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Productivity

blog.samaltman.com

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181–190 of 428 posts

Re: Productivity

#181

Post by kovek »

nosefrog wrote: post #123

Hey Sam! Regarding sleeping, I've had really bad sleep problems since I was a kid, to the point where I pulled all nighters a couple times a month just because I knew I wasn't going to get to sleep that night. I fixed all of my sleep problems over time by taking a low dose of melatonin (1g, low doses are more effective than high doses) and wearing orange glasses at night to block out blue light. It took a while for m…

I am taking a course on food this semester. They explained two things a few weeks ago:

1. The idea that sugar makes kids hyperactive is a myth. In fact, eating sugar will cause a certain protein or amino acid to not go into the brain as much and cause us to feel more sleepy.

2. If you want to perform well mentally, for example for an exam, you would want to eat high protein foods. The element in situation 1 would be more present and would enhance brain function.

If I would want to be more productive, I will try to observe this in the future. I did notice that sugar made me sleepy.

Re: Productivity

#182

Post by KozmoNau7 »

old-gregg wrote: post #125
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…

> Why this pressing need to maximize productivity? Because this maximizes your happiness. We're happiest when we produce, not when we consume or when we're idle. Think of productivity as a rate of positive change you inflict on your surroundings, or as a unit of feedback you receive from the world acknowledging your existence. Re-arranging the world towards your views is hugely satisfying and it could be as simple as…

Personally, I'm happiest when I'm cuddling my girlfriend, or when I'm at a concert, or when I'm reading a great book, or when I'm enjoying good food or drink, or some combination of the above. I guess I'm a hedonist, the only things I enjoy producing are those that directly contribute to my happiness.

How does that fit into a definition of productivity?

I guess I am technically producing happiness, but that seems like a bit of stretch :-)

Re: Productivity

#183

Post by richmarr »

badpun wrote: post #143
philwelch wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's really only two things you need to do in order to be really good at basically anything: 1. Care a lot. 2. Work on continuously improving your skills. That's pretty much it. Yes, there is such a thing as natural ability, but outside of the true outliers, natural ability is a pretty small factor compared to caring a lot and continuous improvement. And, even if you're an outlier in terms of natural ability, cari…

What if you have an IQ of say 90 and want to be really good at theoretical physics? I don't see caring a lot and working continously as enough to overcome IQ here.

Care a lot and work hard.

IQ in later life is only correlated with IQ in childhood., it's not a fixed trait.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/beautiful-minds/2011...

Re: Productivity

#184

Post by KozmoNau7 »

kickout wrote: post #7
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…

Perfect reflection of my views. I may not be high throughput, but I produce good/excellent work and have a really good work/life balance.

I'm also not the guy who solves the most tasks in absolute numbers, but apparently everyone appreciates the work I do and the quality of said work, and trust my judgement and input on other subjects. I feel that's a lot better than solving tasks super quick.

Re: Productivity

#185

Post by ssijak »

gits1225 wrote: post #142

Off-topic: > The most impressive people I know have strong beliefs about the world, which is rare in the general population. Is this true? The average person is irrationally immovable on religion, politics and sports. On-topic: My philosophy on productivity: There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all ― Peter Drucker

Yeah, the only thing in the article I disagree with.

Re: Productivity

#186

Post by KozmoNau7 »

bassman9000 wrote: post #27
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…

Why this pressing need to maximize productivity? Because if you don't do it, someone will. And unless you got something else to offer, you'll lose to your competition.

There is a definitely a fear of being outcompeted. I think it's completely unfounded.

Re: Productivity

#187

Post by wsy »

danvasquez29 wrote: post #131
wpietri wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

How would you put into words the opposing, "non-productivity focused" viewpoint? I'm an American and I don't know that I can currently comprehend what the opposite would be.

Bertrand Russels 'In Praise of Idleness' describes it perfectly: it is sufficient to work just so much that you have enough money to spend the rest of the day with whatever you enjoy, without considering its usefulness and even less your productivity.

Re: Productivity

#188

Post by amdavidson »

gits1225 wrote: post #142

Off-topic: > The most impressive people I know have strong beliefs about the world, which is rare in the general population. Is this true? The average person is irrationally immovable on religion, politics and sports. On-topic: My philosophy on productivity: There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all ― Peter Drucker

Is that true?

If we're all just stating our experiences. I find that those who care, care intensely, perhaps immovably, and everyone else just floats along.

Re: Productivity

#189

Post by Balgair »

hnthrowbackaway wrote: post #109
Balgair wrote: post #106

To expound on some of sama's points: > My system has three key pillars: “Make sure to get the important shit done”, “Don’t waste time on stupid shit”, and “make a lot of lists”. Proper use of the Eisenhower Decision Matrix is key (Note how quads 2 and 3 are arranged): https://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/10/23/eisenhower-decisio... https://content.artofmanliness.com/uploads/2013/10/Eisenhowe... > I use a Chili Pad to…

> or Canada. What do you mean by this? Canada has fully legalized cannabis and stores will open for sale in a couple of months. I don't think someone admitting to smoking cannabis online will get them banned from Canada .

D'oh! My bad!

Re: Productivity

#190

Post by drpgq »

richmarr wrote: post #183
badpun wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you have an IQ of say 90 and want to be really good at theoretical physics? I don't see caring a lot and working continously as enough to overcome IQ here.

Care a lot and work hard. IQ in later life is only correlated with IQ in childhood., it's not a fixed trait. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/beautiful-minds/2011...

It's more a fixed trait for adults than for children.
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