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The Top Idea in Your Mind

paulgraham.com

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Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#141

Post by tomjen3 »

thebigshane wrote: post #135
johnfn wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I challenge you to follow up on it. Block them. Let me give you some anecdotal background story... I realized this was happening to me a few months ago - that I was wasting more and more time just surfing Facebook or Twitter and so forth. So I started adding websites to my /etc/hosts file. (That is, my computer now blocks me from accessing these websites, unless I edit a file, and then restart). It started with Reddi…

Don't block sites completely... Control the times you view sites! https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4476/ (No Affiliation but I love this thing) Summary: LeechBlock is a simple productivity tool designed to block those time-wasting sites that can suck the life out of your working day. All you need to do is specify which sites to block and when to block them.

Do you know anything similar for Chrome? Firefox can't handle 50+ open tabs.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#142

Post by mmaunder »

grellas wrote: post #55

There is a lesson here about lawsuits, which will drain you of both money and peace of mind all at the same time. Sometimes you can't turn the other cheek, much as you would like to do so, and have no choice but to fight. Having the guts to stand up for yourself (or for your company) is in itself a virtue and there are times when it is best not to walk away. Unless you are in such a spot, though, always consider that…

Absolutely right. I was sued over trademark (see TalentZoo vs WorkZoo) in 2005 and it was just my wife and I running the startup. Thankfully 2 acquisition offers came in which became more distracting and resulted in a happy exit. From the moment the cease and desist notice was hand delivered up until we sold the business almost all work on the product stopped.

I tell myself these days that legal wranglings are simply a cost of doing business, but unless you're a large org with layers to abstract you away from the lawsuit, getting sued is paralysis for startups. So if you do get sued I'd recommend you settle it if possible, be mad for a few days and then just move on.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#143

Post by johnfn »

portman wrote: post #131
johnfn wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I challenge you to follow up on it. Block them. Let me give you some anecdotal background story... I realized this was happening to me a few months ago - that I was wasting more and more time just surfing Facebook or Twitter and so forth. So I started adding websites to my /etc/hosts file. (That is, my computer now blocks me from accessing these websites, unless I edit a file, and then restart). It started with Reddi…

"edit a file, and then restart" Our of curiosity, what operating system do you use? On Windows, hosts entries take effect immediately. No need to restart.

Ubuntu. I could be wrong though - I read it somewhere and never tested it out.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#144

Post by johnfn »

REALLYHUGENEKO wrote: post #130
johnfn wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I challenge you to follow up on it. Block them. Let me give you some anecdotal background story... I realized this was happening to me a few months ago - that I was wasting more and more time just surfing Facebook or Twitter and so forth. So I started adding websites to my /etc/hosts file. (That is, my computer now blocks me from accessing these websites, unless I edit a file, and then restart). It started with Reddi…

A rather inspiring post. I'm currently editing my hosts file.

Thanks :) I'm glad I could make a difference. Maybe I should edit this into a blog post.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#145

Post by dknight »

I had a similar realization recently. I was in the toilet and was preoccupied by thoughts about some trouble at the bank. Well I was having a host of issues and very less time to solve all of them. After having a turmoil for a few minutes, I told myself that I can take more and suddenly my mind was calm. My mind was no more centred around the issues and the topic had changed to something else.

I believe the process of thoughts is quite usual; but the process of meta-thoughts could be more powerful.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#146

Post by johnfn »

thebigshane wrote: post #135
johnfn wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I challenge you to follow up on it. Block them. Let me give you some anecdotal background story... I realized this was happening to me a few months ago - that I was wasting more and more time just surfing Facebook or Twitter and so forth. So I started adding websites to my /etc/hosts file. (That is, my computer now blocks me from accessing these websites, unless I edit a file, and then restart). It started with Reddi…

Don't block sites completely... Control the times you view sites! https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4476/ (No Affiliation but I love this thing) Summary: LeechBlock is a simple productivity tool designed to block those time-wasting sites that can suck the life out of your working day. All you need to do is specify which sites to block and when to block them.

Initially, I wanted to just temporarily block sites. But I found out after completely blocking them (just for a few days!) that the quality of my time had actually gone up dramatically. I guess your mileage may vary, though.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#147

Post by greyman »

tomjen3 wrote: post #141
thebigshane wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't block sites completely... Control the times you view sites! https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4476/ (No Affiliation but I love this thing) Summary: LeechBlock is a simple productivity tool designed to block those time-wasting sites that can suck the life out of your working day. All you need to do is specify which sites to block and when to block them.

Do you know anything similar for Chrome? Firefox can't handle 50+ open tabs.

Chrome Nanny

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#149

Post by _debug_ »

grellas wrote: post #55

There is a lesson here about lawsuits, which will drain you of both money and peace of mind all at the same time. Sometimes you can't turn the other cheek, much as you would like to do so, and have no choice but to fight. Having the guts to stand up for yourself (or for your company) is in itself a virtue and there are times when it is best not to walk away. Unless you are in such a spot, though, always consider that…

> There is a lesson here about lawsuits,

And consequently, there is a lesson here about the incredible loss of productivity caused by patent trolls on the economy. It's a percent of GDP, if you think about it.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#150

Post by david927 »

TotlolRon wrote: post #124
anthonyb wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It delivers revenge . Whether it delivers justice or not depends on the specific situation, but if you have to resort to vigilantism, probably not.

revenge is justice is productive. I didn't invent it. The concept of "turning the other cheek" is about 2,000 years old. The concept of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" is over twice that old. They represent two different schools of thought that have been debated enough. PG introduced " turning the other cheek " as a means to resolve " the pain of having ... controversy constantly reintroduced as the top i…

revenge / eye-for-an-eye is a famous logical fallacy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_wrongs_make_a_right

It's not productive. It's not justice. It's just stupid.

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