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What Is the Most Valuable Thing You Can Learn in One Hour?

585 points by soygul 7y ago

soygul 7y ago
Hi all, This is an article that I've composed based on a previous HN discussion (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21581361 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21581361) and other discussions on the net. There are things like cooking, first aid & CPR, setting up a Raspberry Pi, cable management, etc. that you can learn in an hour and can make a meaningful difference in your life. Both article and video mention many topics and gives tips on them. * Article: (as posted above) https://quanticdev.com/articles/most-valuable-thing-to-learn-in-one-hour https://quanticdev.com/articles/most-valuable-thing-to-learn... * Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F_srpzXQ6o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F_srpzXQ6o If you have any ideas, I will add them to the article.
- cboy5675 7y ago
  Links in the resource section are all broken.
  - efxz 7y ago
    404 everywhere you go!
  - jfoucher 7y ago
    They go to "articles/...." instead of "/articles/...." e.g. https://quanticdev.com/articles/most-valuable-thing-to-learn-in-one-hour/articles/raspberry-pi-guide-for-developers https://quanticdev.com/articles/most-valuable-thing-to-learn... should be instead https://quanticdev.com/articles/raspberry-pi-guide-for-developers https://quanticdev.com/articles/raspberry-pi-guide-for-devel...
    - soygul 7y ago
      thanks just fixed them. accidentally used relative path instead of absolute.
      - carapace 7y ago
        Ah yes, I'm sure we've all been there. :-) Check out something called "Core Transformation Process", it's a simple algorithm, you can learn it in an hour (although I think the full training is ~3 days, but that includes other stuff as well), and it has very profound effects. https://www.coretransformation.org/ https://www.coretransformation.org/
ForHackernews 7y ago
I will tell you from experience that one cannot learn "cooking" in a single hour, any more than one can learn "music" in an hour.
- riffraff 7y ago
  I agree 100%, but I would say: it is possible to learn _something useful_ about cooking in 1 hour (e.g. how to chop vegetables, or how to cook a steak). I am doubtful it is possible to have the same experience with music, although maybe one can learn things like "what is a canon".
  - loblollyboy 7y ago
    How to open a bottle of wine
  - gonzo41 7y ago
    Watch bon appetit on youtube for an hour. It's fun and you may find yourself thinking about cooking more for fun rather than a chore afterwards.
    - chongli 7y ago
      Whether cooking is fun or a chore is, I think, directly related to how much stress the rest of your life is causing you. If you’re extremely busy holding down multiple jobs just to pay the bills and feed your kids, then it’s hard not to see cooking as a chore. A person in such a situation is going to get very impatient trying to watch most cooking videos which tend to waste a lot of time talking about things unrelated to the recipe at hand.
      - shantly 7y ago
        Home food prep takes a lot of time, quite a bit of skill, and a ton of knowledge, for the whole process, not just the cooking itself, especially if you want the supposed health benefits and savings it grants. 1) Shopping. What's a good price on X? Meal planning's a factor and takes time, and you've gotta already have some notion of what's cheap right now for that, or else much better cooking skills to be able to make something with whatever you happen to pick up, in which case you also need to be a good judge of how much of each thing to pick up to cover meals for a given period of time. All this also takes time. 2) The actual cooking. Obviously. Takes time, takes skill, takes schedule stability if you don't want to end up with a bunch of "well shit, I guess we're ordering delivery pizza again" days. 3) Cleaning. Even if you're great about clean-as-you-go while also trying to watch kids or whatever, is your spouse? Uh huh. And cleaning as you go is another skill in the cooking department, gotta know when you're done with things, when you have minute to wash a pot without ruining anything, how to prep your ingredients and space and in what order for maximum effect (being other-than-awesome at this adds quite a bit of time to your cooking process). How to clean various things requires a little knowledge and experience, too. (Of course it can be super cheap and incredibly easy and low-time-commitment if you can convince your family to be OK with rice-cooker rice, beans, and steamed whatever-frozen-veggie-was-on-sale for every dinner. Good luck.)
jpxw 7y ago
Basic First Aid (CPR etc)
- varjag 7y ago
  Among 'etc' I would recommend Heimlich maneuver in particular. Didn't really ever expect to use it, but ended up doing it on my own kid…
  - ddelt 7y ago
    I am alive today because someone close by me knew how to do this. I hope others never need to use it, but I hope everyone 'knows' how to use it.
  - deanebarker 7y ago
    Me too. He was six at the time. A hard candy he took from a restaurant.
  - kaybe 7y ago
    Also have a look at the video on how to do it on yourself.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    Yes. Probably one of the best quick hits in first aid. By comparison, while CPR is good to know, it's probably only going to help in a fairly limited set of circumstances. One of my complaints about first aid courses that I've taken is that they seem to spend a lot of time on things like splinting and often skip lightly over stuff you're more likely to run into in everyday life.
- inetsee 7y ago
  I would consider CPR to be an invaluable thing to learn. Unfortunately, at least where I live (North Carolina, USA), there do not seem to be any free classes. Available classes range in price from $84 to $126 in price, depending on what's included in the class (basic CPR, basic plus pediatric CPR, CPR with other first aid instruction, etc.).
blargmaster33 7y ago
That the only good communist us a dead one.
Moodles 7y ago
First aid is good. Also general investing in index funds like VTSAX and VTIAX. It is so simple, yet most people I run into on a regular basis just save their money in a checking account earning 0.01% APY. Follow the reddit personal finance flowchart. Learn about Roth and HSAs and ESPP and the benefits of diversification. We’re literally talking about multiples of your net-worth over your life if you invest compared to saving in a normal bank account. No, it is not gambling. It is riskier not to invest in the long-term.
- tempsy 7y ago
  What crowd are you in where most people have all their money in a savings account? That is borderline financial suicide.
  - Moodles 7y ago
    My family. Women I’ve dated. I’m back in my hometown for Christmas now and talking to people I knew from school. The average person doesn’t know about this stuff (though most likely has some proportion invested through the default option in their 401(k)). I mean damn, my aunt’s husband died recently and we had to bail her out of 10k credit card debt where she was paying interest. The Hacker News crowd probably knows above average, though even then a lot of my colleagues could know more, e.g. haven’t heard of VTSAX, didn’t know our 401(k) does a mega backdoor Roth, etc.
    - tempsy 7y ago
      Do they have 401Ks or pensions or other retirement accounts? Then they have stock or bonds.
      - Moodles 7y ago
        Yes, I know. They don’t understand what they’re doing very well though. Education will affect their net worth massively.
        7y ago
unicornmama 7y ago
The three links under the following section are broken: “Relevant articles referred to in this article”
- soygul 7y ago
  thanks, just fixed. classic absolute/relative issue.
sunstone 7y ago
Why is it, exactly, that, as a rule of thumb, almost all people who start life poor and end up rich do it with real estate.
- splike 7y ago
  Where might I learn why that is?
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- gryn 7y ago
  Where do you recommend looking to learn more about this ?
- icebraining 7y ago
  Simple: it's one of the four monopolies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Tucker#Four_monopolies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Tucker#Four_monopolie...
- omarhaneef 7y ago
  Because it’s really the only place where a non-rich person can get massive 4:1 leverage on their assets, and where there has been a secular growth trend over the last 50 years.
  - H8crilA 7y ago
    This. Never underestimate the power of leverage combined with luck (good asset selection, which almost always is luck). TQQQ, a NASDAQ 3x leveraged ETF is up almost 50x since 2010. Real estate has insane leverage via mortgage. 10% downpayment results in a 10x leverage, 5% downpayment is a 20x leverage. Imagine a house that was purchased at 10% downpayment. A 2x (+100%) house value appreciation gives you a 11x (+1000%) return on that 10% downpayment.
