6 ms·

My advice would be: rigorously eliminate everything from your life which doesn't fit inside your top X critical priorities. Where X is as small as possible, an

by desc 7y ago

My advice would be: rigorously eliminate everything from your life which doesn't fit inside your top X critical priorities. Where X is as small as possible, and seek to cull it further by combining equivalents and trying to identify why some 'important' things might actually be utter wastes of time in the first place. The world generally uses a ratchet approach to conquer your attention. Use a ratchet to take it back.

unlinked_dll 7y ago
that sounds like a depressing existence
- exolymph 7y ago
  It depends. You could optimize for having a chill life as one of your top priorities. I think the advice is about consciously and explicitly managing the tradeoffs of your choices.
- helpPeople 7y ago
  Chase the extreme pleasures by experiencing much pain. Or be an Epicurean and enjoy the neutral state most, pleasures but not at the expense of pain. Or be a Stoic and find comfort in realizing you aren't invading Russia in the winter.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
  I'd agree. I've seen people who try to min-max their life and "fulfilled" is not a word I'd use to describe them.
calderarrow 7y ago
This is excellent advice which has even been echoed by Warren Buffet [0]. Time is a finite resource and therefore everything we do is a trade-off between depth and breadth. In a given day, you could spend 1 hour learning 24 subjects, or 24 hours learning 1 subject. One isn't necessarily better than the other, but it's a constraint we all operate around. Learning 24 subjects may be interesting and fulfilling to some, but from a professional standpoint those that tend to be most influential in their respective fields are those that devote the most time towards their subjects. There are exceptions of course, but this is the general advice for the general population. Recently, I've started to adopt a similar perspective by rigorously evaluating everything with a simple question: "20 years from now, will my kids be proud that I did this?" If the answer is no, I stop it. So far, I've stopped playing video games and using social media, and I've noticed that I've gotten an extra 10-15 hours per week to spend on things that will make me a better person in the long term, like reading, working out, and spending time with my friends and family. The same approach could be used with any endeavor: "In X years, will I be better at <subject> if I continue to do Y?" [0] https://jamesclear.com/buffett-focus https://jamesclear.com/buffett-focus
- redis_mlc 7y ago
  This. Delegating social media and other trivial pursuits to family and friends can free up an additional 10-15 hours per week for HN! :) More seriously, to get the most out of HN: 1) skip the aviation and database threads and just read my posts. (There are very few qualified commenters on those topics.) 2) for other topics, read a few posts and if it looks interesting, find an in-depth article or blog on that topic.
- closeparen 7y ago
  I find I have a pretty stable need for a certain amount of unfocused, low-energy time. Social media and other "junk food" activities are just ways to fill it. They can and should be replaced by more effective forms of rest (meditation, sleep, walking, etc) but intellectual work just isn't happening in that state. Or if it does, it leads to a harder crash later. I have to roll my eyes a little at the "produce X% more by working through your breaks" thing. If you can do that sustainably, why were you taking breaks to begin with?
  - newshorts 7y ago
    The most effective form of “rest” I’ve found is 10 minutes of boredom before bed. I don’t meditate, I let my mind wander and don’t judge anything. The only rule is I’m not allowed to physically move, I find a comfortable position and must remain in that position for 10 minutes. It’s excruciating at first, but about 5 minutes in my mind has processes whatever it had stored up and I’m tired. About 8 minutes in I’m shutting my eyes. Sometimes I have to give and just go to bed.
    - flancian 7y ago
      I'm glad that you found something that works for you! FWIW, that description seems compatible with meditation technique. Meditation can be non judgmental in that way, and just be a matter of experiencing the state of your mind.
- ldd 7y ago
  > For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons. ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

by desc 7y ago

unlinked_dll 7y ago

that sounds like a depressing existence

exolymph 7y ago
It depends. You could optimize for having a chill life as one of your top priorities. I think the advice is about consciously and explicitly managing the tradeoffs of your choices.
helpPeople 7y ago
Chase the extreme pleasures by experiencing much pain. Or be an Epicurean and enjoy the neutral state most, pleasures but not at the expense of pain. Or be a Stoic and find comfort in realizing you aren't invading Russia in the winter.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
I'd agree. I've seen people who try to min-max their life and "fulfilled" is not a word I'd use to describe them.

calderarrow 7y ago

This is excellent advice which has even been echoed by Warren Buffet [0]. Time is a finite resource and therefore everything we do is a trade-off between depth and breadth. In a given day, you could spend 1 hour learning 24 subjects, or 24 hours learning 1 subject. One isn't necessarily better than the other, but it's a constraint we all operate around. Learning 24 subjects may be interesting and fulfilling to some, but from a professional standpoint those that tend to be most influential in their respective fields are those that devote the most time towards their subjects. There are exceptions of course, but this is the general advice for the general population. Recently, I've started to adopt a similar perspective by rigorously evaluating everything with a simple question: "20 years from now, will my kids be proud that I did this?" If the answer is no, I stop it. So far, I've stopped playing video games and using social media, and I've noticed that I've gotten an extra 10-15 hours per week to spend on things that will make me a better person in the long term, like reading, working out, and spending time with my friends and family. The same approach could be used with any endeavor: "In X years, will I be better at <subject> if I continue to do Y?" [0] https://jamesclear.com/buffett-focus https://jamesclear.com/buffett-focus

redis_mlc 7y ago
This. Delegating social media and other trivial pursuits to family and friends can free up an additional 10-15 hours per week for HN! :) More seriously, to get the most out of HN: 1) skip the aviation and database threads and just read my posts. (There are very few qualified commenters on those topics.) 2) for other topics, read a few posts and if it looks interesting, find an in-depth article or blog on that topic.
closeparen 7y ago
I find I have a pretty stable need for a certain amount of unfocused, low-energy time. Social media and other "junk food" activities are just ways to fill it. They can and should be replaced by more effective forms of rest (meditation, sleep, walking, etc) but intellectual work just isn't happening in that state. Or if it does, it leads to a harder crash later. I have to roll my eyes a little at the "produce X% more by working through your breaks" thing. If you can do that sustainably, why were you taking breaks to begin with?
- newshorts 7y ago
  The most effective form of “rest” I’ve found is 10 minutes of boredom before bed. I don’t meditate, I let my mind wander and don’t judge anything. The only rule is I’m not allowed to physically move, I find a comfortable position and must remain in that position for 10 minutes. It’s excruciating at first, but about 5 minutes in my mind has processes whatever it had stored up and I’m tired. About 8 minutes in I’m shutting my eyes. Sometimes I have to give and just go to bed.
  - flancian 7y ago
    I'm glad that you found something that works for you! FWIW, that description seems compatible with meditation technique. Meditation can be non judgmental in that way, and just be a matter of experiencing the state of your mind.
ldd 7y ago
> For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons. ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy