Ask HN: What's something you wished you started doing earlier? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What's something you wished you started doing earlier?

4 pointskarakoram12 comments

Could be in you career, business or general life.

Something you recently picked up that would have had even greater impact if only you started a few years ago.

Public speaking (toastmasters). I waited five yrs. Social skills, management skills, and learning to tell. It’s being ready for the “hey, do you have time to speak with the vice president of the company”

Also better quality cooking. Healthy, save money.

More physical fitness.

Anx particular resources you can recommend beyond toastmasters?

I thought toastmasters was great. But all the different clubs had different personalities. So, you have to find the right club. I was in it in the early 1990s and do not know how it’s evolved. What I liked about it was it had a ten speech structure and you could move on w life afterwards. Speaking in a contest beyond the club level could have you in front of 60 or more people. But something magical happens and your comfort level increases. I think there are other non toastmasters opportunities in volunteering but it’s nice to get the framework before you are thrust in front of large groups. But back to resources, I e seen some serious professional negotiation programs at my public library that really impressed me. Finally… and I’m spitballing here, I guess you could beat yourself up with speed dating events. lol.

Not recent but in general:

martial arts

serious running

non-web programming

cigar smoking

shaving my head

growing my beard

carnivore / keto / nutrition education

using soap for showering instead of gels

dressing for comfort(now i wear only sportswear)

buying larger shoes

grounding my own coffee instead of buying grounded coffee due to much lower variety compared to whole bean coffees

getting rid of google and all its services(i have YT account but i have no "channel")

not wasting time commenting on YT videos or tweeting as it's a fool's errand

investing

Microcontrollers. I never quite got what electrical engineering was all about.

Then I picked up my first esp32, and - boom - sucked into the maker space, staying up all night reading up on the intracies of using i2c over UART

Releasing the songs I've been reworking for a decade or two at this point. I have out out only only a tiny fraction of my vault because if its not perfect it's not releasable.

My current projects, and everything else I've thought about doing next.

Building things for myself, not just clients and thinking about who it's for from the start.

20+ years as a freelancer. I got good at solving other people's problems. Along the way I started 4 or 5 side projects with others. We'd build something solid, then wonder why nobody showed up. The pattern was always the same: build first, figure out marketing later.

Wish I'd understood earlier that reaching people isn't a phase after the product, it shapes the product.

Lifting

Taking care of my health.

Public speaking.

Leave school.

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