    - 7y ago
ethanbond 7y ago
Taking this also as a bit of an Ask HN: Easily the Tiny Habits habit formation regime created by Stanford researcher BJ Fogg. A lot of the addictive design patterns you see in apps like Snapchat, Instagram, etc. are built off his research. Quite nefarious use of psychology for advertising/“engagement”, but the plus side is you can use the same strategies to build habits you want to build. Step 1: Consider the habit you want to build, e.g. “I want to meditate 10 minutes every day” Step 2: Make it the absolute smallest possible version of itself; so small that it requires zero motivation/willpower, e.g. “I want to close my eyes and take 3 deep breaths every day” Step 3: Place this habit immediately following an existing habit, e.g. “After I brush my teeth in the morning, I will close my eyes and take 3 deep breaths” Step 4: Do this activity, and after each time you do it, reward yourself with a small celebration. It sounds ridiculous but I literally just say “Victory!” and force a smile on my face. The small rush of good-feeling-chemicals will keep you coming back. I’ve used this method to pick up daily meditation, journaling, and flossing (acquired simultaneously!) after years of struggling to pick up any one of them. The first two habits have been monumental in my ability to learn, take on stress, and improve virtually every one of my relationships. A shameless plug for BJ because he’s a great guy: his book, Tiny Habits, happened to be released today (what a coincidence!). I haven’t read it but if this is remotely interesting to you, I’m sure it’ll be extremely useful and engaging. It’s on Amazon, you can find it! Sidenotes: * Don’t worry about the habit scale down, it will naturally grow over time into its fuller form. I spent a month of the year just flossing 1 tooth each night (ridiculous, I know!), then 5 months just flossing 1 row (better!) * Part of the trick is finding a good habit to put your new habit after. You probably already have a lot more habits than you know, since the whole point of a habit is to be automatic.
- icebraining 7y ago
  Didn't work for me, I simply started forgetting to do the new "habit" after a few days. I guess if it's just after flossing you can add a note next to the toothbrush, but for others that's not practical.
  - ethanbond 7y ago
    Did you reward yourself after? It really is important but I feel many people skip out on it because it sounds (and is) ridiculous. Other thing he recommends is “practicing” your habit, especially if your context changes e.g. you’re staying in a hotel for a week. This would mean for example to mimic brushing your teeth in front of the mirror then walking to the bed to sit and close your eyes 5 times or so. To start it’s probably worth picking something up that you can easily prompt yourself to do (such as a note on your mirror). The only one that failed for me was posture related which relied on a too-irregular prompt.
tuesday20 7y ago
Compound interest. Simply starting early in some boring find/investment and not obsessing over daily stock prices will do wonders for one’s health and finances
- tempsy 7y ago
  I always hear this but the theory of compound interest has little to do with stock investing. Not all stocks pay dividends. Most actually do not. And betting on a general YoY rise in stock prices into retirement is not the same thing as compound interest.
  - Moodles 7y ago
    Stocks don’t need to pay out dividends for compound growth. Your last sentence is basically: “betting on compound growth is not the same as compound growth”. Yes ok, but a little pedantic imo. Over hundred years of evidence suggests betting on a diversified portfolio of stocks is a good idea in the long term.
    - tempsy 7y ago
      It’s not being pedantic. When you talk about the theory of compound interest it’s essentially starting with $100, getting paid interest or a dividend, and then reinvesting that so now you have $102 that earns a dividend or interest and so on. Investing in 100 shares of company XYZ that does not pay a dividend, or investing in a company that does pay a dividend but isn’t being reinvested, is not compound interest in the classic sense at all.
      - Moodles 7y ago
        Roughly speaking, if a company doesn’t pay a dividend, it reinvests the profits in itself which compounds its own stock price. You get the benefits of compounding stock prices that way. I think we are arguing over semantics.
        7y ago
omarhaneef 7y ago
I can’t criticize the list because it’s so hard to think of something that might fit in but it seems exercise should have a role in one of the categories.
timvisee 7y ago
Vim. I think it can be in the list as well. It takes a long time to properly learn. But one hours is defiantly enough to get to know the main Vim bindings, to be as productive as in other editors. In the end it makes you super productive.
- alpaca128 7y ago
  I've been using Vim for over 5 years now for as much as possible, and it started exactly like that: I looked at a couple of the most basic shortcuts(Esc and i to switch modes, :w and :q to save and exit, hjkl to move the cursor), just started using it for editing files and looked everything else up when I needed it. Over time the stuff you actually need regularly sticks. Nothing has influenced my use of computers as much as Vim, and I'm really glad this tool exists. It makes editing text a great experience, and has a couple feature you can't find anywhere else(not even Emacs offers such a flexible, intuitive keybinding functionality or reliable, quirk-free controls).
  - xk3 7y ago
    I still don't get the appeal of vim or modal text editing in general but I'm glad you can close vim with shift+zz
- fbnlsr 7y ago
  Serious question: I keep seeing Vim thrown up and down like it's the holy grail. I've been using VS Code for two years maybe now, and I don't see how Vim could help me be a better/more productive coder. What am I missing?
  - kamek 7y ago
    To put it simply, it's just a very efficient way to manipulate text with a keyboard. Once you get accustomed to it, writing and especially modifying text without it seems laborious, almost like you're writing with your wrong hand. The problem is, the opposite is true until you reach some level of proficiency. Until then, vim is hard to get used to. I know I haven't provided a concrete answer, but many blog posts have been written on the matter. I personally started learning vim by running through vimtutor once a day as part of a New Year's resolution about ten years ago.
cgufus 7y ago
One thing i‘m missing is a bit a generic one, but here goes: What are the principles that make a democracy? (e.g. freedom of opinion, freedom of press, separation of powers a.k.a. checks and balances, Rule of Law etc.)
- ohyes 7y ago
  You can get a PhD in that subject.
  - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
    Sure. But if you live in a democracy (or want to), it wouldn't hurt to know the basics.
rwnspace 7y ago
Take an hour to sit in a quiet room without any stimulation. You'll learn a lot about your mental situation, and understanding where you are is really helpful for understanding where to go (if anywhere).
- nkrisc 7y ago
  I think this is more valuable than it might seem. I'd wager many people couldn't even sit still for an hour in a room by themselves with nothing but their own thoughts.
  - Insanity 7y ago
    Does it count if you lie awake in bed for an hour unable to sleep because of rumination? Because in that case, I'm sure plenty of people do it at some point. But what helps me is taking walks. You're alone with your thoughts, but the act of walking through nature is stimulating for more positive thinking, from my experience anyway.
    - shantly 7y ago
      > Does it count if you lie awake in bed for an hour unable to sleep because of rumination? Because in that case, I'm sure plenty of people do it at some point. Heh, shit, if that counts I "meditate" for an hour or more a couple times a week. It's absolutely horrible. [EDIT] in fact, running with that, most of my life has been a struggle to "meditate" less for the sake of my own health and sanity. I'm way down from the every single night for like two damn hours of ages ~7-16!
      - godtoldmetodoit 7y ago
        I definitely struggle with the same thing, my mind just not wanting to calm down and running through a million ideas. That is not meditation though. Learning to meditate has helped me a ton in being able to calm my mind down and get to sleep. I'd recommend checking out the Sam Harris Waking Up app, just do it for a few days and see if it clicks.
acvny 7y ago
Complete BS. Click bait article name.
majiasheng 7y ago
How to speak (Professor Patrick Winston from MIT) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unzc731iCUY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unzc731iCUY
