1) Meditation, I used to think it was something hippies did. I now think its worth 10 IQ points. I honestly can't recommend it enough.
2) Sleep, I'm getting close to 40 and the last 2 times I pulled all nighters I ended up deleting pretty much all the code I wrote from 11pm onward.
3) Occasional Fasts. I normally fast from 6pm until noon the next day but I now do one 3 day fast each month. I think this is going to become more and more common as a way to head off cancer in the body.
I'm not a doctor but my doctor friends believe that eating less is the secret to increasing life span and fasting is the secret to heading off cancer cells before they can really start to grow.
Also after 3 days of fasting I find that the mind becomes sharper.
Your millage may vary....
I pulled an all nighter and next day rear ended a vehicle near a traffic signal because I dozed off for a second. The impact was minimal and no one was harmed. It was the first accident with my fault in 15 years of driving. I am approaching 40 and have 2 young kids. I cannot get my priorities wrong at this point. Many lives depend on me and hence it is imperative that I take care of my health.
I am sharing so people in my situation may recognize importance of our health at this stage in life.
Okay, that came out a bit incisive. Do you have any scientific backing to support those claims? I'm especially interested in fasting. Not eating for 3 days a month does not seem especially healthy. Then I see the claim that it cures cancer and forgive me if all my alarm bells go off.
There was a white paper on /r/science about how decreasing amount of sugar one consumes, lowers chances of developing some kinds of cancer (can't find an exact link, something along the lines "less sugar starves cancer"). Pretty interesting, thanks s for sharing!
Also, trying to optimise the way I do things / my systems. We all have them, whether we realise it or not. I'm just trying to better get on top of mine: wake -> meditation -> exercise -> breakfast -> office -- etc.
It's also much easier to stop the thoughts, focus on the present moment, breathing, etc when you are running in a park as opposed to staring at the wall.
Lot of Indians fast. the reason is religious but many think the ancient just used religion etc as a tool to ensure their best practices are carried forward to future generations.
I've heard this before and it makes some sense. Don't know how to reconcile it against my desire to get out of the 17-18 BMI pit I've been in, and put on some healthy muscle (which requires a lot of food).
Diet and exercise have also been things I've been learning very belatedly to take seriously.
I'm currently trying to improve at listening, communicating, and reading instructions properly.
I have become more mindful even without practicing meditation anymore so it seems I did pick up a new skill/habit from training.
I think I will give it another try.
The beginning was pretty difficult but once you're used to it it's nice.
I do have a question though, a 3 day fast?!?!?!?! 3 days of no food? I'm assuming you drink water?
Do you drink coffee or use any some of stimulants?
I wish this was true && that there was well compiled evidence that could convince me that this is the case.
Since then I've dropped almost all gaming, reducing it to about 4 hours a week of phone games and shifted to doing outdoor activities like running, biking, ect. PokemonGo has been a way to meld the two.
I sell small leather goods (wallets, belts, etc...) as a hobby now. Its been fun so far.
After I learned to program a few years later, I couldn't enjoy gaming any more. I'd try to play an hour or two here and there, and would get bored pretty quickly. But I eventually got nostalgic of those 20 hours nights. I sometimes miss the focus and dedication I had, even if it was just for a game that didn't bring me anything real, the way I felt while being so focused was enjoyable, not the game itself.
I tried to get back into it now that my life is in a much better position. I know the time I would spend on that wouldn't be spent on anything more relevant as it's time to off my brain. One thing I decided though is that I would only play with my wife; if she'd stop playing, I would too. So far, it has worked great, we've been spending more time together with that and usually help each other stop when we've been playing enough.
So, I thought back on all I did in that time. I noticed the missions were all similar with slight variations. The levels, items, and so on gave me little accomplishments but mostly just changed the numbers or face of the enemy I'd fight. There was also enough time lost to make some real money or do something like apps in the real world. Last time I did MMORPG's.
Closest thing I do these days is Battlefield 4 since it improves my hand-eye coordination, assessment, and adaptation skills as I try new weapons. Plus diverse strategies available for various maps. Keep thinking I need to get back to RTS or TBS games to but I just have a console right now.
Personally, I'd say that the thing that changed my life for the best has been Not Giving Tech Support.
When I was a teenager I was kinda miserable because some people abused me for tech support. You know, it's nice to give favors, but at some point you're fed up of reinstalling every computer in your block every 6 months. People stop you on the streets and the first thing they say is "you know I think my computer has a virus...". Yeah, f* you.
I guess not many people in HN do this anymore, probably because we're kinda old, however, if that's your case, learn to say no. It's fine. You can still oblige for some people. However, never do it for free. With close family and some friends, they probably have had more deferences towards you than you can ever repay. For others, just say "I do this for a living, it'll be $XX, at friend's price"
Once I started charging, only a few people took me up on it, and they've always been happy with the result. Those who want tech support for free should give something in return besides a beer "for your inconveniences".
I could expand but I'm afraid it would be an ugly rant. If anybody wants any help on how to say NO, just ask :)
A new variation is "I/My friend have this awesome app idea and we need a IT guy to code it out. Can you help?"
I'm curious, what do you think the average age on HN is?
Not that I have the facts, but I don't think HN is such an old audience.
I've been programming since I was a kid. Spending most of my time at a desk eating Doritos and fast food wasn't really the best choice. I spent most of my 'good years' as a young guy being really overweight and hating myself. Being overweight led me to really not like myself, be afraid of going out in public, etc.
I spent a ton of time in my best years feeling lonely, hiding away in my room hacking on code, and generally not enjoying my life 100%.
After years of this, when I turned 25, I realized that if I ever wanted to look good and feel confident, I should probably just get started. I did some research online:
* Read the fitness subreddit. * Read some books about weight lifting and nutrition.
