Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

blogs.hbr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 116 posts

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#101

Post by Psyonic »

rkalla wrote: post #97
etruong42 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I'm on a similar realization as you. I "used to" want to be featherweight MMA champion of the world. Once I was into fighting, I kind of assumed I wanted to win (I think everyone does), but I slowly realized that I received no joy from winning. I just loved fighting, but I didn't have a drive to actually defeat my opponent. And you're right. It's fucking scary. "Wanting to be MMA champion" was so deeply ingra…

Perfect distinction between "satisfaction" and "happiness". I think both are important. Satisfaction is typically the result of accomplishment. Accomplishments give us confidence. Confidence (an amazing subject) gives us the strength to mold and shape our lives into things we want. As an MMA'ist, you know better than probably anyone here the role that confidence has in a fight. If you are fighting someone new to the…

You should definitely read "Stuck in the middle with Bruce," if you haven't. Fits perfectly with what you're describing.

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/2005_Stuck_In_The_Mi...

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#102

Post by FrojoS »

Tichy wrote: post #57

"Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them." I don't think this implies our brains become more capable with more enhanced civilization. For example I can eat an apple without knowing how to plant and tend to apple trees because I live in a civilization where farmers and software developers can exchange services. I don't have a ritual that allows me to grow…

No, if its a ritual it takes energy to not do it. Its almost impossible to forget about it when you don't do it.

Example: Try to go to bed tonight without brushing your teeth.

Of course, if you can completely outsource a task, that is even better. But I guess you won't be able to outsource your workout, sanitariness, writing down of ideas, going to bed at the same time etc. any time soon.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#103

Post by tobych »

gcb wrote: post #46

it opens with "every time i'm home i'm with my kids" and then give an example: - "today my [morning priority] was this blog, then i gave me a reward to play tennis" and - "always get 8hours of sleep" - "exercise in the morning" ...if i can always get 8h of sleep, always "be with my kids", write blog posts all morning (after the work out) and still have some time to myself to play tennis... i wouldn't be reading about…

Work with people you love, doing stuff that feels like a hobby, with your kids helping. And sleep with those you love, as appropriate.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#104

Post by apperoid »

JacobAldridge wrote: post #78
Markku wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give more examples of things you have automated and how they worked out? And what didn't?

Sure. In no particular order: I colour code my diary and contextualise it a month in advance. Today was a Blue- Sales day, so every sales opportunity this month has been offered today as an option- none of my clients (Blue- Delivery day) had it as an option My pockets are consistent- phone lhs side, money clip rhs, keys to the rear- To check I haven't forgotten/lost anything I just touch 3 pockets At shopping centres…

I would probably be interested in everything.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#105

Post by JesseAldridge »

Revisor wrote: post #93
JesseAldridge wrote: post #9

Along these lines, I made a little program which yells at me whenever I have too many lines of code without a comment, or too many lines in a single file. I've found it quite helpful not having to actively think about that sort of maintenance stuff.

Regarding comments, I really liked a technique Martin Fowler talked about in Refactoring. Whenever he feels the need to comment, he extracts the commented block into a new method and gives it a name that explains the purpose - instead of the comments. The result is code cut into small self-explaining blocks that reads pretty much like a sentence. I tried to follow it these last weeks and IMO it works great. Instead o…

Yeah, I followed that advice at one point. But I find in practice a plain English comment can be much more helpful than a function name. For example, from the code I linked:

# Check too many lines. Count number of lines without a comment.

If I were to turn that into a function name I would either have one long ass function name or (more likely) I would cut out several words and lose a lot of readability and clarity.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#106

Post by wahnfrieden »

pestaa wrote: post #44
latch wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I say stop watching TV , I don't mean stop doing sedentary things . I specifically mean stop watching TV . You can do almost anything else and I sincerely believe that you'll be better for it. Read a book, exercise, learn to cook, program, help your kids with homework, play video games, go out with friends...anything is better than watching TV.

Agreed. I often tell my parents to turn it off, to spend their free time actively. Watching TV is passive entertainment at its worst. I wish they listened.

