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Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

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Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#261

Post by n00bdude »

whitepoplar wrote: post #147
n00bdude wrote: post #69

I use earplugs when doing work in any environment that's not quiet. What's nice about earplugs is (1) it cuts off only a 'layer' of sound that I find inhibits focus and (2) your hearing adjusts; you can still hear virtually everything happening around you. Being in the city, I find myself actually sporting earplugs virtually everywhere I go .. There's just soo much noise.

Which earplugs do you use? I find that my ears get very irritated using earplugs for extended periods.

I use CVS Superior Soft Foam Earplugs ~ https://www.cvs.com/shop/cvs-superior-soft-foam-earplugs-pro... .. nothing really fancy, though maybe the nicest ones that most CVS' sell.

Sometimes, I will experience minor discomfort if I've pushed them too far in my head, but pulling them out just a little usually relieves any problem.

I've had them in all day (again), only taking them out once for a long conversation I had .. and I sleep with them too.

Honestly, reality in a city, IMO, is by & far way too noisy. And I don't think from an evolutionary standpoint, we're super-well-suited for processing (consciously or not) all the different directions of noise washing across us ..

Or maybe I'm just too easily distracted/overwhelmed ;)

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#262

Post by keyle »

It helps to distance yourself from the situation. Like you've said, "If it doesn't matter after X time, chances are it probably doesn't matter now."

The way I think of it is "if it doesn't kill me or my loved ones, who cares." Let the leaves fall the way they will. Good and bad will come out of it.

If you're too focused on the wall in front of you, you won't see the opportunity sitting besides it.

For very bad moments, it's important to bring perspective. I love "Oh dear.", because it encompases the terrible and puts it into a cute little bottle.

Medias and exposure wants us to have skin in the game and nothing feels worth doing unless it's a big deal. That rush and fear will end up being blinding you from the obvious and keep you from achieving your best (imho).

On people, it's important not to be a dick to anyone, even in the most stressful situations. That's because relationships will supersede situations. And relationships is often what will get you out of a mess. So keep that boat floating, communicate as best you can and know that shit happens. Unless it kills you, ride on like nothing can stop you.

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#263

Post by kissgyorgy »

Sometime I imagine myself watching myself as another person, (like I'm doing a thing, but seeing myself as somebody else) so I can try to think about how others can see me in some situations, what I do how would it look in the eyes of others. This helps me behave more appropriate in some situations and helps me see myself more objectively.

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#264

Post by agumonkey »

nerpderp82 wrote: post #183
cdicelico wrote: post #78

My top 3, in order of how I try to apply them (i.e., if 1 doesn't help, move on to 2, etc.). I learned these all from reading various philosophy works, by the way, so perhaps cognitive hack #1 should be "read books". 1) Suspension of judgement (from Sextus Empiricus, Zhuang Zi, Ecclesiastes): avoid forming an opinion at all about things that are not evident. The way I do this is by thinking through an opposing argume…

0) Keeping one's mouth shut. Trying to not have an opinion until a) having enough information b) only voicing it if it is important. I am trying to spend more time perceiving instead of broadcasting.

unless you try to tap into xkcd effect if you see what I mean

"precher le faux" as they say in France

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#265

Post by sanderjd »

nothrabannosir wrote: post #215

“If I’m getting upset, I’m probably wrong.” It’s a specific kind of feeling, when my brain starts protecting itself against information that proves me wrong. Kind of like a real threat. It feels like I’m under attack, and I’m losing. I get subtly upset (because I’m a know-it-all and I want to be right), which is itself quickly reframed as anger, probably by that same mechanism. Probably much easier to admit that I’m…

Some of this strikes me as good advice; it's certainly always good to engage in the "what if I'm wrong?" thought experiment. But I don't find "am I upset?" to provide a very strong signal either way. I'm often upset when I'm wrong, but I'm also often upset when I'm right and the thing being discussed is simply upsetting.

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#266

Post by Walkman »

cdicelico wrote: post #78

My top 3, in order of how I try to apply them (i.e., if 1 doesn't help, move on to 2, etc.). I learned these all from reading various philosophy works, by the way, so perhaps cognitive hack #1 should be "read books". 1) Suspension of judgement (from Sextus Empiricus, Zhuang Zi, Ecclesiastes): avoid forming an opinion at all about things that are not evident. The way I do this is by thinking through an opposing argume…

Oh, wow, I realized I started doing 2) a couple of months ago, because one of my coworker is thinking in completely different ways about code in general, which forces me think in completely new and different ways. I already questioned my judgement about "good" or "bad" and started thinking in terms of "different" and I'm truly starting to believe it.

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#267

Post by ruytlm »

nerpderp82 wrote: post #183
cdicelico wrote: post #78

My top 3, in order of how I try to apply them (i.e., if 1 doesn't help, move on to 2, etc.). I learned these all from reading various philosophy works, by the way, so perhaps cognitive hack #1 should be "read books". 1) Suspension of judgement (from Sextus Empiricus, Zhuang Zi, Ecclesiastes): avoid forming an opinion at all about things that are not evident. The way I do this is by thinking through an opposing argume…

0) Keeping one's mouth shut. Trying to not have an opinion until a) having enough information b) only voicing it if it is important. I am trying to spend more time perceiving instead of broadcasting.

Per Baltasar Gracian:

"The greatest form of knowledge is, on occasion, not to know, or to affect not to know."

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#269

Post by setr »

taormina wrote: post #149
asveikau wrote: post #138

> Artificial deadlines Artificial deadlines has always been my go-to phrase to describe a situation where people try to hold to a deadline that isn't reality-based. Everyone stresses about a fake deadline that won't be hit and won't matter and burns out. The deadline should if at all possible move with actual status and nature of the work. So your boss giving themselves a fake deadline and deciding things in the last…

Totally agreed on the fake deadline front. Have you ever been torn between two options and left it up to a coin flip? Only to find that mid-air, you realize which one you really wanted it to be, without even necessarily checking the coin? In the "last five minutes thing", I think the broader point there is that, A) you will need to make an actual decision, and that B) you can wallow about being indecisive for as long…

I think of the coin flip solution as being honest with yourself: it only works if you really decide to follow the quarter's answer, and its that little sense of satisfaction/reluctance when you unmask the coins that points out the truth (at which point you ignore the quarter and do the correct thing)

and ofc if you feel nothing, then coin has already provided you a default to work with.

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#270

Post by aviv »

Dry fasting for minimum of (7) 24-hour days per month (not necessarily consecutive days, but it does happen often like that) and eating only organic raw fruits and veggies, and drinking no water at all even on non-fasting days (or other liquids for that matter) - I get all the water I need from the food I consume. Stand-alone water intake is not for humans. Wake up with the sun.
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