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

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

#491

Post by lucb1e »

paradite wrote: post #386
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…

I am still in college (not so old) and I can relate to this. A new variation is "I/My friend have this awesome app idea and we need a IT guy to code it out. Can you help?"

Someone in the family does this whenever I see him. Many ideas have some potential, given you put in enough hours of course ("1% inspiration, 99% perspiration"). So I respond positively and tell him I'm open for helping with it, never to hear about it again. Next birthday party we meet again and there's a new topic.

Lesson learned: just because you're family (or friends) won't mean they're going to uphold their end. Let them work for it first.

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

#492

Post by pbjorklund »

I wonder how many of these answers are real and how many is something people want/value but don't actually do in reality. But then again, a fake story from one person that makes two people change in a good direction is better than truth, no?

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

#493

Post by user731955373 »

andrepd wrote: post #217
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…

Not a hippie, but you do meditation and fasts... Okay, that came out a bit incisive. Do you have any scientific backing to support those claims? I'm especially interested in fasting. Not eating for 3 days a month does not seem especially healthy. Then I see the claim that it cures cancer and forgive me if all my alarm bells go off.

Some scientific backing for the efficacy of caloric restriction, in ailment reduction and increased longevity:

Oxidative Stress, Caloric Restriction, and Aging[0]

Calorie Restriction Promotes Mammalian Cell Survival by Inducing the SIRT1 Deacetylase [1]

Gene Expression Profile of Aging and Its Retardation by Caloric Restriction [2]

Caloric restriction and aging: an update [3]

Calorie Restriction Promotes Mitochondrial Biogenesis by Inducing the Expression of eNOS [4]

[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2987625/ [1] http://science.sciencemag.org/content/305/5682/390.short [2] http://science.sciencemag.org/content/285/5432/1390.short [3] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0531556500... [4] http://science.sciencemag.org/content/305/5682/390.short

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

#495

Post by ThrustVectoring »

Blues dancing. It's a partnered social dance that focuses on musicality, improvisation, connection, and quality of movement. It's done wonders for my confidence and my sense of being "embodied". Like, I know I used to walk around without ever noticing where my hips are, and that just seems really really weird now.

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

#496

Post by callesgg »

Thinking about and trying to fix my posture. Sitting in a chair to much causes something called "anterior pelvic tilt", almost everyone in the modern world suffers from it more or less.

Writing a diary with the stuff that i have on my mind, it is easy to forget who you where before, and why you changed.

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

#497

Post by bhandziuk »

jc4p wrote: post #486
ardit33 wrote: post #472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Congrats, but there is no fricking way you are natty. At 235lb 15% body fat, and perhaps 5'11" - ish? Whoever is readying this, don't think you can get that amount of muscle in a natural way so fast. Only Testosterone, trenbolone and other stuff will make you that large. According to a simple calculator, if you cut down below 8% fat (which is pro body builder territory), you'd still be at above 205lbs, which is no wa…

Uh I went from 305lb to 205lb in a year and at my lowest was around 17% body fat at 205lb 6'1" -- I really think you're overthinking this, it's very possible to look what he looks like in that last photo by just being consistent and caring about what you do.

Nature's on his side too. I do believe if you are prone to gaining a lot of fat you can turn that tendency into muscle instead.

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

#498

Post by metaphorm »

dominotw wrote: post #312
andrepd wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a hippie, but you do meditation and fasts... Okay, that came out a bit incisive. Do you have any scientific backing to support those claims? I'm especially interested in fasting. Not eating for 3 days a month does not seem especially healthy. Then I see the claim that it cures cancer and forgive me if all my alarm bells go off.

what could possibly be 'scientific backing' for meditation. Sounds ridiculous to even ask.

in fact there's a huge amount of research on this topic. try googling it.

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

#499

Post by 33W »

Another223 wrote: post #422
33W wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got started with podcasts about a year ago. Great while I'm working on things I don't need to really focus on, walking the dog, driving, etc. Listing my financial ones: Marketplace Marketplace weekend Radical Personal Finance Slate Money Freakonomics Planet Money Non-financial ones: Parent Savers Intelligence Squared Intelligence Squared US HBR Ideacast Happier Serial Common Sense with Dan Carlin Dan Carlin's Hardc…

In addition to these, Value Investing Podcast (John Mihaljevic) would be my top pick. The host can be slow so I tend to listen on 1.5x speed but the interviews are often fascinating. InvestTalk I find more mixed but generally pretty solid round-up, usually gives me ideas for follow-up reading Similar with The Investors Podcast, good introduction to some interesting people LSE has some public lectures, also fairly bro…

I'll have to add value investing. I listen to all of them on 1.5 or 2x, though sometimes I have to slow the Brits down to understand!

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

#500

Post by naasking »

andrepd wrote: post #217
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…

Not a hippie, but you do meditation and fasts... Okay, that came out a bit incisive. Do you have any scientific backing to support those claims? I'm especially interested in fasting. Not eating for 3 days a month does not seem especially healthy. Then I see the claim that it cures cancer and forgive me if all my alarm bells go off.

> I'm especially interested in fasting. Not eating for 3 days a month does not seem especially healthy.

I'm surprised many believe this. It seems self-evident that our bodies are well adapted to periods of starvation. Any biology that wasn't so adapted would have been out-competed by those did.

The link to cancer is typically due to free radical theories causing genetic damage, and caloric restriction is being employed to help cancer patients last longer.

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