161–170 of 226 posts
Of course, I miss out on group messages, at least they come to me alone, so I have to piece together like a puzzle what people are saying. Ah well.
> Cal Newport said it best in his book Deep Work: the ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive. The people who cultivate that skill, stay up late at night while everyone is asleep so they don’t get distracted. T…
The problem with deep thought is you can waste a lot of time thinking about something that is no longer important. If your project is doomed to be canceled for reason outside your control there is no difference in output between someone who does nothing (ie should be fired for lack of work) and someone spends his days working hard. Those who do better networking tend to be onto those trends. They will find out about…
"I noticed the following facts about people who work with the door open or the door closed. I notice that if you have the door to your office closed, you get more work done today and tomorrow, and you are more productive than most. But 10 years later somehow you don't know quite know what problems are worth working on; all the hard work you do is sort of tangential in importance. He who works with the door open gets all kinds of interruptions, but he also occasionally gets clues as to what the world is and what might be important. Now I cannot prove the cause and effect sequence because you might say, ``The closed door is symbolic of a closed mind.'' I don't know. But I can say there is a pretty good correlation between those who work with the doors open and those who ultimately do important things, although people who work with doors closed often work harder. Somehow they seem to work on slightly the wrong thing - not much, but enough that they miss fame."
I'm constantly amazed at how the mainstream population uses phones. Most people tend to have phone with alarming-notifications, so they get informed that they have a message, or email or whatever. The phone interrupts them and directs their attention. They train themselves to be controlled by their phones. I'd go crazy trying to live like that. I have no audible notifications, and vibration only for actual calls. Eve…
I have my phone in do not disturb mode 24/7. The only exceptions are "VIP" contacts from close family...everything else can wait until next morning 8am when I'm checking personal stuff first thing or until around 8pm when I have my evening distraction session. So. If I do get an audible notification, it's almost always urgent, bad news.
Curious how you configured this? I'd be interested in this as well.
> Cal Newport said it best in his book Deep Work: the ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive. The people who cultivate that skill, stay up late at night while everyone is asleep so they don’t get distracted. T…
> Do you spend your time marketing your self to others and letting people know your accomplishments, or do you spend the time doing work that will benefit others? I like the luck surface area analogy for this. Take a rectangle. Side A is "Quality of work". Side B is "How many people know about it". The surface area – A*B – is your luck and opportunity. If you do amazing work and nobody knows about it, your luck is ze…
But I don't think that implies the type of marketing social media apps gets you is valuable. For instance, I'd think that giving talks at conferences would be much more valuable than trying to become a LinkedIn influencer. I think you can work on networking and marketing in a way that limits distractions.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have my phone in do not disturb mode 24/7. The only exceptions are "VIP" contacts from close family...everything else can wait until next morning 8am when I'm checking personal stuff first thing or until around 8pm when I have my evening distraction session. So. If I do get an audible notification, it's almost always urgent, bad news.
> The only exceptions are "VIP" contacts from close family. Curious how you configured this? I'd be interested in this as well.
Can't speak for Android, but I'm sure it has a similar feature (and due to system access it allows third-party apps, maybe you can do the same for third-party chat apps as well).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You became more assertive of your time by giving up lunch and off hours?
No, I enjoy having lunch with my coworkers. Good way to catch up without as much wasted time as a meeting. If you prefer to eat lunch alone, adjust accordingly. I was providing loose guidance, not a strict prescription.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Do you spend your time marketing your self to others and letting people know your accomplishments, or do you spend the time doing work that will benefit others? I like the luck surface area analogy for this. Take a rectangle. Side A is "Quality of work". Side B is "How many people know about it". The surface area – A*B – is your luck and opportunity. If you do amazing work and nobody knows about it, your luck is ze…
I'd add that it really matters who know about your work. If a lot of people know you do good work, but they all have very similar skills sets, you get a lot less value than if only a few people with very different skill sets know about you. In that case, you get to become "their guy for X", and that generates a lot of opportunities. In this case, you also get the benefit that both of you can get credit for the same w…
They tested the “brain drain” hypothesis that claims the brain has a limited capacity of cognitive resources, and the mere presence of a potential distractor can occupy some of those resources which undercut cognitive performance. Sounds like something straight out of Conan Doyle https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/lessons-from... "You see," he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like…
Reply with something from Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality:
"Professor Quirrell's expression became more serious. "Mr. Potter, one of the requisites for becoming a powerful wizard is an excellent memory. The key to a puzzle is often something you read twenty years ago in an old scroll, or a peculiar ring you saw on the finger of a man you met only once. I mention this to explain how I managed to remember this item, and the placard attached to it, after meeting you a good deal later. You see, Mr. Potter, over the course of my life, I have viewed a number of private collections held by individuals who are, perhaps, not quite deserving of all that they have -"
1. I don’t even look at my phone or anything it would present to me until my puppy is fed and walked and I have coffee in me.
2. I don’t look at it while I’m in motion unless there’s no other option (ie calling a ride or clarifying meatspace meeting arrangements).
3. I don’t look at my phone indoors unless there’s a physical need (ie it needs to be plugged into something else). Phone time is porch time.
I also try not to look at it from dinner time til bedtime but that’s less strict. It’s limited mostly by spending most of that time engaged with said puppy.