"How to hyper-optimize yourself into a lonely existence" - great title for a book, which you can presumably write during all of this time you've saved!
Why I eat alone and probably you should too
41–50 of 67 posts
Re: Why I eat alone and probably you should too
#42I thought this was going to be a rebuttal to Never Eat Alone (http://www.keithferrazzi.com/products/never-eat-alone/) but it wasn't. However, the book would serve as a rebuttal to this post.
Re: Why I eat alone and probably you should too
#43I'm not sure this is really good advice. Networking with your co-workers, getting to know them, and letting them know you is so important, and thats what happens during those lunch time discussions. Also, in my experience, lunch discussions often actually do become very technical and work related. If you aren't there to participate, your opinion won't be taken into consideration. Finally, even if lunch time is your own time, if you are doing work on your side project using computers, software, even office space at work, your employer may be able to claim ownership of your project.
Re: Why I eat alone and probably you should too
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
One day that guy is going to get laid off, and if his side projects aren't successful, he's going to really wish he had a bigger professional network for job opportunities.
One day that guy is going to get laid off, and if his professional social network fails him, he's going to to really wish he spent more time turning his side projects in to successes.
If he built his side project while at work, his old employer can claim ownership of it if it takes off. Then, not only is he unemployed, but all that hard work has gone down the drain. Bummer!
Re: Why I eat alone and probably you should too
#45Some of my best ideas come to me when I am in the shower. The last thing I would do is to reduce that precious thinking time to gain 5 extra minutes in the morning.
His point was more that during that time, he had an opportunity to practice focus/concentration, and this helped him to reduce distractions throughout the rest of his day. You should be able to practice focusing in any situation where you are doing something rote and physical for more than five minutes, where your mind has a chance to wander towards more exciting or random things. Try it during handwashing dishes, washing your car, mowing the lawn, and other chores that do not require a significant amount of your attention.
Also, please focus on the task at hand when you are driving. :)
Re: Why I eat alone and probably you should too
#46Perhaps he could spend some of this conserved time learning to write at least a 10th grade level. This piece is so mangled it's difficult to read. Our strategic reserve of commas is being single-handedly depleted by this man.
You're right about the commas, we should use them as little as possible as they break the flow of reading for no purpose most of the time.
Re: Why I eat alone and probably you should too
#47I'm not sure most jobs work on a fixed amount of work to be done. If you're ridiculously productive in your 8 hours at work, never take coffee breaks, etc., a common result is that you'll just end up with more stuff to do, not that you'll get all your responsibilities out of the way earlier and free up time for side projects.
Re: Why I eat alone and probably you should too
#48So what do you do after 6pm (after work) if you have two young kids? :-)
Re: Why I eat alone and probably you should too
#49I would think that anyone with the time constraint as the OP needs to evaluate overall time management. As devs, we spend most of the day alone inside your mind. Lunch/coffee/smoke breaks are the ones which gives you just enough time for the mind to take off in non related domain.
Nobody forces us to take these breaks. It is an intuitive feeling that we use to relax ourselves. For a week or two, this may seem to work else - this advice would be a disaster if attempted to turn this to a habit.
Lunch topics - the worldly events do matter. I for one don't follow mainstream news. I get an abridged snapshot of events during these breaks. Not knowing anything makes worse at being a people person. Not Everything is about hacking. It's about weighing wants vs needs.
Also to add, breaks are not only about eating/drinking/smoking/conversing.It may also be a sit alone time not doing work. I usually go out to the balcony and look at the trees or birds flying. It's my natural reset button to stuck problems.
Re: Why I eat alone and probably you should too
#50I respect this guy's idea, but some transactions and ideas happen when you eat lunch with awesome folks. Great ideas could be incepted by one person, but molded into better iterations by other contributors of the conversation.