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Productivity

blog.samaltman.com

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Re: Productivity

#61

Post by bigjimslade »

systemshock999 wrote: post #40

Instead of being wowed by Sam Altman's title (president of Y-Combinator), you should look through his previous posts to gauge whether his advices are worthy. some gems from before: On China: "The other stark contrast is how much harder people in China seem to work than people here, and how working hard is considered a good thing, not a bad thing." http://blog.samaltman.com/china On Speech "Earlier this year, I notice…

Isn't it possible to be proficient or even prophetic at a thing while being not so good at another?

I agree those comparisons to China border on wacky while I feel he is right on target about the fundamental, critical, beating-heart importance of free speech in all things. Maybe he also has valuable thoughts to share on productivity. Or maybe not!

Re: Productivity

#62

Post by monkeydust »

Personally I look to automate repetitive tasks, if am doing something which can be described to someone else in simple rules and the input a d output of this task is digital then it should be codified.

Re: Productivity

#63

Post by pi-squared »

Why are posts by Sam Altman and Paul Graham upvoted unconditionally? I know, it's yc domain but is everything they write so good that it always require an upvote or is it because they are the bosses? Maybe I don't understand something about news.ycombinator.com, a.k.a. hacker news or I joined too late - was it originally posts only for yc funded startups and it eventually became general techie/science news and thus acquired a lot of people who are yc startups?

Re: Productivity

#64

Post by dontreact »

StavrosK wrote: post #51
dontreact wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as I am fairly happy, I optimize for impacting the world in a positive way. This is because I think this a good proxy for long term deep-rooted happiness. I have found in myself and in others that optimizing for happiness is hard to do without focusing excessively on short-term happiness which leads to hedonic treadmill effects or even in some cases addiction. Given that you are fairly happy already, optimizi…

Oh, I'm not saying "don't optimize your productivity". Just don't stress too much about it.

Got it. I was responding specifically to "Why not just do things you enjoy, at a pace that you enjoy?"

I think a really good answer to that is in order to help other people as much as possible. Working on things that are hard or unpleasant or even don't necessarily line up with a specific long term goal in a way you can anticipate will often lead to happiness if it impacts other people positively.

Re: Productivity

#65

Post by WaxProlix »

wpietri wrote: post #47
stavros wrote: post #6

I see these kinds of articles come along from time to time, and it always makes me wonder: Why this pressing need to maximize productivity? Why not just do things you enjoy, at a pace that you enjoy? Is it for more money/prestige? What's the use if you've been stressing and pressuring yourself for it all your life? I feel like the odd person out because I work on something while I enjoy it, stop working on it when I…

The Church of Productivity strikes me as a very American kind of religion. I personally value being productive on things I care about, but I've worked hard to unlearn this general protestant-work-ethic, no-moment-wasted, anxiety-driven desire to be a Very Productive Person. One of the interesting things to me is how long this has been a part of American history. In the excellent history podcast Backstory, one episode…

> The Church of Productivity strikes me as a very American kind of religion.

It's our protestant roots and the very Calvinist view of success, really. There's a reason they call it the Protestant Work Ethic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_work_ethic

Re: Productivity

#66

Post by teachrdan »

not_a_moth wrote: post #50

Anyone have an opinion on his recommended mattress, as I nervously consider a 4k purchase this morning?

My wife and I got a Keetsa four years ago and it is phenomenal--we get amazing sleep at less than half cost of Sam's mattress: https://shop.keetsa.com/collections/mattresses/products/tea-...

Re: Productivity

#67

Post by itamarst »

More propaganda for working long hours coming from a VC. Surprise!

""" You have to both pick the right problem and do the work. There aren’t many shortcuts. If you’re going to do something really important, you are very likely going to work both smart and hard. The biggest prizes are heavily competed for. This isn’t true in every field (there are great mathematicians who never spend that many hours a week working) but it is in most. """

"Work both hard and smart" is pretty much always code for "I want to exploit your work". It's bullshit.

Real productivity comes from working towards goals, yes, but then it comes from avoiding unnecessary work, not from working hard (https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/08/25/the-01x-programmer/). There's no virtue in inherent effort. "Work hard" is a scam from people who are playing the numbers on your startup, where they have 10 other investments and they don't care if you burn out.

Longer version: https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/09/18/when-startups-pay-le...

Re: Productivity

#68

Post by bachmeier »

wpietri wrote: post #47
stavros wrote: post #6

I see these kinds of articles come along from time to time, and it always makes me wonder: Why this pressing need to maximize productivity? Why not just do things you enjoy, at a pace that you enjoy? Is it for more money/prestige? What's the use if you've been stressing and pressuring yourself for it all your life? I feel like the odd person out because I work on something while I enjoy it, stop working on it when I…

The Church of Productivity strikes me as a very American kind of religion. I personally value being productive on things I care about, but I've worked hard to unlearn this general protestant-work-ethic, no-moment-wasted, anxiety-driven desire to be a Very Productive Person. One of the interesting things to me is how long this has been a part of American history. In the excellent history podcast Backstory, one episode…

For some reason, those of us in the US measure productivity in terms of "value created for our employer" or "value created for the business". That doesn't make any sense. You need to measure productivity in terms of what matters to you, which includes time with your kids, spirituality, and such. The amount of value you create for your employer probably shouldn't get much weight.

Re: Productivity

#69

Post by joshe »

In addition to morning light (works great!) eliminating evening blue light has hugely improved my sleep.

I use these orange glasses https://www.amazon.com/Uvex-Blocking-Computer-SCT-Orange-S19...

I don't wear them every evening, but whenever I need to sleep or am having sleep troubles, it solves the problem. Great for traveling too, because you can start moving your circadian clock during the flight. You can still use the phone/computer and not worry about avoiding light.

I also use flux, nightshift, and Philips hue lights (set to orange at night) so that I can set and forget it. The glasses are the place to start though. They block all blue light and are super cheap, portable, and simple to try.

Re: Productivity

#70

Post by s_dev »

dotBen wrote: post #20

What do people think of the admission by Sam that he uses cannabis to help sleep, and thus uses cannabis in general? I have no problem with it, but it's interesting to see high profile people in business become more open and on the record about their usage.

My jaw opened he mentioned it so casually. At the same time I'm not surprised. The news is definitely that he said it not that he does it.
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