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Advice gathered from people smarter than me
- dcx 5y agoThese are fantastic! I'll add two that I have learned from wiser people, and that have paid out again and again in my life. 1. It's better to target an interesting constellation than one specific star. If you're pushing yourself reasonably hard, you're working close to the limits of your ability, and so there's some chance you will fail. If you go all out to hit an ambitious goal and don't succeed, you're likely to feel burnout [1]. This is much less likely if you make moves in the direction of an interesting area using a cluster of subgoals instead. This diversifies your risk, plus it's easier to adjust as you move in that direction and learn more. (For people in ML there's some clear parallels with the gradient descent process) 2. A twenty minute walk in the park with no music or media makes all kinds of useful stuff naturally fall out of your brain, and you get some light exercise and sunlight / vitamin D at the same time - which also helps improve your mood and flush out anxiety etc. [1] https://www.stavros.io/posts/comment-causes-burnout/ https://www.stavros.io/posts/comment-causes-burnout/
- jamesfinlayson 5y agoStrongly agree on number 2 - multiple times a week, a solution to something that has been bugging me all day suddenly appears in the shower, when getting ready for bed, when going for a walk before work etc.
- WalterBright 5y agoSame for me. Going out for a run is the most intellectually productive part of my day.
- stavros 5y agoSame here, if I'm showering, driving, or doing some other mindless activity, I come up with all the good stuff.
- WalterBright 5y agoTrue, but I find that driving requires enough attention that I cannot do any useful thinking that goes into "the zone". But with running, it's easy to get into the zone, and the miles go by that I can't even recall.
- stavros 5y agoFor city driving yes, but I find that long highways are basically automatic.
- dcx 5y agoI run as well actually! I have found that the quality of thinking I get when walking is different enough that I try to make time for a walk as a separate thing. YMMV though, I am not super fit, perhaps my brain has a harder time with contention for oxygen than yours!
- almostarockstar 5y agoSecond this. I'm not super fit either, but I have very different mental processes when running vs walking. Both positive, but distinct.
- jrop 5y agoReminds me of the routine kept by maintainer of D language (Walter Bright, if I'm not mistaken). First thing he does every day is open up his laptop and review issues that he needs to solve. Then he immediately closes his laptop and goes on a run.
- mprovost 5y ago(Look who you replied to)
- WalterBright 5y agoIt's close, but I only use a laptop when traveling. The screen is too small, the keyboard is too cramped, it's too slow, not enough disk space, etc. I like my desktop with dual big monitors, full size keyboard, mouse, and lots of places to plug things in. But the rest is on point :-) I almost never have a good idea while at my computer.
- bimboler38 5y agoThat's diffused thinking!
- AnthonBerg 5y agoThe clarity that a walk in the park brings is likely related to inflammatory suppression from urocanic acid. See this 2009 paper-slash-letter-to-the-journal, “Molecular basis for cis-urocanic acid as a 5-HT2A receptor agonist”: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960894X09011135 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960894X0... We have a chemical coating on the skin called the “acid mantle”. One of the substances the body makes for this acid mantle is urocanic acid – the trans isomer. It’s known to serve as a sort of sunscreen. Trans-urocanic acid captures ultraviolet light into a molecular reaction – it’s transformed into the isomer cis-urocanic acid. And cis-urocanic acid fits the 5-HT2A serotonin receptor which is an unusual one – its effects are rather potent immunomodulation. Downregulation. Beneficial.
- generalenvelope 5y agoCorrect me if I'm wrong, this is a mechanistic study and the "likely related" claim is yours - I think there's a lot of evidence on exercise as it relates to mood regulation though.
- darkerside 5y agoThere's a constellation of reasons to go outside for a walk
- AnthonBerg 5y agoThanks for taking a look! There are plenty of papers related to this. Before and after that one. The term for this paper might be that it’s a mechanistic study, idk!, but it’s one that establishes a, well, mechanical premise for effects which are known to occur. Regarding the relationship between sunlight and immunomodulation via cis-urocanic acid activation of serotonin receptor 5-HT2A, what parts of that relationship would you like to see more papers on? — Note also that UV immunosuppression is standard clinical practice in psoriasis treatment. Both with artifical UV light and simple sunbathing. — Exercise is mostly orthogonal to this effect.
- generalenvelope 5y ago
- istjohn 5y ago> There’s no good reason to believe that someone extremely attractive would be a great conversationalist, or that someone extremely intelligent would be emotionally intelligent, etcetera. I actually disagree. At the extremes, sure. The top athlete is unlikely to be the top scholar or conversationalist. But I believe health, beauty, EQ and IQ are all correlated. These traits all likely have some shared genetic components. And a great, healthy childhood will augment all these traits to some extent. Also, beautiful people are less likely to experience social isolation or estrangement, which would otherwise hurt EQ and health in general. From another angle, experiences that leave emotional scars will often have physical manifestations, and vice versa. That said, we may subconsciously assume a higher correlation than exists between these traits, so directionally the author may be correct. None of this is fair or desirable, by the way.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- klabb3 5y agoOne thing that's clear is that there are some underlying traits that manifest in many different domains, such as language skills. A friend I knew was extremely good at languages (fluent in 10+), and also excelling at math and programming. Traditionally, these fields are considered different but they are more similar than we give them credit for. All are heavily symbolic, relational and contextual domains. To complicate things more, you can become great at math and programming by having e.g. a visually oriented mind. My friend didn't seem to have much of that though, which suggests you can excel in a domain using different underlying skills or traits. Totally armchairing of course. The in-spirit premise of the proposal (fundamental traits are mostly roll-of-the-dice) is still compatible with your response. Like the author, I've been burnt by assuming that traits overlap way more than the opposite - eg if someone is good at X intellectual thing they're good at Y too. So many times I've gone "how can such a smart person not get this simple thing?".
