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Productivity

blog.samaltman.com

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Re: Productivity

#401

Post by darepublic »

teej wrote: post #267
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…

"As a CTO, my default loop is 'First, cycle through all my employees 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.'" - tkiley https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3408449

That sounds heavenly

Re: Productivity

#402

Post by Tomminn »

laex wrote: post #356
Tomminn wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The assumption you're making is that your brain gets no calories when you have no food. Every kilogram of fat on your body is 9000 calories just sitting there. Most of us have at least 10 of em, or 90,000 calories. While it's definitely true that some things slow down to conserve energy, it seems like the brain isn't one of em . There are moments* now I feel I'm thinking considerably clearer than usual. The world jus…

> The world just feels unbelievably quiet. This is what I sense when my fast crosses 18+ hours.

Yeah you certainly get a taste of it pretty early, and I think that taste is what made me intrigued to keep going, but lets be honest that taste is pretty well spoiled by increasingly desperate hunger. But I've just hit ~87 hours now, and everything else bad that happens mentally in the 18-60 hour period gets noticeably nicer once you go beyond the 60-70 hour mark, which makes that quietness way more enjoyable. Slept like a baby for the first time since starting last night, which makes a world of difference. Being too hungry to sleep is a special kind of hell.

This confirms some stuff I'd read on fasting. I'd read somewhere that the main pain is associated with re-establishing a new steady-state in which you're getting all your calorie needs from eating your own fat instead of your stomach contents, but I wasn't really sure if that was just wishful thinking by brain-washed fanatics. Fasting is still a non-mainstream practice so it's kinda hard to find reliable sources of information on it. But this particular point seems to be 100% legit, at least in the experience of this sample of one.

Re: Productivity

#403

Post by logfromblammo »

mchmr wrote: post #400
logfromblammo wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just people trying to bottle the lightning. Person X becomes successful. Other people ask X how they did it. Person X explains some personal philosophy, and the other people nod sagely. Then persons Y, Z, and Q follow the recipe by X, and do not become successful. It's probably better to ask failures what they did wrong. You end up with rules like "don't ever try heroin", "always insure the things that make you…

It's almost like there is more to success whether or not someone sleeps on a tempurpedic mattress with a cooling pad, earplugs and eye mask... or whether they write lists on paper... or whether they have that unfortunate characteristic where they only work on stuff they don't like (you know, a job)

To me, the talk of such things suggests that they don't actually know where their success comes from. Or they do know, and need to sell a distracting narrative for some reason. Perhaps the more people that know about it, the less it would work for them.

Re: Productivity

#404

Post by jakebaker »

taylorjacobson wrote: post #158

For me many of these techniques can be bundled by doing virtual coworking sessions with an accountability partner. I'm able to block off big chunks of time, I'm accountable to show up, I am forced to set meaningful intentions at frequent intervals, I work intensely when I have one and fully unplug when I don't. It is a little weird at first but insanely effective. You can do it with a friend, or colleague, or find pa…

Focusmate has been an incredible boost to my productivity. So glad to see it getting mentioned here. It's uncanny how the connection to another person has enabled me to unlock immediate productivity. I strongly recommend it.

Re: Productivity

#405

Post by rootusrootus »

bastijn wrote: post #346
rootusrootus wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It is not easy to change your habits. I can only share what helped me most to transition to what I do today. I was lucky that I got my role about 2-3 months before the yearly review at which time I got the (anonymous) feedback that developers felt I was not available enough to support them. I remember at the time I responded with the natural reaction of somebody who newly obtained a lead position, I balanced the feed…

Wow, thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience, that is really great information!

Re: Productivity

#406

Post by haihaibye »

vilmosi wrote: post #260
toasterlovin wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 -> knowl…

Well average IQ of the human population around the world has been increasing in the past decades if not centuries. And it's not because we're evolving within a few generations.

IQ of groups around the world have been improving, but the composition of groups has changed.

Eg Africa went from 1/2 the population of Europe in 1950 to 1.6x the size today.

Re: Productivity

#407

Post by haihaibye »

eric24234 wrote: post #325
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…

Just out of curiosity could you tell what's your IQ is ? Also is there a correlation between children's IQ and parent's IQ ?

See the Breeder's equation:

https://www.edge.org/response-detail/27199

Re: Productivity

#408

Post by atom-morgan »

whalesalad wrote: post #22

> 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…

Are you sure about coffee? Dr. Rhonda Patrick seems to think otherwise. https://twitter.com/foundmyfitness/status/749292233166237696...

Re: Productivity

#409

Post by manmal »

opdahl wrote: post #337
manmal wrote: post #275

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…

Very interesting! What do you do while performing this? Do you just put it on while working, or do you just stop and «meditate» for the 5-10minutes?

I either kinda meditate, or read HN on my phone :)

Re: Productivity

#410

Post by mantas »

suprfnk wrote: post #353
mantas wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funnily enough, breakfast is kinda important for fat-loss. What you eat in the morning will be burned throughout the day. Meanwhile a significant chunk of what you eat in the evening is not going to be burned and will be stored in fat. Eating a lot in a single go is not healthy either. Thus you do need several meals throughout the day. 3 seems to be rather good balance. Although I personally prefer 2.

> Funnily enough, breakfast is kinda important for fat-loss. What you eat in the morning will be burned throughout the day. Meanwhile a significant chunk of what you eat in the evening is not going to be burned and will be stored in fat. Meal timing is pretty much irrelevant for fat loss. The amount you consume and expend in the long run is far more relevant. Unless you're a top-level athlete, meal timing is the wron…

Not being most important, doesn't mean it's irrelevant. I'm not saying to focus on it alone either. But it certainly does play a role how our metabolism work.

For example, snacking throughout the day is worst. Your body gets used to easy food and you feel hungry all the time. What you need is longer stretches of a day without food to make your body take energy from body fat. So you definitely need good timing to avoid snacking but don't overload your system with massive meal.

If you eat sugar late, you will get calories, but miss the energy boost. Meanwhile in the morning you'd use it productively.

While calories balance ultimately is the goal, different ways to achieve it are harder or easier.

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