4 ms·

I've done this extensively and have compiled a lot of data because of how many mistakes I make, and am working on this document, an ongoing set of strategies fo

I've done this extensively and have compiled a lot of data because of how many mistakes I make, and am working on this document, an ongoing set of strategies for decoupling success from natural talent: https://github.com/EternityForest/AnyoneCanDoIt https://github.com/EternityForest/AnyoneCanDoIt My most important rules: 1. There is no later. I assume that time is a concept only machines can process. If someone tells me to do something when X happens or check something in an hour or so, I immediately set reminders. I don't even consider trying to just remember as an option, I know my failure rate will be well over 80%. 2. Absolutely no mental rotation. Learn to recognize any thought process that involves a rotation, and assume results are invalid. I check the map after after every turn. I never compare objects in different orientations. 3. The verbal machine gun strategy When someone is trying to get me to do something dangerous, and starts talking fast, I assume it's basically suppressive fire for thought. If I were to explain why it's a bad idea in their pitch and tone I'd sound like a maniac, but they can talk as fast as they want because they are relying on tradition and intuition, not complicated reasoning. "Come on, it will be fun" is easier to say fast then "I literally know a guy who was very experienced, who tried this, and died". The only defense I know of is to not care what they think or how you look, and have nothing to prove, especially not to yourself. 4. Never assume any task is too simple and easy to need a plan. If you give me a bucket of balls and ask me to count them, I'm going to pull out a counter app. That 10% of the time I lose count before getting to 10 is embarrassing enough to be worth the trouble to avoid.

