Productivity • Hacker News Board

Re: Productivity

#201

Post by Asdfbla » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:02 PM UTC

_m8fo wrote: post #23

> Finally, to repeat one more time: productivity in the wrong direction isn’t worth anything at all. Think more about what to work on. How can one say this? How can you know without action? You can spend your entire life thinking about what to work on. Ultimately, you have to do something. There's a saying... 失败是成功之母 (failure is the mother of success).

Yeah, I also never liked that kind of advice. For me personally just doing something that roughly seems somewhat interesting was usually enough - if you get good at something, the motivation can often follow.

If I had spent more time thinking about what my passion is in life then I'd probably still sit there pondering without an idea of what to do.

Re: Productivity

#202

Post by eafkuor » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:05 PM UTC

whalesalad wrote: post #49

theli0nheart wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Fasting is tremendously helpful to productivity. Nothing will hinder your performance like a huge meal in the morning (especially one high in carbohydrates) This seems to be really getting popular. What's the science behind it? I'm curious if this is mainly anecdotal or if you did some research before jumping in. My 2 cents: as an endurance athlete and student of nutrition, skipping breakfast seems like a bad idea.…

It's definitely anecdotal as-in based on my own personal experience. I fast for a few reasons: 1. Breakfast is not necessary, so skipping this meal saves me time in the morning. I already gotta worry about getting ready, feeding the dog+antibiotics, taking him out to pee, etc... one less thing to worry about. 2. Fasting for extended periods while in a ketogenic state accelerate fat loss. (the primary reason I fast) 3…

What do you mean breakfast is not "necessary"? No single meal is necessary, obviously, but why skip it?

> skipping this meal saves me time in the morning. I already gotta worry about getting ready, feeding the dog+antibiotics, taking him out to pee, etc... one less thing to worry about.

I really can't understand how you can put "getting ready" and feeding your dog above your own nutrition. Maybe you don't enjoy food the same way that I do. How do you not have 10 minutes to eat something in the morning? It just boggles my mind

> Fasting for extended periods while in a ketogenic state accelerate fat loss

Why not just eat 3 meals per day but smaller portions? Isn't that more sustainable psychologically (and maybe physically)?

Re: Productivity

#203

Post by mchmr » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:05 PM UTC

pi-squared wrote: post #63

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 a…

Granted I don't pay much attention to the y-combinator side of all this, but I didn't know who this dude was when I read the article. I immediately disliked a lot of the advice because of how out-of-touch it is (don't do something you don't like, buy a $4000 mattress, etc.) and came to the comments expecting some level of critique of that. Nope, everyone is fawning over this guy:

"What do you think he'll think when he starts meditating" "How do you feel about him using canabis?"

What kind of cult is this?

ed: spelling

Re: Productivity

#204

Post by khalilravanna » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:06 PM UTC

GuiA wrote: post #163

khalilravanna wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an extremely American tradition that was practiced and pushed by one of its founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin. Himself being called "the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become". A nontrivial amount of his autobiography is him espousing productivity and the ways he accomplished so much in his life. I think it's fine to kind of just ch…

It’s important to point out that many people also helped usher in the next several eras of progress for humanity without following that path. Eg Charles Darwin, who seemed to work in 3 slots of 1h30 every day: http://dailyroutines.typepad.com/daily_routines/2008/12/char...

That's pretty awesome. Though I'm sure we could quibble over the relative effects of each upon the course of human history, or the fact that Benjamin Franklin started with almost no means whereas Charles Darwin was born into a wealthy family-- I agree that the takeaway is that we may all have meaningful impacts on society without having to make sacrifices in the name of productivity. But, that being said, I'd personally say those sacrifices are not in vain as I think Benjamin Franklin's contributions to the course of American History outweigh Darwin's contributions to science.

Re: Productivity

#205

Post by derefr » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:07 PM UTC

ravitation wrote: post #107

Bjartr wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Happiness is an end unto itself. An end that productivity can, but doesn't always, serve. At least that's how I go about my life.

It's a joke. The fact that so many see it as something else is interesting on multiple levels.

Neurologically, it might actually be justified—there's a recent hypothesis that we're wired to "decrease uncertainty" more than any other terminal preference, i.e. that "being productive" (in the sense of doing things to ensure that a situation will resolve a particular way) is an end unto itself, that we pursue regardless of whether it makes us happy. (I like this hypothesis because it neatly explains why the experiences of happiness, of contentment, and of motivation, are all effectively orthogonal, and many people can have one of the three while never having the other two. It also explains why people tend to feel relief when a negative event they've been attempting to prevent finally happens anyway.)

As well, there is a reason that Buddhism's viewpoints on dukkha and nirvana needed to be invented/discovered and taught (and that people struggle to learn them.) The idea that there is a happiness that exists as a state of *being8, that does not involve "doing", is not, seemingly, an instinctual belief among human beings—or even one that's very easy to convince people of.

