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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?

#161
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why so?

Language choices available at the time and/or locking in bad habits which made sense as a 10 year old, but not so much as a 19 year old.

Totally agree. I started "programming" at an early age which just made me feel like I didn't need to pay attention when I took actual CS classes. The results were that I missed out on learning a lot of lessons the easy way (in school) and had to learn them the hard way.

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

#162

Saving for FI (Financial Independence) If I save at my current rate I will achieve FI in 2022. If I had started saving aggressively sooner I would already be FI (I'm in my mid forties). I hate answering to other people and would rather work on my own stuff. FI will get me there. Read the book The Simple Path to Wealth to understand the process. Or this blog post is a good start: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02…

what does FI mean in your case -- retirement? i would think that means something different to everyone

The FI half of FIRE is generally not about retirement. (RE = retire early) but rather getting to a point where you have enough money that you don't need to go work a 40-60 hour a week job. Maybe you could retire but choose not to, and instead take long periods of time off and/or work something part time while pursuing other interests.

FI means different things to different people, but generally just means you have some FU money.

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

#164

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…

Any meditation tips? I've gone through multiple fits & starts but I just can't keep my mind from wandering.

Count. Count each breath as you do it. When you get to ten, start at one. If you feel your mind wander, start your count at 1 again.

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

#165

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…

Any meditation tips? I've gone through multiple fits & starts but I just can't keep my mind from wandering.

Your mind is supposed to wander. That's what it does.

The key is to not beat yourself up about not being "good" at meditation. When you realize your mind has been wandering, take note of it, return your focus to your breath, and move on.

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

#166

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.

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

#168

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…

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.

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

#169
post #144

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…

Agree with all three, but #2 for me has now become the very important due an incident last week. I pulled an all nighter and next day rear ended a vehicle near a traffic signal because I dozed off for a second. The impact was minimal and no one was harmed. It was the first accident with my fault in 15 years of driving. I am approaching 40 and have 2 young kids. I cannot get my priorities wrong at this point. Many liv…

Good call. I'm curious, what is your solution to getting more sleep? Frequently those all-nighters come as a result of deadlines and pressure from work. The usual tradeoff is work vs family vs sleep, where often you only get to pick 1. Have you had any success in getting 2 or even 3 of those together?

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

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So... describe the moment you realized this.

probably May 2014 when I plugged my spending and net worth numbers into https://lab.madfientist.com/ and it came back with: 9 yrs until FI I had always been a guy who spends less than he makes but that kicked my ass into gear.

That's a moment I wish I could relate to ;)
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