How to Scale Yourself and Get More Done Than You Thought Possible | Hacker News Reader

How to Scale Yourself and Get More Done Than You Thought Possible

zapier.com

38 pointsOWaz7 comments

> So what should I do to multiply these keystrokes given that there is a finite number of those keystrokes left in my hands? I write a blog post and I mail him the link. Then after I'm dead, my keystrokes multiple—every time I get a page view that's 5,000 keystrokes that I did not have to type.

I don't see how I can apply this to my daily life.

I've managed to whittle down most email to a few short sentences, but I can think of plenty of examples where I've written up intricate math notes and made them into blog posts that never got any page views because they were so hyper-specific.

Its just an investment that may pay off in time in the future. Say you need to explain how to do something to a friend, if you write it up and keep it somewhere you should never need to type out that same explanation again if you other friend needs it at any point in the future. For a bunch of stuff its useless, but for setting up systems, giving similar advice on a subject to multiple people, or teaching a concept it seems like a solid plan. Even if you just keep it in a text file and the public doesn't see it, it still saves you time.

>I can think of plenty of examples where I've written up intricate math notes and made them into blog posts that never got any page views because they were so hyper-specific

He's probably talking about a certain set of topics that he knows are of general interest. With that said, if he could make them more interesting to the general public by adding a few lines of context, I'm sure he'd do that too.

Back in 1995 I went on a Boy Scout camping trip with a couple of scout leaders who were absolutely addicted to Steven R. Covey and who knows how many other self-help books. One of the leaders was a surgeon; the other, a business leader.

As we listened to them giggling and comparing Covey notes in their tent late into the night, we started to make up our own special set of jokes about synergizing and win-win situations.

Today, I think there really is something to all that Covey stuff. But I try to remember that not everyone around me really gives a care, and they still seem to get things done just fine.

If somebody shows me that 2x2 grid of important and urgent, important but not urgent, not important and urgent and not important but not urgent...I'm going to scream.

Seriously folks, it take more than a few analogies, funny images, memorable anecdotes and catchy business phrases to change fundamentally how I work and how my job/career effects my life.

Maybe not you, but many people, never think about the distinction between urgent and important, and for them that grid might be an epiphany.

Of course the people who make a living of giving talks and writing books about productivity manages to do just that by wrap it in some easily digested anecdotes and phrases. That doesn't mean that there isn't anything to learn. E.g. GTD have increased my productivity enormously, and most importantly taught me to not be stressed out about everything I need to do.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-being-too-busy-ma...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com