tpoacher 5y ago
> When someone is trying to get me to do something dangerous, and starts talking fast, I assume it's basically suppressive fire for thought Nice insight!
arapacana 5y ago
This is so freaking amazing, and I think the ultimate publication goal of my "daily insights" Notion page. Thank you so much for this, will be a treat to absorb.
carapace 5y ago
In re: #1, the brain has pretty precise timing. It's fairly easy to develop the ability to, in effect, set internal timers. Most people who know this only use it for waking up at specific times, but it can work for anything.
- eternityforest 5y ago
  I think that pretty heavily depends on natural level of ability. Is there some kind of special training program people use? I've never really heard anyone describe it, and the ones who can seem to not have done anything special to learn Is it some kind of polling strategy where people somehow get in the habit of asking "What am I forgetting" every few seconds while also doing other things? It seems like more of a thing that just happens, like the correct thought "I need to check the pot on the stove" just comes from nowhere at the right time, without any external stimulus or process that you can learn from a book. Just thinking about the thing all day definitely doesn't seem to help, as soon as you stop thinking about it, it's gone till something reminds you if you don't have this mysterious power.
  - carapace 5y ago
    > I think that pretty heavily depends on natural level of ability. I saw that you say in another comment that you think you probably have dyspraxia, so maybe there's something organic that prevents you from doing this. I'm no expert! But I would encourage you to experiment before you rule it out, eh? I should point out that I don't have any information about the prevalence of this ability, just that (some) people have known about it for a fairly long time (1000's of years?) and it's not uncommon. > Is there some kind of special training program people use? Some people have a little "ritual" of tapping their head on their pillow N times where N is the hour at which they wish to awaken. E.g. six times to wake up at six AM. That's nice and all, but you can get a resolution of a minute or two. (I mean that you can "set a reminder" for, say, 6:38 AM and you'll wake up at 6:37 AM.) > I've never really heard anyone describe it, ... It's one of those things that "everybody knows" and yet "no one knows", y'know? Like how some people can seal their nostrils against water voluntarily, or curl their tongues in unpsidedown taco shape. Here's a random article I found from a quick search "head tap to wake up" on DDG (second result): https://www.personal-development-planet.com/Internal-Alarm.html https://www.personal-development-planet.com/Internal-Alarm.h... https://www.personal-development-planet.com/Internal-Alarm.html https://www.personal-development-planet.com/Internal-Alarm.h... > ...and the ones who can seem to not have done anything special to learn Yeah, it's intrinsic. You don't have to learn anything special to do this. The article linked above mentions "a study by Jan Born at the University of Lubeck in Germany, which found that our body knows when it is due to wake up and starts releasing “wake up” chemicals a full 90 minutes before the scheduled wake-up". So you're already doing it, just not deliberately. > Is it some kind of polling strategy ... Goodness no! That would be so inconvenient. It works like an interrupt, to use computer metaphor. > the correct thought "I need to check the pot on the stove" just comes from nowhere at the right time, without any external stimulus or process that you can learn from a book. Exactly. One minute you're, say, typing a comment on HN, and the next moment you just "know" it's time to get the laundry out of the dryer. So you stop, grab the basket, and go to the dryer, and reach it just as it stops.
jancsika 5y ago
From your link: > Use Bluetooth headphones instead of corded ones. My dislike of this sentence is so potent it could fuel a lifelong plan to do the opposite of all your points just to spite the list that gave birth to it. In more practical terms, the fact that I did not fudge around with Bluetooth headphone problems in the last year alone probably saved me enough time to enjoy a peaceful, tasty dinner at a fine dining establishment.
- eternityforest 5y ago
  Really? What phone OS are you on? On new Androids BT is wonderful, all the switching is in the tray menu. Turn on headphones, it connects, turn them off or use the switch to go back. I also don't ever turn Bluetooth off though, or even have the button to do so in my quick shortcuts, so things might be different if I did. And I do remember older androids being annoying, since you couldn't switch away from the headphones in a hurry without turning it off. But as is, I'm pretty much pro-3.5mmless and don't think I'd ever want to go back to cords.
  - stephendause 5y ago
    Not the parent comment, but I have had a devil of a time getting Bluetooth headphones to work with Ubuntu. By contrast, my experience with Android has been the same as yours -- basically flawless, and I love it.
    - eternityforest 5y ago
      Sharing a Bluetooth between multiple devices does seem to be a weak point of the protocol, that only works when the device explicitly supports it like Logitech's fantastic mice. I expect PipeWire is going to fix this for the most part though. I haven't really used BT much on desktop in general though, I have a Fire stick for videos and phones are perfectly fine for music.
  - bradknowles 5y ago
    Bluetooth hell is far worse than any dependency hell I have ever seen. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Bluetooth audio is just about the worst possible audio that could possibly exist and still survive. The proprietary 2.4ghz wireless audio formats from Logitech and HyperX are proof that wireless audio can work, and work well. Bluetooth exists as the counter example of how bad an audio format can be, and somehow still survive.
stephendause 5y ago
Nice list! I will have to read and think about it more, but I definitely agree with the spirit of it. You may like the book Atomic Habits. It has many suggestions that are similar to yours, although it approaches self-improvement from the angle of forming and maintaining healthy and productive habits. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits
bradknowles 5y ago
I like to try to figure out what I did wrong, and then figure out what positive things I could have done that would have avoided the problem. Then focus on continuing to practice those positive things that will hopefully help me avoid such problems again in the future. The key here is that there are an infinite number of infinite things that you do not want to have happen, and at any point in time there are a finite number of positive things you do want to have happen. If you waste all your energy focusing on the negative things you do not want, then you will never have any energy to focus on the positive things you do want.

tpoacher 5y ago

> When someone is trying to get me to do something dangerous, and starts talking fast, I assume it's basically suppressive fire for thought Nice insight!

arapacana 5y ago

This is so freaking amazing, and I think the ultimate publication goal of my "daily insights" Notion page. Thank you so much for this, will be a treat to absorb.

carapace 5y ago

In re: #1, the brain has pretty precise timing. It's fairly easy to develop the ability to, in effect, set internal timers. Most people who know this only use it for waking up at specific times, but it can work for anything.

