Managing energy instead of time produces huge gains when done right.
Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
511–520 of 785 posts
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#512Earlier quoted context omitted.
Meditation while running sounds fascinating. Can you explain the technique? Any good sources of information online?
Pretty much the same as any other meditation - the goal is to stop your mind from racing and to clear your head, stop thinking. As you run, you focus on your breathing, or on your body motions, or on the environment around you - whatever makes you feel "present", experiencing the moment around you instead of being in your head. And you just keep running without thinking for some period of time. Couple more bonuses of…
this is why I like mountain biking. You can't focus on other things when riding as fast as you can through rocks, boulders, and cactus (here in AZ).
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#513How 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…
This hit home close enough. But at least, your virtual activities didn't cripple your following social interactions, in the real world, for the next 8 years.
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#514How 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…
It's a hobby, and like any other hobby, it's profoundly stupid. How stupid is it to build model railways? How pointless is it to collect stamps. How dumb is it to fix cars? All "stupid" things we do for pleasure and for accomplishment. I suggest not being so focused on what should be stupid or not, and instead remember that time enjoyed is not time wasted.
I think that hobbies are ones where you're actually stretching your mind, even if they are "pointless". Building model railways and fixing cars can be fun and mentally stimulating for certain people. There's the challenge of learning new things, the satisfaction of making something new. Playing sports takes skill and physical fitness. There's the challenge of competition. Stamp collecting, yeah, I don't understand that, but I'm sure there's something to it. Maybe it's understanding the history and culture around the period and place they were created, or appreciating the artwork. I've never played a video game that felt as good as actually doing something in the real world. My accomplishments were entirely fictional, fleeting and ultimately unsatisfying. Maybe for some people they are legitimately stimulating, but for most people, they're just mindless fun. If they fell like they've wasted their time after doing it, it sound like they got stuck in mindless compulsion more than anything.
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#515How 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.
"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time" - John Lennon
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#516For me, it was 100% weight lifting and dieting (aka: exercise). Pretty much everyone here has mentioned this, but I don't think anyone has really explained just how incredibly life-changing it can really be. I've been programming since I was a kid. Spending most of my time at a desk eating Doritos and fast food wasn't really the best choice. I spent most of my 'good years' as a young guy being really overweight and h…
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…
I'm 5' 11", ~230 lbs, with ~20% body fat and I work out 4x/week at moderate/high intensity and don't eat very well. I ran cross country and played varsity soccer in high school. When I graduated I was 195 lbs and 6-7% body fat. I've never taken any supplements except for the occasional protein shake.
Also, 2 years is a very long time if you consistently behave according to some goal.
In my opinion, there's no need to publicly accuse rdegges of anything but hard work and discipline.
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#517For me, it was 100% weight lifting and dieting (aka: exercise). Pretty much everyone here has mentioned this, but I don't think anyone has really explained just how incredibly life-changing it can really be. I've been programming since I was a kid. Spending most of my time at a desk eating Doritos and fast food wasn't really the best choice. I spent most of my 'good years' as a young guy being really overweight and h…
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…
That's easily possible all natural. I have a few friends who look like that, and these people would never experiment with testosterone, etc. I'll add that having good genetics does seem to be a strong component for how quickly one can bulk up though.
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#518Thinking about hard problems in terms of lambda calculus. I took a day to read about all that stuff and at some point so many things fell into place. I learned CS theory in school, learned ML, but it's not the same as being confronted by a seemingly monstrous software project and then realizing ... omg, everything is relational and I can just write an interpreter. No longer asking "how do I write this in ruby/java/js…
Do you have any good sources for reading up on lambda calculus?
I started here http://worrydream.com/AlligatorEggs/. Great intro article and my favorite visual explanation.
The alligator system helped me visualize the dynamics of the system. However, about 3/4 of the way down, the pictures start being harder to follow than the bottom section of the page where he notates Church numerals and the Y-Combinator (without even defining what they are, which I find hilarious given how "for-dummies" the article starts out as). So what are Church numerals? And what's so important about the Y-Combinator that pg would name his company after it? I didn't know either, and the journey begins!
But also, just download clojure to mess around with a Lisp. Once you feel comfortable with the basics, check out core.logic.
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#519For me, it was 100% weight lifting and dieting (aka: exercise). Pretty much everyone here has mentioned this, but I don't think anyone has really explained just how incredibly life-changing it can really be. I've been programming since I was a kid. Spending most of my time at a desk eating Doritos and fast food wasn't really the best choice. I spent most of my 'good years' as a young guy being really overweight and h…
Holy shit, dude. Those guns! I'm just starting the lifting thing. Not looking for the bodybuilder look, but definitely working toward being more muscular! Great job! I know you talked mostly about fitness, but what's your diet like these days?
It's not too bad. I cook every Sunday. I eat roughly 6 -> 7 meals per day (every 2.5 hours).
My first and last meal are:
- 50g protein - 16g fats
The rest of my meals are:
- 50g protein - 16g fats - 50g carbs (rice)
That's about it! If you like chicken and rice (like I do), it isn't too bad. On Sundays, I take about 10 hours and 'carb up' as well, just eating lots of sugary low-fat foods: frozen yogurt, candy, etc. Helps keep you sane and balanced.
The 'bro science' of bodybuilding diets is that by eating small, frequent meals, you train your body to digest food faster and use it more effectively after training. It works well for me, so I've stuck with it.
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#520Here'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.
Having used Visual Studio, I can totally see where you are coming from. Here's my experience:
- I used Visual Studio before using any command line thing at all.
- Later I learned to use Linux and Vim.
- Then I had an internship where I needed to work with Visual Studio again (VS projects and TFS, not using VS was not really an option).
I ended up installing a Vim extension for Visual Studio. In Vim, I don't install autocompletion extensions. For me this is good evidence that Vim's hotkeys are more important than the autocompletion a good (arguably the best) IDE brings.
Now as for why, I can only guess and rationalize. I'm guessing that when you're in the flow, you know the names of the functions you want to call anyway, and if you're not using C# or Java with libraryname.classname.veryDescriptiveMethodName it's not going to save typing either.