- Keloo 7y ago
  just took an hour to do that. That was an amazing lecture. I salute you for the suggestion.
- jasonlotito 7y ago
  My short 4 word recommendation for people wanting to learn to speak in public: slow down, speak up. For me, those two things get you a lot farther than you might think, and solve two of the biggest issues I see from people.
- slowhand09 7y ago
  I just finished watching. Well worth the time.
al_form2000 7y ago
For verly large values of one hour.
katzgrau 7y ago
Gratitude. Look around you and consider all of the things that are going well for your. Your nice remote gig, your fridge full of your favorite beer, the sunny day outside, your healthy family. Do that at the start of every day and really meditate on awesome it is that you have those things. Sincerely and quietly thank whoever you feel is responsible for them. You'd be amazed how that 3 minute exercise changes your perspective.
- refurb 7y ago
  I expected to flip through a find a bunch of vacuous answers, but this one really resonated. Gratitude does wonders for your mental health!
- chasd00 7y ago
  I read a quote last night that went "don't complain about growing old, it's a privilege denied to many". That really stuck with me.
ohyes 7y ago
Really apologizing sincerely when you make a mistake.
- bloopernova 7y ago
  Being able to admit to yourself that you made a mistake, that it was an accident, and that you will not hate yourself, that's important. Being able to say to others, "oh, sorry, my mistake, I assumed something incorrectly." Or "I admit I wasn't paying enough attention to what you were saying, I'll put my phone/game/video down and listen better now, please continue." Those are really powerful: you're admitting that you aren't perfect, and that the people you are with are OK with that, and that everyone is comfortable with admitting mistakes to help each other grow. Better to start at home and be able to help your romantic relationship. Then you can work on making your workplace the kind of environment where people help each other rather than shoot each other down.
- arkades 7y ago
  That takes so much more than an hour.
JensRantil 7y ago
Meditation.
axegon_ 7y ago
Having worked with non-technical people, one of the most useful things you can learn in an hour (less actually) is markdown.
- whatupmd 7y ago
  Please elaborate.
lammalamma25 7y ago
Excel hot keys
- hortonew 7y ago
  You Suck at Excel with Joel Spolsky - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nbkaYsR94c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nbkaYsR94c
mathieubordere 7y ago
using `Ctrl + r` in your shell, I just hope someone reading this doesn't know it yet :-)
- seisvelas 7y ago
  I worked for years as a sysadmin grepping through history because I'm just learning this from you. Thanks!
  - mathieubordere 7y ago
    That is heart-warming news!
  - F147H34D 7y ago
    I had a coworker who was having some issues. I chuckled when he had an alias for history | grep when I was checking out his env
    - CGamesPlay 7y ago
      Is that why his Mercurial wasn’t working?
    - capableweb 7y ago
      To be fair, I also have that alias and use CTRL+R. They are useful for different scenarios. CTRL+R when I know what command I'm looking for, but can't remember the full one. `history | grep -i $TERM` when I remember some part of the command, but not exactly sure. With that, I get a list of possible candidates to choose from, instead of having to do CTRL+R repeatedly to find the command I was looking for.
- praptak 7y ago
  Building on this, infinite shell history. Google how to set it up for your shell.
  - F147H34D 7y ago
sandfly 7y ago
If you have a laptop with a trackpoint, become proficient with it. You can switch between mouse and keyboard without moving your fingers away from the home row.
- abhijat 7y ago
  I just disable the trackpad in all my laptops, I find it much harder to use than a trackpoint.
  - soygul 7y ago
    > trackpad in all my laptops even in a macbook? it probably is the best part of macbooks in general
    - ghaff 7y ago
      MacBooks were the first laptops I had where I actively liked the trackpad rather than grudgingly tolerated it. TBH, I've been pretty happy with the trackpads on my Chromebooks and Linux Thinkpads as well. It's mostly my one Windows laptop that I still feel I need to attach a mouse.
    - sandfly 7y ago
      The MacBook trackpads are definitely great. And the trackpoint looks like an anachronistic holdover from the early 90s next to a modern trackpad. However, it has survived because it's truly a useful productivity tool. It's a nice middle ground between having to move your hand between the keyboard and trackpad, or embracing a keyboard-only Vim approach.
soygul 7y ago
Original poster here: I am thrilled with the discussion up to this point. I cannot update the video any more but I will incorporate the suggestions into the article. Thanks for all the tips!
rtpg 7y ago
Kinda weird to say that learning cooking takes an hour. Maybe learning one dish? I guess the nice thing would be to have actual articles that would show some principles in an hour
- scaryclam 7y ago
  I think you can do a lot more than a single dish. Learning how to peel common vegetables, boiling a pan of water, baking a potato, boiling/frying an egg, making a really simple tomato sauce and boiling pasta could all be taught in an hour. If you can make a basic pasta + sauce, bake a potato and prep some vegetables you can start cooking lots of other things as the skills are transferable.
- ghaff 7y ago
  This is the sort of thing where video would probably work better. For the most part, you probably need to be at a certain level of skill before you could easily pick up a new cooking skill be just reading about it and trying it. (That's probably generally true of most things that have a strong physical component.)
- zackmorris 7y ago
  I don't normally share these things, but I stumbled onto this video last night: The Ultimate Steak Sandwich - Gordon Ramsay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwu2y9x5OlM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwu2y9x5OlM He adds a bit of nuance to every single step of the process. I found myself wowing repeatedly. I even had an existential crisis about it briefly as I realized that I don't love anything as much as he loves cooking. I used to love programming, but now practically hate it as often as not. I don't know how to reconnect with that kind of love and meaning in my life anymore. I sincerely don't want to do anything that society tells me to do. My days are planned around coping and avoidance. Without hope, I lack passion. Without passion, I lack focus. Without focus, I lack a means of income. Seriously, I'm stuck paralyzed at step one and have been for over 6 months. If you aren't paralyzed with doubt, great! Be thankful for that and pay it forward. Hope this video inspires someone.
modzu 7y ago
chess
univalent 7y ago
Learn to cook one or two simple dishes that don't take a lot of time to prepare.
14 7y ago
This year I learned to knit and I would say it took about an hour of watching videos and just trying. Of course like the article mentions it wasn't until more practice that I became pretty good at it. If anyone has thought about knitting, it is very easy and I find it relaxing on my mind to just take my focus off of something.
amiga_500 7y ago
Watch this 5 times then spend ten minutes passing it on: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gD_dZvPwAj0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gD_dZvPwAj0 Questions in this thread about real estate, "investing" etc. Comprehend it with the above.
- soygul 7y ago
  thanks. land value tax is one of the great mysteries of life for me. bookmarked it for new-year watching.
- ActsJuvenile 7y ago
  Some sincere feedback: LVT sounds a cooky concept that might solve inherited / ossified land ownership problem in the UK, but it seems to have little relevance to the USA. Land is plentiful here. LVT might also reward families with liquid assets, while burdening lower-income families whose main asset is their house.
  - amiga_500 7y ago
    Major economists like Friedman disagree with you. It has huge relevance in the USA. George was American. Read this essay on raised land values by proxy (railroads or today tech or infra): http://www.wealthandwant.com/HG/what_the_railroad_will_bring_us.html http://www.wealthandwant.com/HG/what_the_railroad_will_bring...
nordsieck 7y ago