And... I just got started. It took a while to learn how to actually do things right, but over the course of the first year I lost almost exactly 100lbs not knowing what I was doing. The amount of self confidence that gave me was the single best gift I've ever had.
I didn't feel afraid to go out in public anymore, talk to people, give tech talks, or just generally interact with people anymore.
After that, I realized that if I could lose weight, why not take it up a notch? I've always liked the way professional bodbuilders looked -- they look like real life superheros. So, I figured that if I can lose weight, why not take it a bit further and try to get closer to what I'd really like to look like?
So, I started reading about bodybuilding, etc. I realized that it isn't that hard! So over the last 2 years, I've been doing a lot more weightlifting, eating better, etc., and things have been awesome! I feel way more confident, feel happier, have a better private life, etc.
Overall, getting in shape has been, without question, the best time investment of my life.
Here's me a few years back when I got married: http://i.imgur.com/NQ5dskZ.jpg Here's me from a few weeks ago: http://i.imgur.com/k6OzJoS.jpg
Yes, that's the biggest thing that's under-stressed about exercise: the benefits are not just physical/health related. Like you, exercise has made me far less averse to interacting with people, and resulted in me being more outgoing, more open meeting new people, and just living a better life as a result.
There's a book called Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain that relates that if exercise came in pill form, it would be plastered across the front page, hailed as the blockbuster drug of the century – purely on cognitive/psychological benefits alone. That really drove it home for me.
Don't just workout for health reasons. Workout for life reasons.
Whoever is readying this, don't think you can get that amount of muscle in a natural way so fast. Only Testosterone, trenbolone and other stuff will make you that large.
According to a simple calculator, if you cut down below 8% fat (which is pro body builder territory), you'd still be at above 205lbs, which is no way achievable with normal/simple workouts.
I don't want to chastise you, but to whoever is reading this, make sure to have realistic expectations once you get into weightlifting. Getting below 15% while body fat, while having some decent muscle definition is a goal achievable by everyone. It might take a couple of years for some, but it is realistic. Trying to looking like the models in the fitness magazines, unfortunately is not, as 99% of them take hormones and other performance enhancing drugs.
The before and after is basically me being completely pumped and half-dead after my 8h vs. me taking a happy stroll out the office at the end of the day, going for a run and still putting in 4 more hours of whatever else I'm doing, easily. With 0 signs of burnout, when I was skirting the line for years before I started cardio.
So exercise, can't stress that one enough.
I'm just starting the lifting thing. Not looking for the bodybuilder look, but definitely working toward being more muscular! Great job!
I know you talked mostly about fitness, but what's your diet like these days?
I'm curious what your routine is like. If you don't mind, could you share how many days a week you train/rest as well as how many hours on a good/average day? Thanks.
Do you need special keyboards with those arms? :-)
I ended up with a significantly better salary than they originally offered and never even said a number. Just built a good rapport with the hiring HR rep and agreed that the offered amount would be totally reasonable for [someone else with good experience]. Then I pointed out that I also bring to the role [additional, relevant, and desired experience] and gently asked what they could do to make the number better?. (Then I kept my mouth shut and let them think out loud for a few minutes)
When you ask your question (this one is great btw - what can you do to make that number better), the other side may, subconsciously or (for more experienced negotiators) consciously just say nothing for a while. They're waiting for you to crack - to immediately fear the silence and blurt out something like "if that's possible of course" or "it would really help me, I've got 3 kids to feed". Following up your own ask with an immediate mini-backdown like this - without even making them say their piece - will lose you $.
Just wait. Silently. Lock eyes with them, not aggressively or weirdly, but patiently. After ten seconds (which may feel like 60), if the heat gets too much, raise an eyebrow slightly, clasp your hands, something.
Nothing's guaranteed but if you can do this you'll get better outcomes more often. And that's especially true on larger deals with very elastic prices (like selling an expensive piece of software) than something like your salary which often has real and hard bounds around it.
If I save at my current rate I will achieve FI in 2022. If I had started saving aggressively sooner I would already be FI (I'm in my mid forties). I hate answering to other people and would rather work on my own stuff. FI will get me there.
Read the book The Simple Path to Wealth to understand the process. Or this blog post is a good start: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-...
Another great resource (read the sidebar and FAQ on the right) https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/
Have a job that allows this to be feasible.
I was a hobbyist programmer for a long time. Then my father passed away, and I went through his computer and saw all these projects that would never see the light of day. That gave me the motivation to choose one project and see it through until it was good enough to have actual users. Programming is much more satisfying and meaningful now.
So to me that means that I need to focus and do one thing at a time.
We are a sum of our parts and I probably wouldn't have as great of an appreciation for the time I have left if I hadn't wasted so much time. I still get a lot of time to code, but damn, my single 20s were a whole different world.
2. Writing regularly(fiction or nonfiction). I think it's one of the most awesome skills you can develop, and the younger you are when you start practicing - the easier it will be. Just create a blog, and try to regularly post something valuable there. It's truly awesome, in so many ways, and the longer you keep doing it - the more awesome it gets.
3. Reading and information diet. Trying to minimize inane internet browsing, news, social media, and maximize the healthy information that I consume. Audiobooks are the best thing ever. Enjoyable and satisfying to listen to, and incredibly valuable. Just get in a habit of reading/listening, and you will soon learn a massive amount of great information.
The way I do it is just by blocking all the websites that I tend to lose my focus on and have only two times in the day when I can visit these sites to get all the information I need.
p.s. it's really strange that hacker news doesn't support sharing of markdown links :(
Professionally: email lists. If you have any reason to have a blog, you should have an email list. It surfaces the identities of the people who are actually interested in what you have to say, and ties people to you much, much tighter than "Oh yeah, that thing you wrote in 2011 that I read, that was a cool thing."
