32 ms·

Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

• molteanu 7y ago
  That cheap mice and keyboards will ruin ones hands beyond repair after years of heavy use. Don't be that person. Learn to type and invest in your hardware early on.
  • jszymborski 7y ago
    Do you have specific suggestions re: peripherals. I've been using the Logitech MX Vertical Wireless lately and it's been a huge improvement from my previous bulky Logitech G600. I'm wondering if there are keyboard set-ups people really like? I'm enjoying my Gigabyte mechanical keyboard, but would be willing to give it up for something that'll let me get more mileage out of my hands/arms.
    • warp 7y ago
      I've used split keyboards since the original Microsoft Natural keyboard. Split keyboards are a must for me, to reduce strain on my wrists. I'm now using a Kinesis Gaming keyboard, which is the only split keyboard I found with Cherry MX switches (I'm using browns).
    • molteanu 7y ago
      Mechanical keyboards are nice and all, but by default they still don't solve for that awkward hand position. Take a good look at your hands while you type. Your wrist is bent sideways, your fingers are higher than the base of your wrist since the later is standing on your desk, but the keys are much higher than the desk. Also, since your hands are quite close to one another, you tend to hunch. Now your back will have some problems. Your strongest fingers both reach just one key, the spacebar, meaning all the other important keys and modifiers are to be reached with some good gymnastics from your part. Those are some unnatural positions you might find your hands in. I'm actually pressing both Ctrl keys with my palms, that being very handy in Emacs, but that brings again problems for the wrists. So, for all these, I think the natural solution is to use a split mechanical keyboard with extra/configurable keys. The position of the hands seems to be more natural with these, https://ergodox-ez.com/ https://ergodox-ez.com/ https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/ https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/ https://www.dygma.com/product/dygma-raise/ https://www.dygma.com/product/dygma-raise/ http://www.mistelkeyboard.com/barocco-series/ http://www.mistelkeyboard.com/barocco-series/ I haven't tried any of those since I can't seem to decide on one of them yet, but the hand pain is real after years of heavy use, so better try and become familiar with other layouts and find out what works best for your hands. The sad part is that you might not know that something doesn't work until it's too late. As for the mouse, switching hands helps. So try learning how to use the mouse with the other hand.
      • SamReidHughes 7y ago
        The key press quality of keyboards affects ergonomics too. It doesn’t have to be mechanical, but some cheap keyboards are heinous.
    • vosper 7y ago
      I really like the MS Sculpt keyboard. I use it with a Mac, my wife uses hers with her Windows machine. I also recently learned about proper desk posture - I now sit with my stomach just touching the desk, and my keyboard is way further forward. My forearms rest on the desk almost all the way to my elbows, and my wrists rest on the keyboards wrist pads. I find that this greatly reduces the strain on my arms and wrists.
      • omnimus 7y ago
        Although it looks terrible tables with that little arch cutout are pretty smart for this reason. Especially on standing desk.
    • otras 7y ago
      I use a Kinesis Freestyle2 split keyboard at my day job, mostly because it was one of the available split keyboards available through my work. I really enjoy it so far. The split lets my shoulders maintain a naturally open position, and the tenting allows a neutral wrist position (but unfortunately my hands are too big for the built-in wrist rests). The only downsides were some initial soreness (I think my shoulders were used to being hunched/turned in), some initially missed keys (it turns out I used to type the letter y with my left index finger, which isn't possible with the split), and more difficulty typing one handed. Side benefit is that I have a good place to put my coffee and snacks. Related to shoulders, I found that raising my monitors with arms (budget option: programming books) greatly help reduce the natural leaned-over hunch I'd get from looking down at my monitor. These two in combination have greatly helped my default posture.
    • projectileboy 7y ago
      keyboard.io has made it possible for me to touch type without shooting pain.
    • deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    • copperx 7y ago
      Kinesis Advantage. I bought one because my advisor had one. I got sticker shock. Spent a big chunk of my then salary on one. Spent a week getting used to it. After 10 years, it is safe to say I will use a Kinesis until I die. It's the perfect keyboard.
      • mruts 7y ago
        I’m surprised they aren’t more popular. I’ve been using mine for 10 years as well and I doubt a better keyboard exists. Also, they are built to last. I’m still using my original Kinesis and it’s held up perfectly, besides the finger grime.
  • proverbialbunny 7y ago
    Really? I have an exercise ball which works pretty well.
    • mosiuerbarso 7y ago
      I second this. A friend of mine recommend I get a balance ball me slumping. It has helped me maintain a better posture when working at a desk
  • lutorm 7y ago
    This is important, but some people use crappy keyboards all their life and never have problems. I think more important is learning to be in touch with your body and applying corrections if and when things start feeling wrong. Unfortunately that's the kind of thing you learn from pain, though...
  • aequitas 7y ago
    Expensive ones will ruin them just as well, for me the size matters a lot. I love Apple products but I can't stand their mice. They are just too small. The previous model (with the knob) and the current touch models are just instant CTS inducers for me (same as typing while standing, wrists bent). I stuck with large mice (Logitech gamer mice) and good touchpad (Apple) for the last few years and haven't had any issues since.
    • omnimus 7y ago
      Apple mice are terrible. They are not made for daily use. My gf with wrist/arm problems swears for Logitech vertical mouse.She had Mx master before but the vertical one helped her a lot. I was also suprised Logitech wireless mice charge last for long time.
• jseliger 7y ago
  All of these: https://jakeseliger.com/2010/03/22/influential-books-on-me-that-is https://jakeseliger.com/2010/03/22/influential-books-on-me-t.... Although if I'd read some earlier, maybe they wouldn't have been so influential.
• martindbp 7y ago
  I dearly wish I had used something like Anki throughout college instead of many years later. And actually focusing on understanding and long term recall rather than passing tests. It would have been difficult though, since having multiple difficult classes simultaneously often requires cramming at the end followed by focusing on the next course. But if I went back to school now that's what I would have done.
  • porknubbins 7y ago
    I’ve used Anki to learn foreign languages and it has been amazing so I tried to use it in grad school but it backfired because all my courses expected understanding a few big deep ideas and not memorization of hundreds of small facts. I think it really depends on the domain, like medschool its commonly used but I’m not sure about other areas.
    • martindbp 7y ago
      Do you have any examples? I'm genuinely curious. I'm using it for languages but also math etc. I've found that medium/big picture ideas come with some kind of "insight" that has to fit into short term memory, or consciousness, so it must be possible to construct some cue that reminds me of this insight. I've also learned over time that even though it feels like I could never forget an insight I just had, over time they fade as well unless I revisit them.
