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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?

#51

Post by yodsanklai »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #29

Commuting by bicycle. Fresh air and exercise, all packed into the same amount of time it would have taken me to drive and park, even enjoyed the thrill and mental challenge of forcing myself out in the rain and snow. Took some shortcuts and explored areas I've never been to before.

Same here. I was cycling a lot until I got my driving license. Then it was only 10-15 later that I got into the habit of using my bike again. The less I use my car, the happier I am. Now I really wonder what prevented me from doing it sooner!!

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

#53

Post by criddell »

patio11 wrote: post #9

Every time I start seriously exercising this hits in about week ~4. Sadly, I only generally keep it up for 6 months before falling back to old habits. Professionally: email lists. If you have any reason to have a blog, you should have an email list. It surfaces the identities of the people who are actually interested in what you have to say, and ties people to you much, much tighter than "Oh yeah, that thing you wrot…

> email lists

Yeah, these can be great. Don't, however, be aggressive about it. Nothing turns me off faster than being a paragraph into something to have the page dim and an overlay appear asking me to sign up for email updates.

Also, if you have a blog, offer an RSS feed.

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

#54

Post by akcreek »

trcollinson wrote: post #24
akcreek wrote: post #12

About a year ago I started moving towards not selling my time. It has taken a while to wind down all of those relationships, etc. but it has been the best and most lucrative decision I've made in my professional life. I now have just a single commitment where I sell my time and I've got it down to 2-3 hours per week. It will soon be zero as well. I definitely wish I would have started this sooner or actually never st…

This is an excellent point. Can you give any more detail on what you are doing instead of selling your time? I don't want specifics per say, just general ideas about what you have switched to and how it has been lucrative. I find the idea quite interesting.

I bought a really small business in the translation industry late last year. Since purchase our monthly revenue has grown ~ 190% and we have solid plans to continue the growth. We have 4 people on our internal team, but everyone works remote and part time (approx. 20 hours/week) including me. Our main workforce is made up of freelance translators (about 45 of them at the moment). I handle development, marketing, strategy, etc. and the other internal staff handles operations and customer service.

Our translations are mostly used for immigration purposes so it is a really gratifying business as many clients go out of their way to express their happiness with our service. We are dead serious about our business though... lots in our niche are not, but I won't bore you with the details.

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

#55

Post by IgorPartola »

Here's my list:

- Using Vim. Just do it. You'll be more productive than in most other editors, and you can use it over ssh on pretty much any machine.

- Using Python. Batteries included means less work for you to do.

- Using Django. Ditto

- Stopped chasing the latest and greatest JS framework and just use what I know (jQuery and Angular lately). Not worth my time when I already feel very productive.

- Use puppet for every server configuration, from my home NAS to every production server.

- Learned 3D printing/joined a hackerspace. Working from home sucks for social life and for developing business connections.

- Learned some basic UI/UX ideas.

- Started sleeping more. This is huge for productivity and my happiness.

- Realized that buying off-lease/gently used cars is much more economical than brand new. You can drive a 3 year old BMW for the same price as a 2 year old Honda Accord.

- Listened to Roll Play, especially Swan Song. Better entertainment than most TV shows.

- Stopped paying for cable and signed up for Prime, HBO Now, and Netflix. This isn't even to save money, but to not have to watch commercials.

- Discovered polyamory.

- Realized that I can build electronics on the cheap.

- Hired a personal trainer to get in shape, instead of trying to go it alone.

- Bought a double walled steel water bottle.

Sorry if this is too long.

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

#56

Post by RhodesianHunter »

atemerev wrote: post #38
jugg1es wrote: post #7

Running... outside... I didn't start until I was like 26. It feels great.

Lucky people who felt the joy of running immediately. I tried to start running many times. I got myself to 5k. But I hate it, it is boring, and just about any other physical activity feels better than running for me.

Have you tried bike riding, like with a good road bike? I find it a great deal more fun and exhilarating than running ever was.

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

#57

Post by criddell »

throw94 wrote: post #2

For me, it has been reading books. Although my reading speed is very slow right now (hopefully it will get better with time) but i still manage to read a book every month. So much to learn from them :)

My reading speed is slow and my to-read list is long. I used to force myself to finish every book I started but now I'll happily give up on anything that doesn't grab me fairly quickly.

I've also been working on only adding things to my list that I actually want to read and avoiding books that I add only because I want to have read them.

Is there a title in particular that triggered your interest in reading?

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

#58

Post by bryanlarsen »

bencollier49 wrote: post #22

Hmmm, hate to admit this: Use a Mac for work rather than Linux. The unixness combined with availability of the likes of MS Office, together with the genuinely beautiful interface has really increased my throughput. Secondly: Doing 1.5 hrs exercise daily.

Coding on the same platform that I deploy to has increased my productivity.
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