Businesswise: man, so many things could go here. How about "Put our sales process in a flowchart and execute from the flowchart, not from I'm-smart-and-can-extemporize-in-real-time. Adjust flowchart as required." Relatedly: answer common objections once, offline. Cache the answers. Repeat back from the cache, not from "best halfway decent thing you can remember to say in real time."
Can you elaborate on that? I'm wondering to what situation you are referring to and what kind of objections you mean here?
Yeah, these can be great. Don't, however, be aggressive about it. Nothing turns me off faster than being a paragraph into something to have the page dim and an overlay appear asking me to sign up for email updates.
Also, if you have a blog, offer an RSS feed.
* reduce the habit down to a ridiculously small subset of the habit. Eg. "I will floss every day" becomes "I will floss my upper, front two teeth". Or "I will exercise every day" becomes "I will change into my exercise clothes and step out my front door.". You don't have to floss all your teeth... just one. You don't have to actually exercise, just change and step outside
* put the habit trigger (your floss, your running shoes, whatever) where you have to trip over them during your regular routine. Eg. keep your exercise clothes on the chair where you sit to use your laptop or watch your tv
* put up a calendar where you have to see it every day (like at the dining table) and a red marker on a string (so you can't "lose" it) and make a Seinfeld chain
* enlist the aid of your family and friends. "Spouse... I'm doing this thing that's hard for me. I need you help. Please help me. And let's have a reward... if I [perform habit] for [reasonable time period... say daily for 6 weeks] I will take you to (or make it possible for you to) do [some activity spouse likes but doesn't get to do often]"
* have a big reward to work towards, but also lots of little rewards along the way to reenforce the good behaviour. Just make sure they don't undercut the habit
* make a consequence for failure. Something that won't really hurt you but will definitely sting. Make sure your friends and family know about it so you feel social pressure to go through it. "If I break the chain more than twice, I will publicly donate $1000 to [political party that I hate]... and the money will come from my budget for [hobby I love]"
* remove triggers for the habit you want to replace. Eg. If you want to eat healthy, then remove all non-healthy food from your home... don't hide it, don't put it somewhere out of reach so it will be inconvenient... get rid of it completely
* don't give yourself any wiggle room. Make your rules absolute. If you think you need an out (eg. might need to break $diet_plan due to business dinner) then explicitly give the authority to someone you trust and who has an interest in your overall success. Eg "I will strictly follow $diet_plan. My cheat day is Saturday when I can also eat [list]. Any other time, $spouse (or $friend) has to agree. Even so, I will stay within the following limits: $list"
* Plan out in advance how you will handle the curveballs that life throws at you (especially important to learn from the ones that caught you the previous times). How will you respond to $X? ... Decide now instead of hoping that future you will be able to detangle from the stress of $X enough to think clearly
* Take on only one habit at a time. Start the next improvement only after the current one is firmly entrenched. If you have more then one, choose the one that makes the other ones easier
TL;DR; Assume you will be weak. Assume that it will be hard to walk the path of $good_habit and fall back into $bad_habit. Do everything you can now to set future you up for success by removing decisions, removing temptations, getting help from others, and making it more painful/embarrassing to give up than it is to simply do the new habit.
Is it better to write posts for a blog than an email list, then? I feel it's better for someone relatively unknown to start out with a blog, then perhaps switch to a mailing list when you're better known. (Case(s) in point: you, Jason Calacanis, etc.)
Click through for my last comment.
2) using the command line freely (ie : not being an expert, but being able to use it a bit and automate some tasks). At some point, I maintained several apps at once, and it became too much of a burden to do the builds myself and install it one people devices several times a day, every day, so I decided to use a CI tool (Jenkins). To do the builds, I had to learn how to do everything in command line, and that's how I got started (now I am able to handle my own server and do some simple sysadmin).
Since I have an IT degree, I blame my school for not teaching me both of them, which I picked up after graduating: not mandating source control is to my eyes a big failure, and while I had some Unix courses, they never taught me WHY I should take the time to learn the command-line (and thus, I didn't).
I've had people with CS degrees confidently tell me all this stuff is taught - it's part of their classes from day one, and they know all that like the back of their hand. But only a few seem to walk the walk - others blank out on basic questions. Others from local community college "web tech" programs mostly don't even know what I'm talking about.
Documenting code, knowing how to document your regular activity in such a way that other team members and management have a clue what you're doing, beyond code comments. Decent commit messages, using an issue tracking system, ideally some project management tool, etc.
While many dev problems do stem from actual technical issues, far too many I see stem from poor communication between the team members and the external clients/stakeholders. Few devs, especially younger ones, have any clue as to how important those skills are, over and above the raw dev skills.
I always tell people: its a good 10% extra overhead you add to a project during design to be careful with regression testing and source control, and that is paid back many times the first time you avoid a dangerous bug or bad tarball that goes undetected for 3 months.
One day a quick task came up, and I decided to hack it out. The only library I could find was a python library, so that's what I used... and it was so quick to get something. 10 lines later my boring task was done. Impressed, I started looking for other things to put this new super power of mine to work, and it's been spiraling out of control. I still use the other languages I know for the majority of my work, but things I might have just never done because I wouldn't have had time are now getting done. It's so great to get things done.
If you're fast/productive in C# and you're looking for a good way to accomplish quick tasks or experiment, LINQPad (http://www.linqpad.net/) will become your best friend very quickly. It would probably be faster to list the things I don't use it for than the things I do. The premium license is worth every cent.
Then one day I realised that women thought I was sexist and men thought I was an asshole because I dominated the conversation. I'm a grown man and don't need to take advantage of every opportunity to speak.