      • porknubbins 7y ago
        Examples of where I dont find srs productive- law and programming. Both are focused on deep ideas that do not convert easily to a short sentence and by the time you’ve gotten the idea the verbal reminder is not necessary. I know what you mean about an insight but for me when I really get something, for example an algorithm its more like a mental picture of moving parts in my head.
• otras 7y ago
  Learning How To Learn (https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn) and Barbara Oakley's book A Mind For Numbers. Completely changed my approach to studying and learning, and my academic efforts after taking it were tremendously better than before. Also related: highly recommend Anki. It feels like magic when the spaced repetition works!
  • ajhamada 7y ago
    Exactly, This is the skillset that you will need for life.
  • valgor 7y ago
    Is it necessary to go through the entire Learning How to Learn course or is there a TL;DR somewhere?
    • pmohun 7y ago
      This comment is probably the most common reaction, and also the reason the course exists.
    • iserlohnmage 7y ago
      It's worthwhile. Try it.
    • psv1 7y ago
      I didn't find it useful at all. Not that it was bad - it's just that there was barely anything new for me and the content lacked depth. It all felt like obvious stuff. It seems to get a lot of praise though so clearly some people find value in it.
    • sn9 7y ago
      The course is really short. Like 4 hours. You could spend an hour per week and be done with it. Or just consume it over the course of a few days.
    • huehehue 7y ago
      I don't remember who posted it or if it's the same course, but https://workflowy.com/s/E9HW.jGUYboLrGj https://workflowy.com/s/E9HW.jGUYboLrGj
• sethammons 7y ago
  I wish I had discovered interval training and olympic lifting earlier.
  • mdgrech23 7y ago
    Crossfit?
    • sethammons 7y ago
      That works, as long as you have a decent coach good with body mechanics. Kinda few and far between in my experience. But in general, lifting heavy things is healthy and I wish I had been doing it sooner. For cardio, intervals ftw.
  • TheGallopedHigh 7y ago
    For those wanting a good starting program for lifting check out “Stronglifts 5x5”. To learn form of complex lifts of squats or deadlifts, check out “So you think you can deadlift/squat” on YouTube.
• misiti3780 7y ago
  Anki or space repetition, exercise every day, natural low-sulfer wines books: thinking fast and slow, black swan/antifragile, why we sleep, the organize mind
  • valgor 7y ago
    >natural low-sulfer wines How is this helpful?
    • misiti3780 7y ago
      wine in small amounts is very good for you, low-sulfer wines reduce hangovers.
• minexpert 7y ago
  I wish I had discovered interval training and olympic lifting earlier.
• algaeontoast 7y ago
  How to effectively learn and balance my use of mental energy. My diagnosis of depression and ADD inattentive-type (my parents were great, but denied that mental health was a factor until I decided to at age 22). I don't fault them, but I know for a fact my years in highschool and college struggling to learn / focus but knowing I had cognitive ability will irk me until the day that I die.
  • wufufufu 7y ago
    So what did you do about it
    • algaeontoast 7y ago
      Paid to be diagnosed by a neuro-psych and neurologist (which my insurance didn't cover). Worked to find the right stimulants and antidepressants (fortunately I no longer take antidepressants) and most importantly focus on what I really valued in life which oddly made understanding how to learn more effectively much easier. I understand there are arguments against ADD / ADHD being "real" ailments, but I can personally attest to being at least 50-70% more creative / productive as an engineer when I'm using stimulants in low-doses and eating right.
      • nicoburns 7y ago
        > I can personally attest to being at least 50-70% more creative / productive as an engineer when I'm using stimulants in low-doses and eating right. I'm not saying that ADD/ADHD aren't a thing (as it happens, I'm pretty on the fence about that), but I just wanted to point out that pretty much everyone will be more productive/creative when using stimulants and eating right.
        • gwbas1c 7y ago
          Sometimes I wonder if low-dose stimulants should be available without a diagnosis. Most people don't know this, in the US, a doctor can only prescribe medication for therapeutic use. A doctor can't prescribe someone a low dose of stimulants because that person genuinely enjoys using them, but has no medical need. Thus, I suspect that some doctors will just write down ADD as a diagnosis because someone wants legal access to amphetamines.
• sharadov 7y ago
  Thinking strategically from a career and life perspective. Managing your investments Eating right and exercise Risk Taking - take big risks early in your life, ones which have the biggest upside. The terror of the unknown and leaping into it and coming out at the other end multiple times makes you fearless. The journey is all that matters, the destination is not in your hand. But the journey teaches a lot. Some of the above, I was fortunate to learn early on from good mentors, and I've reaped big rewards, the rest I only wish someone had told me earlier.
  • ljf 7y ago
    I wish I'd learnt about investing before I was in my late 30s - and same about value of a good pension. Still - it is never too late.
    • sharadov 7y ago
      There is a lot of learning, that happens in school which has no bearing in later life. Why not have a course which combines economics+investing+accounting?
    • algaeontoast 7y ago
      What exactly do you mean by “investing”. The notion of “investing” in a few index funds or shoveling money to a financial advisor?
      • sharadov 7y ago
        I mean really understanding the subject of investing. A good book teaching this is "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham ( Buffett based a lot of his philosophy on Graham's "value investing").
      • ljf 7y ago
        Just the concept of sticking £100/£1000 here and there into a an index tracker and leaving it well alone - ideally until a rainy day/emergency. There have been plenty of times in my life I was 'cash rich' but I left my money in the bank, as I didn't know what to do with it. I used to then over pay my mortgage, which was crazy as I had a 1% interest rate and the stock market would have been a better place to put my cash. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a 'rich' man - but I've always put money aside (out of a fear/memory of being broke) I just could have worked that cash harder - and that was money that I could have taken some risk with.
• SamReidHughes 7y ago
  How much playing Bach would improve my piano ability as a function of time spent. Some HN comment recently mentioned this, so I gave it a try. The importance of keeping a clean sleeping environment.
• shakezzz 7y ago
  Perfect is the enemy of done
• deleted 7y ago
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• deleted 7y ago
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• rihegher 7y ago
  I wish I had been diagnosed as gifted earlier (around high school) For the rest the timing was not that bad
  • rando444 7y ago
    If it's any consolation, it's common that children labeled 'gifted' early, either don't live up to the label or are affected by the label negatively. Even in my own adolescence I watched the most 'gifted' child eat batteries and jump off the roof of the school.
