> But I think that doing some of the shittier tasks around a startup is easier after a few drinks.
And when you realize that the drinks are just an excuse, you will be one step closer to enlightenment.
Code sober, get things done drunk
31–40 of 95 posts
Re: Code sober, get things done drunk
#32Just don't get too drunk. A theory floating around HN a couple days ago was that a few drinks help you focus because they are a tax on your mind. It makes your mind disregard distractions (like second thoughts etc.) because otherwise it simply couldn't function.
I don't find alcohol helps me at all; it takes an edge off me for several days. I very rarely drink, almost only at special occasions and then matched wines with meals and that kind of thing. But I do find that being somewhat tired helps me get into a certain kind of "getting things done" zone: when the creative planning is not necessary, and mostly the grunt work of pushing things through to implementation remains.
Being tired makes it easier for me to do public speaking and sales presentations. I've never locked up in the middle of a presentation when I've had a bad night's sleep beforehand. It's almost getting to be something I optimize for: set up travel so I'm as tired as possible before presenting.
Re: Code sober, get things done drunk
#33> But I think that doing some of the shittier tasks around a startup is easier after a few drinks. And when you realize that the drinks are just an excuse, you will be one step closer to enlightenment.
I don't think this is a fair comment at all. Drinking definitely does alter distractibility.
Re: Code sober, get things done drunk
#34Sounds to me like a recipe for a bad habit.
If you have a problem doing "awkward" things like firing people, paying bills, etc, you need to figure out the root of your anxiety and deal with it.
If numbing yourself with alcohol is how you get through, you may find yourself turning to the bottle more. Alcohol isn't tea or coffee, and boorish behavior isn't a measure of whether alcohol is affecting your life.
Re: Code sober, get things done drunk
#35"We Brits believe that alcohol has magical powers – that it causes us to shed our inhibitions and become aggressive, promiscuous, disorderly and even violent. But we are wrong. In high doses, alcohol impairs our reaction times, muscle control, co-ordination, short-term memory, perceptual field, cognitive abilities and ability to speak clearly. But it does not cause us selectively to break specific social rules. It do…
You are conflating alcohol abuse with alcohol dependence. Two different things, with different social and health consequences.
Re: Code sober, get things done drunk
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hell no. I enjoy a drink or a cup of coffee, but I wouldn't touch any kind of supplement or nootropic with a barge pole.
Not even stuff like fish oil, vitamin D, piracetam, gingko, stuff like that?
Well, many people (including me) are low in vitamin D, because we spend so much time indoors. My dermatologist said (only partially joking) that if you're aren't deficient in vitamin D, you're not using enough sunscreen.
Re: Code sober, get things done drunk
#37For those who didn't spot it, I assume that the title of the post is a take on the quote attributed to Hemingway, "Write drunk; edit sober."
Re: Code sober, get things done drunk
#38Re: Code sober, get things done drunk
#39Sounds to me like a recipe for a bad habit. If you have a problem doing "awkward" things like firing people, paying bills, etc, you need to figure out the root of your anxiety and deal with it. If numbing yourself with alcohol is how you get through, you may find yourself turning to the bottle more. Alcohol isn't tea or coffee, and boorish behavior isn't a measure of whether alcohol is affecting your life.
Why does "having difficulties firing people" have to have a "root cause" other than "you think of yourself as a fairly decent guy and understand the effects getting fired has on somebody"?
This is just pop psychology mumbo jumbo.
Re: Code sober, get things done drunk
#40"We Brits believe that alcohol has magical powers – that it causes us to shed our inhibitions and become aggressive, promiscuous, disorderly and even violent. But we are wrong. In high doses, alcohol impairs our reaction times, muscle control, co-ordination, short-term memory, perceptual field, cognitive abilities and ability to speak clearly. But it does not cause us selectively to break specific social rules. It do…
Although many studies have shown that people given a placebo will often behave as if drunk, this doesn't prove that the effect of alcohol is purely psychological. Although people will begin to behave as if drunk, my understanding is they will tend to behave in a manner which they would normally feel slightly inhibited from.
When someone has actually consumed alcohol they will be more likely to perform actions which there is a high (rather than medium as with the placebos) social pressure against.
I can see the coffee example working for both consciously using alcohol as an excuse for socially unacceptable behaviour and the type of results seen when placebos are given but not the more extreme responses associated with higher intakes.
Old paper but a good one is The Psychology of Drunken Excess (http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/48/1/18/) but afraid I don't think it's available without paying.