Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#181

Post by anotherevan » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 6:26 PM UTC

carlesfe wrote: post #44

Exercise, though others have said that. 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…

Agree. Apart from spouse and kids, the only others that get tech support from me are my parents (hey, they raised me and put me through school) and my in-laws (because I'm not an idiot).

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#182

Post by benologist » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 6:26 PM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #122

How about stopped doing? There was a weekend where I had spent close to 20 hours playing World of Warcraft to farm materials and reagents for the epic engineering mount. After I had finished it, and spent the requisite time showing it off in-game, I looked around and realized that all of thrill of lifelong learning and making things in the "real" world has been subsumed when all my spare time was consumed in a virtua…

I stopped using my computer after 9pm, that was hard but it makes a huge difference later when I go to sleep!

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#183

Post by aphextron » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 6:26 PM UTC

Definitely learning to program. I now separate my life into before and after learning to program. It really is like becoming literate in a world of people that can't read. It's the most powerful knowledge in existence.

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#184

Post by llekn » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 6:26 PM UTC

mason240 wrote: post #151

ChuckMcM wrote: post #122

How about stopped doing? There was a weekend where I had spent close to 20 hours playing World of Warcraft to farm materials and reagents for the epic engineering mount. After I had finished it, and spent the requisite time showing it off in-game, I looked around and realized that all of thrill of lifelong learning and making things in the "real" world has been subsumed when all my spare time was consumed in a virtua…

I had a similar epiphany when I started to learn programming (I was about 27 at the time). I realized I was spending all my time just incrementing numbers in a server. 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.

Well... isn't everyone basically spending all their time (working) to just incrementing numbers in a server (bank account balance)?

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#185

Post by wyldfire » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 6:27 PM UTC

chollida1 wrote: post #126

3 things for me: 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 th…

I think fasting is pretty interesting. I occasionally challenge myself with a ~24h fast and I think it's probably worthwhile. A three-day fast would be difficult for me socially -- I don't think I could skip consecutive dinners with the family (and attending the meal but not eating is IMO not polite). That said, it sounds appealing.

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#186

Post by sputknick » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 6:28 PM UTC

adam12 wrote: post #166

ChuckMcM wrote: post #122

How about stopped doing? There was a weekend where I had spent close to 20 hours playing World of Warcraft to farm materials and reagents for the epic engineering mount. After I had finished it, and spent the requisite time showing it off in-game, I looked around and realized that all of thrill of lifelong learning and making things in the "real" world has been subsumed when all my spare time was consumed in a virtua…

I'm trying to get myself to enjoy gaming again. I can't seem to just relax and play a game without thinking I'm wasting my time. It's also hard to get the same high in a game that I do when I solve a bug or add a feature to whatever project I'm working on.

I'm going through the same thing. Just bought my son his first console. I tried getting back in to it. No interest. The whole time I just wanted to put down the controller and go "actually" do something.

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#187

Post by econner » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 6:29 PM UTC

rayalez wrote: post #141

1. Good diet, exercise, and generally taking care of my health. Seriously, this should be the top priority, if you know that you're being stupid about how you treat your body - fix it as soon as possible. 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 reg…

Regarding #3 do you have designated times that you read, etc? I find that I end up spending a lot of little chunks on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and HN when something is compiling or deploying or starting to run. I keep saying I'm going to stop checking all of these inane things, but I always fall back into it with these 5 min chunks where it would be hard to do something else.

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#188

Post by squozzer » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 6:30 PM UTC

1) Playing guitar. 2) Moving to a nicer part of town, closer to my work. 3) Re-connecting with old school chums thru FB.

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#189

Post by hatsunearu » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 6:30 PM UTC

Learning new things that I didn't care about previously: machine learning, game dev, web dev, and high level programming. Lots of fun!

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#190

Post by sputknick » Fri, Jul 29, 2016, 6:31 PM UTC

rayalez wrote: post #141

1. Good diet, exercise, and generally taking care of my health. Seriously, this should be the top priority, if you know that you're being stupid about how you treat your body - fix it as soon as possible. 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 reg…

I like them all, I just recently figured out #2. I will add: writing about what you are doing/learning is a great test of weather or not you ACTUALLY understand it. Can you communicate it in an intelligent manner? No? Go back and figure out what you don't know.