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

The value of doing a little

trms.me

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 48 posts

Re: The value of doing a little

#31

Post by anyfoo »

bvsrinivasan wrote: post #7

I loved "Atomic Habits" but the most useful framework I found for "doing a little" is from the "Elastic Habits" book https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/48905847 Basic Idea -- 1. Have 3 options as well as 3 levels for each habit/task/project 2. The lowest (Mini) level should be something you can do on practically any day, no matter how bad things are. 3. Do the level you are comfortable with on any given day Examp…

That's a great system, thanks a lot. I inadvertently have a few "Mini" things that are ingrained as habits by now: Learning flash cards about math and electronics every morning. It's spaced repetition, so by now it's usually on around 3-5, which is quickly done. And, if I think about it, brushing teeth is a long standing one. Going to bed without brushing my teeth just feels all kinds of wrong.

Anyway, what a great idea to introduce levels.

Re: The value of doing a little

#33

Post by Jtsummers »

trms wrote: post #3
kiba wrote: post #2

Keep in mind that a person who do 100 push up a day is still doing 100x the pushup. That said, it's a good idea to get started, no matter how little or tiny your progress is.

Definitely. In no world is 1 better than 100. In my personal experience, though, when I tried to set myself a goal of doing "100 pushups a day", I'd end up doing none since the effort seemed insurmountable. Telling myself that I'd only do 10 would make sure I'd keep doing that in the long run.

There is at least one world where 1 is better than 100: The one where you actually stick with it. Getting out and walking (when I was fat and out of shape from a decade of being a programmer and video gamer) was better than getting out and running because I couldn't maintain running. Even a slow jog at that point was unmaintainable because it was more frustrating than anything. Walking was just walking, boring at times, but I was moving. Running came later.

Re: The value of doing a little

#34

Post by tomjakubowski »

marban wrote: post #21
ensiferum wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3h every day sounds like you either have incredible genetics, your workouts are low effort or you're "chemically assisted".

1h weights, 1h spinning bike, 1h recovery run. I used to run a half-marathon every day for ~two years but eventually got injured. Weights was the best decision to switch gears.

Do you think more strength work (i.e. weights) at the time would have helped you keep that up without injury?

Re: The value of doing a little

#36

Post by nafizh »

boruto wrote: post #35
onursurme wrote: post #28

There is a hadith in Islam : "Which deeds are better accepted by Allah? The continuous ones, even it is small."

I am ignorant about Islam. But would the hadith have a name? Or something like Christians citing the Bible.

Here is the reference of the hadith (Prophet’s sayings) -

https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6464

Re: The value of doing a little

#37

Post by ozim »

trms wrote: post #3
kiba wrote: post #2

Keep in mind that a person who do 100 push up a day is still doing 100x the pushup. That said, it's a good idea to get started, no matter how little or tiny your progress is.

Definitely. In no world is 1 better than 100. In my personal experience, though, when I tried to set myself a goal of doing "100 pushups a day", I'd end up doing none since the effort seemed insurmountable. Telling myself that I'd only do 10 would make sure I'd keep doing that in the long run.

If you equate world with a person ... because I believe each person is a separate world/universe.

You should only compare world where you do your amount of pushups with your world. Doing 1 pushup a day consistently is a lot better than world where you don't do any. Take into account that "metaphysics" of your world might never allow 100 pushups in a day ... well metaphysics of someones else world allows 100 pushups a day easily but that is different world with different metaphysics. Where I would say "metaphysics" equate to "physics" in terms of well "single person universe".

Re: The value of doing a little

#39

Post by marban »

tomjakubowski wrote: post #34
marban wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1h weights, 1h spinning bike, 1h recovery run. I used to run a half-marathon every day for ~two years but eventually got injured. Weights was the best decision to switch gears.

Do you think more strength work (i.e. weights) at the time would have helped you keep that up without injury?

Absolutely — I ended up with multiple fractures. Weights, but most importantly simply working on your core & stability will help a lot to prevent something like that. I used to hate any non-cardio activities but once you make visible progress it's much easier to keep it up.
Post reply on HN