    • Xelbair 7y ago
      I would actually prefer that label early on. I learned from my parents that back in preschool and early primary school i was math genius. Supposedly i astonished the ones administering preschool tests by doing stuff from two grades above effortlessly. Sadly later on I was stripped of my potential by math teacher in primary school. I solved all exercises by writing the result outright, and she forced me to write down every. single. step. I got so used to that over course of 3 years, that now I'm slower than average at mental calculations. i cannot do algebra efficiently without a piece of paper anymore. That teacher is probably the only person in my life i genuinely hate.
      • mkl 7y ago
        I have a PhD in maths. Writing down every step is the only way to get things right and be able to verify that (essential for anything that actually matters). The best maths advice I ever got was a high school teacher (not even my teacher) looking at my work and telling me to write down more steps; suddenly my accuracy and speed got way better. Maths ability varies widely, and I don't think being able to do things a couple of years earlier than your peers is that uncommon or really predicts your later achievements, except for the encouragement of early praise pushing you in that direction. If you really want to be good at mental calculations, practice that. You haven't lost anything you can't regain. However, pen and paper is more accurate, more permanent, and can often be faster, though it feels slower because you're physically moving a lot. Your hatred is beyond futile, achieving nothing but hurting you and holding you back.
• ksandvik 7y ago
  Be kind to yourself, if you can't you can't be kind to others.
• deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
• leblancfg 7y ago
  You are the sum of your habits. I've always had "sort-of passable" ones, but they were never chosen by design, only by what had accreted with time. I had played with some systems and apps, but nothing had really worked until I took the time to write out in excrutiating detail what I would be doing for every minute of my morning and evening. At first I had to follow my schedule, but that didn't last long. With the birth of my son, daycare, and a new job, I was finally forced to actually plan out a morning and evening routine. I wish I had done this in university. Every day for the last 6 months, I have now a routine I don't have to think twice about: * Woke up at 5 AM, * Exercise hard, take a shower and have breakfast, * Get to work before 7:30 AM with my day's tasks already in mind. Similar for the evening preparing my breakfast, lunch and clothes. It's liberating to do these now without thinking. It took about a month, and my brain is now free to plan out the day or listen to an audiobook.
  • psv1 7y ago
    Yes. Every time you take the low road, that part of you wins and gets a little stronger (even neurologically speaking). The reverse is true as well.
  • ido 7y ago
    How do you get to work before 7:30am with a child? Does daycare start that early? I struggle to get my kids up, fed, clothed and in kidnergarten before 8:30 myself (which means I can be at work around 9).
    • leblancfg 7y ago
      My wife and I’s schedules are staggered. She takes mornings, I take the afternoons. I don’t think the actual hours at which you start your day matter much, though. I find the value is in being constant at it.
  • Xplosiveoctopus 7y ago
    Read and fully implement Getting Things Done by David Allen. It’ll free up your mind even more.
• andersthue 7y ago
  The anatomy of peace, helped stop being stuck and make a turnaround on my mindset and my life.
• notacoward 7y ago
  #1 How to run. I hated and avoided running for 30 years, then I got to the point where I hated going to a club and I hated having a machine in my home (and not getting any aerobic exercise at all was of course intolerable) so I decided to give running a try. At first it sucked, but then I figured out I'd been doing it wrong so I fixed my stride etc. It sucked less. I still don't enjoy the activity itself, but I'm sure glad for the results. #2 The power of compound interest. I was lucky to learn this one early, but I think a lot of others weren't so lucky. More than any other single thing, any skill, any stroke of luck, this is why I now feel comfortable about my financial future into retirement.
  • thirdsun 7y ago
    > I still don't enjoy the activity itself, but I'm sure glad for the results. I don't think that's a sustainable or worthwhile approach. Exercise and training can be found in many forms and countless different activities - pick those you actually enjoy.
    • notacoward 7y ago
      > I don't think that's a sustainable or worthwhile approach. I have several thousand miles of evidence to the contrary. There's a lot of "exercise" not worthy of the name. For many people, especially at my age, the very heart/lung exertion that characterizes true exercise is at least mildly unpleasant regardless of how it's attained. Fortunately, one can harness competitive or goal-oriented impulses to make up for it. I count miles, I track my pace, I compare myself to other runners my age, I look at the scale, etc. Thinking about these results helps me keep going when I exercise just like it does when I'm hacking on some grotty piece of code at work, and I've been doing that continuously for longer than most here have been alive. If I only ever did things that were fun in the moment, I'd be a bit of a failure, so I suppose learning the value of deferred gratification is another potential answer to the original question.
      • thirdsun 7y ago
        That's fine. I didn't mean to say that you only should do fun things, but I think there's a middleground. Personally, I think running is a very boring activity - road biking however, while similar in nature, is something I look forward to and it comes with the same benefits (goals, tracking, comparable stats) you seem to actually enjoy. I can also recommend team sports - for me it's football (as in soccer), but specific sports are beside the point as those are very subjective. I'm just trying to say that I see no point in engaging in a sport I don't enjoy when there are so many options available that offer rewarding goals and provide enjoyment while you get there.
• lutorm 7y ago
  Stoicism.
• deanmoriarty 7y ago
  If you're interested in seeing financial returns for your time/work, don't work as a startup employee, ever.
  • ambivalents 7y ago
    Could you elaborate? Seems like this is heavily dependent on the success of the startup and at which stage you joined.
    • mav3rick 7y ago
      The probability for this is extremely low.
    • blaser-waffle 7y ago
      Which is essentially a crapshoot, since there is no way to truly predict which will turn into a unicorn and which one will take 5 years of your life and leave you with worthless options. Ye old game of High Risk vs High Reward.
    • deanmoriarty 7y ago
      Replied above
  • AndrewHayes 7y ago
    How about, don't work as an undercompensated startup employee who is relying on shares to become valuable. You can have incredibly rewarding jobs both personally and financially working for a startup.
    • deanmoriarty 7y ago
      I would love to hear more about your experience. In my experience, no startup comes close to the pay of a big and healthy tech company. Specifically, even if you get the startup to match the base salary of the big company (which is almost always not true and comes at a 20-30% discount, but I'm willing to assume that it can be done), the equity that the startup will give you is effectively $0, whereas the public RSU the big company will give you are basically cash-equivalent (if you are really conservative you can adjust them by 20-30%?). This last point is the major one for me: at least in the Bay Area, senior software engineers are offered equity grants that are effectively the same size of their salary every year, so by going to a startup you are immediately being paid at least half.
• rsync 7y ago
  I wish I had discovered Hacker News earlier. I kept having customers sign up for rsync.net citing "Hacker News" in the "where you found out about us" but I assumed it was the old hacker news that was run by a certain defcon/cdc personality and was sort of a clone of attrition.org ... it had been around since 99/00/01 or so ... It took me several years to figure out there was a new hacker news out there ...
