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Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#491

Post by ipnon »

fellow_human wrote: post #225
hombre_fatal wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find Sam Harris' Waking Up guided meditation lessons the most useful (can find it on mobile app stores, the 30+ lessons are free and start off short and simple). Until those, I thought meditation was inherently coupled with eastern mystic bullshit with zero benefits for anyone who didn't want to buy into a bunch of other baggage. He has a book by the same name as the mobile app. The first chapter (read out loud her…

Interesting that other cultural practices are dismissed as mystic bullshit by default, until a white man introduces it. That makes it more trustworthy other white people.

Until neuroscientists began researching meditation, the practice was coupled with various Asian cultural practices and beliefs, some from ancient times. It is reasonable to be doubtful of the efficacy of meditation when the evidence is effectively socio-cultural.

Sam Harris is a neuroscientist, so he has scientific credibility when he promotes meditation as a beneficial practice.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#492

Post by _v7gu »

VLM wrote: post #460

Learn very basic weightlifting, like how to design sets (12 or so light reps to warm up, aim to run out of energy around 8 reps for "production" sets, do about 3 production sets a couple minutes of rest in between). With only an hour, limit to relatively safe machines (LOL at learning olympic squats correctly and safely in only an hour of coaching). If you need motivation for why human bodies need to lift, "The Barbe…

Alternatively you could just read Starting Strength. The only exercise that's difficult in technique is the Power Clean, and you can replace it with Chin-ups. Even Rip does it in his Practical Programming book.

Seriously though, your stabilizers are important and machines do nothing for them.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#493

Post by majortennis »

PeterStuer wrote: post #413
majortennis wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

compound interest is where the bank say's its 3.5% interest but if you do the math you're paying 180% for a house. I don't have any idea how that became acceptable/the norm.

I have many reservations and am very critical of the financial system. But the concept of interest on loans is not a "scam'. The interest in it's simplest form is just a value appreciation of the time value of money [1]. Would you rather have $100 today, or $100 next month? How about $100 today vs $102 next month? Still rather in the today camp? How about $105 next month? That is the interest. It is the value derivat…

I didn't say interest on a loan was a scam I think compound interest on mortgages is. A fixed price interest would make sense like you borrow £100 , you pay back £110. 10% interest. But my understanding on a compound interest mortgage is the bank says something like 2% interest. and they take the £100 and x by 1.02 and just spam ='s on the calculator until the actual interest percentage is like 180%.

You shouldn't have to spend an hour learning how the bank are gnna screw you.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#494

Post by nickcoury »

Kye wrote: post #458
joshspankit wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as I dislike seemingly knee-jerk contrary statements against “known-good” knowledge, I feel that there is an important point here: aggressively attempting to compound interest is a poor use of time when you only have, say, hundreds of dollars. Better to focus on compound interest “in the background” while optimizing for growing capital or income-generating skills.

This is so true. I invested what little money I had to spare in music. Everything I made with it went back in. The return is more than I would have gotten from interest or things like stocks and bonds. ~2% is great if you're doing okay financially and have a good career. It's useless if you have any marketable skill that would benefit from spending what you can spare on tools or services. A pair of good mixing headph…

This is in line with the point of the original comment, which wasn’t just about investing money. That comment mentions self-development but it’s the general principle of reinvesting gains in something that is increasing in value.

In your case you are reinvesting gains from your music career back into your music career which is currently increasing in value. The principle is that this will let your career grow at increasing rates.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#495

Post by geekus_maximus »

bootloop wrote: post #483
geekus_maximus wrote: post #473

Learn how to regulate your sympathetic nervous system with diaphragmatic breathing. I know that meditation has been mentioned various times, but breathing as a subset of meditation is useful whilst sat in a meeting or conference, as it's approaching your turn to speak. It has worked wonders for my state of mind before public speaking.

Any good resources you know?

https://www.healthline.com/health/diaphragmatic-breathing

One can vary the pattern to determine what works best for them. For me it's "in for 5, hold for 5, out for 5". As in breathe in slowly over five seconds, hold for five seconds and than exhale over five seconds.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#496

Post by snikeris »

learnstats2 wrote: post #410

On the contrary, it has taken me years to unlearn compound interest. When you start with relatively little, compound interest is relatively very unhelpful - it compounds wealth and benefits people who have started with something more than you. Twice as good at nothing is still nothing.

Sure, on an absolute basis, someone who started with more than me will end up with more. But why does that matter to me? I only have my current resources to consider.

We all have some resources at our disposal. Understanding that slowly growing them over time can really add up is helpful regardless of where you start. In fact, I'd argue that knowledge of compounding is more helpful for those with little. Wealthy people aren't in need of more wealth, so the concept is less useful for them.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#497

Post by Waterluvian »

yread wrote: post #343
funklute wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's super useful if you're on the phone, having to spell out a list of letters, e.g. a postcode

If the other side also knows NATO alphabet. There are too many uncommon words for the average helpdesk operator

That's an interesting thought that I didn't consider. In a decade or so of using it I've never, anecdotally of course, had a problem.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#498

Post by svrtknst »

mkl wrote: post #161
arvinsim wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember learning these before but due to not finding any use case for them, I already forgot how to do them properly. Only thing I regularly tie nowadays are my shoelaces. EDIT: Grammar

> Only thing I regularly tie nowadays are my shoelaces. For that, in much less than an hour, you can learn the Ian Knot: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm It makes shoelace tying very fast and secure (the GIF at the top is how long it actually takes!).

Not that it's not a neat knot (repeat that for a tongue twister!), but I chuckled a bit at:

> With practice, I can now tie my shoelaces in about one third of the time of a conventional knot!

So... 1 second instead of 3? Amazing ;)

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#499

Post by SamuelAdams »

lsiebert wrote: post #7

How to do various knots comes to mind. Square knot, A sheet bend, clove and trucker's hitch, prusik, the alpine butterfly knot, and bowlines can all be learned rather quickly, then practiced so they can be remembered easily. http://paracord550milspec.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/How...

Also two-half hitches and the taughtline hitch. Ever need to tie a rope to a pole or a tree? Two-half hitches is your friend. It's also really easy to undo.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

#500

Post by snikeris »

Kye wrote: post #486
rfc wrote: post #474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alright, I'll bite. This is such a victimhood mentality and a ridiculous statement. I wasn't wealthy when I started investing. Hell, the first dollar I put into my long term portfolio was when I was living in my car! I started with ~$200 that I made from doing a collection of odd jobs (mowing lawns, computer repair, moving dirt, etc.). Every extra penny I made went into investing into a moderate portfolio focusing on…

>> "It is possible with the right mindset. In an investing group that I'm part of, my story is the norm - not the exception." Two words: selection bias. That your path worked for you does not mean it's the only wise path for every circumstance. The path of most people around me is their savings get destroyed by surprise medical or repair bills because they were born into poverty and never get a chance to build meanin…

> Most people (in this context) make the mistake of spending it on drugs, worthless trinkets, junk food, etc. Most aren't encouraged to pursue skills that can pay the bills. Or they're actively discouraged. "Crabs in a bucket" is a real mentality. People I grew up around have it. I had to hide my interest in entrepreneurship just to protect it from sabotage.

These are the people most in need of the concept of compound interest. If they knew that small steps every day can lead to big outcomes, they would be more inclined to take them.

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