Whenever I take a walk, even if it is a place I have been to dozens of times, I always find something interesting that I hadn't seen, heard, or noticed before. I have literally never gone on a walk and later wished I hadn't. I spend a lot of time alone anyway but there is a huge difference between being surrounded by a static, simple rectilinear enclosure and being surrounded by a living, breathing dynamic ecosystem. It is incredibly soothing. I do not regularly meditate, but I will often find myself sitting quietly in one spot outside and letting the sights and sounds wash over me along with the thoughts and feelings they evoke.
Seeing a developmental pediatrician for my son when he was younger to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
Seeing a rheumatologist to discuss ramifications of the HLA-B27 gene and the family history of spondylarthropathies.
What's the common thread?
See a doctor when you have any health concerns, physical or mental, no matter what others may tell you about it being a waste of time. And not Dr. Google, M.D., but a doctor that you trust. Google their credentials, sure, but don't google a diagnosis.
I haven't had store-bought bread for 6 months, and each loaf I wonder why I didn't know about this earlier! (Here's a good starter on making a starter! http://www.theclevercarrot.com/2014/01/sourdough-bread-a-beg...)
i.e. Depth of knowledge rather than breadth of shallow knowledge (reading the headlines only).
First, I can't play such games in a non-competitive way. While some seem to play Hearthstone for fun, I play to win and I want to figure out how to do so.
This leads me to second: Ultimately, for an hour's worth of gaming time, I had a few feel-good moments and the rest was emotionally stressful. I hated the luck of Hearthstone, I hated random assholes in Heroes of the Storm who'd destroy the game.
When I realized that my emotions were determined by a random number generator I had no control over (matches and card draws), I finally decided to quit playing games for 30 days. After this month, I didn't really miss anything, used the free time to do other things and removed the Windows Bootcamp partition of my Mac with all games and never looked back.
A few weeks back, I played Hotline Miami 2. A single player game. It was okay, didn't waste endless hours of my time and had a definite end – not like multiplayer games where there is no end. But single player games won't cut it for me anyways and haven't for a long time already. I think they're mostly boring.
Why?
• There are no cards with the words "random" on them
• Of the cards you draw, you can mulligan several times to get a better hand
• Many cards let you search your deck and pull out what you need, or something similar, further reducing "chance" being a factor
• You play a game of Best-of-3, and on your following turns you can choose any cards from a "sideboard" to slot into your deck to adapt to the current match, again, reducing chance, and reducing Rock/Paper/Scissors fights
• You don't simply play your cards, push "Done", then go grab a drink. You can play cards DURING the other player's turn to manipulate and overcome their strategy. (This is the REAL reason I can't play Hearthstone. It lacks an entire other dimension of play.)
• Magic has more resources to draw from (cards, life, graveyard, mana, tokens, creatures, artifacts, equipment, etc), and more resources to consider, making the strategies much more varied
• The complexity of Magic cards is on the order of about 3-5x more than Hearthstone. The cards used in Hearthstone compare only to beginner decks designed for kids to learn MTG, whereas MTG cards can be incredibly complex in the strategies they afford you: http://magiccards.info/scans/en/m13/220.jpg
The list goes on, but coming from MTG, Hearthstone felt like playing a very limited, aggro-focused, RNG-dependent game designed for quick matches with simple strategy and little thinking, versus Magic, which you can play on paper with your buddies, at a table, and have fun drinking and joking around. (At least that's how I play it.)
Secondly: Doing 1.5 hrs exercise daily.
As a long-time Linux die-hard who passed so many applications by because they didn't work well in WINE and/or virtualized Windows, it pained me to switch, but Linux is much more cooperative as a VM than Windows is (and it also pains me to "reward" Windows's bad behavior with the position of host OS). With appropriate tweaking (Dexpot) and a good terminal (ConEmu+Cygwin for SSH to my VM), Windows is basically just like a DE that can play new games (Overwatch, woot!) and run my photo editing software 5x faster than it ran in VM.
Fresh air and exercise, all packed into the same amount of time it would have taken me to drive and park, even enjoyed the thrill and mental challenge of forcing myself out in the rain and snow. Took some shortcuts and explored areas I've never been to before.
Contrast with a car, where taking side streets will slow you down significantly.
Stop working out. Blasphemy, I know.
Summary:
A decade long love-obsession with "health and fitness" has taught me that 99% of what our health industry says is nearly-useless or unhealthy.
Half the battle of "health" is to stop self-destruction: drug-abuse (obvious), working out "hard" (less obvious).
Replace gym and repetitive activity with natural exploratory movement. If you are "supposed to stretch" after, the workout wasn't healthy.
The other half is basic. In gentle regular moderation: sleep, eat decently and drink water, go for a walk outside, have some friends and some activities you enjoy.
Everything else is minutia and can be left to bodybuilders, professional athletes and fighters, and military personnel.
I generally enjoy my development work at bigcorp, but I found my mood swinging hard based on whether or not I was intellectually engaged at the office. If I wasn't working on something interesting and making progress, I became very sluggish and unmotivated outside of work as well.
I discovered indoor bouldering (rock climbing low to the ground over thick pads; no ropes/harnesses/training required) a couple years ago and it's been a revelation. I talked about it in an old HN thread about exercise [1]. It's a great source of goals, steady improvement, and overall "doing something besides work." I have since expanded to top-rope climbing (taller walls, ropes, harness), which is also ton of fun.
Baking is fun too. I have never enjoyed cooking very much, but baking caters to the engineering mindset: very focused and rewards preparation and attention to detail. Baking, at least at the amateur "I want to make something tasty" level, has fewer "patterns" than cooking and more subtle variations on those patterns, which means you can bake lots of different things without having to find some new piece of equipment or exotic ingredient every time you try something. And baked treats are fun to give to friends.