  • rando444 7y ago
    I believe that one was the hacker news network (hnn) IIRC
• breck 7y ago
  How to Read A Book by Mortimer Adler. Also, ycombinator/pg essays. Before that I got my business advice from “the apprentice”. The Pattern on the Stone.
• hprotagonist 7y ago
  I wish i had learned that going to the gym is the thing to do when your brain is full. My undergrad GPA would’ve been higher and i’d have gotten fit earlier in life.
  • penetrarthur 7y ago
    I especially like the exact moment during the workout when you feel that "blood starts flowing in the head again" and you gain some sort of clarity. Especially if I've been working really hard that day.
• ty2019 7y ago
  The absurdity of taking student loans for education
  • lutorm 7y ago
    This is highly location dependent though. I just happened to notice that the interest on my Swedish student loan is 0.16%. That in combination with the income-indexed payback scheme and the fact that the loan balance is forgiven at age 65 makes it an absurdly good deal.
    • tathougies 7y ago
      public loans in the US are forgiven after 10 years (PSLF), even if you're on a payment plan.
    • 2rsf 7y ago
      Swedish higher education is generally free, or at least very cheap. If you insist you can find places that are not free, but generally loans are taken to finance housing and living
  • Phillips126 7y ago
    I second this (U.S.). I came from a middle class family but college came straight from my pocket. I sunk nearly $75,000 into college and struggled to get a comfortable paycheck for a long time. I'm now 32 and feel that I can make ends meet but it came at the cost of destroyed credit, inability to purchase a home/car, etc. Slowly things have recovered and I now own a home, married, kids.. but I had never felt more depressed than when I realized the true cost of college. Teenage me didn't quite understand what I was signing up for, adult me regrets the decisions I made. (I went to school for Graphic Arts, I shifted to Software Development in my late 20s).
• tommaho 7y ago
  Awareness that periods of high performance are not 'free'. How to leverage that balance. Curiosity and aptitude for math. I've found this about 25 years too late for it to make much of a difference.
  • patrickxie 7y ago
    Can you elaborate more on the first sentence?
    • tommaho 7y ago
      Sure, an understanding that I have a closed, fixed pool of resources to balance between efforts. My personal model is mind / body / spirit (or mental / physical / artistic). I've learned through failure that high and exceptional performance in one direction draws fuel from the other(s). If my performance is out of balance for a long enough period, I seem to accrue a kind of debt repaid over periods of burnout and depression.
• channel_t 7y ago
  I wish I had discovered the wonders of attending college earlier on. I spent a good chunk of my teens and twenties in a constant state of alienation because I wasn't around people who put much value towards analytical thought. It wasn't until when I finally discovered it on my own in my mid-20s that life started making sense. It seems like that for many, the high school -> university pipeline is the path of least resistance, but if you don't have any pressure from family or direct peers involved in that kind of thing, it can fall far under the radar.
• sebastianconcpt 7y ago
  * Full time remote jobs * Conspicuous Signalling Theory * The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn * Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault by Stephen R. C. Hicks * The Ethics of Liberty by Murray N. Rothbard e Hans-Hermann Hoppe * The Red Pill * How a Cultural War works and who is waging it against Western Civilization * Lifting & dieting. The importance of muscle mass for everything in life * How to cook tasty meals that fits an intense fitness lifestyle * How hypergamy works (alpha seeds / beta needs)
  • AIX2ESXI 7y ago
    I see you're a fan of Jordan Peterson as well and the red pill philosophies. Do you listen to any content creators on Youtube? My top 3 are Ronin man, Sunrise Hoodie and Coach Red Pill. Many people just see the surface of the various forums and loudest idiots and write the whole thing off as dejected young men in the thralls of misogyny. In reality, they are modern day support groups for men who have have been raised or in relationships with boderline personality women and are going through abandonment trauma and or fucked by their friends and society; the lessons these men have to teach are invaluable and lifestyle it promotes is new age stoicism mixed with self survival and the ability to see through desires and wants for others and yourself.
    • sebastianconcpt 7y ago
      I swear I cleaned up my room so now I'm heading to choose to lift some sacrifices at the gym.
      • AIX2ESXI 7y ago
        Yeah, that the concept I am struggling with now. Picking my damn sacrifice (been struggling to quit cannabis, been using it as a crutch since I was teen)
        • sebastianconcpt 7y ago
          Cleaning the room comes first (as metaphor). Then things will start to align around that and your new, more mature self, will signal you what's the new best use of your time/resources.
• tyri_kai_psomi 7y ago
  Therapy and having a spiritual Father. Then I would have discovered all the dumb things I did as a teenager and early 20s were as a result of a destructive feedback cycle consisting of depression/anxiety, low self esteem, and existential crisis.
• bobbean 7y ago
  No amount of telling yourself you're happy will make you happy. You can't just "make yourself happy", it's a side effect of other things you do in your life.
  • justaguyhere 7y ago
    Yup. There was a recent guest on Tim Ferriss podcast - he was talking about depressed people, no amount of "you should be happy" or "there are people who have it much worse than you" is gonna help depressed people. It is only going to annoy them and drive them away. That said, there are people who use affirmations successfully to get out their misery. I dunno what to believe anymore
    • copperx 7y ago
      If you are not depressed (big if), and you're just going through the motions of life, you CAN make yourself happier just by reading the right material (e.g., Feeling Good, The Four Agreements) or yes, even affirmations. The happiness will last for about a day, in my experience. Then you can revisit the material.
    • ian0 7y ago
      I run a checklist in my head whenever im feeling really down. I think about things I know make me really happy, basic things. Friends, family, travel, motorbikes etc. And if when thinking about those I still feel down and pessimistic - I understand that it's my brain chemicals at play and Im in a funk. Doesn't help me feel better in that particular moment, but does let me know that later it will get better and there some context and comfort in that.
  • dhimes 7y ago
    Just keep in mind that there is a difference between happiness and pleasure. There are unpleasurable things, such as helping at a homeless shelter and such, can bring you happiness. On the other hand, there are pleasurable things that can lead to unhappiness. The Dalai Lama makes this point.
• stunt 7y ago
  - Setting 3 daily goals every morning. - Budget/money planning. - The power of writing things done to make them happen.
  • justaguyhere 7y ago
    The power of writing things done to make them happen. Can you explain your process?
    • once_inc 7y ago
      down probably. Just noting things in a list and having that list to base your actions of.
    • stunt 7y ago
      Sorry I meant "down"! I write everything down. Purchase decision, budget planning, daily goals, or even meeting agenda. It is so simple that it's hard to believe how much impact it has. I believe it takes away all the mental energy you have to put to process things in your mind. And somehow it gives some sort of value and priority to your plan when you write it down. It quickly becomes a discipline and works against procrastination. One of those things that you always hear it, yet you can't believe it until you try it.
