Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 253 posts

Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

#31

Post by algaeontoast »

atentaten wrote: post #12
algaeontoast wrote: post #9

How to effectively learn and balance my use of mental energy. My diagnosis of depression and ADD inattentive-type (my parents were great, but denied that mental health was a factor until I decided to at age 22). I don't fault them, but I know for a fact my years in highschool and college struggling to learn / focus but knowing I had cognitive ability will irk me until the day that I die.

How do you now balance the use of your mental energy?

I can catch myself when I'm going down a rabbit hole (even an educational or productive one) and re-focus myself or stop. More importantly, I can identify patterns when I'm stressed or diverting energy from something that needs to be done which means I'm falling back on my prior conceited self less and less often as time goes on.

Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

#33

Post by rsync »

I wish I had discovered Hacker News earlier.

I kept having customers sign up for rsync.net citing "Hacker News" in the "where you found out about us" but I assumed it was the old hacker news that was run by a certain defcon/cdc personality and was sort of a clone of attrition.org ... it had been around since 99/00/01 or so ...

It took me several years to figure out there was a new hacker news out there ...

Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

#35

Post by porknubbins »

martindbp wrote: post #4

I dearly wish I had used something like Anki throughout college instead of many years later. And actually focusing on understanding and long term recall rather than passing tests. It would have been difficult though, since having multiple difficult classes simultaneously often requires cramming at the end followed by focusing on the next course. But if I went back to school now that's what I would have done.

I’ve used Anki to learn foreign languages and it has been amazing so I tried to use it in grad school but it backfired because all my courses expected understanding a few big deep ideas and not memorization of hundreds of small facts. I think it really depends on the domain, like medschool its commonly used but I’m not sure about other areas.

Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

#37

Post by brailsafe »

algaeontoast wrote: post #9

How to effectively learn and balance my use of mental energy. My diagnosis of depression and ADD inattentive-type (my parents were great, but denied that mental health was a factor until I decided to at age 22). I don't fault them, but I know for a fact my years in highschool and college struggling to learn / focus but knowing I had cognitive ability will irk me until the day that I die.

Was going to respond with this as well. At 27 I decided to reflect on my abilities vs test scores and ability to focus and spoke to a doctor. Parents never considered mental health as a factor, and looking back—but without blame—opportunies and growth were missed. Care to expand on your case?

Edit: Saw your response below.

Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

#38

Post by vosper »

jszymborski wrote: post #10
molteanu wrote: post #2

That cheap mice and keyboards will ruin ones hands beyond repair after years of heavy use. Don't be that person. Learn to type and invest in your hardware early on.

Do you have specific suggestions re: peripherals. I've been using the Logitech MX Vertical Wireless lately and it's been a huge improvement from my previous bulky Logitech G600. I'm wondering if there are keyboard set-ups people really like? I'm enjoying my Gigabyte mechanical keyboard, but would be willing to give it up for something that'll let me get more mileage out of my hands/arms.

I really like the MS Sculpt keyboard. I use it with a Mac, my wife uses hers with her Windows machine.

I also recently learned about proper desk posture - I now sit with my stomach just touching the desk, and my keyboard is way further forward. My forearms rest on the desk almost all the way to my elbows, and my wrists rest on the keyboards wrist pads. I find that this greatly reduces the strain on my arms and wrists.

Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?

#40

Post by rando444 »

rsync wrote: post #33

I wish I had discovered Hacker News earlier. I kept having customers sign up for rsync.net citing "Hacker News" in the "where you found out about us" but I assumed it was the old hacker news that was run by a certain defcon/cdc personality and was sort of a clone of attrition.org ... it had been around since 99/00/01 or so ... It took me several years to figure out there was a new hacker news out there ...

I believe that one was the hacker news network (hnn) IIRC
Post reply on HN