IMO, the single most important thing I've ever learned is: try to be effective when you're communicating. I used to feel an obligation to correct other people if they had false beliefs. This was not an endearing trait, and even worse, I was never particularly successful at convincing the other people. One day, I read a passage from "How to make friends and influence people". It said something along the lines of: "The point of an argument is to convince the other person of something. If what you're doing is not working, then do something else." BAM I'm not perfect, but these days, I try to listen a lot and speak a little. And the little I do speak is designed to appeal, as much as possible, to my audience. As a small bonus: I really try not to get drawn into arguments with people who just like to argue (instead of those arguing in good faith). "OK" is an amazing response to shut those kinds of interactions down in a hurry. You can't out box the heavy bag.
- humanrebar 7y ago
  > The point of an argument is to convince the other person of something. If what you're doing is not working, then do something else. That's not the point of most arguments. Most arguments have an audience, and often that audience is also involved in making choices. If neither your opponent nor your audience is swayed, yeah, you could just be entrenching everyone in an oppositional attitude. That being said, discussions are typically better than arguments when that is an option.
- OGWhales 7y ago
  My dad gave me very similar advice growing up, as I love for things to be factually correct. To me, it didn't bother me if someone corrected me. However, most people don't appreciate it and it isn't worth upsetting them 90% of the time. This is something I didn't understand. Another thing he told me was not to be a know it all. One example would be when people said something and I had learned before, instead of diminishing their statement by saying I knew that, I should say something like "wow that's cool" as it makes the person feel better. He gave me lots of small little interaction tips that helped me come across as a better person even though none of them were nefarious in nature.
  - 7y ago
slowhand09 7y ago
Learn how to get out of debt!!! Step 1: List your debts from smallest to largest regardless of interest rate. Step 2: Make minimum payments on all your debts except the smallest. Step 3: Pay as much as possible on your smallest debt. Step 4: Repeat until each debt is paid in full
- mathieutd 7y ago
  I disagree with this. You should pay your higher interest rate debt first.
  - mateo411 7y ago
    Yes, paying the maximum that you can to the highest interest rate debt and paying the minimum to all of the lower interest rate debt is the optimal greedy algorithm.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    I guess the parent is arguing for a psychological benefit to reducing the number of discrete debts as quickly as possible. But I agree with you. If someone has credit card debt and then some other debts at significantly lower interest rates, in most cases (modulo liquidity) it would make sense to put any extra money towards the high interest credit card debt first.
  - slowhand09 7y ago
    Thats OK. Paying the smallest 1st builds psychological momentum. If people have willpower, financially paying the highest rate makes sense. People with less willpower and drive gain confidence by checking off a loan as paid, then moving to the next.
  - froindt 7y ago
    I've looked at the difference with a few people. It depends on the balances and interest rates, but the difference is smaller than I would have guessed. With tens of thousands of dollars of debt, I've seen the difference be just a couple hundred dollars. Smallest to largest balance frees up cash flow faster, making it more likely the person won't go into additional debt (and hopefully won't get discouraged and quit the program all together). For anyone wanting to explore, here's a handy calculator: https://www.magnifymoney.com/calculator/snowball-avalanche-calculator/ https://www.magnifymoney.com/calculator/snowball-avalanche-c...
RobertRoberts 7y ago
Say something good to someone that has been hard/impossible to say in the past. (learning to communicate by doing it) Many people can just say how much they appreciate someone in their life or "I love you". It may start to open up something in your relationship that either has been lost or missing. It's hard to do, but a good exercise in fighting against self destruction and takes less than an hour.
dcolkitt 7y ago
I don't know about the most valuable. But the most impressive thing (at least to the average person) to learn in an hour is probably either juggling or lock-picking.
- sandov 7y ago
  In that same vein: learning to pronounce Hangul (Korean writing system). You won't understand a thing of what you're saying, but it's kinda fun anyway.
stevula 7y ago
Roman numerals. Not the most useful thing to know these days, but they’re still common enough and easy to learn in an hour.
tunesmith 7y ago
The difference between necessity and sufficiency, particularly in regard to causality. This series of questions: Assuming A actually causes B: Can A alone cause/explain B? (sufficiency) Can anything else also cause/explain B other than A? (necessity) There's a lot more than that, but those are the basics and they'll get you far with critical thinking. Pretty much any logical fallacy in those never-ending "lists of logical fallacies" can be rephrased in terms of causality, necessity, and sufficiency.
- dragonwriter 7y ago
  > Pretty much any logical fallacy in those never-ending "lists of logical fallacies" can be rephrased in terms of causality, necessity, and sufficiency. Most are unrelated to causality, because they are based on logical implication not causality. Sufficiency and necessity are relevant, but logical sufficiency and necessity, not causal sufficiency and necessity.
  - tunesmith 7y ago
    Yeah, that's why I edited and put cause/explain. For the purposes of the point, it's the same type of thinking whether you are analyzing causes of effects, or reasons why.
sandov 7y ago
Touch typing
whatitdobooboo 7y ago
Extremely basic design principles
GnarfGnarf 7y ago
Here it is: when your wife/girlfriend comes to you with a problem, she is not looking for you to propose a solution. She will work out the problem herself. She just needs you to be a sounding board. Listen and nod. Be patient. Pay attention. Shut up unless you are asked a direct question. This is the secret to a successful relationship. (Married thirty-three years)
- zozbot234 7y ago
  > She just needs you to be a sounding board. Listen and nod. Be patient. Pay attention. I think figured out the actual problem there. Your wife/girlfriend needs a rubber ducky!
  - BenjiWiebe 7y ago
    In all seriousness, I use my manager at my job as a rubber ducky, albeit about job-/coworker- related stress.
- theatraine 7y ago
  I have never understood this and this very issue has caused trouble in my romantic relationships. Here's my thought process: why would someone talk about something if they don't want input? It seems like a waste of time. Where's the gap in my thinking? Is there some way I can mentally reframe my thought process so that I 1) Don't immediately try to solve the problem and 2) Don't get annoyed at my significant other for wasting my time.
  - teachrdan 7y ago
    Consider it this way: The person you're talking to is an intelligent human being who knows they're capable of solving the problem that caused them distress. The remedy they need right now is not a solution. The remedy they need is having someone listen to their situation and empathize. Bonus: If they really are unable to think of a solution to the underlying problem, after venting about it they will be in a position to better think constructively and even take advice from you.
  - 7y ago
agumonkey 7y ago
Patience
danielrpa 7y ago
The Heimlich maneuver (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimlich_maneuver https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimlich_maneuver)
treeman79 7y ago
Pivot tables in Excel. Manager came to me and showed me this spreadsheet he spent 2 weeks making. ( he was very proud ). I asked why he didn’t use a pivot table. He’d never heard of them. 60 seconds later I had recreated his report from scratch. I’m a programmer and I still use them to try out ideas before going to code.
grafelic 7y ago
sed patching
santa_boy 7y ago
For me in 2019, it is learning to get started to write and just write. Ideas to long form content that is fully developed, fully formed and fully proofchecked content is an extremely laborious process. PG had a tweet out once ... just write ... publish or not publish is secondary. (something like that). I tried to implement and do that now. Just beginning to write can be learned easily in an hour and the return on effort is, IMHO, fantastic. It can commercially be pretty useful but the mental clarity itself makes it worth it. The second is meditation ... read The Mind Illuminated ... just the first stage (the author lays out a lot of progressive experience). Jump straight to the first stage chapter and just do it and repeat! I don't even try to progress further in practice ... it's pretty tough! The first stage is itself worth it.

