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The concept of "luck surface area" changed my life, no joke. It's the best framing I've ever heard for it.

abathur 4y ago
I like the framing. I've been trying to blog more and publish more personal projects over the last ~4 years than I had before that, but speaking to the proverbial empty room is a little disheartening. I think it's because I'm pining for perspective, which is a fairly high-value thing. I can't say "luck surface area" has changed my life, yet, but I suspect seeing it that way provides a more stable and intrinsic (if small) motivation. I've thought for a while that I'll need a less-external motivation to be able to keep it up in the long term.
- Frotag 4y ago
  Personally I use github issues / prs as documentation for future me. It's a happy side effect that it builds my portfolio (same for if someone actually finds it useful).
  - abathur 4y ago
    Within a project context? Or do you have a more ~personal/meta repo where you're doing this more broadly? If the latter I'd be curious to see an example (but don't feel pressured if you aren't comfortable dropping it in a busy thread).
    - Frotag 4y ago
      Nah, the first option, not a central repo. That's a cool idea though, maybe I should do that for irl todo lists. With markdown, it's probably easier / better than using notepad or discord or whatever.
      - abathur 4y ago
        The projects beta will actually let you have a user project which would be easy enough to use that way. I am not sure, however, how public/searchable those are.
cehrlich 4y ago
Same, I can't remember where I heard it first but it changed my life. Would be curious if someone knows the origin of it.
- aarondf 4y ago
  I think the first mention of the concept was on a podcast called TechZing. The author later wrote it down on his blog (referenced in the article) https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-sur...

I like the framing. I've been trying to blog more and publish more personal projects over the last ~4 years than I had before that, but speaking to the proverbial empty room is a little disheartening. I think it's because I'm pining for perspective, which is a fairly high-value thing. I can't say "luck surface area" has changed my life, yet, but I suspect seeing it that way provides a more stable and intrinsic (if small) motivation. I've thought for a while that I'll need a less-external motivation to be able to keep it up in the long term.

Frotag 4y ago
Personally I use github issues / prs as documentation for future me. It's a happy side effect that it builds my portfolio (same for if someone actually finds it useful).
- abathur 4y ago
  Within a project context? Or do you have a more ~personal/meta repo where you're doing this more broadly? If the latter I'd be curious to see an example (but don't feel pressured if you aren't comfortable dropping it in a busy thread).
  - Frotag 4y ago
    Nah, the first option, not a central repo. That's a cool idea though, maybe I should do that for irl todo lists. With markdown, it's probably easier / better than using notepad or discord or whatever.
    - abathur 4y ago
      The projects beta will actually let you have a user project which would be easy enough to use that way. I am not sure, however, how public/searchable those are.

cehrlich 4y ago

Same, I can't remember where I heard it first but it changed my life. Would be curious if someone knows the origin of it.

aarondf 4y ago
I think the first mention of the concept was on a podcast called TechZing. The author later wrote it down on his blog (referenced in the article) https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-sur...