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Divorce yourself from all contact and live on a pillar somewhere in the Sinai desert. I think those folks were called anchorites http://wikipedia.orange.co.uk/w

by hsmyers 15y ago

Divorce yourself from all contact and live on a pillar somewhere in the Sinai desert. I think those folks were called anchorites http://wikipedia.orange.co.uk/wiki/Anchorite http://wikipedia.orange.co.uk/wiki/Anchorite I'm surprised that a connection to the internet is allowed on a more than---oh say weekly basis. As you might guess, I don't particularly agree with the article. Only cure to the problem at hand is self discipline. Anything else will fail...

bahadden 15y ago
Completely off topic but "Wikipedia, brought to you by Orange"? What is that all about?
- rwolf 15y ago
  This. It is impolite to link users to spammy wiki-scrapers, unless your post is: "Hey, someone made another spammy wiki-scraper!"
  - jarek 15y ago
    I'm assuming hsmyers was directed/redirected to that site by their ISP.
p4bl0 15y ago
But can one say that following the kinds of tips given in the article is already a kind of self discipline? I know that I myself have a very hard time to work (like, I almost _can't_) if I'm not interested by (or having fun with) what I'm supposed to do. But sometimes there's no choice and then I'm really, really not productive. In this case, disconnecting myself from internet is kind of mandatory if I don't want to find myself "procrastinating" on IRC, HN or reddit (I often go there unconsciously, by reflex!).
jtolds 15y ago
My feeling is that the traditional definition of self discipline is kind of a fake thing. To me, self discipline is knowing yourself well enough to know where you will fail, and taking appropriate counter measures - not being strong-willed or something.
- o1iver 15y ago
  As a matter of fact Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz authors of "Power of Full Engagement" say that the idea of self-discipline (in the form of strong-will) does not lie at the base of productivity. Indeed they say that human being do not have near enough energy to be self-disciplined in that sense for many decisions. I think that the real value of the article's tips is that as you get used to not going on HN/Reddit or just avoiding other types of procrastination you will get used to not doing that and thus won't do it even if you remove the barriers.
mcavalletto 15y ago
For what it's worth, anchorites would wall themselves into a small room -- the folks who lived atop a pillar were called stylites. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylites
tomjen3 15y ago
Remember the marshmallow experiment? They gave kids the option of a marshmallow now, or wait for some time and the researcher will give you two. What was the most interesting was that the kids who didn't eat it didn't just sit there looking at it, dreaming of how good it would be to eat it but took steps to distract themselves from the temptation. This is much more powerful than self discipline.

by hsmyers 15y ago

bahadden 15y ago

Completely off topic but "Wikipedia, brought to you by Orange"? What is that all about?

rwolf 15y ago
This. It is impolite to link users to spammy wiki-scrapers, unless your post is: "Hey, someone made another spammy wiki-scraper!"
- jarek 15y ago
  I'm assuming hsmyers was directed/redirected to that site by their ISP.

p4bl0 15y ago

But can one say that following the kinds of tips given in the article is already a kind of self discipline? I know that I myself have a very hard time to work (like, I almost _can't_) if I'm not interested by (or having fun with) what I'm supposed to do. But sometimes there's no choice and then I'm really, really not productive. In this case, disconnecting myself from internet is kind of mandatory if I don't want to find myself "procrastinating" on IRC, HN or reddit (I often go there unconsciously, by reflex!).

jtolds 15y ago

My feeling is that the traditional definition of self discipline is kind of a fake thing. To me, self discipline is knowing yourself well enough to know where you will fail, and taking appropriate counter measures - not being strong-willed or something.

o1iver 15y ago
As a matter of fact Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz authors of "Power of Full Engagement" say that the idea of self-discipline (in the form of strong-will) does not lie at the base of productivity. Indeed they say that human being do not have near enough energy to be self-disciplined in that sense for many decisions. I think that the real value of the article's tips is that as you get used to not going on HN/Reddit or just avoiding other types of procrastination you will get used to not doing that and thus won't do it even if you remove the barriers.

mcavalletto 15y ago

For what it's worth, anchorites would wall themselves into a small room -- the folks who lived atop a pillar were called stylites. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylites

tomjen3 15y ago

Remember the marshmallow experiment? They gave kids the option of a marshmallow now, or wait for some time and the researcher will give you two. What was the most interesting was that the kids who didn't eat it didn't just sit there looking at it, dreaming of how good it would be to eat it but took steps to distract themselves from the temptation. This is much more powerful than self discipline.