I definitely wish I would have started this sooner or actually never started selling my time at all. I worked only for myself for the first 5 years out of school then the last 5 mostly for others (as a contractor - never an employee).
Weightlifting but focusing on the work my muscles are actually doing as opposed to seeing a high number go quick. Three warmup sets and a high intensity failure set, with the warmup sets just training you to do the exercise in the proper form before you do it. Because a lot of people cheat the work their muscles are trying to do by crutching on momentum instead of letting their muscles have control of the weight. That would be a thing I wish I could indoctrinate into every every beginner. (DON'T COAST ON MOMENTUM)
Former smoker who has occassional cravings, liquid nicotine has been a life saver. Properly distributed, a giveaway of a three month supply would probably be the most cost-effective humanitarian mission for the homeless in the US.
Ignore most news. A radical acceptance that there's no point in paying attention to the equivalent of amateur illusions. It's a lot of central nervous system parasitics.
It's even made me think about making my source code more attractive.
The added bonus is that he also talks about his publishing system Pollen and that lead to me learning about Racket.
Not for all projects of course, but when building something enterprisey, simulated, or creative where users can model their own domain I believe that at least being familiar with the theory is not optional. I'm also somewhat convinced now that most "10x programmers" are maybe ~2x programmers who have simply encoded their expertise into a private DSL using JetBrains MPS or something. Allowing themselves to spend more time snowballing their skills and knowledgebase, and less time doing repetitive tasks and managing incidental complexity.
Oh also, I started using linear constraint solvers for automatically solving small to medium sized problems. You'll usually see them used for UI layout constraints, but that's just the beginning! For example, say you're building a small scheduling system, or a lightweight recommendation system that lies somewhere in between an if-statement and a full blown classifier, or you're writing some arbitrary last-minute business rule for a client where several things depend on each other with varying levels of weights/importance. If you know some things are linear, and the problem is unlikely outgrow the solver, then save yourself hours or work and just solve it at runtime!
- Using Vim. Just do it. You'll be more productive than in most other editors, and you can use it over ssh on pretty much any machine.
- Using Python. Batteries included means less work for you to do.
- Using Django. Ditto
- Stopped chasing the latest and greatest JS framework and just use what I know (jQuery and Angular lately). Not worth my time when I already feel very productive.
- Use puppet for every server configuration, from my home NAS to every production server.
- Learned 3D printing/joined a hackerspace. Working from home sucks for social life and for developing business connections.
- Learned some basic UI/UX ideas.
- Started sleeping more. This is huge for productivity and my happiness.
- Realized that buying off-lease/gently used cars is much more economical than brand new. You can drive a 3 year old BMW for the same price as a 2 year old Honda Accord.
- Listened to Roll Play, especially Swan Song. Better entertainment than most TV shows.
- Stopped paying for cable and signed up for Prime, HBO Now, and Netflix. This isn't even to save money, but to not have to watch commercials.
- Discovered polyamory.
- Realized that I can build electronics on the cheap.
- Hired a personal trainer to get in shape, instead of trying to go it alone.
- Bought a double walled steel water bottle.
Sorry if this is too long.
Spending a couple days getting more elaborate commands under my fingers ('cw', 'dt)' has been totally worth it. I could have saved dozens of hours over the years if I'd learned the commands earlier.
Constantly remind yourself that "this is entirely optional," whether it's a lunch meeting, a product feature, or your entire career. It helps you be more present—in the moment. If it doesn't excite you enough to be in the moment, say no next time. Eventually, your schedule will be more and more interesting and engaging to you. We become a slave to "yes" without realizing it. Derek Sivers has a good piece about this: https://sivers.org/hellyeah
Give back; or even better, practice preemptive giving. Not to be manipulative or trying to find some sort of karmic success; just because giving itself feels good and it causes you to start thinking from a more empathetic, gratitude-focused state of mind.
I think the world needs more of this, and hell... it's easier to handle stress when you default to finding the positive in a situation than actively looking for something to be critical of.
The "give back" mantra is a bourgeois affectation.
Every Sunday I write down a single thing to accomplish for each day of the next week: Read a chapter of a book, Write a post about a specific topic, etc.
Procrastination is super dangerous when there isn't a deadline. Way too easy for "tomorrow" to turn into never. Professional/Personal development stuff seems to fall into that trap pretty frequently.
I tried tracking things with all sorts of different software, but nothing clicked for me like pen and paper.
(Field Notes 56-Week planner pairs well with a uni-ball 307 Gel Pen.)
Any advice?
Being able to write down the tasks and scan back through my backlog has helped me be more productive. For me, using a calendar service or task manager app just does not work as well... BTW, I am a millennial.
edit: I am 10 years younger then everyone else at my company and get questioned all the time about "why I use a day runner" when everyone else is on a smartphone.
More convenient during my (on-transit) commute than a book and there's such a vast range of topics available to keep you interested.
Listing my financial ones:
Marketplace
Marketplace weekend
Radical Personal Finance
Slate Money
Freakonomics
Planet Money
Non-financial ones:
Parent Savers
Intelligence Squared
Intelligence Squared US
HBR Ideacast
Happier
Serial
Common Sense with Dan Carlin
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
NPR Politics
The Economist Radio
Stuff You should Know
99% Invisible
It's a really, really hard decision to make, to sink your time into something, and I can't recommend for everyone by default. Most people start projects on nothing more than a whim and will give up on those projects when they hit the technical-debt weeds. I don't think of that time as a waste, I think it's incredibly important to the learning process and I encourage people to start as many projects as possible. You just need to be honest and understand about yourself whether or not you're in it to win or just having fun, before you jump into a project head-first. I've seen a lot of people do that, and I've done it more than a few times.
