Awareness that periods of high performance are not 'free'. How to leverage that balance.
Curiosity and aptitude for math. I've found this about 25 years too late for it to make much of a difference.
Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
41–50 of 253 posts
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#42I wish I had discovered the wonders of attending college earlier on. I spent a good chunk of my teens and twenties in a constant state of alienation because I wasn't around people who put much value towards analytical thought. It wasn't until when I finally discovered it on my own in my mid-20s that life started making sense. It seems like that for many, the high school -> university pipeline is the path of least resistance, but if you don't have any pressure from family or direct peers involved in that kind of thing, it can fall far under the radar.
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#43That 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.
Do you have specific suggestions re: peripherals. I've been using the Logitech MX Vertical Wireless lately and it's been a huge improvement from my previous bulky Logitech G600. I'm wondering if there are keyboard set-ups people really like? I'm enjoying my Gigabyte mechanical keyboard, but would be willing to give it up for something that'll let me get more mileage out of my hands/arms.
I use a Kinesis Freestyle2 split keyboard at my day job, mostly because it was one of the available split keyboards available through my work. I really enjoy it so far. The split lets my shoulders maintain a naturally open position, and the tenting allows a neutral wrist position (but unfortunately my hands are too big for the built-in wrist rests).
The only downsides were some initial soreness (I think my shoulders were used to being hunched/turned in), some initially missed keys (it turns out I used to type the letter y with my left index finger, which isn't possible with the split), and more difficulty typing one handed.
Side benefit is that I have a good place to put my coffee and snacks.
Related to shoulders, I found that raising my monitors with arms (budget option: programming books) greatly help reduce the natural leaned-over hunch I'd get from looking down at my monitor. These two in combination have greatly helped my default posture.
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#44That 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.
This is important, but some people use crappy keyboards all their life and never have problems. I think more important is learning to be in touch with your body and applying corrections if and when things start feeling wrong. Unfortunately that's the kind of thing you learn from pain, though...
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> 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.
I'm not saying that ADD/ADHD aren't a thing (as it happens, I'm pretty on the fence about that), but I just wanted to point out that pretty much everyone will be more productive/creative when using stimulants and eating right.
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#46* Full time remote jobs
* Conspicuous Signalling Theory
* The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
* Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault by Stephen R. C. Hicks
* The Ethics of Liberty by Murray N. Rothbard e Hans-Hermann Hoppe
* The Red Pill
* How a Cultural War works and who is waging it against Western Civilization
* Lifting & dieting. The importance of muscle mass for everything in life
* How to cook tasty meals that fits an intense fitness lifestyle
* How hypergamy works (alpha seeds / beta needs)
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#47The absurdity of taking student loans for education
This is highly location dependent though. I just happened to notice that the interest on my Swedish student loan is 0.16%. That in combination with the income-indexed payback scheme and the fact that the loan balance is forgiven at age 65 makes it an absurdly good deal.
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#48Therapy and having a spiritual Father. Then I would have discovered all the dumb things I did as a teenager and early 20s were as a result of a destructive feedback cycle consisting of depression/anxiety, low self esteem, and existential crisis.
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#49Learning How To Learn ( https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn ) and Barbara Oakley's book A Mind For Numbers . Completely changed my approach to studying and learning, and my academic efforts after taking it were tremendously better than before. Also related: highly recommend Anki. It feels like magic when the spaced repetition works!
Is it necessary to go through the entire Learning How to Learn course or is there a TL;DR somewhere?
Re: Ask HN: What things do you wish you discovered earlier?
#50I wish I had been diagnosed as gifted earlier (around high school) For the rest the timing was not that bad
If it's any consolation, it's common that children labeled 'gifted' early, either don't live up to the label or are affected by the label negatively.
Even in my own adolescence I watched the most 'gifted' child eat batteries and jump off the roof of the school.