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Productivity

blog.samaltman.com

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Re: Productivity

#301

Post by taneq »

Tomminn wrote: post #282
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.…

So right now I'm 63 hours into a fast, which I just decided to do on a lark. I've been intrigued ever since hearing an interesting podcast on fasting ( https://tim.blog/2017/05/04/smart-drugs-fasting-and-fat-loss... ). 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…

Interestingly, there's some suggestion that fasting does increase your intelligence, at least for a while (at least, as always, in mice): https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/magazine/10section1C.t-1....

Re: Productivity

#302

Post by eloff »

fogzen wrote: post #242
eloff wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This applies to your 9-5 as well. Working on the right problems is critical to anything you do, even in your personal relationships.

The person that serves Sam espresso in the morning, why would they choose to make minimum wage? Because they have no other options that’s why. “Do what you love” “work on important things” is so incredibly tone-deaf it’s insulting. It’s not helpful either.

I don't accept that people have no other options. This is life, it's unscripted. There's always more options than we have imagination. Working as a barista is not slavery, the person choose to do it because it seems to them to be their best available option. I find their judgement questionable, but if it works for them, who am I to say otherwise.

Re: Productivity

#303

Post by Retra »

eafkuor wrote: post #202
whalesalad wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This has nothing to do with enjoyment of food; one can enjoy food without worshiping it, ritualizing it, or being a gluttonous. Someone who enjoys video games isn't under any obligation to devote time to it each morning.

Either way, your body isn't going to be negatively affected by a 3-7 hour delay in getting nutrients. Many people aren't hungry when they wake up, and coffee is pretty good at pushing that feeling off for a couple hours more. Eating breakfast every morning when you don't need it is a waste of resources.

>Why not just eat 3 meals per day but smaller portions?

Why do you care about 'meals'? What's a meal? Do you think you evolved to consume food in meals? Whether you eat 'meals' - and how many of them you eat - was never a relevant question.

Re: Productivity

#304

Post by wrcwill »

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.

what are you doing differently now that allows you to achieve this enhanced productivity?

Re: Productivity

#305

Post by epai »

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...

That article studied IQ gains in students aged 17 or younger. I’m a bit skeptical the same findings generalize to adults and older, but I’d shown otherwise with other studies/sources

Re: Productivity

#307

Post by rootusrootus »

bastijn wrote: post #210

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 sam…

I so need to figure this out. I just became a manager a couple months back and it's a constant struggle to avoid defining my success by what I do myself.

Re: Productivity

#308

Post by fao_ »

woolvalley wrote: post #271
fao_ wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a deep misunderstanding of IQ. As the product of two MENSA-ns, I can say with good faith: While high-IQ people do seem to have more varied interests than average people, IQ doesn't so much as govern interest as govern processing speed. One of the original purposes of IQ was selecting for fighter pilots -- fighter pilots with higher IQs means that you have fewer deaths, because they are able to process and rea…

IQ isn't all processing speed, it's only one part of the test. If you can't solve the symbol puzzle, you can't solve it.

Which is... exactly what I said.

Did you get halfway through the first paragraph and reply based on that?

EDIT: Also, the symbol puzzle is timed as well. Most of the IQ questions are perfectly solvable by the average person when given a day to think about it, or 6 hours or so at the least. Raven's Matricies are far easier if you are given 6 hours to dwell on it a little.

Also, with the MENSA test, you aren't just timed on the total test, everyone does the same question at the same time. There's someone reading them out.

Re: Productivity

#309

Post by JesseAldridge »

This is a good essay, but it ignores a huge underlying question: How do you measure productivity? If you spend 10 hours thinking about a difficult problem from many angles before arriving at an ingenious solution are you more or less productive than if you bang out a series of CRUD endpoints for some web app during that same 10 hours? It seems like this sort of thing is nearly impossible to measure. And without measurment it's very difficult to separate placebo effect and other subjective biases from actual productivity improvement.

Re: Productivity

#310

Post by [deleted] »

drb91 wrote: post #297
Tomminn wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So right now I'm 63 hours into a fast, which I just decided to do on a lark. I've been intrigued ever since hearing an interesting podcast on fasting ( https://tim.blog/2017/05/04/smart-drugs-fasting-and-fat-loss... ). 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…

> 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’m not sure i agree with this. Highly productive sessions always end with me feeling exhausted despite just concentrating intently for several hours. Doesn’t your brain already consume like 30% of your energy? It would really surprise me if your brain operated at full capacity…

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