• zerr 7y ago
  Being underpaid.
• urazen 7y ago
  I wish I had discovered that uploading cat videos on YouTube might change one's life ;)
• NebuREvoL 7y ago
  How do you look for stuff here
• juddlyon 7y ago
  Here's a couple for web dev: * how DNS works and how to configure common record types * regular expressions - specifically for URL rewriting * setting up good logging and monitoring * asking for help earlier
  • tracer4201 7y ago
    When you think about scaling your service or application, don’t forget about how your logs will grow. Think about this impact on CPU and disk usage. If you wrote your own agent to ingest your logs, don’t forget to scale up your logging service. Source: peak traffic event... person who did back of the envelope math based on p99 request size forgot about logs and specifically the increased log event volume. Machines were about to tip over. I recall having to ssh to hosts to manually kill the log agent process because the logging ingestion service was shitting itself (not properly throttling either) and we had no other levers in place. Lolz did I mention deleting logs on live hosts because logs were just accumulating and not getting cleared off? Now imagine this across 20,000 hosts. Teehee.
  • blaser-waffle 7y ago
    > how DNS works and how to configure common record types A DNS haiku: It's not DNS There's no way it's DNS It was DNS
• AnimalMuppet 7y ago
  That interacting well with people really matters. That it's worth attention and effort.
• wurp 7y ago
  Meditation. Download a free 20-minute guided meditation and do it every day. Maybe at some point read "The Miracle of Mindfulness" by Thich Nhat Hanh. I can provide a good guided breathing meditation on request. Meditation will help you be calm and focused. It will help you recognize and work through emotions with a minimum of harm to yourself or others. I'm definitely not advocating self-immolation, but the same training that let monks sit calmly as they burned to death in the 60s (in an attempt to call attention to the horrifying war in Vietnam) will definitely help you deal with your breakup, illness, work troubles, or loss of a loved one.
  • bobosha 7y ago
    Absolutely second this. Long-time PTSD sufferer here, just meditating 30 mins every day has worked wonders for me.
  • _vn5r 7y ago
    I’d appreciate a link to a good guided breathing meditation
    • qzx_pierri 7y ago
      I’m not sure which type of phone you use, but I’ve been meditating off and on for years, and I’ve tried EVERYTHING. The absolute best guided meditations are from an app called “Stop Breathe & Think” - It gives you a 2 question survey and gives you a guided meditation based on what you need for the day. A lot of meditation apps feel very corporate and contrived, but not this one. Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.stopbreathethink.app&hl=en_US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.stopbreath... iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stop-breathe-think/id778848692 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stop-breathe-think/id778848692
  • mikhailfranco 7y ago
    Not just the Vietnam war, but continuing now against Chinese occupation of Tibet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_protests_by_Tibetans_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_protests_by_Ti... I sometimes wonder if Buddhist monks are powered by lithium batteries.
• nikivi 7y ago
  Probably Karabiner. This tool is just crazy powerful. https://github.com/nikitavoloboev/dotfiles/blob/master/karabiner/karabiner.edn https://github.com/nikitavoloboev/dotfiles/blob/master/karab...
• rodrigopacini 7y ago
  Crypto
• rodrigopacini 7y ago
  Cryptocurrency.
• andrewgee740 7y ago
  Crypto. ab 4 years ago would've been good enough for me
• NewDayRisen 7y ago
  Way better than before.
• csallen 7y ago
  I've spent a ton of time as a developer trying to make money from various side projects and businesses. So most of my top "wish I'd discovered this earlier" list revolves around tech+business stuff: * Strategy #1: Charge more. patio11 has been shouting this from the rooftops for years, but it didn't sink in until after I started Indie Hackers[0]. If you charge something like $300/customer instead of $5/customer, you can get to profitability with something like 50 phone calls rather than years of slogging. It's still hard, but it's way faster. * Strategy #2: Brian Balfour's four fits model[1]. It's not enough to think about the product. You also need to think about the market, distribution channels, and pricing, and how each of these four things fit together. I imagine them as four wheels on a car. It's better to have 4 mediocre wheels than 3 great ones and a flat. * Book: The Mom Test.[2] Amazing book about how to talk to customers to research your ideas without being misled, which is a step I've stumbled on before. * Tool: Notion. I just discovered it recently. I use it for all my docs and planning. [0] https://www.indiehackers.com https://www.indiehackers.com - my latest business, and the one that actually worked [1] https://brianbalfour.com/four-fits-growth-framework https://brianbalfour.com/four-fits-growth-framework [2] https://www.amazon.com/Mom-Test-customers-business-everyone/dp/1492180742 https://www.amazon.com/Mom-Test-customers-business-everyone/...
  • bananamansion 7y ago
    how does one find business ideas that you can charge 300/customer? is it 300 per month or per year?
    • namanyayg 7y ago
      Any B2B idea should run 300/mo easily. Finding those businesses to sell to is the challenge. But perhaps it's easier selling 300/mo to X businesses than selling to 5/mo to 60X consumers? You decide.
      • nostrademons 7y ago
        They also require very different strengths & skillsets in founders. B2B products are usually sold, not bought. Sales skills in the founder are paramount, as well as a personality that can take rejection well and find win-wins and value-adds for the customer. B2C products live and die by viral growth and word-of-mouth, because margins are not usually enough to support a consultative sales process or any sort of intensive advertising. That requires a founder that's really good at reading the zeitgeist and identifying needs that customers never knew they had, and that understands human psychology on an unconscious level. Often technical skills (on the founding team) matter more for B2C markets as well, because it's more critical to stand out from the competition. Timing also matters more with B2C. There are some time periods (now, dot-com bust, or the late 80s & early 90s) where there are basically no viable B2C ideas available. There are also time periods (early 80s, dot-com boom, 2009-2013) where they are abundant. Unfortunately you often don't realize this until hindsight reveals all the people who kept working on their B2C ideas throughout the bust.
• mayodispatch 7y ago
  test
• mhuck0625 7y ago
  I wish I had learned to appreciate the now so to speak. Too often do I look back and think of the old Andy Bernard quote "I wish there was a way to know you're in "the good old days" Anymore I try to take a step back sometimes and look at myself objectively and look at what makes me happy so I can appreciate it NOW instead of when time has passed. I think its made me a better father, brother, son and friend.