Re: Productivity

#206

Post by aviv » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:09 PM UTC

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #144

aviv wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This will one day be as obvious as cigarettes cause cancer is. Prolonged fasting (consuming only water for 10 to 40 days) is a highly effective treatment for many diseases, including Crohn's, most other IBS related, diabetes, MS, and many more. At some point in the future we will consider pharma companies, government agencies and other entities hiding this fact to be criminal. Edit: my personal hope is that water fas…

Do you partake in any sort of sports? As someone who is avidly into strength training, I can't imagine the damage that does to gaining and maintaining muscle mass, and sabotaging your ability to push hard and perform well in the gym.

While I disagree with your assertions, if you are the type of person who prefers to live the rest of your life with, say, Crohn's, and be able to still push hard and perform well at the gym, by all means do that. If you're willing to set a side of period of a couple months to heal your body, research more.

It's actually interesting how many people I meet at the gym that from the outside appear very fit and healthy, only to find out they're actually pretty ill, from IBS and other gut issues, thyroid problems, etc. The gym is actually masking many diseases for people because physically they appear healthy.

Re: Productivity

#207

Post by neolefty » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:20 PM UTC

bigjimslade wrote: post #61

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!

I'd advise spending some time in China before judging. It's probably not what you'd expect, if you're just going by US media depictions.

Likewise someone in China judging life in the US!

Re: Productivity

#208

Post by tc7 » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:21 PM UTC

StavrosK wrote: post #32

tc7 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, there's a conflict between long-term and short-term enjoyment. I have a 'goal' of independence from my 9-5, but after I get home from work and play with my kids a bit, it sounds more immediately _enjoyable_ to watch a TV show with my wife rather than spend a couple hours on my side project. So it does sound ideal to > do things you enjoy, at a pace that you enjoy but I think there's a part of life where you'r…

> If I can be more productive, that's minimizing the time I spend sacrificing enjoyment before attaining my goals :). What would you do if you didn't have to work? Spend more time with your wife and kids? Isn't it a bit odd to say "if only I spent less time with my wife and kids, then I could have a chance to spend more time with them in the future!"?

I'm not really wanting to not work, as such, but to transition from working for someone else to working on my own projects.

So the equation for me is more: Spend a little less time with wife/kids today to improve my future enjoyment of the work part of life.

It's a tough balance, because I highly value wife/kids time -- so when I give up some of that (valuable and well-spent) time for a potential future good, I want to make sure I'm using that time optimally, so that sacrifice is as "worth it" as possible.

There's definitely a balance here; I could make much faster progress by working every night and weekend, but that would be too much of a sacrifice of the good present for the potential better future.

Anyway, I very much agree with/appreciate the point of your questions :).

Re: Productivity

#209

Post by Dirlewanger » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:22 PM UTC

misiti3780 wrote: post #171

Surprised he didnt mention anything about alcohol.

Avoiding it as much as possible is probably best, but I suspect the opportunity costs of completely forgoing it and not enjoying various happy hours that various entities put on for whatever reason is not worth it in the long-term. One has to indulge in vices every now and then.

Re: Productivity

#210

Post by bastijn » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:23 PM UTC

I once read a HN comment that I cannot find anymore but said:

“my default loop is "First, cycle through all my developers and make sure that I have equipped them to be happy and productive in their jobs. Second, find something to do. If possible, delegate it; if not, do it. Repeat."”

My biggest productivity gain was when I realized I should measure my productivity through the productivity of my developers. By the same calculation as done by the author I can only increase my own productivity so much but when I do the same for all my developers that adds another layer of multiplication.

This means I regularly enter the office and don’t even turn on my laptop (monitors) before checking if any of my developers need my help. Helping them be productive is my first priority. When nobody needs my help I pick up a task from my todo list but only if I cannot delegate it or it is a short task. I try not to pick up any task that is critical for my developers progress because my days do not have enough focus time to work on the same topic for more than 30 minutes to an hour without interruption.

This does not mean I do not take focus time sometimes, I do, but usually this is for getting my state of mind documented so I can share it with my developers and ask for their input to improve or reshape it. This helps again to have everybody understand the bigger picture so they can be more productive without my direct help and make decisions without requesting my approval. Also, because everybody involved contributed to the vision it feels better to work on it for all of us.

The same holds for meetings. If somebody requests my attendance in a meeting I request the agenda of the meeting and if the request is valid I’ll join as helping to unblock multiple people is important. If I’m not the right person I point them to the person they need to get into that meeting.

So, in short, I devote my time to helping my devs get 10% more done everyday and 1% better each year because that scales way better than just improving my own. (Though you could say that also improves my own?)