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The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

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Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#311

Post by omgJustTest »

arnold_palmur wrote: post #262
telchar wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to take away from your point, but from what I have read, the Grand Canyon was most likely not formed by little drops of water, but instead by occasional torrents of water. There is ~70 feet of boulders and detritus at the bottom of the Colorado River. Only a flood powerful enough to get all that material moving at once will erode the bottom of the river bed and carve the canyon deeper. The slopes and walls probab…

This is the quintessential example of a pedantic Hacker News comment.

Did the torrent create it or the boundary layer of droplets?

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#312

Post by knuthsat »

hinkley wrote: post #235
mtberatwork wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The surprising thing about so many of the artists is that they only work 2 or 3 hours per day, then spend the rest of the day walking around, socializing, etc. But they consistently show up and put in the work and it adds up to some amazing things over time. Artists don't have stand ups, team meetings, planning sessions, one-on-ones, commutes and whatever other office distractions to deal with though. I suppose fig…

Someone blew my mind describing why some artists are not appreciated until they are dead. The theory as it went is that most artists aren’t “ahead of their time”, it’s that they see Now in a way that nobody else will understand for years. Eventually, with the aid of the lens of nostalgia we see that they really “get us”, as we now understand ourselves. Being out in the world is how they “get” us. It’s material, not f…

Of course, but then you have living examples like Bob Dylan. Some people have incredible pattern matching abilities and most artists I’ve met consume as much human culture as possible and great ones manage to conjure up something of their own.

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#313

Post by dgs_sgd »

I learned this lesson in a completely unrelated domain. I started lifting weights seriously about two years ago. Since then, I've averaged at least 5 days of training per week and now my physique is that of a completely different person. The lesson is if you do something everyday for years, whether it's body building, learning a skill, or bootstrapping a company, after several years you will see outstanding results.

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#314

Post by [deleted] »

floxy wrote: post #211
deregulateMed wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you liked that book, Power of Habits is the 10x better version. It's less of a 20 year olds book of lifehacks and more of a science based approach. Power of Habit book changed my life, quit all drugs and video games. Now I just read nonfiction books.

Other books in a similar vein that I liked: _One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way_ by Robert Maurer _Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results_ by Stephen Guise Both are short reads, and the Kaizen book is also in a nice small form factor that you can stick in your back pocket. These books emphasize the importance of making even the smallest change possible.

[deleted]

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#315

Post by tsumnia »

reggieband wrote: post #189

One of the more interesting sayings I have come across lately is: People overestimate how much they can get done in the short term but they underestimate how much they can get done in the long term. I see this all the time with friends who pick up the guitar as a hobby. Often someone practices intensely for one week or one month and then gets frustrated at their progress. That frustration often causes people to give…

This is actually one of the reasons I like academia so much. You are effectively paying for a scheduled practice session (ignoring discussions on tuition or the other negatives of college for the moment). Six months isn't enough to master any topic, but it is a organized timeframe in which you focus on X topic for an extended amount of time.

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#316

Post by agumonkey »

munificent wrote: post #40

I've written two books over the past decade as well as learning some other skills and hobbies and this is absolutely the most vital lesson I've learned. There is an incredible power in simply pouring a little time into something every day over a long period of time. It feels like a superpower when you see it start compounding. The Grand Canyon was created by little drops of water bouncing off rocks for millenia. Cons…

There might be a reverse principle that our natural tendency is to forget what a problem is or how hard it is unless we warm up back into it. Doing thing regularly gives us that.

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#317

Post by throwawayboise »

jimmaswell wrote: post #284
superasn wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is an incredible power in simply pouring a little time into something every day over a long period of time. It feels like a superpower when you see it start compounding. There is an amazing book called The Slight Edge which is based on this very principal and it can really change your life. Here is a small excerpt from it that really resonated with me: It sure would be nice if, somehow, you could do something…

Losing weight, there's never been a day I felt perceptibly different from the day before, but looking back a year some things are certainly easier or more comfortable already after about 80lbs. Slow by most measures but that has its own benefits.

I started lifting weights two years ago. First time I've ever really succeeded in developing an exercise habit in 50+ years. Progress is slow. Every few weeks I can add maybe 5 lbs to a particular lift. Or maybe not. I have no specific goals. But the accumulated progress is remarkable to me. I have a better body now than I did in high school. It's still not "fun" but I do it every other day and rarely miss, and it does give me a sense of satisfaction to complete a workout.

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#318

Post by bin_bash »

thehappypm wrote: post #299
telchar wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to take away from your point, but from what I have read, the Grand Canyon was most likely not formed by little drops of water, but instead by occasional torrents of water. There is ~70 feet of boulders and detritus at the bottom of the Colorado River. Only a flood powerful enough to get all that material moving at once will erode the bottom of the river bed and carve the canyon deeper. The slopes and walls probab…

That's not true. You might be thinking of the Missoula floods that carved out the channeled scablands of Eastern Washington. But the Grand Canyon's river is generally the same size it always has been, and slow erosion forces created it.

Missoula floods were probably more like a 1:100,000 year event since they were caused by the ice age subsiding

Re: The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up everyday

#319

Post by tsumnia »

iamricks wrote: post #278
kabdib wrote: post #58

Reading one paper a week is 520 papers a decade, and there's your "Oh wait, I've seen a solution to this problem before..." superpower as a senior dev. Not your only one, but one that's easy to acquire.

Whats the best place to search for and read papers?

It can depend on your research interests, but Google Scholar is my go to first dip into any topic. Then its a bit of rabbit-holing by looking at cited sources and reading them or reading other papers that were a part of the same journal/conference.
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