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Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?

#21

Post by ckz »

Introduce just a little friction.

Philosophers have complained about the convenience of modernity for centuries, but it can be quite fun to live in a modern way via a slightly more wandering route. It's less about throwing away modern life and more about the challenge of embracing -only- the good bits.

Don't stream, take the time to choose a Blu-Ray or CD to buy. Use cash next time at a grocery store. Use a Palm Pilot or a Newton for your calendar and an Alphasmart for your writing. Write down directions off of Google/Bing/OSM and sketch a little map.

All of these paths interface fine with the modern world, but there's great interest and satisfaction in small extra effort. What's boring is infinite, all-you-can-eat mediocrity. Make it even 5% more challenging and you'll 1) enjoy the journey more and 2) find what you value because now you're pulling rather than receiving a push.

Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?

#22

Post by nstart »

I pick one thing I can obsess over with the intention to drop it when I’m bored of it or when I’m done achieving my goal . Current obsession is getting to a 1000 elo rating in chess. I can see myself in the future probably trying to get my 3x3 Rubik’s cube solve to 30 seconds or less.

Previously it was to be able to do all the daily nyt sudokus for the day in under 30 minutes.

The next thing I do after chess and maybe the cube will probably be something to do with the guitar I’ve had lying around for years which I know how to play at a basic level. Or maybe how to use some free DAW.

The commonalities here are: that every one of these is cheap and easy to pick up. It’s easy to set some concrete goal. It doesn’t actually require a huge investment of time. It’s a niche that has a community around it that I can interact with.

The reason this works for me in creating novelty in my days is because

- I get to discover stories and people I never knew of. During the sudoku phase I got to know of the folks behind cracking the cryptic and the whole sudoku championships stuff

- I get a new hobby where I get to enjoy that feeling of rapid progression one can get at the early stage (after which you run into the wall of hard work which can eventually take you from competent to expert)

- I get to have lots of new stuff I can talk about with others. Most people who’ve done some form of sudoku don’t know of theories like X wing or hidden pairs. So when we have a conversation and I talk about my current obsession of sudoku, it leads to questions like “wait I thought the only thing that makes sudoku harder is how many numbers there are hidden”. I have friends who like to geek out on stuff though. So this is very personal to me.

Worth noting that this is something that worked for me. Just sharing this in case it helps someone else.

One more thing outside all of this where it’s more a long term and somewhat expensive thing is doing sports as a community. I bought a bicycle recently and am finding more and more communities that are passionate about cycling. Getting to know them and their stories on a Saturday morning ride creates a lot of novelty on its own.

Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?

#23

Post by gardenhedge »

DiggyJohnson wrote: post #15
lifeiswonderful wrote: post #9

Always changing. I am 25, so far I have lived in 4 different countries, have dabbed into different things (went to law school in my home country, learned a second (and third) language the hard way, have had 2 children with 2 different women, learned how to code on my own and now I am learning mathematics). The thing is that there are endless new things to try, so keep trying new things. It is a little bit f**d up bec…

As a fellow 25 year old that doesn’t think I’m boring whatsoever… I really hope your comment becomes the top comment of discussion on this thread. I don’t mean to directly insult, but I recoiled while reading your comment, and that was before I got to: > have had 2 children with 2 different women Of course, you are aware of this: > It is a little bit f*d up But are you aware these children will grow up without father…

They are just explaining how their life as novelty. I didn't read it as a direct recommendation.

Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?

#24

Post by jareklupinski »

Creating new things, e.g. electronics is a good outlet for when I need to feel productive and creative. A lot of the work I do day to day translates to the craft.

And then I get to pick how to enclose the project :) that's my favorite part since I get to trawl design magazines and blogs for cool ideas: https://www.designboom.com/ https://www.yankodesign.com/

Watching other people be creative helps too. In addition to the design blogs, Twitch has a lot of art streams that help unstick me.

Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?

#26

Post by tengbretson »

The actual activities involved in gardening or homesteading-related hobbies change on a nearly weekly basis. It's maple sugaring season now. After that it will be time to look for deer antler sheds. A few weeks after that it will be time to forage for water cress and wild parsnips.

Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?

#27

Post by wallawe »

veonik wrote: post #20
wallawe wrote: post #14

My wife and I felt this. Started doing "wildcard Wednesdays" where we'd do something funky/offbeat/random on Wednesday nights when we lived in NYC. It was a blast and we still look back fondly upon them, but have kids now so it's a little tougher to do spontaneous fun things. Having kids sort of takes away this feeling though not entirely.

As a counterpoint, I'd say that my kids have brought a return novelty for a lot of things. Doing stuff with them that I've done before but they haven't is completely new again for me, too. edit: to be clear, though, I'm not suggesting OP has kids to bring excitement back to life ;)

Yeah I totally agree - I wasn't clear originally. What I meant by "kids takes this feeling away" was the monotony OP experienced. My favorite time of the day is between 6pm when I stop working for a bit, and our daughter's 7:30 bedtime. Still, it's the same routine day to day, even if she has made it a much better routine :)

Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?

#28

Post by muzani »

This quote from Finite and Infinite Games:

"To be playful is not to be trivial or frivolous, or to act as though nothing of consequence will happen. On the contrary, when we are playful with each other we relate as free persons, and the relationship is open to surprise; everything that happens is of consequence. It is, in fact, seriousness that closes itself to consequence, for seriousness is a dread of the unpredictable outcome of open possibility. To be serious is to press for a specified conclusion. To be playful is to allow for possibility whatever the cost to oneself."

Basically, be open to surprises and serendipity. There's lots of room for variation even in that routine. But you can also add things to the routine. Socialization is a major one; it's the 20% of "work" that brings in 80% of the wonderful things in life.

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