• tony 7y ago
  Nice job on Internal family systems OP! I'm not there quite yet but getting close - TypeScript : Absolute game changer for JS. I can't imagine programming regular ES. Sort of hoping TypeScript becomes the next ES. - Desktops : Desktop processors and video cards are insanely powerful compared to laptops. If you're doing any sort of compilation (even if it's webpack / frontend) this stuff helps a ton. A project that takes 90s to build on a mbp is 30s on a desktop. - Windows 10 + WSL - Attachment Theory: https://www.behaviorology.org/oldsite/pdf/AttachmentTheoryBeh.pdf https://www.behaviorology.org/oldsite/pdf/AttachmentTheoryBe..., https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1d36/ac75d7081fcd86d467f6d2ef408d60c8ffca.pdf https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1d36/ac75d7081fcd86d467f6d2... (The stuff by Cindy Hazan and Philip Shaver are very relevant for adults) - Schema Therapy: https://www.guilford.com/excerpts/young.pdf https://www.guilford.com/excerpts/young.pdf Look up Psychology in Seattle on Patreon and download the deep dives for Attachment Theory and Schema Therapy. After that it's easier to grok the research papers/books.
  • copperx 7y ago
    Do you mind sharing briefly what you got out of attachment theory and schema therapy? Or why are they worth a look?
    • tony 7y ago
      To some, they're therapy frameworks, to other's they're analytical tools. I bring it up here is because they cut to the chase and get to what people want. We're not good at saying it, it makes us too vulnerable to. Some of us could save a lot of time and misery if we broke this taboo. Are you to open to viewing things in a different perspective? First you'd get a gist of the theory/framework/model/whatever. Then you'd need to understand what thing/person/system it's being used on. Without that, it'd be making too many assumptions to explain to others without context. The perspective is subjective to the one applying it, a blend of art and science. I grew up in a family / circle where as an adolescent, nobody gave me advice or cared about my emotions. Worse, my parents dumped their emotions on me. Despite being a child and having my own stuff on my plate, I was recipient to persistent, intense emotional outpourings of neediness, anxiety and anger. Day in and out, for years. I looked up papers as a survival tool. Various other stuff that messed up me having needs met. What do people need anyway? Does everybody have them? Do people need to be loved, how is it defined? Does society ignore, shame, or belittle our basic needs? Sometimes, I think so. This means people are suffering and they can't even articulate why. What if more people could simply be cognizant of these needs? Could/would we be happier? I don't know. I'm still digging into it.
• tzs 7y ago
  • Bread freezes and thaws really well, with little or no loss of texture and flavor. If I had found this out 35 years earlier, I probably would have replaced thousands of visits to fast food restaurants with sandwiches made at home.
  • copperx 7y ago
    What kind of bread? Homemade? Store-bought? Sandwich bread? Whole wheat? White? Does it matter? Also, how do you thaw it?
    • TheCapeGreek 7y ago
      Not OP. I personally haven't tested with anything other than whole wheat, but I know other people freeze white bread. Proper bakery breads might be a bit more hit or miss. As for thawing, just transfer it to the fridge the night before.
    • jjp 7y ago
      Not op, but we've frozen pretty much all bread for years. You don't get the freshly baked feeling, but unless you live on top of a bakery you aren't going to get that anyway. Defrost either leave it out or microwave. Alternatively if making sandwiches for work, make them frozen and let it defrost during the morning.
      • yen223 7y ago
        Alternatively, slice it before freezing, and chuck it in the toaster to defrost.
        • blaser-waffle 7y ago
          This works really well, but with one caveat: you're not gonna store it for a really long time. Otherwise you get a lot of freezer burn between each slice, way more than on an uncut loaf. But like a month or two in the chiller? All good. Had great results with homemade pain de mie that was sliced and frozen and eaten over 30 days.
• Xelbair 7y ago
  Merge statements in SQL. Sadly i have to work with piece of shit called firebird, which is both slow and full of exceptions. If you are forced to pick a file based DB - pick sqlite, don't touch firebird. I also have to work with a database schema designed by someone mentally handicapped - i know for fact that it was designed in early 90s by someone self taught.. and it never had a single refactor. They just migrated their own file-based 'database' to firebird. Sadly this piece of shit software is used very commonly in my field. Merge statements make complicated updates blazing fast compared to any other way. That my engineering field is basically dead and i should've changed to software development sooner.
• nEoRzar33 7y ago
  * Internal Family Systems made me more peaceful
  • cheeko1234 7y ago
    Do you have any book recommendation or other sources?
• findyoucef 7y ago
  This might sound simple, but in my mid 20s I discovered how effective I was at teaching myself new things..in the past I had relied on learning within the confines school. I just found it odd that I discovered I didn't need teachers to learn conventional subjects after I was already done with university.
• mosiuerbarso 7y ago
  For me two things really come to mind: 1. YNAB (you need a budget) 2. Yoga During my 20's & early 30's i had always had a well paid job but nothing to show for it. I also had big overdraft which I'd never done anything about. About 6 years ago I picked up a copy of YNAB 4 for about £8 of Steam. Within 3 months I'd completely changed my spending habits. Roll on a year or two and I'd paid off all my debts. And this program has allowed me to save for some big life events and trips - things I'd have probably borrowed money for in the past. Last year I bought my first car in full without the aid of a loan. The program also helped me when I went self empoyed a few years ago. Both mine and my long term partners finances go thought the program and we know exactly how little money we can live on - this is valuable info if times get hard. The program is basically a spreadsheet with a nice GUI but the methodology behind it work for me. If I'd have found something like this in my early 20's I'd be a lot better of than I am now. But hey, better late than never. I do Yoga every day. Prior to me getting into Yoga I thought the only real way to exercise was to join a gym. I live in a rural part of the UK, so for me travelling to the gym is timeconsuming. A few years back I'd been suffering back pain due to long stints sitting at a desk all day. I'd also started to put on weight due to inactivity. Anyway, during one painful day I decided to Google "Yoga for back pain". I tried it and I was hooked. Not only did it fix my back pain, it eased it for around 3 days. Since then I've really got into Yoga and try to do at least 20-60 mins a day. Sometimes I might do it twice a day if I know I'm going to be sat down a lot. Like everyone else I have days when I'm worn out - for these days I have a couple of 10 min routines which I try to do. I'm a firm believer of trying to exercise every day, even if it's just for 10 minutes. It's a good habit to have and doing it daily reinforces the habit. Since doing regular practice I don't really get any achy joints. I also do HIT style Yoga 3 times a week which helps with body tone, strengh, and cardio. When you really get into Yoga you realise they're many different styles which can help different aspects of your health. For me, my main driving force was back pain - I've never done any exercise which fixed my back as well as certain Yoga exercises. For me Yoga is great because it's easy and free. You only need a Yoga mat (a beach towel can suffice at the beginning) and Youtube to get started. I keep myself in reasonable shape without having to travel or pay any gym fees. I never knew exercise could be so easy and cheap. I wish I'd known this in my late 20's, when I put on a lot of weight, and was suffering with back pain and other achy bits.
