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Comment by pbowyer | Hacker News Reader

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pbowyer·

> All of this without mentally counting

Wait, some people can count on their fingers without in their head going "One, Two, Three, Four"?

I can't. Suggestions for how to gain this skill first?

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Instead of 1, 2, 3, 4, in your head say "left, middle, middle, right." Repeat until natural, then change it to be "this one, this one, this one, this one." Repeat until natural, then repeat some more until you can do it by the pattern alone without verbalizing anything internally.

Or don't think of it as counting, just think of it as a drumbeat. Bah-bah-bah-BAH. Bah-bah-bah-BAH. Make sure to go slow enough that it's actually four seconds and not two (whole beats, not half-beats). But the end goal is to not have to think about it at all. It may require thousands of repetitions.

that's cheating! we want the power to instinctively tell how many seconds have elapsed. maybe even what time it is.

I dare say anyone who plays a musical instrument does exactly this. I for sure do not explicitly count the bars when playing (save for some longer pauses) as it would only get in the way. On the surface it seems to work fine via feedback from hearing myself/others playing, movement (fingers/arms/body) while playing etc. Not that much different to counting out loud to be honest (just another feedback channel).

I start with my fingers all closed into a fist. I simply open the next finger, starting from my little finger. When I reach my thumb, I know to do the next 'thing' (whatever it is), then repeat. Rather than using your brain to store your state, you use your fingers. You can forget about what you are doing and simply know your state based on the feel of your fingers. Its basically like a simple state machine.

That is why this visual is so great. The act of counting is a distraction.

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