like email (async and focusing on message) then you may be weird for some. Being focused is great and indeed makes wonders in productivity. Nevertheless, in most cases around 6 hours of quality mental work is the limit. The rest you have to do a lower mental effort activity. That means either writing boilerplate code, answering emails, meetings, reading hn but possibly not learning a new language or meeting new people. Stress levels fell because you are in control of your life or so you feel since you have limited external signals. That may not be true but you can't be sure always since you have limited environmental feedback. Nevertheless, being ultra responsive means less control also for me (without getting too philosophical). All in all, I agree with all the steps listed above. That does mean they are the path to enlightenment for everyone or without drawbacks. Having mentioned that, I feel that for a similar strategy was net positive. Mostly because context switching has large costs and because our modern world makes money by distracting us (feeds us with us about superficial needs/lifestyle and forcing us to measure our sense of self on metrics based on narrow minded philosophies -- consumerism of info(/)products).

geomark 11y ago
"our modern world makes money by distracting us" I'm not getting involved in the overall discussion, just wanted to highlight this gem. This is so true. In a conversation about Netflix's announcement of worldwide availability the other day I put it this way - so much of the economy is based on cultivating and indulging in mindlessness. If you cultivate mindfulness you see how pointless and wasteful so much of people's activities are.
- matthewmacleod 11y ago
  This is a deeply ugly and patronising thought.

kendallpark 11y ago

I resonated with the article as well, for similar reasons. I think trimming the fat from you life, so to speak, frees up so much time for meaningful endeavors. > The next step was to kill a lot of tv/movies, and most of my free time internet usage. So I actually figured out that TV was the devil in early high school and stopped watching it almost entirely. There are very particular shows that I will follow and if that show isn't playing, the TV is off. I also don't watch movies to kill time. I pretty much only watch movies with friends or if it's a movie that I suspect will be thought provoking. I'm still working on the internet distraction piece. I'd love to hear strategies for wasting less time on the internet. > Finally, I started steadily filling in the new time gainings with things I really care about I was very fortunate that I've had this mentality from the start. I pursue what interests me. Whatever that is. Don't care if it's weird, or if I'm the oddball. I just go for it. That has led me to have the most random diverse group of hobbies/skills/life pursuits. I'm a programmer. All-American football player (and national champion). Football coach. Gamer. I'm darn good at drawing/illustration. Pretty good cook as well. I like to sew. Now I'm in med school. I look back at everything I've accomplished, the skills I've developed, the friends I've made along the way, and the future ahead of me, and I feel like I've had a full 25 years. Like I could die tomorrow and not be too upset about how I spent my time. I often look at other people's lives and wonder who they would be if they simply went after the things they enjoyed.

jasonwen 11y ago

What I noticed i was doing was taking shortcuts for the past year so I can work more on my startup. First few years I barely hung out with friends. Big mistake. Smaller shortcuts, like eating unhealthy to save some time, not showering everyday, shaving, to optimize my working time, was taking a toll on quality of life in the long term. Therefore I said to myself no shortcuts! This drastically increased my quality of life almost instantly as i take my time now to do "normal" things in life without rush. Actually enjoying it. I also neglected working out and to do things I really like, always thinking I'll get to it once my startups takes off. Since I decided not to work after 6pm, I suddenly have a lot of free time which gave me the possibility to workout without feeling guilty and do other stuff I like. I think I can further optimize by doing things like you described and will try some of them. Thanks for sharing.