coned88

is look-at-later a product I am confused.

" I "solved" my own problem by just routing every distraction as it arrived into a look-at-later list. Then when later arrived I'd scan through, decide what was actually worth following up on and just delete the rest. If you do this then you will realise how unimportant most of those distractions were."

Good idea. Frankly when I come on HN or reddit I may scan through and open a ton of tabs. But then as I go through the tabs I'll close many since they no longer seem as important

" However, IMHO, your issue is that you think that being aware of topics is equivalent to truly understanding those topics. If you were really interested in those 100 unread pinboard articles, you would have read them - you seem to like the idea of knowing about the topics of the articles more than actually understanding the underlying concepts contained in the articles."

It's not always about knowing things in and out. I am in a position where I need to know a lot about a lot of things. If developers come with some new tech and want to do xyz. It's very helpful for me to know what xyz is. If non technical people or management comes with demands abc I need to know the bounds of it.

It's not great being in a meeting or on a phone call and not knowing what the other person is talking about. Not only does it make you look uneducated but it makes the other people lose respect for you.

To do what I want I don't need to know everything about a topic. But knowing the basics and its existence goes a very very long way.

I know a good bit about a lot of topics. Then in my specific field I know a lot more in depth.

wow that's some great advice. Thanks so much.

> You might be INTP. FInd out and if you are, find a community of them. It helped me.

I took one of those self tests and it came back ITSJ

Awesome post. Thanks so much.

Awesome glad you are doing a bit better

Good advice thanks

> Skimming topics is almost as useful as actually reading them. The benefit there is that you acquire a lot of assorted bits of background info, which might come in handy. But you don't need to deep dive and worry about getting through all the material. Just knowing it's there is enough. And even then, consider limiting the scope.

Good point.

> The whole "being informed, having an opinion, arguing" -- it's really not productive. I look back over all my HN interactions, and the vast majority of it isn't really productive. Your opinions don't matter, and nor do the arguments. If I spent the time I've wasted saying shit on HN doing something useful (even reading fiction books), it'd have been better spent. (Now reading threads I've learned a lot, and getting some of my statements corrected has been useful.) But there must be some low-level psychological drive, since here I am. Mostly it comes from periods of boredom or depression, where I can't get over the initial impulse to work. Eliezer covers it here[1].

Another good one. It doesn't matter.

You say i wrote this to get the easy answer but I got yours which is a big help and really put things in perspective. I think if I just stopped reading reddit I'd be fine.

Thanks so much.

Great thanks. How does one keep the lists? Is paper preferable?

> Yes, just purge them. Why not? > Why do you feel like this information is a burden? Why do you hesitate to declare a jubilee and just clear your Instapaper?

Fear of missing something important I guess. The info could prove important in my life. It's a burdern because of the how I feel now. Worn down.

> You say you're not anxious... But I'd think more about that angle. What you describe sounds like a form of anxiety. You can be anxious and still be able to sleep.

I have an anxiety disorder and this could be anxiety. It's not the same feeling though as when I think I am going to have a heart attack.

> How do you relax? What are your habits like?

I go to work, work on computer. Come home and relax on computer. On weekends I occasionally go for a hike.

> when what's actually bothering you is something missing in the other parts of your life?

Certainly possible.

I'd love to hear more

Thanks a lot. I do suffer from reading HN and reddit too much. Sometimes I just keep consuming content. It's crazy. There's some benefit to it but overall there's not. I'd probably be better if I spent time focusing on one thing,

Thanks for hndigest I hadn't heard of it before. I have to say though for me the comments are the best part of HN.

Great thanks so much

Thanks a lot this was great advice.

That is a big source. :)

Great advice thanks.

Thanks looks great

I do go on hikes but not anywhere near that length. Maybe that will be it. Thanks

Taoism isin't too far. I once read the Tao of Pooh and thought the ideas were great. I think my conflict is that information allows things to change. Decisions can be made given a better understanding.

I'll check out the Tao Te Ching book. Thanks.

Great thanks. I'll look around. You're right.

Great thanks.

It's possible I could do better by really narrowing it down but who knows. I am pretty good at what I do because of it I think. I'll have to think about it.

As for the POV's. isn't that what we all do, throw around others point of views? I wasn't educated in a way that fostered original idea.

Thanks.

Sometimes it does feel like I serve them. That's scary. I am hesitant to let them go because there very well can be things that may matter in there. I've had conversations with people who I wouldn't have been able to had I not read that one article about something. But at this point it's getting crazy so I think you're right.

I kinda do this as well. I don't really use the phone from 6pm to 10am unless I get a call. Reading some fiction before bed does help me sleep better. Even so I find reading still tires me out as if it's no different than reading an article.

My grandmother always wonders why the younger generations are always so tired or so that's what she sees. She of course was never as tired when she was younger but other than health issues she really is a clear mind. She knew what her husband wanted her to know and that's about it. Everything else is wrong and she sticks to it.

For example I like to bake bread as a hobbyist and do no knead from time to time. She also likes to bake but given her arthritis she can't do it anymore and she really missed it. I got her everything she would need but she wont have it.

It's actually quite valid. I have taken vacations from work before with the sole intent of staying away from computers since I work on them all day. Guess what it never worked out. I always went back to the computer and spent the entire vacation on it.

That's actually pretty great. One of the best books I have ever read is the Tao of Pooh. I forget Taoism sometimes but it does feel right. maybe it's time to take the Pooh book off the shelf again for another read.

Sometimes though I'll see an article about a very interesting topic. I really do want to read it but then I see it's many pages long so I'll set it to read later and then I never read it or at least don't for a while.

You're right about the value of the info. There are times I'll go back and then just delete it because I don't value it anymore.