This time is really different because this time I really have spent 2 years on the project and forced myself through multiple come-to-Jesus moments on my code. Everyone will have those sorts of moments as it's impossible to have such design foresight to predict all the ways you will want to use your software in the future, or that you won't change your mind on how you want to use it. And I think I needed to go through it to prove to myself that this was something I was going to be able to continue to work on. But I really wish I had known sooner.
I had fun, I kept going back. Got myself in great shape, got incredible amounts of confidence and charisma. These days I don't do it any more; the school moved to a less convenient location, and I ended up doing pole dance instead.
Getting in shape is great but it's boring; doing it with the context of learning something on top of it works amazingly well for me. And as a bonus, now i have no fear of looking stupid on a dance floor - I know a lot of interesting things to do to a beat.
Bouldering worked the same way for me. I don't do it anymore for stupid reasons and I should get back into it, but for a while I was in amazing shape from doing something not only physically but also mentally stimulating (and fun!).
There's loads of stuff written about dos/don'ts, TDD, etc. but doing some testing is better than none. It's not a silver bullet, and it's possible to get too caught up in tests to the detriment of the system; but you can cross those bridges if/when you get to them.
It lets me keep everything in one window, and reveals the true nature of internet browsing (an ever expanding tree, rather than a randomly edited list).
You can see which page spawned which ones, which is a blessing for keeping the structure organized.
Plus the vertical list is much more readable than microscopic tabs or ones hidden with horizontal scrolling. Also, horizontal screen space is cheaper!
I use the Tree Style Tab add-on with FireFox, it's the most solid one I've tried.
Ugh.
Edit
I've asked a few people to describe their moments instead of just listing what the change was. YMMV, but for me, these are far far more interesting than random lists of things.
I may have mis-interpreted the OP's intent, but it sure seems a lot more compelling when you know the catalyst as well as the reaction.
I didn't realize I should have been using him as a a role model until he passed away, but when it happened, it was very powerful.
It is also the first death of a relative I've had to deal with in my life.
If you had asked me without a scale for reference, I would have said 160 pounds.
It was 172.
172 isn't a crazy weight, but not realizing I'd made it into the 170s (which I'd never been before) while simultaneously believing I was 12 pounds lighter was definitely a "moment".
After a month of very low carb diet, exercise, and other lifestyle changes, I'm down to 153 and feel much better too. :)
What you're really after is more like "what is a moment in your life that made you rethink things and change your behavior".
I think they're both valid interpretations of the question. There's a common idiom, "an aha! moment", which can refer to either the source of the revelation or the revelation itself.
2. Switching away from Windows to GNU/Linux
3. Investing in stock market
4. Eating organic and vegan only
5. Drinking only bottled water
6. Working out and learning martial arts
7. Working on my self-esteem
8. Believing in myself
9. Keeping small paper notes for everything I do and have to do
10. Avoiding crazy girls/women like every other good boy/man should
11. Being honest with myself
12. Taking care of the future me (then thanking the past me)
13. Fixing my teeth
14. Attempting to leave my country of birth
15. Realizing that being either depressed or happy are choices every human has to make for themselves
I started out running for exercise. It would take a lot to convince myself to run, and then keep myself from wanting to quit. I got really good at tricking myself or rewarding myself after a run.
At some point, I think it was that I got in better shape, I didn't need that much motivation. I could go for a run and not think about the physical work of it. I could think about whatever, either letting my mind wander, or think through an issue I had run into. It became much more enjoyable.
I wish I had gotten to that point faster.
But yes, I too discovered running rather late and realized it took me only about 3-4 weeks to overcome the initial discomfort, inertia and struggle. That was one of my "why didn't I start running sooner" moments.
If any of you are waiting to start running, I'd say, start now. No reason to fear it.
Same is true for having a regular meditation practice. It makes a world of difference. Don't wait to start it in your thirties or forties. That's another practice I wish I had started in my twenties.
I moved there when I was 26 and left when I was 40. I should have left at least 5 years earlier. It took a marriage and imminent birth of a child to finally push me into leaving.
I now live in a small city (250k-300k people) in a great environment with plenty of outdoor space, mountains, rivers, lakes etc.
I am not paid nearly as much as I was in London, and it took me a good 12 months to establish myself. However, I don't need London rates of pay to live here comfortably.
I feel my quality of life has drastically improved in the last two years since leaving London.
Daily exercise, forgot about this for years. I think more clearly, feel better during the day, sleep better at night.
Home cooking, so easy to lose this joy when busy.
Swimming in the water when ever you go on vacation, whether is a pool, or stream, or ocean.
1) Meditation
2) IFTTT that syncs trello and google calendar
3) Eating Healthier
4) Running
5) ABC: Always be coding
6) Talking to people who are really good at their domain
7) Sleeping: Flux helps
8) App that tracks how much time I spend on websites and apps
9) Pomodoro
10) Reading fiction from a good writer
11) Reading good blog posts
12) Having a lunch with different people
13) Finding people who just started programming who I can help out
14) Not having decision fatigue
I have more, but these are the main one
It's like playing an instrument versus playing the orchestra. It ain't for everyone, and I won't claim I'm particularly good at it, but it's a fascinating new kind of creativity.
screen -dmS myservice /blah/start.sh
screen -S myservice -X stuff "stop\n"
When the process exits in that screen session, screen session is closed so that you can rely on screen -list.
I think there's a weird superstition that many of us have where we feel as if we don't deserve and won't achieve success unless we do everything we possibly can, across every vector of life, all the time. And this causes us to have "yes" as our default response, sometimes to our own detriment. And it often takes a big cold bowl of reality (death in family, getting fired, relationship breakup, physical injury, etc) for us to realize that it's OK to say no sometimes.
