The idea behind this is roughly the same reason that I had a much harder time creating a habit of running 3 days a week, than I had creating a habit of running 6 days a week. If you start doing something daily, the friction to get started on the task is almost completely gone
How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome
51–60 of 118 posts
Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ah, but I think that's the point. My understanding of the topics is anything but superficial. If you follow along with my daily posts, I think you can see me work through initial infatuation, recognition of limitations, and finally deeper understanding. To be sure, I could know more. But I think you're being dismissive by characterizing this as superficial.
Is it more than superficial though? Depends on your definition of 'superficial': If I buy a book on SPDY (or any technology), it is likely because I want to use it in a production/live environment. I want to buy a book on technology from someone who has run a live system, and got the battle scars one gets from doing so; who has learnt from the experiences, which they can then share. When it comes to technology, one c…
That is a fair point. I had not run SPDY in a heavily utilized production environment. I'll agree that there are things that I would learn had I done so, but I would definitely argue that this is the only way to learn something in depth.
Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome
#53slow clap This is pretty awesome. The best way to ensure that you truly understand something, is to attempt teaching it. This is a technique I am starting to use in my quest to be more awesome too...doubt I will write a book, but you never know.
The best way to ensure that you truly understand something, is to attempt teaching it. To put the foot on the other shoe, however, the last person I ever want to learn from is someone who is learning for the sake of teaching. Such knowledge is usually the thinnest of veneers.
Couldn't disagree more.
He who has just learned something, or is in the process of FULLY learning it....is usually better able to teach it, because they understand the challenges with learning it.
I can't tell you the amount of times I have had PhDs explain concepts to me in the most convulted way - using terms and language that just flies over my head, until I am explained the same concepts by a fellow student or a TA or something in the simplistic of terms.
It's easy, once we 'master' something, to forget how to empathize with those that have not and to get caught up in our own knowledge.
Happens to me all the time, so I am not just pointing fingers at everyone else.
I have found that when I force myself to remember what it feels like to not understand something I am teaching, I tend to be a better teacher because I break it down to the simplest unit. Most experts don't/can't do that.
A simple case in point is, just pick up any of the hundreds of programming books...how horrible are they? Quite horrible...many of them. Some are good - and the ones that are, tend to stand out from the crowd. It's not because they are any less of an expert, it is usually because they can empathize with the reader more.
Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome
#54Jerry Seinfeld used this exact technique to become a great comic. As told by software developer Brad Isaac when he asked Jerry for career advice[0]: He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you'll h…
There's only one problem. When you do break the long chain you're out for the count. When was the last time you heard anything from Seinfeld after his long-running eponymous show was cancelled? How are you supposed to motivate yourself to start a new chain, when it means you'll be working on this shit for the next 3,000 days?
Regarding Seinfeld: Have you seen his tour schedule? [0]
He's still working extremely hard as a standup comedian. In interviews I've heard him say that he likes to keep his routine 90% the same, refining it from show to show, while still adding some new stuff. I watched a one hour show on youtube from 3-5 years ago, and I saw him live less than a year ago here in Sweden. Almost all the material had changed, which tells me he's still working hard. In general, these type of people don't just retire - this is their life.
Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome
#55self-masturbatory nonsense. you must first be a fool to "trick" yourself into doing anything. Either you want to or you don't. Congrats on your dedication nevertheless.
Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome
#56Jerry Seinfeld used this exact technique to become a great comic. As told by software developer Brad Isaac when he asked Jerry for career advice[0]: He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you'll h…
There's only one problem. When you do break the long chain you're out for the count. When was the last time you heard anything from Seinfeld after his long-running eponymous show was cancelled? How are you supposed to motivate yourself to start a new chain, when it means you'll be working on this shit for the next 3,000 days?
After "Seinfeld" ended:
He famously threw away all his stand-up material after doing the very successful special "I'm Telling You For the Last Time",
He was featured in a documentary called "Comedian" following his slow grind building up all new material, has continued touring with that new material,
He immediately began touring with that new material (I saw a show and thought it was really good),
He made "Bee Movie",
He made "The Marriage Ref".
And other things too. Some of the stuff in that list was nearly as good as "Seinfeld", and some of it was terrible, but he's been around.
Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome
#57Though I respect the process and the efforts behind this, "How to write books with a superficial understanding of what you're talking about" would be more appropriate.
This was exactly my thought. More tech books written by someone who is just learning the technology. This is one of the main reasons I barely ever buy tech books. Useless.
Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome
#58This is a great way of working. I just wonder if the books are: (a) any good? (b) selling? There's a huge difference between writing a good book and sticking a couple of notes together. Anyone read the books in question? EDIT: I didn't see that one of the books was published - search on Amazon gave nothing and all I could find was a buy-my-book landing page. Sorry about that.
Did you miss this part: "The Pragmatic Programmers"?
Oh wow, I definitely missed that part. For some reason I thought the middle of the post was the end. The bold "How'd I do" made me think that was a closer
Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ah, but I think that's the point. My understanding of the topics is anything but superficial. If you follow along with my daily posts, I think you can see me work through initial infatuation, recognition of limitations, and finally deeper understanding. To be sure, I could know more. But I think you're being dismissive by characterizing this as superficial.
Is it more than superficial though? Depends on your definition of 'superficial': If I buy a book on SPDY (or any technology), it is likely because I want to use it in a production/live environment. I want to buy a book on technology from someone who has run a live system, and got the battle scars one gets from doing so; who has learnt from the experiences, which they can then share. When it comes to technology, one c…
I had the same thought as you about his books, if this is the methodology. But I also find it very inspiring, and am extremely envious. Every time I think, "Maybe I should write a book about this", I immediately project myself onto a prospective consumer of my unwritten book and think, "I wouldn't read a book written by me on this subject, because I am not enough of an expert, so why should I expect anyone else to feel differently?", so I don't write the book. This guy thinks the first thought and just goes for it. The word is overused, but: awesome!
Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome
#60slow clap This is pretty awesome. The best way to ensure that you truly understand something, is to attempt teaching it. This is a technique I am starting to use in my quest to be more awesome too...doubt I will write a book, but you never know.
I used this as a study technique in college. I didn't do it for everything, but for concepts that were difficult to grasp, I would explain it to an imaginary pupil. It's a good way to sort things out in your heads and helps a lot with memorization.