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Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

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Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#141

Post by roter »

kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #129
mettamage wrote: post #121

The Wim Hof Method. I never had any issue with: - snow - rain (being soaked was in rare cases still an issue) - anything cold really Before that I was unhappy with whatever was cold. Now I'm neutral at worst and super exhilarated and hyped like I'm taking drugs (but legally) at best. The adrenaline rush is very strong and very real, and a lot of fun :) How I would pitch this to my younger 18 year old self: want insta…

Can you explain the method simply? I Googled and all the websites seem to be full of marketing BS.

From [0]: 30 cycles of controlled hyper-ventilation, followed by holding breath with lungs empty as long as possible, then deep breath and hold for 15-20 secs.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof#Wim_Hof_Method

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#142

Post by purerandomness »

The idea that your mind is not you.

That "thinking", as a process, is just a tool of your body, just like eyesight, for example.

Listening to meditation and mindfulness practitioners like Jon Kobat-Zinn and Eckhart Tolle, I found it absolutely groundbreaking, for myself, to realize that the mind is an instrument that needs training and tuning, and sometimes can lead you astray, and can't be trusted unconditionally.

Disassociating from my mind and understanding that my thinking is not my being has helped me in innumerable ways.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#143

Post by jjice »

monkeydust wrote: post #130

2 minute rule. Only useful productivity tool I learn from reading dozens of books a decade ago. https://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/how-stop-proc...

This one is great. As a student, there are a lot of 2 minute tasks out there that are easy to push off, like adding something to a calendar or responding to an email. Mundane things that take very little time (generally speaking), but can cause much bigger problems down the road if not taken care of.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#144

Post by nyanpasu64 »

dbancajas wrote: post #124
peterangular wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...And with abuse patterns a lot of us had that ingrained at a super young age as a control lever our parents/guardians installed. I think a hard part of this is that people commonly abuse these mechanisms for control in social structures. I grew up with it, I experienced it in school, I've experienced it in relationships, and I've experienced it professionally. In so many ways it's human social nature to subvert eac…

So sorry to hear this man. Do you have examples? I'm trying to learn to recognize if it exists in my current social relationships.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CPTSD/ is a support community for people who have experienced childhood abuse. It might be helpful for looking for examples.

From my personal experience, I've had:

- conditional parental approval based on performance - teacher: "do what i say because i'm authority, I don't have to explain" - More I can't remember or don't feel is relevant

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#145

Post by pstuart »

sharemywin wrote: post #45
aaron_seattle wrote: post #5

"Nothing is ever personal." The way people treat you, has nothing to do with you. They are just living out their own stories. Related idea: "You train others how to treat you." Think reinforcement learning as applied to training a dog. (And I love dogs, have the deepest respect for them). The concept isn't that different when applied to our social interactions.

You have to accept the world doesn't revolve around you. and that's hard for people.

I have a twist on that: "You are the center of the universe, and so is everybody else"

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#146

Post by ncfausti »

The Growth Mindset.

To briefly sum up the findings: Individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts). This is because they worry less about looking smart and they put more energy into learning.

Along with this goes embracing "feeling dumb" and pushing through. I don't understand something because I don't understand it...yet.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#147

Post by kinkrtyavimoodh »

roter wrote: post #141
kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain the method simply? I Googled and all the websites seem to be full of marketing BS.

From [0]: 30 cycles of controlled hyper-ventilation, followed by holding breath with lungs empty as long as possible, then deep breath and hold for 15-20 secs. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof#Wim_Hof_Method

Interesting how closely this matches many Yogic breathing techniques.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#148

Post by duxup »

aaron_seattle wrote: post #5

"Nothing is ever personal." The way people treat you, has nothing to do with you. They are just living out their own stories. Related idea: "You train others how to treat you." Think reinforcement learning as applied to training a dog. (And I love dogs, have the deepest respect for them). The concept isn't that different when applied to our social interactions.

I've worked with so many folks who take things personally and then I don't know if they realize it but all sorts of possibilities are closed off to them because of their response.

My career started weirdly but at one point I wasn't put off by a grizzly old guy at my first 'real' job. He was a wealth of technical information and etc, but could be kinda rough around the edges. He wasn't mean by any means, just not friendly in an office of really friendly folks who took things personally too often IMO.

So many folks were sort of scared / avoided him. I made it my job to watch for what he liked folks bringing him and what he didn't, made notes... and in a year or so we got along great.

After a while people who had a lot more experience than me would bring things to me ... to take to grizzly guy.

Technically I wasn't nearly as skilled as most folks (maybe all), but I just didn't take technical things personally as they did and ended up being this gateway that management recognized was ultra useful / valuable. Anyone could have done it, but for social reasons people just didn't.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#150

Post by endymi0n »

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

— Ira Glass

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