585 points by soygul 7y ago

Hi all, This is an article that I've composed based on a previous HN discussion (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21581361 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21581361) and other discussions on the net. There are things like cooking, first aid & CPR, setting up a Raspberry Pi, cable management, etc. that you can learn in an hour and can make a meaningful difference in your life. Both article and video mention many topics and gives tips on them. * Article: (as posted above) https://quanticdev.com/articles/most-valuable-thing-to-learn-in-one-hour https://quanticdev.com/articles/most-valuable-thing-to-learn... * Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F_srpzXQ6o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F_srpzXQ6o If you have any ideas, I will add them to the article.

cboy5675 7y ago
Links in the resource section are all broken.
- efxz 7y ago
  404 everywhere you go!
- jfoucher 7y ago
  They go to "articles/...." instead of "/articles/...." e.g. https://quanticdev.com/articles/most-valuable-thing-to-learn-in-one-hour/articles/raspberry-pi-guide-for-developers https://quanticdev.com/articles/most-valuable-thing-to-learn... should be instead https://quanticdev.com/articles/raspberry-pi-guide-for-developers https://quanticdev.com/articles/raspberry-pi-guide-for-devel...
  - soygul 7y ago
    thanks just fixed them. accidentally used relative path instead of absolute.
    - carapace 7y ago
      Ah yes, I'm sure we've all been there. :-) Check out something called "Core Transformation Process", it's a simple algorithm, you can learn it in an hour (although I think the full training is ~3 days, but that includes other stuff as well), and it has very profound effects. https://www.coretransformation.org/ https://www.coretransformation.org/

ForHackernews 7y ago

I will tell you from experience that one cannot learn "cooking" in a single hour, any more than one can learn "music" in an hour.

riffraff 7y ago
I agree 100%, but I would say: it is possible to learn _something useful_ about cooking in 1 hour (e.g. how to chop vegetables, or how to cook a steak). I am doubtful it is possible to have the same experience with music, although maybe one can learn things like "what is a canon".
- loblollyboy 7y ago
  How to open a bottle of wine
- gonzo41 7y ago
  Watch bon appetit on youtube for an hour. It's fun and you may find yourself thinking about cooking more for fun rather than a chore afterwards.
  - chongli 7y ago
    Whether cooking is fun or a chore is, I think, directly related to how much stress the rest of your life is causing you. If you’re extremely busy holding down multiple jobs just to pay the bills and feed your kids, then it’s hard not to see cooking as a chore. A person in such a situation is going to get very impatient trying to watch most cooking videos which tend to waste a lot of time talking about things unrelated to the recipe at hand.
    - shantly 7y ago
      Home food prep takes a lot of time, quite a bit of skill, and a ton of knowledge, for the whole process, not just the cooking itself, especially if you want the supposed health benefits and savings it grants. 1) Shopping. What's a good price on X? Meal planning's a factor and takes time, and you've gotta already have some notion of what's cheap right now for that, or else much better cooking skills to be able to make something with whatever you happen to pick up, in which case you also need to be a good judge of how much of each thing to pick up to cover meals for a given period of time. All this also takes time. 2) The actual cooking. Obviously. Takes time, takes skill, takes schedule stability if you don't want to end up with a bunch of "well shit, I guess we're ordering delivery pizza again" days. 3) Cleaning. Even if you're great about clean-as-you-go while also trying to watch kids or whatever, is your spouse? Uh huh. And cleaning as you go is another skill in the cooking department, gotta know when you're done with things, when you have minute to wash a pot without ruining anything, how to prep your ingredients and space and in what order for maximum effect (being other-than-awesome at this adds quite a bit of time to your cooking process). How to clean various things requires a little knowledge and experience, too. (Of course it can be super cheap and incredibly easy and low-time-commitment if you can convince your family to be OK with rice-cooker rice, beans, and steamed whatever-frozen-veggie-was-on-sale for every dinner. Good luck.)

jpxw 7y ago

Basic First Aid (CPR etc)

varjag 7y ago
Among 'etc' I would recommend Heimlich maneuver in particular. Didn't really ever expect to use it, but ended up doing it on my own kid…
- ddelt 7y ago
  I am alive today because someone close by me knew how to do this. I hope others never need to use it, but I hope everyone 'knows' how to use it.
- deanebarker 7y ago
  Me too. He was six at the time. A hard candy he took from a restaurant.
- kaybe 7y ago
  Also have a look at the video on how to do it on yourself.
- ghaff 7y ago
  Yes. Probably one of the best quick hits in first aid. By comparison, while CPR is good to know, it's probably only going to help in a fairly limited set of circumstances. One of my complaints about first aid courses that I've taken is that they seem to spend a lot of time on things like splinting and often skip lightly over stuff you're more likely to run into in everyday life.
inetsee 7y ago
I would consider CPR to be an invaluable thing to learn. Unfortunately, at least where I live (North Carolina, USA), there do not seem to be any free classes. Available classes range in price from $84 to $126 in price, depending on what's included in the class (basic CPR, basic plus pediatric CPR, CPR with other first aid instruction, etc.).

blargmaster33 7y ago

That the only good communist us a dead one.

Moodles 7y ago

First aid is good. Also general investing in index funds like VTSAX and VTIAX. It is so simple, yet most people I run into on a regular basis just save their money in a checking account earning 0.01% APY. Follow the reddit personal finance flowchart. Learn about Roth and HSAs and ESPP and the benefits of diversification. We’re literally talking about multiples of your net-worth over your life if you invest compared to saving in a normal bank account. No, it is not gambling. It is riskier not to invest in the long-term.

tempsy 7y ago
What crowd are you in where most people have all their money in a savings account? That is borderline financial suicide.
- Moodles 7y ago
  My family. Women I’ve dated. I’m back in my hometown for Christmas now and talking to people I knew from school. The average person doesn’t know about this stuff (though most likely has some proportion invested through the default option in their 401(k)). I mean damn, my aunt’s husband died recently and we had to bail her out of 10k credit card debt where she was paying interest. The Hacker News crowd probably knows above average, though even then a lot of my colleagues could know more, e.g. haven’t heard of VTSAX, didn’t know our 401(k) does a mega backdoor Roth, etc.
  - tempsy 7y ago
    Do they have 401Ks or pensions or other retirement accounts? Then they have stock or bonds.
    - Moodles 7y ago
      Yes, I know. They don’t understand what they’re doing very well though. Education will affect their net worth massively.
      - 7y ago

unicornmama 7y ago

The three links under the following section are broken: “Relevant articles referred to in this article”

soygul 7y ago
thanks, just fixed. classic absolute/relative issue.

sunstone 7y ago

Why is it, exactly, that, as a rule of thumb, almost all people who start life poor and end up rich do it with real estate.

