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What “work” looks like

blog.jim-nielsen.com

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Re: What “work” looks like

#221

Post by conception »

Test0129 wrote: post #16

I've had more ideas come to me after hiding in my office to take a nap than sitting at my desk. It got to be such a gold mine of solutions that I still to this day allocate 30 minutes of my day to a nap. Non-negotiable. So many hard problems that have been brought to me, or complicated needs for architecture, etc were solved by simply turning my active brain off. When I was in graduate school I'd regularly get stuck…

You’ll like this - https://youtu.be/toWQ_BQF8Aw

John Cleese on creativity

Re: What “work” looks like

#222

Post by Ziggy_Zaggy »

Test0129 wrote: post #16

I've had more ideas come to me after hiding in my office to take a nap than sitting at my desk. It got to be such a gold mine of solutions that I still to this day allocate 30 minutes of my day to a nap. Non-negotiable. So many hard problems that have been brought to me, or complicated needs for architecture, etc were solved by simply turning my active brain off. When I was in graduate school I'd regularly get stuck…

Late to the party but going to post anyways...

So, recent R&D into sleep tech has come along ways in the past 20 years. Basically research has shown that during nap/sleep cycles our brain moves around memories (from short-term to long-term and prioitization) and connections between memories. Also, this process optimizes information in the brain to make the access faster and more efficient thus providing opportunity for neuralogical advanced thought sessions given the datasets after a nap/sleep session.

Some basic take aways include +20% memory capacity per 8-hour sleep cycle and longer un-interrupted access to memory collections. It's also been shown that it's possible to tag the day's memories and then prioritize them during the next nap/sleep session. Significant results have shown that groups that take 30-minutes nap have stronger memory capacity versus groups with no naps.

The face of the R&D seems to be Matt Walker - PhD Brit with intense accent - you've been warned!

TL:DR - The brains basically recharges AND rewires during nap/sleep sessions.

Here's the links:

podcast: The Matt Walker Podcast

book: https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501...

Re: What “work” looks like

#223

Post by quickthrower2 »

Test0129 wrote: post #177
quickthrower2 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

company quite literally owns you. yes, modulo the actual law

If you dont believe it I encourage you to try to start your own company while working somewhere else. You'll be mired in legal nonsense so deep you wont even be able to see clearly. When you become an employee you sign just about every right away you have to anything you do, ever, while working for the company. NDAs, Non-Competes, Invention Agreements, etc. Sure, the company can't avoid paying you. But in exchange th…

It is probably different in the US? I can see why starting a company would be hard. But if you had ideas no reason you can’t do stealth stuff, like gain skills, do courses, market research. But when cutting code etc. sound like you would need to be free of the job.

Re: What “work” looks like

#225

Post by pyhtel »

sph wrote: post #126
gman83 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I was drinking whiskey for breakfast I'd probably need to take a nap in the afternoon as well.

If you were not drinking coffee, perhaps you might as well. I wonder if our cultural addiction with caffeine, an effective sleep inhibitor, is the reason why napping and siestas feels so weird and exotic to our modern minds. "Oh you're from Italy? I heard they take lunchtime naps over there." Sadly only my grandma had such a luxury. Everybody else chugs coffee and is expected to work 9-18 without pause, like the rest…

non-coffee drinker here, never been able to nap during the daytime. I reckon it's mostly just differences between people.

Re: What “work” looks like

#226

Post by sprkwd »

gjadi wrote: post #26

There is a good MOOC on coursera on the topic of learning and creative working: Learning How To Learn by Barbara Oakley (there is also a book). She talks about focused and diffused mode of thinking. The main idea is that to create new neuron connections (memory or understanding) you've to work hard on a topic - the focused mode - and then take a break - the diffused mode. By switching modes you help your brain. Of co…

Recommend this. It’s excellent.

Re: What “work” looks like

#227

Post by Bakary »

bradlys wrote: post #215
Bakary wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you pull in a million+ a year... why not just become financially independent and do the work you want to do?

Lean FIRE wouldn’t be hard. But I’m more of a fatFIRE type.

I mean, this is all hypothetical to me as I'll never make this much. I just don't understand how time (in particular time spent while in good health) does not become the most precious asset once you have the financial means to escape most societal constraints

Re: What “work” looks like

#228

Post by P5fRxh5kUvp2th »

crazygringo wrote: post #152

This is one of the most absurd, black-and-white things I've ever read. Does innovation come from running, showering, lying in bed? Absolutely, no question. But at the same time, when you get a diverse group of people to solve particular problems, they generally come up with far better solutions than any one of them would have on their own. Because these are really about two totally different types of problems. The fi…

I disagree, the value of a group is in keeping people grounded. That security person is going to overvalue security, that web person is going to overvalue the frontend and that cloud advocate is going to overvalue microservices.

But we have another name for that process, requirements gathering.

It's not work in any meaningful sense outside of it being something that needs to happen before implementation. But it's output isn't all that useful unless you ARE an implementer. And that's the rub.

The PROBLEM is that people love to talk and wax eloquent to show their intelligence and you get pulled into stupid conversations as a result.

Re: What “work” looks like

#229

Post by shakadak »

hinkley wrote: post #153
jayde2767 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know the castration of ideas in the "Everything-is-an-Emergency" company culture. If you're not careful, it will condition you to delay work because the next "emergency" and shift in priority is imminent.

I kept my sanity at one place by working on refactoring every moment there wasn’t an emergency. I was trying to make all the changes easier. But that was after having tried several other solutions, including the dreaded Infinite Configurability, which has to be the absolutely best way to punish most of the team for how clever two or three of them are. I’m working at a place like that now and it’s been an eye roller.…

Hi, do you have some resources I could check out to understand the concept of what infinite configurability is, and how to recognize it ?

Re: What “work” looks like

#230

Post by dvergeylen »

jayde2767 wrote: post #81
lqet wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The three fundamental ideas of my PhD came to while: 1.) Sitting in a park sketching solutions on a notebook. 2.) Laying at the beach on vacation. 3.) Playing Legos with my daughter. Without these ideas, I doubt there would've even been a PhD, or even a paper publication. (There was a period of 2 years in my life where I did not have any significant ideas, at all. During that time, I was employed at a company which o…

I know the castration of ideas in the "Everything-is-an-Emergency" company culture. If you're not careful, it will condition you to delay work because the next "emergency" and shift in priority is imminent.

Slightly off-topic, but as a father of two (toddlers), I can relate to this. I have plenty of ideas but if I have (say) 15min available, my brain won't even start because it "knows" the next emergency / interrupt will probably occur within that time period. A bit sad I confess...
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