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?

#671

Post by fma » Sat, Jul 30, 2016, 4:17 AM UTC

tjbiddle wrote: post #290

patrickk wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotal, I was like you, extremely skeptical of meditation. Seriously, try it, it's free! Immediate benefits: * Clear, focused mind. I stop hopping from topic to topic in my mind "oh should I tidy the apartment, work on my website, etc etc" to a far more focused state. What you should do next is there with extreme clarity. You stop reading random junk on the internet too, and get down to it * Much better sleep (thi…

A very helpful tactic I've learned recently is to not focus on not having any thoughts but instead - realize they're going to be inevitable, and when they pop up, acknowledge that it's a thought, a feeling or, an emotion - and let go of it.

I used to count the number of [slow deep] breathes I take to remove all thoughts. Once you master that you can stop counting and clear your mind.

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

#672

Post by eager_noob » Sat, Jul 30, 2016, 4:18 AM UTC

About six months back I started at my first job after being unemployed for the last six years and weirdly enough did not experience any “why didn't I start doing this sooner” feeling. Guess a really supportive family and the knowledge that i would be inevitably starting at a job some day made the transition almost a non event.

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

#673

Post by Lxr » Sat, Jul 30, 2016, 4:21 AM UTC

stordoff wrote: post #121

Switching from Python2 to Python3. I never had a strong preference for either (most of what I write are short, throwaway scripts), so just stuck with Python2 out of habit. After implementing a basic static site generator, seeing it explode when I put "naïve" in the database, and then discovering the awkwardness of using Unicode in Python2, I decided to port it over to Python3. Using Unicode by default was a huge adva…

Interesting, opposite experience here. My life became much easier when I decided to start new projects in python2 rather than starting under 3 and switching back in frustration after fighting with 2to3 for hours at a time. Even now I think there's enough libraries that just don't support 3 to make a case for using 2 as a rule (I do mostly machine learning/optimisation).

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

#674

Post by econner » Sat, Jul 30, 2016, 4:25 AM UTC

rayalez wrote: post #444

econner wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

HN has a fantastic no-procrastination mode(enabled in settings), it locks you out after 20 minutes of browsing, for the next 3 hours, it really helps. Since I don't feel like fb/twitter are adding anything to my life, I just blocked them in my router. I still end up there occassionally, but it's not an addiction. I still do spend too much time on reddit, but I'm trying avoid it as well. I'm getting better at it, but…

Thanks these are great ideas.

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

#675

Post by econner » Sat, Jul 30, 2016, 4:30 AM UTC

rashkov wrote: post #490

econner wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've found that logging off of Twitter and Facebook make a difference for me. My password is in a password manager so that adds yet another step. Anything to break the "muscle memory" and habit of reaching for a procrastination fix.

Yea, good ideas definitely. I try this but I end up reading the twitter home page, lol. Maybe I will try blocking them using /etc/hosts

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

#676

Post by structorg » Sat, Jul 30, 2016, 4:33 AM UTC

keyboardhitter wrote: post #368

patrickk wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotal, I was like you, extremely skeptical of meditation. Seriously, try it, it's free! Immediate benefits: * Clear, focused mind. I stop hopping from topic to topic in my mind "oh should I tidy the apartment, work on my website, etc etc" to a far more focused state. What you should do next is there with extreme clarity. You stop reading random junk on the internet too, and get down to it * Much better sleep (thi…

For those who are not familiar, or new to, meditation - I want to offer an alternative to "try not to have any thoughts". The reason why I never started meditating for a long time was because I felt it was too hard, and nearly impossible. Well... because it is very difficult. After years and years of meditating and practicing mindfulness, perhaps this is possible, but IMO not a good starting goal. I prefer to just be…

The sense of self or the "I" is part of that stream of thoughts, that is why you can't stop thoughts except by fully concentrating in something; the intention of stoping thoughts and the self that wants to achieve something are thoughts themselves. An approach that I have found very powerful is to direct atention to nervous system activity which is an objective form of conciousness, something like the sense of touch but extended to the inside of the body (it is called kayotsarga in jainism), besides gaining the ability to fully relax at will all parts of the body it brings awareness to a whole new level.

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

#677

Post by calanya » Sat, Jul 30, 2016, 4:38 AM UTC

kylemuir wrote: post #304

calanya wrote: post #276

The moment my girl was born. I now regret waiting so long to be a parent.

If you dont mind me asking: how old were you when she was born?

33.

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

#678

Post by Jtsummers » Sat, Jul 30, 2016, 4:47 AM UTC

ljk wrote: post #579

Jtsummers wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minimize (if you can) the amount of food you keep in your home. Ensure that what food you keep is healthy.

interesting point, this would also make mindless snacking more difficult

It's not entirely deliberate, more a consequence of my somewhat minimalist approach to life, but I do this and it works. In don't have chips or crackers or sweets or whatever in my home often. Typically specifically for a party or small servings for me. The worst is after a party of it didn't get eaten. But that's not terrible, a day or two of overeating quickly offset by my normal exercise routine and getting back to normal (low) levels of food at home.

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

#679

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jul 30, 2016, 5:03 AM UTC

SilasX wrote: post #202

nojvek wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the hype behind vim. The biggest productivity boost I find is having an editor which has great code completion and error squigglys as soon as you cause an error.

I'm trying to fix this part of my workflow myself. I'm a hardcore vimmer, trying to branch out into Java with IDEs. Every time I do it, the IDE brings in more headaches than it saves, by far. Plus, they almost seem to "break the abstraction" and make it less clear what's going on. I'm sure if I made a dedicated effort (ideally with a human present to answer the hard-to-phrase questions) I could work out all the kinks…

[deleted]

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

#680

Post by ArcticCelt » Sat, Jul 30, 2016, 5:07 AM UTC

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.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1934590914...