Will I write a glowing intro email for a passing acquaintance's friend who wants to work at company where I used to work and still have strong relationships? No, sorry.
Will I miss a scheduled workout so I can sit in on a conference call that got scheduled at the last minute? No, sorry.
Can you borrow my phone charger? No, sorry.
Writing these out, I get the visceral feeling that it will come off as selfish. It is selfish, I guess. But learning to say no to things I don't want to do has been a big step for me.
Cooking from scratch - keeps me healthy, is delicious, rewarding, impresses others
Not letting job define me - keeps me from getting disappointed when companies make decisions that doesn't align with what I want, removes emotion from decision making, my life on my terms (I'm moving forward whether or not the company is)
It's stupid how much of an effect that can have on my mood, and I never thought about it before, since guys aren't supposed to.
I've been studying for the CCNA and I've been having that moment ever since I started, there's so much to cover and so little time.
I did finally begin integrating into the larger tech scene around '07 with the introduction of Twitter. This and other factors led me to deciding to exit the business and join startups (Cloudscaling, then Docker). I had, however, passed up on offers to join early-stage at a couple companies that had mega-exits... so there's certainly a bit of, "what-if?".
That said, perhaps if I had more early success, I wouldn't now be founding my current company (IOpipe, Techstars'16: www.iopipe.com)
2) quit drinking alcohol (as a daily habit, I still drink an occasional beer with friends)
3) a whole foods plant based diet (https://medium.com/@borkdude/tl-dr-of-my-long-term-weight-lo...)
4) meditation
5) regular exercise
I was usually skeptic to crossfit. Have been doing weightlifting and overall weight training for 2-3 years and was used to pushing myself at my own pace and setting goals myself. Was afraid to turn my training into a cookie-cutter group class and be forced to do movements that are outright dangerous.
All the injury stories, the "cult" thing, etc. is all bullshit from my experience. No, you do not have to kip anything. At least on my "box" they frown upon kipping. To me that was amazing.
If you have any sort of training experience or some moderate fitness level you will be OK and will probably push yourself to do things that will make you see really fast progress.
Hang snatches, overhead barbell lunges, Wall Ball Shots, etc will make you stronger, bigger and more agile.
Just being on a floor where it is normal to drop a heavy barbell from a missed snatch is worth it. You will push yourself more and try heavier weights. Can't do it? Just hop over and take out some weights and try again. You don't have to wait for the frigging squat rack to be empty. That hour on the gym is for your group only. No waiting around for that dumbass tweeting while resting on the rack.
You will also have a coach (read good coach) that will sermon you and make sure you do things right. Last class I was doing some deadlifts and the coach started pushing me around and manipulating my torso and thighs to make sure I did it correctly. This went on about 3 different times in 2 minutes. It's good, when you are lifting and fatigue sets in you start faulting form.
Only been 3 months now, but man, it's frigging good. And the girls are hot and strong too. It's good motivation.
All in all, don't believe everything you read online. It's overdramatized.
Then again, if you haven't done ANY excerise at all in your life, it's probably better to start slowly on a normal gym. But not because crossfit is dangerous, but rather because you need to get used to your body and understand how much you can push it. It's easy to get injured doing any type of physical activity if you don't have experience and push too much, too fats.
Doing polyamory. I always was in love with multiple people, but most of the time I was bound to one. I never cheated, but I felt bad often. Should have done this earlier, but only with the rise of the Internet I was able to find enough people to share my thoughts with.
Started lifting weight. This I really could have done sooner, but I always was kinda nerdy and weights were for buff cool dudes. It got me rid of back-pain and I generally felt better.
Sleeping 8 hours a night, even when behind on work
2. Spending more time with family.
3. Finishing projects I start.
4. Solo traveling. I'm done waiting for others to get off their ass.
I can see within a few years from now I would have similar moments for stopping to use facebook and twitter
My #1 priority right now is becoming a breakdancer. Flexibility is such a huge component—you end up feeling lighter on your feet and incredibly alive. Changing my workouts to flexibity first almost make them philosophical.
The easiest way to do it is with Yoga—but it might get old quickly because there are many poor teachers.
Want to start doing it and feel like you always have so much to learn? Look up Ido Portal. OMG. :)
To put in in less nerdy terms, cleaning, ironing and other housework, exercise and walking will never be boring again.
Riding a bike.
Learning how to draw (I was trying to start several times, but always give up at some point).
2. Programming. It's been 7 years now, but when I first started it felt like an instant fit.
3. Currently, Unity 3d. I've tried to write games before and always gotten caught up doing graphics by hand. I'm doing a Udemy course on it and omg can't believe how easy / powerful it is.
4. Using my tax advantaged savings accounts. Why haven't I been maxing out my 401k every year? Not sure, but I am this year!
- Learning to say "no" easily
- Leaving a bad/so-so situation sooner rather than later
_______
Two future answers:
- planning for the future (I'm an "in the moment" type)
- moving out of the city (and into the countryside)
Everything and everyone interesting in my life from the past six years can be traced directly back to writing. Jobs I've gotten, deeper relationships with people whose work I love and respect — all tied together by words.
In my life, I can't think of a single thing that has a better return on time in to value out. (Outside of family / children.)
Now I'm losing all the way by just doing anything for any price :/
Simplifying.
Getting a housekeeper to save time and do all the things I didn't want to.
Although it failed, letskudos.com was born.
I found myself growing angrier, frustrated and confused by world events and world events as they are portrayed by the media.
I realised so much of it simply did not concern me or was just outside my sphere of influence. So I tuned out completely. I have no idea what is happening around the world.
I know that wilful ignorance has it's drawbacks but I have never had as much peace of mind.