• qwerty1234599 7y ago
  To never go autopilot mode.
  • juststeve 7y ago
    need more details
    • qnsi 7y ago
      this is unachievable
• Sofia1996 7y ago
  I would open my cryptocurrency project, but if there was an idea that would change the whole world)
• rafik7777 7y ago
  How do you get to work before 79:30am with a child?
• ian0 7y ago
  Hard Sci-fi. Holy crap it just overdelivers. In addition to entertainment, a way to take my mind off things, it also delivers context to daily life and keeps me focussed on trying to deliver something truly worthwhile.
  • donatj 7y ago
    Any recommendations? I’ve read a ton of Arthur C. Clarke in my teens, I’d love to branch out.
    • scotchbonnet 7y ago
      Larry Niven - Ringworld (+ Ringworld Engineers), The long Arm of Gil Hamilton, Oath of Fealty (Oh man! They had instant messaging wetware! ...And a diving board!). Robert Heinlein, Joe Haldeman, and Issac Asimov are some other heavy hitters in this space.
    • Pepe1vo 7y ago
      I immensely enjoyed Children of Time by Tchaikovsky, coincidentally winner of the 2016 Arthur C. Clarke award :)
      • once_inc 7y ago
        So did I, but I wouldn't classify it as hard sci-fi. Too many things left unexplained for that.
        • sannee 7y ago
          If we consider Three Body Problem as hard sci-fi (see above), then Children of Time definitely clear that bar too.
    • mkl 7y ago
      Andy Weir - The Martian. Possibly the most well researched science fiction book I've ever read. Well worth reading even if you've seen the movie, since that leaves out about half the things that go wrong and the large majority of the technical details. Andy Weir - Artemis. Weir managed to figure out a way for a city on the moon to make economic sense, while physics makes it almost impossible. Neal Stephenson - Seveneves. First sentence: "The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason." What follows is the brutally, unforgivingly hard consequences.
• donatj 7y ago
  Parsers / Lexers. I’ve been programming for twenty-ish years and only recently started playing with parsers and even a simple hand written one is quite empowering. I really wish I could have spent more time on this when I was younger and single. I for instance wrote a small not-fully-featured SQL parser [0] recently which helped me overcome a huge obstacle in my job. [0]: https://github.com/donatj/sqlread https://github.com/donatj/sqlread
• mike_kamau 7y ago
  Sleep Get good sleep. At least 8 hours everyday. Get a good mattress. A good sleep makes a happy life.
  • elkos 7y ago
    Also seek consult from a Sleep Laboratory at ypur local major hospital, if you snore people and people sleeping in the same room report you stop breathing during your sleep (even for a few seconds). This might be signs of treatable pathological conditions that if not treated can (and most likely will be) detrimental to your health, quality of life and productivity.
  • wly_cdgr 7y ago
    I misread that as "Get a good mistress", which is also good advice.
• freenetpro 7y ago
  Exactly, This is the skillset that you will need for life.
  • mkl 7y ago
    What is? If you're trying to reply to a comment, click "reply" right below it.
• mud_dauber 7y ago
  Learning how to overcome imposter syndrome. I didn't come from a top-tier school, didn't work for name companies, and had a zig-zag middle manager career. instead of a meteoric rise through the ranks. Multiple layoffs too. I'll never see my name lauded in a press release. I've discovered that self-worth is just that - it comes from within.
• adipandas 7y ago
  I should have known before was engineering in Computer Science rather than in Mechanical will help me a lot. Nothing too harsh, but I realized coding is fun very late.
• akachick115 7y ago
  Thank you for the recommendation
• akecew 7y ago
  haii
• nestorherre 7y ago
  -Having a morning routine -Meditation -Reading consistently -Importance of sleep (fixed my sleeping issues with CBT-I [cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia]) -Value of joining a leadership/self development group like Toastmasters -Accepting you for who you are, and work with your strengths -Stop listening to what people say/advice about your life, most of the time they're wrong and you know better.
  • 2rsf 7y ago
    > -Stop listening to what people say/advice about your life, most of the time they're wrong and you know better. Yes, it will also reduce your stress levels. But it's easier said then done.
• dcchambers 7y ago
  My love for "preppy" sports like Golf and Tennis. Growing up I ignored those things because I felt like they were exclusively for boring rich people. I got my first taste of golf after college at a fundraiser that I reluctantly agreed to attend only because a friend was hosting - and I loved it instantly. I started playing Tennis because there is a public park with courts just a few blocks from my house - and I love that too. Yoga. Another thing that I always assumed was for rich suburban moms and I didn't need to bother with. In my youth that might have been true, but the body ages poorly if you don't take care of it. Yoga is a fantastic way to be mindful/meditate and stretch/exercise. TL;DR - Don't be so quick to judge that which you have not tried. I wonder how many other things I have ignored throughout my life because I associated them with some preconvieved belief or stereotype.
  • mosiuerbarso 7y ago
    +1 for your advice and your opinions on Yoga. I always thought it was for hippy/new age types. It wasn't till I tried it myself that my opions completely changed. As I mentioned elsewhere in this thread it's the best exercise I've found for my back pain and I've tried allsorts. If anyone reading this has achy joints, bones, muscles, etc, give it a go. There are thousands of videos on Youtube . Some of the instructors are a little cringe worthy with what they say - but the exercise is solid. I have a friend who's the same age as me (nearly 40) who teaches and trains in BJJ. He frequently fights people half his age (and wins) and he tells me the Yoga really helps him in that sport. If anyone reading this is wondering where to start I can recommend this channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/lesleyfightmaster/playlists https://www.youtube.com/user/lesleyfightmaster/playlists
• AlchemistCamp 7y ago
  I wish I'd really discovered programming before I did. Though, I'd been reading about it, messing with Excel, WP blogs and nibbling at the edges for my entire adult life, it wasn't until my mid 30s that I really got into programming. It wasn't an easy mid-career move, but it's greatly improved my life options and can only imagine where I'd be now if I'd spent my 20s learning computer languages instead of human ones.
• RocketSyntax 7y ago
  * MVC programming (went to business school) * Scikit-learn * Road bikes
• longnguyen 7y ago
  Stoicism. I was unhappy and angry most of my 20s
• lapaz17 7y ago
  Discovering Hn, about 4 years ago. Although I did not choose which cs subfield to master yet, I think Hn will affect my decision heavily. But I wish I had taken a year break after graduating high school to know better about myself, so I could have chosen cs instead of eee.