- rixed 5y ago> But I believe health, beauty, EQ and IQ are all correlated. These traits all likely have some shared genetic components. Surely you do not mean that a single gene influences all of this?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- reactspa 5y ago> When Choosing a Life Path, Think About What Contexts It’ll Place You In Author is clearly a genius because he can imagine in advance "all the contexts" a particular lifepath will put him in.
- AnimalMuppet 5y agoYou don't have to be able to imagine all the contexts. You can imagine at least some of them if you think about it. And it's better to think seriously about them rather than to not.
- codeDruid 5y agoRemember What Used to Work, Then Do It Again - this one really resonated with me. Recently I've taken up meditation with an app, and a recurring theme of it is to "Just begin again" - in context, meaning begin again, when you mind wanders. But I've found that the idea is very applicable to almost every faced of life. For example, I wish to start working out, but my willpower is low and I tend to miss some days. By just beginning again, without judgement, without guild, I'm getting back to the problem and working on it again. Sounds like this is the same idea. Remember what used to work, then do it again. Just begin again.
- mellavora 5y agoFractal. Works at the second-by-second level of meditation. Works at the lifespan level.
- rei_ayanami 5y ago> Do not blunder and > Minor Barriers Aren’t Minor resonate with me.
- A4ET8a8uTh0 5y agoI think I can unironically offer Dwight's advice: 'Don't be an idiot; changed my life' It sounds like surface level humor, but it is a surprisingly good advice.
- qwerty456127 5y ago> Listening Is in Your Interest, Even If You’re Totally Selfish To me this seems an obvious and important but surprisingly uncommon idea. I can't stop trying to explain this to others: if you don't really do your best to understand the other person you are wasting your own time. And you don't have to agree to them, just understand. Even if the other person is your enemy (especially if they are!), precise understanding of what and why do they think and feel is in your best interest.
- clktmr 5y ago> Minor Barriers Aren’t Minor This reminds me of Torvald's talk at Google about git, where he emphasizes how important it is to be able to change branches fast, reasoning that it will determine how git will be used in the future. There is a tremendous difference between five seconds and `instant` in our decision making. Since then I observed this behaviour in myself in countless daily routines.
- jleyank 5y agoDon’t define yourself in terms of your work, as you have no “self” once it stops. Remember, one works to get the resources to do what you want to do. It has to be useful for this, and ideally interesting enough to go back to tomorrow. Don’t be an asshole.
- dkarl 5y agoI like this one: > Listening Is in Your Interest, Even If You’re Totally Selfish Decades of touchy-feely woo woo about the power of empathy has convinced people that empathy is a magic hack that makes you feel totally fine about people no matter what heinous things they do. If you empathize with someone, if you "understand," then you'll realize why they behave the way they do, and you'll realize it's all okay. Naturally that makes people wary of empathizing with people they believe are behaving in a destructive way, such as their political enemies, sexual predators, etc. If you empathize with someone too effectively, you might lose your motivation to oppose them. That's flat-out wrong, and it makes people less effective at promoting their own values in the world. Sure, you might learn to feel sorry for a sexual predator or realize that an opposing political view has some internal logic or even a kernel of truth, but that isn't going to turn you into a defender of predatory or destructive behavior. Empathy for a flat-earther isn't going to convince that the earth is flat, either. Know yourself. Know your enemy. Know everybody in between. It makes you safer and more powerful in the world, and it's only dangerous in a good way.
- me_me_me 5y ago> (...) If you empathize with someone, if you "understand," then you'll realize why they behave the way they do, and you'll realize it's all okay. Its good to see the world from the eyes of others, but that doesn't make their actions OK somehow. I never heard anyone say that (as in a mainstream idea)
- hungryforcodes 5y agoI don't know. I quite like empathizing with my fellow man (or woman, or queen, or transgender, or cat or parrot)... ...I feel more connected and learn something.
- MrYellowP 5y agoThe first duty of any citizen is to mistrust his government, and to be critical of their long term goals. Never let people discourage you from thinking, because ignorance spreads like a disease. The saying, that one should not mistake stupidity for malignity, matters only little to the stupid, but a lot to the malign. All stupid people at the top are either not actually stupid, or string puppets. Political correctness is, by definition, not correct. Participating in collective behaviour, without hesitation, is frivolous. Absolutely most things most people do have some sort of hidden catch. Just because everyone does it, doesn't mean it's smart to join them. Never let fear, or those who spread it, guide your decisions.
- hyperpallium2 5y agoListening is essential for winning arguments - or you can't counter their arguments. Listening enables you to "win" a negotiation, by discovering what the other party values, that you might be able to give them. It's predicated on the reality of negotiation, that it's with another person with free-will and autonomy, who will only give you what you want if it makes sense from their perspective. So helps to know what theirs is. Communication cannot occur without listening. And not just by the "recipient": you need to determine if communication has been successful, or if error correction is required. Words mean different things to different people, in different contexts. The better you understand the other party, the better chance you have of communication. A preliminaries can be helpful to align contexts (get "on the same page"), and then have purpose/concerns understood.