[deleted]
Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
21–30 of 253 posts
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#22I wish I had been diagnosed as gifted earlier (around high school)
For the rest the timing was not that bad
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#23Be kind to yourself, if you can't you can't be kind to others.
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#24[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#25You are the sum of your habits. I've always had "sort-of passable" ones, but they were never chosen by design, only by what had accreted with time. I had played with some systems and apps, but nothing had really worked until I took the time to write out in excrutiating detail what I would be doing for every minute of my morning and evening. At first I had to follow my schedule, but that didn't last long.
With the birth of my son, daycare, and a new job, I was finally forced to actually plan out a morning and evening routine. I wish I had done this in university.
Every day for the last 6 months, I have now a routine I don't have to think twice about:
* Woke up at 5 AM,
* Exercise hard, take a shower and have breakfast,
* Get to work before 7:30 AM with my day's tasks already in mind.
Similar for the evening preparing my breakfast, lunch and clothes. It's liberating to do these now without thinking. It took about a month, and my brain is now free to plan out the day or listen to an audiobook.
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#26That cheap mice and keyboards will ruin ones hands beyond repair after years of heavy use. Don't be that person. Learn to type and invest in your hardware early on.
Really? I have an exercise ball which works pretty well.
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#27The anatomy of peace, helped stop being stuck and make a turnaround on my mindset and my life.
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#28#1 How to run. I hated and avoided running for 30 years, then I got to the point where I hated going to a club and I hated having a machine in my home (and not getting any aerobic exercise at all was of course intolerable) so I decided to give running a try. At first it sucked, but then I figured out I'd been doing it wrong so I fixed my stride etc. It sucked less. I still don't enjoy the activity itself, but I'm sure glad for the results.
#2 The power of compound interest. I was lucky to learn this one early, but I think a lot of others weren't so lucky. More than any other single thing, any skill, any stroke of luck, this is why I now feel comfortable about my financial future into retirement.
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#29How to effectively learn and balance my use of mental energy. My diagnosis of depression and ADD inattentive-type (my parents were great, but denied that mental health was a factor until I decided to at age 22). I don't fault them, but I know for a fact my years in highschool and college struggling to learn / focus but knowing I had cognitive ability will irk me until the day that I die.
So what did you do about it
Paid to be diagnosed by a neuro-psych and neurologist (which my insurance didn't cover).
Worked to find the right stimulants and antidepressants (fortunately I no longer take antidepressants) and most importantly focus on what I really valued in life which oddly made understanding how to learn more effectively much easier.
I understand there are arguments against ADD / ADHD being "real" ailments, but I can personally attest to being at least 50-70% more creative / productive as an engineer when I'm using stimulants in low-doses and eating right.
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#30Stoicism.