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Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

alexand.ro

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Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#181

Post by icelancer »

save_ferris wrote: post #121
icelancer wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not much of a fiction for a significant percentage of people reading Hacker News.

So what’s your point? That may be true, but it doesn’t change the fact that the median household income in 2018 was 32k.[0] There’s not a single county in the US where a minimum wage income covers the cost of a two-bedroom apartment.[1] Economically, we’re entering a new gilded age where legislative decisions increasingly favor the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. 0: https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?ye…

>> There’s not a single county in the US where a minimum wage income covers the cost of a two-bedroom apartment.[1]

This is only true if you define paying for said apartment using the 30% of your income rule of thumb, which on top of a two bedroom apartment on minimum wage for a single earner is REALLY stretching reality. Federal minimum wage covers it if you increase 30% upwards easily in a lot of counties.

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#182

Post by icelancer »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #113
cpach wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That could change the coming years. I’m not saying it will. But it could.

I hope it won't. I mean, this was probably my biggest fear about parenthood. Observing other parents, I've noticed that a lot of them lost everything that made them interesting. The kids are the only things they care about now. I don't see this as a good thing - not for parents, and not for the children. If a parent's entire self gets consumed by child-rearing, what example do they set for their children? That the po…

It (probably) won't. My kids are years older than yours and I have only increased my workload, transitioning from an FTE at a software shop to running a small business (not out of my house).

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#183

Post by mannymanman »

300bps wrote: post #27

I’ve said for years that one of the 20th century’s large problems was humans having to learn to live in a world of unlimited sugar, fat and salt. One of the 21st century’s large problems is humans having to learn to live in a world of unlimited information. Both problems involve overcoming our evolutionary programming to scarf up as much of what used be a limited resource as possible.

Solid observations. Do you have any suggestions/resources on how to live well with unlimited information? How do you decide what to absorb and what to ignore?

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#184

Post by collyw »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #20

As someone that is "on the spectrum," I can report that focus can be pretty awesome. I generate vast amounts of code, in relatively short time, and am an insanely obsessive debugger. However, it don't come for free. If I get "roused" from my "fugue" (what I call "the zone"), I can be cranky. This has not always been helpful in my marriage. Also, I find that I can be "vocabularily challenged" for a few minutes after I…

I don't think you need to be "on the spectrum" to experience what you described.

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#185

Post by TheAlchemist »

tdaltonc wrote: post #139
TheAlchemist wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No need for technology here. It's an addiction that many of us have. And I feel it got to a point it messes way too much with my brain. So yeah, only 'will power'.

Will power does not have a great track record in the "will power v addiction" war.

Fair point.

But it's an addiction that I think will be rather easy to get rid off (based on my previous experience) so I'm not planning anything very specific (other than the points I've listed).

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#186

Post by TeMPOraL »

pplonski86 wrote: post #177
TeMPOraL wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It resonates with me. I hit that once, at my 2nd year at university, as I was in a pretty bad emotional state which almost led me to drop off. Something clicked in my brain then, and I rebounded to extreme levels of drive and productivity (and a weird sense of humor). I nailed that year, went straight from "doesn't even attend classes" to the best student on the year. I earned a pretty good reputation with both my fe…

Music helps for me. Try to listen music that makes you feel better. I can listen one track in the loop for the whole day and work.

I do that too, and sometimes this gives me bursts of exceptional productivity. But ultimately, it's just a pale shadow of what I had then, a whole year of sustained, exceptional productivity.

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#187

Post by TeMPOraL »

icelancer wrote: post #182
TeMPOraL wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope it won't. I mean, this was probably my biggest fear about parenthood. Observing other parents, I've noticed that a lot of them lost everything that made them interesting. The kids are the only things they care about now. I don't see this as a good thing - not for parents, and not for the children. If a parent's entire self gets consumed by child-rearing, what example do they set for their children? That the po…

It (probably) won't. My kids are years older than yours and I have only increased my workload, transitioning from an FTE at a software shop to running a small business (not out of my house).

> (not out of my house)

That's an important point, isn't it?

Home office is a wonderful thing, but now that I'm a dad, I find myself wishing for an actual, external office. Not because I don't like my own home, but because catching even a tiniest fragment of my daughter's cry next door is incredibly, incredibly distracting - even though my wife is taking care of her perfectly, I have to fight myself to not just get out of the study and render assistance.

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#188

Post by [deleted] »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #128
genezeta wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I generate vast amounts of code, in relatively short time But is it good code ? And I don't mean your code personally, but more in general. I've known people who are able to focus alright but then what they produce -be it code or anything else- is rather mediocre. I knew this person that would get on his workbench, and spend the whole morning in a flash, not noticing anything around him. He has a fairly large colle…

Excellent code. My screen name here is also my GH handle. See for yourself.

[deleted]

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#189

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

collyw wrote: post #184
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #20

As someone that is "on the spectrum," I can report that focus can be pretty awesome. I generate vast amounts of code, in relatively short time, and am an insanely obsessive debugger. However, it don't come for free. If I get "roused" from my "fugue" (what I call "the zone"), I can be cranky. This has not always been helpful in my marriage. Also, I find that I can be "vocabularily challenged" for a few minutes after I…

I don't think you need to be "on the spectrum" to experience what you described.

No. It's just common for us. A lot of us are also completely undiagnosed. Programming/engineering is a fairly natural habitat for people like us.

Anyone that can get into "the zone" is probably eligible.

I was a manager for many moons. That's really unusual for folks like me. One of my top engineers was absolutely brilliant. Verbally, he was rather reticent, but he could wax eloquent in emails, and his designs were exquisite. He had a high school diploma. That was all.

I remember him sending a rewrite of an image processing filter back to Japan. The Ph.Ds there, had submitted a Monte Carlo-based filter, and he rewrote it with a modeling calculation that improved the performance 100X.

He also submitted the design as a PDF document.

With live Postcript code, generating the charts, using his simulations.

They were flabbergasted.

Sometimes, it's a good idea to let odd just be odd.

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#190

Post by Psyladine »

moneywoes wrote: post #74

What does HN think of the pomodoro technique?

Works for my kid cleaning his room. I view it and focus like weight lifting, you want to build out longer periods of concentration.

Call it will power or whatever, but it's a mental muscle that must be exercised if it is to be realized.

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