4 ms·

Ask HN: What's the best mental/physical change you made this year?

5 points by mrburton 7y ago

What was the best mental or physical change you made that has had the biggest impact on your productivity?

Ultramanoid 7y ago
Fix in stone the time to go to sleep. 7 days a week. No matter what. Emergencies apart, nothing justifies breaking this rule. Now getting regular, reliable rest, waking up naturally ( no alarm ) and yet earlier because of this, with all good effects it has on health, work, and even dealing with other people.
sidcool 7y ago
Exercising regularly at least 4 days a week. No exceptions.
mindcrime 7y ago
I changed the way I read (non-fiction) books. In the past, I tried taking notes as I was reading the book, based on both published research - and my own anecdotal experience - regarding retention of read material. That was fine, except I found myself taking overly detailed notes, and sometimes it felt like I was all but transcribing the damn book I was reading. This process was also very slow. But I didn't want to give up note-taking altogether, so I decided to try something counter-intuitive. Now, I read these books twice. I do a first pass where I take no notes whatsoever.. not even light pencil marks on pages or use of those fluorescent page flags. I read fairly fast (depending on how dense the material is) - not quite the way I'd read a novel, but not too far off. Then, almost immediately after finishing, I read it a second time; but this time I take my notes. Except now, having had the first pass, I already have a better idea of what the salient points are, and I find it easier to filter the note taking down to the high points. Note that on this second pass I will read very quickly, or even skip over entirely, certain sections, based on my prior knowledge from the first pass. This lets me focus in more on the really important stuff. Anyway, I know it sounds weird, but I think I wind up spending less time with a given book, even though I'm reading it twice. And even if it's a wash on total time, I wind up with more focused notes. And probably better overall retention just for having seen most of the material multiple times. So far I'm on about book number 4 or 5 using this approach, and it seems to be working pretty well. It may not be for everybody, but I'm going to stick with it for the time being.

5 points by mrburton 7y ago

What was the best mental or physical change you made that has had the biggest impact on your productivity?

Fix in stone the time to go to sleep. 7 days a week. No matter what. Emergencies apart, nothing justifies breaking this rule. Now getting regular, reliable rest, waking up naturally ( no alarm ) and yet earlier because of this, with all good effects it has on health, work, and even dealing with other people.

sidcool 7y ago

Exercising regularly at least 4 days a week. No exceptions.

mindcrime 7y ago

I changed the way I read (non-fiction) books. In the past, I tried taking notes as I was reading the book, based on both published research - and my own anecdotal experience - regarding retention of read material. That was fine, except I found myself taking overly detailed notes, and sometimes it felt like I was all but transcribing the damn book I was reading. This process was also very slow. But I didn't want to give up note-taking altogether, so I decided to try something counter-intuitive. Now, I read these books twice. I do a first pass where I take no notes whatsoever.. not even light pencil marks on pages or use of those fluorescent page flags. I read fairly fast (depending on how dense the material is) - not quite the way I'd read a novel, but not too far off. Then, almost immediately after finishing, I read it a second time; but this time I take my notes. Except now, having had the first pass, I already have a better idea of what the salient points are, and I find it easier to filter the note taking down to the high points. Note that on this second pass I will read very quickly, or even skip over entirely, certain sections, based on my prior knowledge from the first pass. This lets me focus in more on the really important stuff. Anyway, I know it sounds weird, but I think I wind up spending less time with a given book, even though I'm reading it twice. And even if it's a wash on total time, I wind up with more focused notes. And probably better overall retention just for having seen most of the material multiple times. So far I'm on about book number 4 or 5 using this approach, and it seems to be working pretty well. It may not be for everybody, but I'm going to stick with it for the time being.