splike 7y ago
Where might I learn why that is?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
gryn 7y ago
Where do you recommend looking to learn more about this ?
icebraining 7y ago
Simple: it's one of the four monopolies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Tucker#Four_monopolies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Tucker#Four_monopolie...
omarhaneef 7y ago
Because it’s really the only place where a non-rich person can get massive 4:1 leverage on their assets, and where there has been a secular growth trend over the last 50 years.
- H8crilA 7y ago
  This. Never underestimate the power of leverage combined with luck (good asset selection, which almost always is luck). TQQQ, a NASDAQ 3x leveraged ETF is up almost 50x since 2010. Real estate has insane leverage via mortgage. 10% downpayment results in a 10x leverage, 5% downpayment is a 20x leverage. Imagine a house that was purchased at 10% downpayment. A 2x (+100%) house value appreciation gives you a 11x (+1000%) return on that 10% downpayment.
  - 7y ago

ethanbond 7y ago

Taking this also as a bit of an Ask HN: Easily the Tiny Habits habit formation regime created by Stanford researcher BJ Fogg. A lot of the addictive design patterns you see in apps like Snapchat, Instagram, etc. are built off his research. Quite nefarious use of psychology for advertising/“engagement”, but the plus side is you can use the same strategies to build habits you want to build. Step 1: Consider the habit you want to build, e.g. “I want to meditate 10 minutes every day” Step 2: Make it the absolute smallest possible version of itself; so small that it requires zero motivation/willpower, e.g. “I want to close my eyes and take 3 deep breaths every day” Step 3: Place this habit immediately following an existing habit, e.g. “After I brush my teeth in the morning, I will close my eyes and take 3 deep breaths” Step 4: Do this activity, and after each time you do it, reward yourself with a small celebration. It sounds ridiculous but I literally just say “Victory!” and force a smile on my face. The small rush of good-feeling-chemicals will keep you coming back. I’ve used this method to pick up daily meditation, journaling, and flossing (acquired simultaneously!) after years of struggling to pick up any one of them. The first two habits have been monumental in my ability to learn, take on stress, and improve virtually every one of my relationships. A shameless plug for BJ because he’s a great guy: his book, Tiny Habits, happened to be released today (what a coincidence!). I haven’t read it but if this is remotely interesting to you, I’m sure it’ll be extremely useful and engaging. It’s on Amazon, you can find it! Sidenotes: * Don’t worry about the habit scale down, it will naturally grow over time into its fuller form. I spent a month of the year just flossing 1 tooth each night (ridiculous, I know!), then 5 months just flossing 1 row (better!) * Part of the trick is finding a good habit to put your new habit after. You probably already have a lot more habits than you know, since the whole point of a habit is to be automatic.

icebraining 7y ago
Didn't work for me, I simply started forgetting to do the new "habit" after a few days. I guess if it's just after flossing you can add a note next to the toothbrush, but for others that's not practical.
- ethanbond 7y ago
  Did you reward yourself after? It really is important but I feel many people skip out on it because it sounds (and is) ridiculous. Other thing he recommends is “practicing” your habit, especially if your context changes e.g. you’re staying in a hotel for a week. This would mean for example to mimic brushing your teeth in front of the mirror then walking to the bed to sit and close your eyes 5 times or so. To start it’s probably worth picking something up that you can easily prompt yourself to do (such as a note on your mirror). The only one that failed for me was posture related which relied on a too-irregular prompt.

tuesday20 7y ago

Compound interest. Simply starting early in some boring find/investment and not obsessing over daily stock prices will do wonders for one’s health and finances

tempsy 7y ago
I always hear this but the theory of compound interest has little to do with stock investing. Not all stocks pay dividends. Most actually do not. And betting on a general YoY rise in stock prices into retirement is not the same thing as compound interest.
- Moodles 7y ago
  Stocks don’t need to pay out dividends for compound growth. Your last sentence is basically: “betting on compound growth is not the same as compound growth”. Yes ok, but a little pedantic imo. Over hundred years of evidence suggests betting on a diversified portfolio of stocks is a good idea in the long term.
  - tempsy 7y ago
    It’s not being pedantic. When you talk about the theory of compound interest it’s essentially starting with $100, getting paid interest or a dividend, and then reinvesting that so now you have $102 that earns a dividend or interest and so on. Investing in 100 shares of company XYZ that does not pay a dividend, or investing in a company that does pay a dividend but isn’t being reinvested, is not compound interest in the classic sense at all.
    - Moodles 7y ago
      Roughly speaking, if a company doesn’t pay a dividend, it reinvests the profits in itself which compounds its own stock price. You get the benefits of compounding stock prices that way. I think we are arguing over semantics.
      - 7y ago

omarhaneef 7y ago

I can’t criticize the list because it’s so hard to think of something that might fit in but it seems exercise should have a role in one of the categories.

timvisee 7y ago

Vim. I think it can be in the list as well. It takes a long time to properly learn. But one hours is defiantly enough to get to know the main Vim bindings, to be as productive as in other editors. In the end it makes you super productive.

alpaca128 7y ago
I've been using Vim for over 5 years now for as much as possible, and it started exactly like that: I looked at a couple of the most basic shortcuts(Esc and i to switch modes, :w and :q to save and exit, hjkl to move the cursor), just started using it for editing files and looked everything else up when I needed it. Over time the stuff you actually need regularly sticks. Nothing has influenced my use of computers as much as Vim, and I'm really glad this tool exists. It makes editing text a great experience, and has a couple feature you can't find anywhere else(not even Emacs offers such a flexible, intuitive keybinding functionality or reliable, quirk-free controls).
- xk3 7y ago
  I still don't get the appeal of vim or modal text editing in general but I'm glad you can close vim with shift+zz
fbnlsr 7y ago
Serious question: I keep seeing Vim thrown up and down like it's the holy grail. I've been using VS Code for two years maybe now, and I don't see how Vim could help me be a better/more productive coder. What am I missing?
- kamek 7y ago
  To put it simply, it's just a very efficient way to manipulate text with a keyboard. Once you get accustomed to it, writing and especially modifying text without it seems laborious, almost like you're writing with your wrong hand. The problem is, the opposite is true until you reach some level of proficiency. Until then, vim is hard to get used to. I know I haven't provided a concrete answer, but many blog posts have been written on the matter. I personally started learning vim by running through vimtutor once a day as part of a New Year's resolution about ten years ago.

cgufus 7y ago

One thing i‘m missing is a bit a generic one, but here goes: What are the principles that make a democracy? (e.g. freedom of opinion, freedom of press, separation of powers a.k.a. checks and balances, Rule of Law etc.)

ohyes 7y ago
You can get a PhD in that subject.
- AnimalMuppet 7y ago
  Sure. But if you live in a democracy (or want to), it wouldn't hurt to know the basics.

rwnspace 7y ago

Take an hour to sit in a quiet room without any stimulation. You'll learn a lot about your mental situation, and understanding where you are is really helpful for understanding where to go (if anywhere).

nkrisc 7y ago
I think this is more valuable than it might seem. I'd wager many people couldn't even sit still for an hour in a room by themselves with nothing but their own thoughts.
- Insanity 7y ago
  Does it count if you lie awake in bed for an hour unable to sleep because of rumination? Because in that case, I'm sure plenty of people do it at some point. But what helps me is taking walks. You're alone with your thoughts, but the act of walking through nature is stimulating for more positive thinking, from my experience anyway.
  - shantly 7y ago
    > Does it count if you lie awake in bed for an hour unable to sleep because of rumination? Because in that case, I'm sure plenty of people do it at some point. Heh, shit, if that counts I "meditate" for an hour or more a couple times a week. It's absolutely horrible. [EDIT] in fact, running with that, most of my life has been a struggle to "meditate" less for the sake of my own health and sanity. I'm way down from the every single night for like two damn hours of ages ~7-16!
    - godtoldmetodoit 7y ago
      I definitely struggle with the same thing, my mind just not wanting to calm down and running through a million ideas. That is not meditation though. Learning to meditate has helped me a ton in being able to calm my mind down and get to sleep. I'd recommend checking out the Sam Harris Waking Up app, just do it for a few days and see if it clicks.

