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There's no speed limit (2009)

sivers.org

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Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#141

Post by sivers »

wkriski wrote: post #128

Where are you? What are you doing now? What is your next big project? Love Awaken the Giant Within. I've been trying to sell online guitar courses for many years, but now I've settled on doing well-paying remote IT contracts and taking months off in between to practice jazz guitar improvisation. I love sharing what I've learned but I guess it doesn't have to be a money maker, just something we all instinctively love…

Living in Singapore : http://sivers.org/singapore

Learning Rails, JavaScript, jQuery, Backbone.js

Programming these things: http://50pop.com/code

That's all. :-)

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#142

Post by [deleted] »

wkriski wrote: post #128

Where are you? What are you doing now? What is your next big project? Love Awaken the Giant Within. I've been trying to sell online guitar courses for many years, but now I've settled on doing well-paying remote IT contracts and taking months off in between to practice jazz guitar improvisation. I love sharing what I've learned but I guess it doesn't have to be a money maker, just something we all instinctively love…

[deleted]

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#144

Post by SatvikBeri »

sivers wrote: post #97
S_A_P wrote: post #88

Derek, One thing I have noticed about many of your blogs/talks is that you have an innate sense of optimism. Is this a learned trait of yours or was this something you picked up as you made your way through life and found success? While I dont feel that I am a pessimist, I do wish I could improve my sense of optimism/anything is possible with work/focus. Any tips? Thanks and I always enjoy your posts.

My optimism is a little bit innate, but mostly learned. It was something I got from Tony Robbins : that you can choose how you want to feel about anything. (We usually act like we can't help the way we feel. But we can consciously choose and change how we feel.) No matter what happens, you can choose to ask, "What's great about this?" Even if you're not in the mood. Even if cranky or pissed-off, you can still force y…

The book Succeed covers the topic of what kinds of optimism and pessimism help you achieve your goals pretty thoroughly (http://www.amazon.com/Succeed-How-Can-Reach-Goals/dp/0452297...). Two big takeaways:

1. Be optimistic when setting high level, year-long goals. But be pessimistic when drawing out all the implementation details of what you'll actually have to do to achieve those goals.

2. Be pessimistic about the difficulty of anything you want to achieve, but optimistic about your ability to conquer those difficulties.

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#145

Post by sivers »

jcampbell1 wrote: post #143
sivers wrote: post #7

Surprised to see a post of mine here on Hacker News. (First time in a long time. Thanks!) Feel free to ask me absolutely anything here.

Are you still studying foreign languages? Do you have any tips for how to uncap the speed limit?

Still learning Chinese.

The best tips for beating the language-learning speed limit are from Benny : http://www.fluentin3months.com/about/

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#146

Post by norswap »

Honestly, I don't believe it. I know nothing about music, but at least in my field of study (computer science) I doubt this can apply.

There is a limit and it is very plain: time. You can only soak in so much knowledge at a time, and knowing in theory is very different from knowing in practice (but you definitely need both). Practice takes time, especially if you practice to understand theory. You have to make mistakes, they are the single most important thing to understand something in my experience. You need the "haha" moment when you understand why something doesn't work and how it has driven theory/research in the field.

You can go maybe go faster than the computer science program at X. Maybe twice or thrice as fast, if you're gifted. But you cannot go as fast as you want, that is just wishful thinking.

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#147

Post by ekanes »

sivers wrote: post #24
narag wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had read this story the first time, and now I've remembered right away the question I couldn't ask then: without a Kimo near, is there any book that explain the same harmony knowledge and allows a no-speed-limit approach?

Closest book I've found on the "no speed limit" approach was Tony Robbins' “Awaken the Giant Within”. It could have just been the timing of when I read it. Tim Ferriss told me the book that changed the way he saw the world was “Maximum Achievement” by Brian Tracy, but when I read it, it seemed like conventional wisdom. So maybe it's just timing. What I liked about Tony Robbins' message was this: * - Change happens in…

What's that? You just started what would be a great blog post with this comment?

Related: thanks for your writing Derek, it's inspirational.

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#148

Post by kickstart »

sivers wrote: post #139
kickstart wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was afraid you'd say that. Opting for Path B would actually make life a lot easier than you realize. An endless list of very time-consuming tasks disappear if I finally get off Path A, and a huge weight would be lifted from my shoulders. Of course Path B seems the obvious choice. But previous attempts on that path have several times ground to a halt, admittedly because I get in my own way. I can't help but wonder:…

> "Why am I not psyched?" Because it's f'ing terrifying! See http://sivers.org/book/WarOfArt He calls it "resistance". We'll make any excuse not to do the thing that we know is our highest calling.

Wow, now THAT resonates with me. Big Time.

You're right, and I know it, scary though it may be. It shall be Path B.

Thanks, Derek!

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#149

Post by nooneelse »

throwaway00111 wrote: post #120
tomkin wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then look into the conditions of "flow" Since I was a kid, I would have these rare moments of intense calmness. Certain things would set it off: the sound of paper brushing together when someone is reading a book. I've also had this happen when listening to certain people talk; their voice or mannerisms trigger it. Other strange things also trigger it, like the sound of secadas in the summer. The older I get the mo…

Are you talking about strange tingling sensations at the back of your head. If you are check out: http://anti-valentine.hubpages.com/hub/ASMR . I used to get it a lot when I was younger, normally when people were doing me a favour I wasn't expecting or they were going out of their way to help me. I've also had it when getting my hair cut. Throwaway account, as I have also had the crazy look.

I always figured the head-tingling sensation while getting a hair cut was a hold over from our ancestral primates who needed to be groomed by one another and thus needed some pleasant sensory feedback to encourage seeking it out.

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#150

Post by felideon »

Hi Derek, thanks for an awesome thread and your many enlightening blog posts. (I'm surprised you're surprised to see a post of yours here :P)

What advice do you have for a generalist? I feel I can learn things quickly, but I don't get great at anything -- maybe due to a lack of motivation and a surplus of procrastination.

I'm a back-end programmer who likes front-end development, only because I'm not a great UI designer (but would love to be). I also love playing the piano and singing, but I haven't had a lesson in 12 years. (People tell me I have a nice voice.) I'm bilingual and fluent in a third language, and I could easily learn more if I had more time.

The path I'm currently on is to keep working and practicing front-end development, and possibly learn how to design. As I hone those skills I plan to start building software to one day quit corporate America. On the other hand, I love the music as a hobby thing, but feel that I'm not great. (I'm surrounded by very talented musicians from my wife's side of the family.)

I'm not even sure what my question is, but any advice would be s/kind of cool/greatly appreciated/.

Edit: I think my problem is not knowing what to focus on, and whether or not I should specialize in something or keep learning new things. (And if so, how to choose that something.)

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