281–290 of 428 posts
I understand that this is vitriolic, but "I am more productive than most" rubbed me the wrong way I guess. The whole "I'm good at what I do because I figured it out in a vacuum!" story is just odd as hell.
> I very rarely eat breakfast, so I get about 15 hours of fasting most days (except an espresso when I wake up). I know this is contrary to most advice, and I suspect it’s not optimal for most people, but it definitely works well for me. Coffee isn't going to interrupt your fast, assuming it's black. I too skip breakfast and try to fast as long as possible. Fasting is tremendously helpful to productivity. Nothing wil…
> 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.…
At this stage, I have started to find mental things a little harder to do, but honestly its still pretty subtle and is pretty indistinguishable from the normal kinds of self pity I normally have when I sit down to complete some hard mental task.
Physical tasks are obviously a different story. But your mind doesn't seem to slow down much at all for a pretty long time during fasting.
I think that's the main thing I'll take away from this experience. Eating does not improve mental performance, at least not unless we're talking about a multiple-day timescale. I now believe that it may slightly degrade it, because your gut gets greedy for your that thought-fuelling blood. This is useful knowledge to have gained because so often I think "ooo, feel a bit dumb, better eat."
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…
I very deeply agree with you and have not been able to find this kind of thinking/feeling synthesized into a life-philosophy I can say I subscribe to. I'd love to discuss more with you if you're interested.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just curious, is your life better for having spent that time learning more about politics? What prompted you to get started? Asking as somebody that doesn't care much about politics but not averse to the idea of making an effort to understand it if the benefits>cost.
Certainly I'm biased since I put in that effort into learning more about these things. I'm an introvert and certainly didn't care much for politics in general. For better or for worse, I do live in a society and am dependent on it for sustenance though and that is what prompted me to delve into politics. From my understanding, it seems like its much easier for charlatans and snake-oil salesman to cast themselves as a…
My personal tip is related to one in the article: Instead of a full spectrum LED, use a near-infrared (Eg 850nm) light and shine it on your forehead for 5-10 minutes. The concentration gains I get from this are substantial, and they last up to 2 days. Security camera IR lights with 850nm can be had for $30 or so at Amazon. The name of the mechanism by which this works is called photobiomodulation, and there’s thousan…
> Like most people, I sometimes go through periods of a week or two where I just have no motivation to do anything (I suspect it may have something to do with nutrition). This sucks and always seems to happen at inconvenient times. I have not figured out what to do about it besides wait for the fog to lift, and to trust that eventually it always does.
I experience this and believe it is allergy-related (or at least inflammation-related). It seems to happen around certain times of the year and allergy medication usually clears it up temporarily.
Productivity for me is more about managing my energy and motivation than time. Hence I find a lot of planning and prioritization actually counter-productive. Some level is important, but not that much. I generally know what I need to do. More planning really doesn't clarify that. Instead I work on energy. A lot of the things Sam mentions -- but for goals/priorities I tend to take a very long view (decades out) and a…
Wondering if you can say more about managing "energy and motivation"? I'm curious abut the details, how one does this. It sounds like a great approach!
On a day-to-day basis, I usually have a pretty good idea of what I should be working on.
My issue is actually doing it. I can work hard for a full day, but not seemingly get anything done.
So one technique is to chunk the tasks up. Pretty well established technique. But I'll chunk smaller and smaller until I get momentum on what I need to do. That could mean picking a goal that only takes a minute.
Sounds laborious, but it's more about building momentum than building a plan. Maybe I want to start a newsletter. So I set a goal of setting up a Mailchimp account. And by the time I get to that... I pick something else.. eventually momentum kicks in and I start getting it done.
Works for me anyway!
Looking at the long term is important too! But I do that infrequently, and usually big, big picture instead.
HA! Take that mr/ms economist who say that incentives is needed to achieve productivity.
One hidden information here thought, that is worth emphasizing is that the author has the money to do what he likes. This is not so easy by the majority of humans in the world to no fault of their own.
Great: productivity advice from a failed entrepreneur (and stoner) who slimed his way to the top ranks of YC. Edit: keep downvoting. Let the hate flow through you.
We typically moderate far less when a comment is critical of YC, but this is such dross that we have to please ask you to post civilly and substantively, as the guidelines do. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
> I’ve been very fortunate to find work I like so much I’d do it for free, which makes it easy to be really productive. HA! Take that mr/ms economist who say that incentives is needed to achieve productivity. One hidden information here thought, that is worth emphasizing is that the author has the money to do what he likes. This is not so easy by the majority of humans in the world to no fault of their own.