eternityforest 5y ago
I think that pretty heavily depends on natural level of ability. Is there some kind of special training program people use? I've never really heard anyone describe it, and the ones who can seem to not have done anything special to learn Is it some kind of polling strategy where people somehow get in the habit of asking "What am I forgetting" every few seconds while also doing other things? It seems like more of a thing that just happens, like the correct thought "I need to check the pot on the stove" just comes from nowhere at the right time, without any external stimulus or process that you can learn from a book. Just thinking about the thing all day definitely doesn't seem to help, as soon as you stop thinking about it, it's gone till something reminds you if you don't have this mysterious power.
- carapace 5y ago
  > I think that pretty heavily depends on natural level of ability. I saw that you say in another comment that you think you probably have dyspraxia, so maybe there's something organic that prevents you from doing this. I'm no expert! But I would encourage you to experiment before you rule it out, eh? I should point out that I don't have any information about the prevalence of this ability, just that (some) people have known about it for a fairly long time (1000's of years?) and it's not uncommon. > Is there some kind of special training program people use? Some people have a little "ritual" of tapping their head on their pillow N times where N is the hour at which they wish to awaken. E.g. six times to wake up at six AM. That's nice and all, but you can get a resolution of a minute or two. (I mean that you can "set a reminder" for, say, 6:38 AM and you'll wake up at 6:37 AM.) > I've never really heard anyone describe it, ... It's one of those things that "everybody knows" and yet "no one knows", y'know? Like how some people can seal their nostrils against water voluntarily, or curl their tongues in unpsidedown taco shape. Here's a random article I found from a quick search "head tap to wake up" on DDG (second result): https://www.personal-development-planet.com/Internal-Alarm.html https://www.personal-development-planet.com/Internal-Alarm.h... https://www.personal-development-planet.com/Internal-Alarm.html https://www.personal-development-planet.com/Internal-Alarm.h... > ...and the ones who can seem to not have done anything special to learn Yeah, it's intrinsic. You don't have to learn anything special to do this. The article linked above mentions "a study by Jan Born at the University of Lubeck in Germany, which found that our body knows when it is due to wake up and starts releasing “wake up” chemicals a full 90 minutes before the scheduled wake-up". So you're already doing it, just not deliberately. > Is it some kind of polling strategy ... Goodness no! That would be so inconvenient. It works like an interrupt, to use computer metaphor. > the correct thought "I need to check the pot on the stove" just comes from nowhere at the right time, without any external stimulus or process that you can learn from a book. Exactly. One minute you're, say, typing a comment on HN, and the next moment you just "know" it's time to get the laundry out of the dryer. So you stop, grab the basket, and go to the dryer, and reach it just as it stops.

jancsika 5y ago

From your link: > Use Bluetooth headphones instead of corded ones. My dislike of this sentence is so potent it could fuel a lifelong plan to do the opposite of all your points just to spite the list that gave birth to it. In more practical terms, the fact that I did not fudge around with Bluetooth headphone problems in the last year alone probably saved me enough time to enjoy a peaceful, tasty dinner at a fine dining establishment.

eternityforest 5y ago
Really? What phone OS are you on? On new Androids BT is wonderful, all the switching is in the tray menu. Turn on headphones, it connects, turn them off or use the switch to go back. I also don't ever turn Bluetooth off though, or even have the button to do so in my quick shortcuts, so things might be different if I did. And I do remember older androids being annoying, since you couldn't switch away from the headphones in a hurry without turning it off. But as is, I'm pretty much pro-3.5mmless and don't think I'd ever want to go back to cords.
- stephendause 5y ago
  Not the parent comment, but I have had a devil of a time getting Bluetooth headphones to work with Ubuntu. By contrast, my experience with Android has been the same as yours -- basically flawless, and I love it.
  - eternityforest 5y ago
    Sharing a Bluetooth between multiple devices does seem to be a weak point of the protocol, that only works when the device explicitly supports it like Logitech's fantastic mice. I expect PipeWire is going to fix this for the most part though. I haven't really used BT much on desktop in general though, I have a Fire stick for videos and phones are perfectly fine for music.
- bradknowles 5y ago
  Bluetooth hell is far worse than any dependency hell I have ever seen. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Bluetooth audio is just about the worst possible audio that could possibly exist and still survive. The proprietary 2.4ghz wireless audio formats from Logitech and HyperX are proof that wireless audio can work, and work well. Bluetooth exists as the counter example of how bad an audio format can be, and somehow still survive.

stephendause 5y ago

Nice list! I will have to read and think about it more, but I definitely agree with the spirit of it. You may like the book Atomic Habits. It has many suggestions that are similar to yours, although it approaches self-improvement from the angle of forming and maintaining healthy and productive habits. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits

bradknowles 5y ago

I like to try to figure out what I did wrong, and then figure out what positive things I could have done that would have avoided the problem. Then focus on continuing to practice those positive things that will hopefully help me avoid such problems again in the future. The key here is that there are an infinite number of infinite things that you do not want to have happen, and at any point in time there are a finite number of positive things you do want to have happen. If you waste all your energy focusing on the negative things you do not want, then you will never have any energy to focus on the positive things you do want.