acvny 7y ago

Complete BS. Click bait article name.

majiasheng 7y ago

How to speak (Professor Patrick Winston from MIT) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unzc731iCUY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unzc731iCUY

Keloo 7y ago
just took an hour to do that. That was an amazing lecture. I salute you for the suggestion.
jasonlotito 7y ago
My short 4 word recommendation for people wanting to learn to speak in public: slow down, speak up. For me, those two things get you a lot farther than you might think, and solve two of the biggest issues I see from people.
slowhand09 7y ago
I just finished watching. Well worth the time.

al_form2000 7y ago

For verly large values of one hour.

katzgrau 7y ago

Gratitude. Look around you and consider all of the things that are going well for your. Your nice remote gig, your fridge full of your favorite beer, the sunny day outside, your healthy family. Do that at the start of every day and really meditate on awesome it is that you have those things. Sincerely and quietly thank whoever you feel is responsible for them. You'd be amazed how that 3 minute exercise changes your perspective.

refurb 7y ago
I expected to flip through a find a bunch of vacuous answers, but this one really resonated. Gratitude does wonders for your mental health!
chasd00 7y ago
I read a quote last night that went "don't complain about growing old, it's a privilege denied to many". That really stuck with me.

ohyes 7y ago

Really apologizing sincerely when you make a mistake.

bloopernova 7y ago
Being able to admit to yourself that you made a mistake, that it was an accident, and that you will not hate yourself, that's important. Being able to say to others, "oh, sorry, my mistake, I assumed something incorrectly." Or "I admit I wasn't paying enough attention to what you were saying, I'll put my phone/game/video down and listen better now, please continue." Those are really powerful: you're admitting that you aren't perfect, and that the people you are with are OK with that, and that everyone is comfortable with admitting mistakes to help each other grow. Better to start at home and be able to help your romantic relationship. Then you can work on making your workplace the kind of environment where people help each other rather than shoot each other down.
arkades 7y ago
That takes so much more than an hour.

JensRantil 7y ago

Meditation.

axegon_ 7y ago

Having worked with non-technical people, one of the most useful things you can learn in an hour (less actually) is markdown.

whatupmd 7y ago
Please elaborate.

lammalamma25 7y ago

Excel hot keys

hortonew 7y ago
You Suck at Excel with Joel Spolsky - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nbkaYsR94c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nbkaYsR94c

mathieubordere 7y ago

using `Ctrl + r` in your shell, I just hope someone reading this doesn't know it yet :-)

seisvelas 7y ago
I worked for years as a sysadmin grepping through history because I'm just learning this from you. Thanks!
- mathieubordere 7y ago
  That is heart-warming news!
- F147H34D 7y ago
  I had a coworker who was having some issues. I chuckled when he had an alias for history | grep when I was checking out his env
  - CGamesPlay 7y ago
    Is that why his Mercurial wasn’t working?
  - capableweb 7y ago
    To be fair, I also have that alias and use CTRL+R. They are useful for different scenarios. CTRL+R when I know what command I'm looking for, but can't remember the full one. `history | grep -i $TERM` when I remember some part of the command, but not exactly sure. With that, I get a list of possible candidates to choose from, instead of having to do CTRL+R repeatedly to find the command I was looking for.
praptak 7y ago
Building on this, infinite shell history. Google how to set it up for your shell.
- F147H34D 7y ago

sandfly 7y ago

If you have a laptop with a trackpoint, become proficient with it. You can switch between mouse and keyboard without moving your fingers away from the home row.

abhijat 7y ago
I just disable the trackpad in all my laptops, I find it much harder to use than a trackpoint.
- soygul 7y ago
  > trackpad in all my laptops even in a macbook? it probably is the best part of macbooks in general
  - ghaff 7y ago
    MacBooks were the first laptops I had where I actively liked the trackpad rather than grudgingly tolerated it. TBH, I've been pretty happy with the trackpads on my Chromebooks and Linux Thinkpads as well. It's mostly my one Windows laptop that I still feel I need to attach a mouse.
  - sandfly 7y ago
    The MacBook trackpads are definitely great. And the trackpoint looks like an anachronistic holdover from the early 90s next to a modern trackpad. However, it has survived because it's truly a useful productivity tool. It's a nice middle ground between having to move your hand between the keyboard and trackpad, or embracing a keyboard-only Vim approach.

soygul 7y ago

Original poster here: I am thrilled with the discussion up to this point. I cannot update the video any more but I will incorporate the suggestions into the article. Thanks for all the tips!

rtpg 7y ago

Kinda weird to say that learning cooking takes an hour. Maybe learning one dish? I guess the nice thing would be to have actual articles that would show some principles in an hour

scaryclam 7y ago
I think you can do a lot more than a single dish. Learning how to peel common vegetables, boiling a pan of water, baking a potato, boiling/frying an egg, making a really simple tomato sauce and boiling pasta could all be taught in an hour. If you can make a basic pasta + sauce, bake a potato and prep some vegetables you can start cooking lots of other things as the skills are transferable.
ghaff 7y ago
This is the sort of thing where video would probably work better. For the most part, you probably need to be at a certain level of skill before you could easily pick up a new cooking skill be just reading about it and trying it. (That's probably generally true of most things that have a strong physical component.)
zackmorris 7y ago
I don't normally share these things, but I stumbled onto this video last night: The Ultimate Steak Sandwich - Gordon Ramsay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwu2y9x5OlM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwu2y9x5OlM He adds a bit of nuance to every single step of the process. I found myself wowing repeatedly. I even had an existential crisis about it briefly as I realized that I don't love anything as much as he loves cooking. I used to love programming, but now practically hate it as often as not. I don't know how to reconnect with that kind of love and meaning in my life anymore. I sincerely don't want to do anything that society tells me to do. My days are planned around coping and avoidance. Without hope, I lack passion. Without passion, I lack focus. Without focus, I lack a means of income. Seriously, I'm stuck paralyzed at step one and have been for over 6 months. If you aren't paralyzed with doubt, great! Be thankful for that and pay it forward. Hope this video inspires someone.

modzu 7y ago

chess

univalent 7y ago

Learn to cook one or two simple dishes that don't take a lot of time to prepare.

14 7y ago

This year I learned to knit and I would say it took about an hour of watching videos and just trying. Of course like the article mentions it wasn't until more practice that I became pretty good at it. If anyone has thought about knitting, it is very easy and I find it relaxing on my mind to just take my focus off of something.

amiga_500 7y ago

Watch this 5 times then spend ten minutes passing it on: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gD_dZvPwAj0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gD_dZvPwAj0 Questions in this thread about real estate, "investing" etc. Comprehend it with the above.

soygul 7y ago
thanks. land value tax is one of the great mysteries of life for me. bookmarked it for new-year watching.
ActsJuvenile 7y ago
Some sincere feedback: LVT sounds a cooky concept that might solve inherited / ossified land ownership problem in the UK, but it seems to have little relevance to the USA. Land is plentiful here. LVT might also reward families with liquid assets, while burdening lower-income families whose main asset is their house.
- amiga_500 7y ago
  Major economists like Friedman disagree with you. It has huge relevance in the USA. George was American. Read this essay on raised land values by proxy (railroads or today tech or infra): http://www.wealthandwant.com/HG/what_the_railroad_will_bring_us.html http://www.wealthandwant.com/HG/what_the_railroad_will_bring...

