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Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

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Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#91

Post by jmcphers »

> My mother is amazing to watch because she doesn't do anything efficiently, really: She puts about three times as much energy as necessary into everything she does. But she never spends any time wondering what to do next or how to optimize anything; she just keeps working. Her strategy, slightly simplified, is, "See something that needs to be done and do it." All day long. And at the end of the day, she's accomplished a huge amount.

This strategy is remarkably powerful and I've used it to great effect in my career. Committing yourself to pushing forward every single day, even if just a little bit, and always just peeling off one single thing you can do next (even if it's tiny yet takes you all day) has a dizzying compounding effect.

Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#93

Post by user_7832 »

bowsamic wrote: post #3

> One day, when I realized how hard it was to find any reason for my current unhappiness, I thought, "Wait a minute. I bet this unhappiness is really something chemical, not actually caused by circumstances.*" I began to speculate that my body was programmed to be unhappy a certain percentage of the time, and that hormones or something were the real reason behind moments of mild depression." This is exactly what happ…

(Disclaimer: Please take what I saw with a grain of salt - I'm just a stranger on the internet, not a doctor. No disrespect intended to you or anyone.)

Have you checked if you might have other possible conditions? I too "thought" I was mildly depressed for several years (I'm in my early 20s now). Turned out to be (undiagnosed) ADHD that held me back from working "properly" (due to procrastination/planning issues) while making me ambitious, hence making me sad/disappointed/frustrated. (I hope to get a formal dx soon, apparently medication can help a very decent bit)

Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#94

Post by hallway_monitor »

hammock wrote: post #20
christophilus wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on what flavor of Christianity you adhere to. I follow the Catholic mystical tradition which doesn't really focus on pie in the sky, but rather on the purpose of being, which is to become one with the divine-- a purpose which doesn't have to wait for the afterlife.

Came here to say this. One of the goals of a Christian life is to manifest heaven on Earth.

The interpretation that always interested me was that, when speaking of heaven, Jesus was referring to an enlightened state of mind and way of living here on earth, not some magical place you go when you die. It's obvious to anyone that you can create hell on earth without much effort; I like to think we can create heaven as well.

Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#95

Post by hprotagonist »

beebmam wrote: post #2

>In Christian churches I am least impressed by a sermon that talks about how marvelous heaven is going to be at the end. To me that's not the message of Christianity. The message is about how to live now, not that we should live in some particular way because there's going to be pie in the sky some day. The end means almost nothing to me. I am glad it's there, but I don't see it as much of a motivating force, if any.…

> sad. In the US, I have never known a kind Christianity that espoused these ideas.

And for contrast, I’ve never participated in an american church that has espoused anything but, and haven’t found that aspect of the faith to be particularly difficult in meeting.

I know that the “pie in the sky” churches are out there, i just don’t attend them.

Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#96

Post by bowsamic »

user_7832 wrote: post #93
bowsamic wrote: post #3

> One day, when I realized how hard it was to find any reason for my current unhappiness, I thought, "Wait a minute. I bet this unhappiness is really something chemical, not actually caused by circumstances.*" I began to speculate that my body was programmed to be unhappy a certain percentage of the time, and that hormones or something were the real reason behind moments of mild depression." This is exactly what happ…

(Disclaimer: Please take what I saw with a grain of salt - I'm just a stranger on the internet, not a doctor. No disrespect intended to you or anyone.) Have you checked if you might have other possible conditions? I too "thought" I was mildly depressed for several years (I'm in my early 20s now). Turned out to be (undiagnosed) ADHD that held me back from working "properly" (due to procrastination/planning issues) whi…

There is a lot of overlap between the two, but I have more depression symptoms than ADHD ones. The latter doesn’t seem likely to me nor who diagnosed me

Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#97

Post by user_7832 »

bowsamic wrote: post #96
user_7832 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Disclaimer: Please take what I saw with a grain of salt - I'm just a stranger on the internet, not a doctor. No disrespect intended to you or anyone.) Have you checked if you might have other possible conditions? I too "thought" I was mildly depressed for several years (I'm in my early 20s now). Turned out to be (undiagnosed) ADHD that held me back from working "properly" (due to procrastination/planning issues) whi…

There is a lot of overlap between the two, but I have more depression symptoms than ADHD ones. The latter doesn’t seem likely to me nor who diagnosed me

If it doesn't seem likely to you that's likely fine. I forgot to mention, in my case I was diagnosed as depressed by the psychiatrist (wrongly ofc).

Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#98

Post by bowsamic »

user_7832 wrote: post #97
bowsamic wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a lot of overlap between the two, but I have more depression symptoms than ADHD ones. The latter doesn’t seem likely to me nor who diagnosed me

If it doesn't seem likely to you that's likely fine. I forgot to mention, in my case I was diagnosed as depressed by the psychiatrist (wrongly ofc).

The biggest tell for me is the psychomotor retardation: general slowness of movement and extreme heaviness feeling

Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)

#99

Post by mpwoz »

SoftTalker wrote: post #85

Every day I look at the things that I'm ready to do, and choose the one that I like the least, the one that's least fun — the task that I would most like to procrastinate from doing, but for which I have no good reason for procrastination. I'm not sure I've seen this approach to combating procrastination before. I can see how it might work: once you've completed the thing you least wanted to do, you might feel relief…

If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.

Mark Twain

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