2) Setting several alarms every night.
I usually have 3-4 alarms that go off between 1h 30m - 2h intervals every night.
By breaking up my awareness of sleep into segments I find it so much easier to get up in the morning feeling that I've slept for a long time.
I hated that feeling of waking up after 7hrs sleep feeling as if I've been sleeping for no more than 10 minutes.
3) Brush my teeth whilst taking a 5 minute power walk in my bedroom.
Nice burst of exercise before going to bed and my teeth have never been whiter :)
This falls under a host of other habit stacking things I do to combine tedious everyday activities.
I now meditate 2x a day, run, and lift weights.
I was living and working in a town that's somewhat boring and not the most inspiring. I came to the decision I needed to leave when there was a restructure going on and I realised that I wasn't learning anything and didn't really have anyone to learn from as well as the fact that the company wasn't really investing in learning and progression.
I've been at my new job for just over a month now and have been learning loads. The company actively invests in learning and personal development, with one of the benefits being a fund to spend on that as well as them providing training needed for my role. We've also recently been allocated some time to spend on personal learning/development.
I now work in a city so it also got me to move out of that town and closer to the city which has been good for my social life.
Writing a diary with the stuff that i have on my mind, it is easy to forget who you where before, and why you changed.
Holy cow, could I actually do that?!
I began to change my limiting thinking, and tweaked the way and with whom I was networking with.... I began telling people what I desired in the way of working and living abroad... Low and behold I am recruited for a position abroad!
The company sponsors my visa and I leave in 2 weeks!!
My aha moment came with the encouragement from a lived in line to follow my dream, my desire, with the thought that it all was actually possible... And it is!!
Start reading slashdot and later hackernews. I am still a CS student, these news sites allow me insight into the world after college, allowing me to plan and visualize my future better.
Another one is tracking personal expenses. I was looking for a solution for a while and even built something of my own, but in the end ended up using YNAB (https://www.youneedabudget.com/) which I found out about in an HN comment.
2) Learning German which taught me important memorization techniques to carry over to other areas of my life.
3) Stretching & flexibility exercises. I've been a heavy weightlifter ever since college but only began to realize recently that lifting weights can have detrimental effects on your body if that's the only thing you do. You'll become less flexible and more rigid which makes you more prone to injury. Especially with our profession where we're propped on a chair for most of the day, it's important to make sure our bodies can achieve a full range of motion to prevent any skeletal or joint issues down the road.
4) Cooking and eating a ketogenic diet. I'm much more satiated and rarely go hungry throughout the day. Cooking was extremely daunting at first but not so much when you really start doing it. It's an essential skill to have, ensures you're eating whole foods and putting nothing processed in your body, and gets you invites to more potlucks.
5) Writing everything down. My Evernote has exploded within the last year. I keep everything there and it's saved my ass countless times. You'll thank yourself later when you get into the habit of writing everything down.
That's all I can think of right now. What's exciting to me after having wrote this is that all these things were realized only within the last year or so. It's fascinating how much we can improve in such a short amount of time as long as we are consistent with always trying to grow and learn.
It is just that there is so much stuff happening in technology that it is almost a disservice to yourself (if your goal is to explore and learn new things) to always just stay in one place. It also happens to be one of the best way to get a good salary bump.
I started designing as a hobby. Just started making designs focused on superheroes, comics, etc. A year later, one of cousin's said he is starting a new project, for which he needs some designs. I randomly started designing it. The UI/UX of that app ended up so well that he's still using the same design concept for the app, and since then I have been learning more and more about UI/UX and I have completed more than 7-8 UI/UX design projects till now. :)
Two years ago I started running once a week, I hated it! But I knew it's a good form of exercise. Now I'm running 3 times a week and I love it! I'd like to run 5 times a week. I could just push myself to do it for a time period but I know right now this would eat away to much of my willpower and I'm ok with that. I know I'm gonna run 5 times a week in a year or two.
I learned how I can increase my willpower but it takes time.
EDIT: The actual "why didn't I do this sooner" moment comes after a month or so where you get fast enough with chord changes that you can actually play something :)
For me it is taking extensive notes. Over the past year I started pay attention to the mannerisms, behavior, and personalities of the people whose position I wanted to take in the near future. One commonality among almost all of them: they take notes during almost every conversation and write notes throughout the day as they think of things.
I'm an old AIX/HP-UX hand, and stuck to vi and clones because I was afraid I'd start using a vim-only command that wouldn't work on vi.
Then Unicode became more and more prevalent and vi and it's clones didn't support it well + I started doing mainly Linux, so I switched to vim. Then finally I started learning all the vim-specific extras... Yeah totally wish I started earlier!
Journaling/writing: Writing is really usefull. It helps: remembering (the brain just distord) taking things out of your head to take some distance.
Don't believing in truth: There is no such thing as that.
And posting on HM! :)
He was a very good friend of mine, but my negligence definitely took its toll.
I am rarely surprised by the consequences of my decisions... When I am surprised it's usually not in a good way. I guess that makes me an optimist? I'm a cynical optimist.
2. Meditation
3. Exercise & Good Nutrition (Health is your greatest wealth)
4. Sleep (Turning Off Blue light 3-4 hours before has had a very positive impact on sleep quality and general wellness / productivity during day )
The book was published in 2008 and I just finished reading the book a couple of months ago. It was a wild journey into the land of science fiction. Highly recommend if you are a fan of Asimov or Phillip K Dick.
I feel like I have those pretty often, with the most recent being yesterday: https://github.com/nkantar/GHT.vim
- Introduce more technical leadership roles to my engineering team
- Emacs and org-mode
Not using Ebates for 15 years has certainly cost me several thousands of dollars.