nordsieck 7y ago

IMO, the single most important thing I've ever learned is: try to be effective when you're communicating. I used to feel an obligation to correct other people if they had false beliefs. This was not an endearing trait, and even worse, I was never particularly successful at convincing the other people. One day, I read a passage from "How to make friends and influence people". It said something along the lines of: "The point of an argument is to convince the other person of something. If what you're doing is not working, then do something else." BAM I'm not perfect, but these days, I try to listen a lot and speak a little. And the little I do speak is designed to appeal, as much as possible, to my audience. As a small bonus: I really try not to get drawn into arguments with people who just like to argue (instead of those arguing in good faith). "OK" is an amazing response to shut those kinds of interactions down in a hurry. You can't out box the heavy bag.

humanrebar 7y ago
> The point of an argument is to convince the other person of something. If what you're doing is not working, then do something else. That's not the point of most arguments. Most arguments have an audience, and often that audience is also involved in making choices. If neither your opponent nor your audience is swayed, yeah, you could just be entrenching everyone in an oppositional attitude. That being said, discussions are typically better than arguments when that is an option.
OGWhales 7y ago
My dad gave me very similar advice growing up, as I love for things to be factually correct. To me, it didn't bother me if someone corrected me. However, most people don't appreciate it and it isn't worth upsetting them 90% of the time. This is something I didn't understand. Another thing he told me was not to be a know it all. One example would be when people said something and I had learned before, instead of diminishing their statement by saying I knew that, I should say something like "wow that's cool" as it makes the person feel better. He gave me lots of small little interaction tips that helped me come across as a better person even though none of them were nefarious in nature.
- 7y ago

slowhand09 7y ago

Learn how to get out of debt!!! Step 1: List your debts from smallest to largest regardless of interest rate. Step 2: Make minimum payments on all your debts except the smallest. Step 3: Pay as much as possible on your smallest debt. Step 4: Repeat until each debt is paid in full

mathieutd 7y ago
I disagree with this. You should pay your higher interest rate debt first.
- mateo411 7y ago
  Yes, paying the maximum that you can to the highest interest rate debt and paying the minimum to all of the lower interest rate debt is the optimal greedy algorithm.
- ghaff 7y ago
  I guess the parent is arguing for a psychological benefit to reducing the number of discrete debts as quickly as possible. But I agree with you. If someone has credit card debt and then some other debts at significantly lower interest rates, in most cases (modulo liquidity) it would make sense to put any extra money towards the high interest credit card debt first.
- slowhand09 7y ago
  Thats OK. Paying the smallest 1st builds psychological momentum. If people have willpower, financially paying the highest rate makes sense. People with less willpower and drive gain confidence by checking off a loan as paid, then moving to the next.
- froindt 7y ago
  I've looked at the difference with a few people. It depends on the balances and interest rates, but the difference is smaller than I would have guessed. With tens of thousands of dollars of debt, I've seen the difference be just a couple hundred dollars. Smallest to largest balance frees up cash flow faster, making it more likely the person won't go into additional debt (and hopefully won't get discouraged and quit the program all together). For anyone wanting to explore, here's a handy calculator: https://www.magnifymoney.com/calculator/snowball-avalanche-calculator/ https://www.magnifymoney.com/calculator/snowball-avalanche-c...

RobertRoberts 7y ago

Say something good to someone that has been hard/impossible to say in the past. (learning to communicate by doing it) Many people can just say how much they appreciate someone in their life or "I love you". It may start to open up something in your relationship that either has been lost or missing. It's hard to do, but a good exercise in fighting against self destruction and takes less than an hour.

dcolkitt 7y ago

I don't know about the most valuable. But the most impressive thing (at least to the average person) to learn in an hour is probably either juggling or lock-picking.

sandov 7y ago
In that same vein: learning to pronounce Hangul (Korean writing system). You won't understand a thing of what you're saying, but it's kinda fun anyway.

stevula 7y ago

Roman numerals. Not the most useful thing to know these days, but they’re still common enough and easy to learn in an hour.

tunesmith 7y ago

The difference between necessity and sufficiency, particularly in regard to causality. This series of questions: Assuming A actually causes B: Can A alone cause/explain B? (sufficiency) Can anything else also cause/explain B other than A? (necessity) There's a lot more than that, but those are the basics and they'll get you far with critical thinking. Pretty much any logical fallacy in those never-ending "lists of logical fallacies" can be rephrased in terms of causality, necessity, and sufficiency.

dragonwriter 7y ago
> Pretty much any logical fallacy in those never-ending "lists of logical fallacies" can be rephrased in terms of causality, necessity, and sufficiency. Most are unrelated to causality, because they are based on logical implication not causality. Sufficiency and necessity are relevant, but logical sufficiency and necessity, not causal sufficiency and necessity.
- tunesmith 7y ago
  Yeah, that's why I edited and put cause/explain. For the purposes of the point, it's the same type of thinking whether you are analyzing causes of effects, or reasons why.

sandov 7y ago

Touch typing

whatitdobooboo 7y ago

Extremely basic design principles

GnarfGnarf 7y ago

Here it is: when your wife/girlfriend comes to you with a problem, she is not looking for you to propose a solution. She will work out the problem herself. She just needs you to be a sounding board. Listen and nod. Be patient. Pay attention. Shut up unless you are asked a direct question. This is the secret to a successful relationship. (Married thirty-three years)

zozbot234 7y ago
> She just needs you to be a sounding board. Listen and nod. Be patient. Pay attention. I think figured out the actual problem there. Your wife/girlfriend needs a rubber ducky!
- BenjiWiebe 7y ago
  In all seriousness, I use my manager at my job as a rubber ducky, albeit about job-/coworker- related stress.
theatraine 7y ago
I have never understood this and this very issue has caused trouble in my romantic relationships. Here's my thought process: why would someone talk about something if they don't want input? It seems like a waste of time. Where's the gap in my thinking? Is there some way I can mentally reframe my thought process so that I 1) Don't immediately try to solve the problem and 2) Don't get annoyed at my significant other for wasting my time.
- teachrdan 7y ago
  Consider it this way: The person you're talking to is an intelligent human being who knows they're capable of solving the problem that caused them distress. The remedy they need right now is not a solution. The remedy they need is having someone listen to their situation and empathize. Bonus: If they really are unable to think of a solution to the underlying problem, after venting about it they will be in a position to better think constructively and even take advice from you.
- 7y ago

agumonkey 7y ago

Patience

danielrpa 7y ago

The Heimlich maneuver (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimlich_maneuver https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimlich_maneuver)

treeman79 7y ago

Pivot tables in Excel. Manager came to me and showed me this spreadsheet he spent 2 weeks making. ( he was very proud ). I asked why he didn’t use a pivot table. He’d never heard of them. 60 seconds later I had recreated his report from scratch. I’m a programmer and I still use them to try out ideas before going to code.

grafelic 7y ago

sed patching

santa_boy 7y ago

For me in 2019, it is learning to get started to write and just write. Ideas to long form content that is fully developed, fully formed and fully proofchecked content is an extremely laborious process. PG had a tweet out once ... just write ... publish or not publish is secondary. (something like that). I tried to implement and do that now. Just beginning to write can be learned easily in an hour and the return on effort is, IMHO, fantastic. It can commercially be pretty useful but the mental clarity itself makes it worth it. The second is meditation ... read The Mind Illuminated ... just the first stage (the author lays out a lot of progressive experience). Jump straight to the first stage chapter and just do it and repeat! I don't even try to progress further in practice ... it's pretty tough! The first stage is itself worth it.