You should suggest and encourage them towards new activities, rather than trying to get them to stop one activity. It's psychologically much more effective.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#107

Post by randallsquared »

JesseAldridge wrote: post #105
Revisor wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding comments, I really liked a technique Martin Fowler talked about in Refactoring. Whenever he feels the need to comment, he extracts the commented block into a new method and gives it a name that explains the purpose - instead of the comments. The result is code cut into small self-explaining blocks that reads pretty much like a sentence. I tried to follow it these last weeks and IMO it works great. Instead o…

Yeah, I followed that advice at one point. But I find in practice a plain English comment can be much more helpful than a function name. For example, from the code I linked: # Check too many lines. Count number of lines without a comment. If I were to turn that into a function name I would either have one long ass function name or (more likely) I would cut out several words and lose a lot of readability and clarity.

countLinesSinceComment() too long for you?

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#108

Post by JesseAldridge »

randallsquared wrote: post #107
JesseAldridge wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I followed that advice at one point. But I find in practice a plain English comment can be much more helpful than a function name. For example, from the code I linked: # Check too many lines. Count number of lines without a comment. If I were to turn that into a function name I would either have one long ass function name or (more likely) I would cut out several words and lose a lot of readability and clarity.

countLinesSinceComment() too long for you?

I think it's a bit too long, yes. I prefer around 10-15 characters for function names. Also, you've lost a lot of readability with that camelCase. Also, the "Check too many lines." part wasn't superfluous -- I had a separate check for too many total lines before I count the number of lines without a comment -- and that part of the comment has been lost.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#109

Post by Markku »

JacobAldridge wrote: post #78
Markku wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give more examples of things you have automated and how they worked out? And what didn't?

Sure. In no particular order: I colour code my diary and contextualise it a month in advance. Today was a Blue- Sales day, so every sales opportunity this month has been offered today as an option- none of my clients (Blue- Delivery day) had it as an option My pockets are consistent- phone lhs side, money clip rhs, keys to the rear- To check I haven't forgotten/lost anything I just touch 3 pockets At shopping centres…

Thanks for the details! Here's what happens to me.

Planning for a month. How detailed really? I would imagine that such a plan doesn't survive life. How do you cope with changes? I don't plan so much ahead now because other people influence my doings too much.

Always the keys, phone and wallet are in the same location. Take the same buses always so I remember the schedule. I store my stuff in the same location always. Shelves are organized, everything boxed and labeled. Plastic bags stacked by size and tied with rubber bands :) That's just being an organized person. Bookshelf has no particular order because it's acoustically better. Only the to-read -books are in one place in order of interest.

No need to decide in what order I eat stuff, I just put stuff in mouth :) Actually, rotating between the parts, trying to put meat and other stuff in each mouthful.

So far I haven't decided to wear the same clothes every day, or wear my stuff in any order. But this takes only a minute each day.

I'm also always in time. That means I usually wait for other people, I use that time to observe other people or read something on the phone. To work I almost never need to be on time but just come at my usual time +- delays in traffic.

Inbox, I answer stuff when I read it. Should mark some items as followup I guess.

Holidays are difficult to plan for me, never know when can take, should take, need to synchronize with other people, work etc. Besides it feels good to waste time on days off. That's when the brains come up with new ideas. Wasting a day typically means spending it on something that I then thought was most interesting, which is the right thing, yes? If I'm bursting to do something, I do it.

I guess for me the same that plan x -> y -> z doesn't work. Such processes are inflexible. It should be possible to do x, y and z in whatever order I feel like and all of them should be possible to finish in one go. Or not do at all. Now how to string a bigger project together ...?

Cooking part is interesting. What do you do with fresh foods or they are just no on the menu? We cook for 2-3 days at a time and it does take more time than to heat stuff up.

Many of your choices require commitment not only from you but from your family and friends. How does that go?

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#110

Post by Meai »

rkalla wrote: post #74

I don't know if this comment will get read, it'll be buried down at the bottom... let's pretend it's a pot of gold hidden at the end of the rainbow :) In short: I agree with this article (originally proposed in THIS article/video http://www.fastcompany.com/video/why-change-is-so-hard-self-... ) I moved on from my job as a project manager a few years ago and spent a year dabbling here and dabbling there on different p…

I think it's technically more correct to say that focus is limited - not willpower. As long as one has a clear, single goal, you can be motivated 24h a day. But if there are several goals in your life, it will inevitably lead to a dispersal of motivation.
Post reply on HN