  • ssivark 7y ago
    Unsolicited cents of advice, but IMHO, a year off after undergrad makes far more sense than a year off before undergrad. The enlarged skill set should hopefully allow you to try interesting projects in that time, which would typically be a far more useful experience than sitting around and introspecting. Also, there's no fixed you to find out about... You'll keep evolving and changing... So it doesn't make much sense to stop learning/doing for an extended period to analyze :-)
• mooreds 7y ago
  I wish I'd discovered writing ebooks earlier. I enjoy doing it and have completed one, but haven't carved out the time to do another. Earlier in life it would have been far easier to write a number of them, which would likely have led to more career opportunities, if not more "passive" income.
  • MattLeBlanc001 7y ago
    Do you have any advice on where to start? any course?
    • mooreds 7y ago
      Whenever I think about writing an ebook, I write out twenty blog post titles. If I can't get to twenty titles, I don't have enough knowledge or passion to write a whole book. Then, the one time I wrote an ebook, I blogged each of those twenty titles. I set up a mailing list. I participated in forums on the topic, with my signature linking to the blog posts/email signup form. Then, after I'd written the blog posts, I used leanpub to pull in the RSS for them. Then I edited them and expanded where needed. That worked for me once, that's the path I'd take in the future. Things to realize: * writing a book is hard. I remember spending an hour on one sentence of my book (just testing to make sure I was correct about a statement). * technical books have short lives. Tech moves on. That said, people are willing to spend money to save time. * marketing is at least as hard as writing the book. Prepare to spend time doing this. * If you aren't using the tech in your work (or won't be in the future) you better love the tech or your book will need changes and you won't want to put in the time. Here's more about my book launch: http://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/1339 http://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/1339
• TheCryptoTengu 7y ago
  Peace and understanding after being a 0311 and 0313 in the Marines during 2006-10
• boca 7y ago
  1. That sleeping over uncomfortable pending decisions and discussions helps a lot. 2. That a fixed sleeping schedule with at least 8 hours of sleep does wonders to my thought process and has a calming effect. 3. That my thoughts, especially under tough circumstances, are not really a true picture of reality. This one is tough and is still under discovery mode. 4. That I should never compare myself with others. The only thing I should rely on others should be for inspiration. The comparison part I knew my whole life but, like all simple things, it took a while for me to actually immerse in the depth of it.
• tawaaaaaaaaay 7y ago
  Alice Miller's Drama of the gifted child. Discovered the concept of developmental trauma, and unleashed a whole series of discoveries about human personalities and my lifetime struggles with many things in life.
• rturing 7y ago
  Hi Op, Can you invite me to Superhuman?
• omar12 7y ago
  Having a Work Journal. There are times that I wished I started one earlier. When I go back at my work journal, I'm amazed how much I have accomplished, even when its something insignificant.
• el_dev_hell 7y ago
  Explosive outbursts of anger over tiny tiny issues is a mental illness and not a normal part of life. Probably not what OP was specifically looking for, but this single discovery has been the most profound in my life.
• WnZ39p0Dgydaz1 7y ago
  Realizing how much incentives matter. Everything around you is driven by incentives: Coworkers, your boss, customers, personal relationships. More importantly, everything is driven by "personal incentives" more so than "business incentives", and those two aren't usually aligned. For example, if you are talking to a potential customer (who may represent a company), it's invaluable to understand what incentives drive this person (not company!). What is he or she trying to get out of working with you? A promotion? Recognition from his boss? A story to tell his family at dinner? What are his current life and career goals and how does that align with choosing you? What is his decision making progress and why? And so on. The same can be applied to your coworkers, or anyone else you're working with. Even to you friends and family, whose incentives may to be simply have a good time, feel loved and accepted, or have someone to listen. There are rarely true "irrational" decisions. If a decision looks irrational to you, it's most likely because you don't truly understand the incentives driving that person.
• bakuninsbart 7y ago
  * Bouldering: Could be generalized as "a sport that fits you". Bouldering changed my life, as it is the perfect balance to a desk job. I met a lot of great people, improved my self confidence and am much healthier now. * The power of routine: I never liked routine and thought it stifles creativity. In some ways it actually might, but creaitivity without productivity isn't worth that much. * To not take myself so seriously: Life is so much easier and more fun if you can laugh about yourself, if you don't try to uphold a self-imposed picture towards others, and if you can accept that sometimes things go wrong, and sometimes it's your fault. - Not only am I happier now, I think it also made me a better person.
• gadders 7y ago
  The book How to Win Friends and Influence People and weight training for strength - Starting Strength, 5/3/1 etc.
  • gadders 7y ago
    Also, if you have a regular work task you need to do, block out time in your diary for it. And the absolute joy than can come from having children.
• 0_gravitas 7y ago
  Functional Programming, so much of my frustration with mathematics early in my education could have been allayed if just a small number of certain core ideas were planted in my head when going through it.
• countryqt30 7y ago
  AlleAktien — https://www.alleaktien.de https://www.alleaktien.de for German stock ideas
• Nguyenhung 7y ago
  If there's one thing in life you want to know before anything else, it's how to get better at things
• Nguyenhung 7y ago
  There are rarely true "irrational" decisions. If a decision looks irrational to you, it's most likely because you don't truly understand the incentives driving that person.oke
• meiraleal 7y ago
  Intermittent fasting and carnivore diet
• gjvnq 7y ago
  How to propagate uncertainties. Daily journaling. That I needed glasses.
  • evolve2k 7y ago
    Willing to ellobarate on your actual daily journaling processes. When? Where? Any structure around what you actually write/questions you answer.
• wly_cdgr 7y ago
  * Facebook has been the best dating site for the last 15 years * Sites like HackerRank, Codility, etc. So fun. * https://teachyourselfcs.com/ https://teachyourselfcs.com/ * Loop Habit Tracker (Android app) * raylib * Anki (thanks, HN) * Queal * Virtual desktops, took me way too long to start using them, lolsob * The secret clouds area in 6-2
• jayeshgopalan 7y ago
  For me Awarness book by De Mello, Anthony has been life-changing and I wish i discovered it earlier in life.
• jurasource 7y ago
  I wish I'd discovered writing "Morning Pages" a lot earlier. I've been doing it for the last year, and it's helped me figure out much better solutions to so many issues in my life, than I would have without the calm, reflective thinking that writing for 30 minutes each morning brings. Can't recommend it enough. https://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/morning-pages/ https://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/morning-pages/
• cdeutsch 7y ago
  - Living in the city instead of the suburbs. - Living in an apartment/condo; instead of owning a big, stupid house.