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Productivity

blog.samaltman.com

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Re: Productivity

#231

Post by deltron3030 »

philwelch wrote: post #94
deltron3030 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which programmer enjoys typing, or which builder enjoys the physical activity itself? It's about the way to the end result, getting from nothing to something, or not? For the professor it would be the understanding and success of his pupils. The stuff in between nothing and something, especially what you don't like, could be an opportunity if theres nothing in reach that already solves the problem.

> Which programmer enjoys typing, or which builder enjoys the physical activity itself? That's actually a reason to get better at these things, though--the better your fundamentals are, the less attention you have to pay to them and the more attention you have left over for actually thinking about what you're doing. When I'm coding, typing is the last thing on my mind--I just think code and my muscle memory translate…

But wouldn't you prefer to just being able to connect your tested UI prototype and data model without having to translate it into code yourself? That's what I'm doing when I code, I translate things that already exists into a different language. I'd rather focus on other things if I could.

Re: Productivity

#232

Post by Old_Thrashbarg »

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…

From a selfish perspective, it might be better not to focus on maximizing your productivity. From a species-perspective, I'm glad for folks like Elon Musk, Richard Stallman, Einstein and basically almost everyone else to strive for maximum output. This will help us more quickly fight disease, aging, poverty, etc.

Re: Productivity

#233

Post by mifeng »

Irony: a blog post about productivity inspires lots of discussion on the site where tech workers go when they're feeling unproductive.

Re: Productivity

#234

Post by toasterlovin »

gideon_b wrote: post #179
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.

IQ can be raised by a full standard deviation with a few months of training [1]. IQ is only stable over time because most people don't work continuously to improve it. IQ can be learned, just like everything else. [1] Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S104160801...

Color me skeptical. Pretty much every intervention ever tried has failed to measurably increase IQ long-term. The only exceptions are fixing nutritional deficiencies. If you could reliably raise IQ by a standard deviation in reasonably nourished children, it would be one of the most profound socio-political developments of all time (on the scale of major economic transitions like agriculture -> manufacturing -> knowledge work).

Re: Productivity

#235

Post by logfromblammo »

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…

We need someone to advocate for sloth, as Gordon Gekko did for greed.

Slothful folk take shortcuts, and shortcuts lead to serendipitous productivity improvements (if they aren't persistently reducing quality).

Re: Productivity

#236

Post by Jemmeh »

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.

A -lot- of bodybuilders do intermittent fasting (between 16-23 hours per day of not eating and do fine. I see that all the time.

But the ones who are doing the 10-40 day fasts are usually fighting some kind of disease from what I've seen. Sometimes it's a weight loss thing but I don't see that nearly as often. From what I've read/watched I doubt any of them are doing much working out.

Crazy enough the longest ever recorded fast was 382 days long. The patient was 456lb at start, ending at 180lb. They gave him yeast and vitamins during some parts but overall they reported no ill effects afterwards. I don't say this as a "jump in and go nuts", this person was under medical supervision, but it's really crazy what the human body can do.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2495396/pdf/pos...

Re: Productivity

#237

Post by naveen99 »

_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).

he didn't say don't do anything. He said leave some time to think about what to work on next.

Re: Productivity

#238

Post by kevindqc »

netrap wrote: post #135
kevindqc wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to this random 20 year old study I found, taking Vitamin D supplements is better than light therapy: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10888476

Dead link?

Works for me? Maybe something is blocking you

Re: Productivity

#239

Post by naveen99 »

itamarst wrote: post #180
fitpolar wrote: post #18

I agree that productivity is key, then you don't have to "overwork"! I can accomplish something in about 3-4 hours in an 8 hour work day, of what used to take me the whole day when working 12+ hours. That, to me, is productivity.

Exactly. Productivity is the opposite of working hard. You can't work smart and work hard, you have to choose one.

that's efficiency not productivity.

Re: Productivity

#240

Post by Jemmeh »

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…

There's LOADS of things I want to do. I have a lot of interests. I have a lot of ambitions. The faster I am at meeting my goals the more I get to do, the further I get to go.

If I'm more productive in the kitchen I finish making my meals sooner. If I'm more productive at coding I finish making my personal projects sooner and I get more projects out there. I learn more. I can make more money to spend on things I care about. etc. etc.

If there were only a few things I cared about or was interested in then maybe I wouldn't be pushing so hard but there's so much to life I want to experience, see, and accomplish. I know I can't do it all but I am legit excited to do what I am capable of.

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