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How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

japhr.blogspot.com

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Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#61

Post by masterj »

oskarth wrote: post #6

This 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.

One data point here. I found the Recipes with Backbone well worth the $24 asking price. Aside from the PeepCode screencasts, it was the source that most helped me get up and running with Backbone.

I've also seen it recommended in several threads so I'm guessing (b) is also satisfied.

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#62

Post by mangodrunk »

its_so_on wrote: post #35
anthony_franco wrote: post #2

Jerry 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?

It wasn't canceled, he chose to stop the show, and at the time it was the most viewed show [0]. They offered him a lot more money but he decided to leave on a high point [1]. After having one of the most successful shows of all time, he went on to create a successful movie (Bee Movie) [2] and continues to do stand-up.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinfeld#Ratings

[1] http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9712/26/seinfeld/

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_Movie

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#63

Post by prawn »

anthony_franco wrote: post #2

Jerry 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…

I've used this in the past to track multiple goals in this way: http://www.joesgoals.com/

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#64

Post by huggyface »

marcamillion wrote: post #53
huggyface wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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.

Perhaps. Or perhaps they're at the point where they think they get it -- they understand it -- and they start espousing their wisdom to others prematurely? Only they have some fundamentally wrong ideas about the thing they just started to learn. This is the story of almost every developer's apprenticeship since the beginning of time. Heck, it's the story of the world (the whole "I was a better parent before I had children" thing. And of course the most you'll ever know is in the first year of university, before you learn how much you don't know).

A simple case in point is, just pick up any of the hundreds of programming books...how horrible are they?

I'm not sure how that is a case in point given that the overwhelming majority of programming books are written by people trying to gain credibility through authoring as a surrogate for actual code (indeed, isn't this what this submission is about?) -- it is hardly dominated by experts since, what, the 70s?

The software development how-to field -- and this has only been made worse by the whole self-publishing trend -- is dominated by apprentices. It is the guy who has laid his first brick telling the world how to be a mason. No thanks.

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#65

Post by its_so_on »

krschultz wrote: post #45
its_so_on wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Don't knock it until you try it. I've found this to be the most effective technique for keeping myself on track. It has far more to do with creating a habit than anything specific about this 'chain'. The book "Switch" covers this really well, you basically have a limited amount of self-control to use each day. Habits do not tap the self-control bank. So in my case, I really want to make working on my sideproject a pr…

well, that's fair. do you think it works for "parallel chains", i.e. more than one major 'project' or 'initiative' you're trying to get ahead in?

to extend your example, a chain in the morning before work and a completely different project/chain after getting home from work?

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#66

Post by nathanbarry »

anthony_franco wrote: post #2

Jerry 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…

This is a fantastic method. I wrote an iPhone app around this concept: http://thinklegend.com/commit

One of my current commitments is to write 1000 words each day.

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#67

Post by septerr »

huggyface wrote: post #43
marcamillion wrote: post #42

slow 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.

I understand where you are coming from. You feel that if you are truly interested in a topic, you will explore it without ny other reason or incentive.

But I don't think they are saying they are learning for teaching's sake (what's wrong with that anyway). They are interested in the topic. But, having to put what you learnt into words for someone else, makes you crystalize your understanding. It reinforces what you learnt. Makes it stay more permanently in your brain. So it enhances your learning. Plus, answering questions raised by your readers makes you delve deeper. Just my opinion.

And if you proclaim upfront that you are learning while blogging/teaching, your readers are free to read or instead find a well known expert and read their book/blog. Amazon reviews, blog comments etc. also tell you what you are getting.

I have heard others say that when they want to learn something, they ultimately teach it and I have seen one of them live it. And I will say it works. She may not be The Expert on the topic, but her knowledge and passion grows everyday. I have been intending to put this in practice myself, high time I did!! Tonight!

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#68

Post by mr-ron »

anthony_franco wrote: post #2

Jerry 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…

http://chains.cc is a good gui for this

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#69

Post by ozataman »

I applaud the author for his tenacity. There is no doubt that kind of discipline produces results, both in terms of work product and personal advancement.

However, I have serious doubts about the merits of writing a book about a subject intricacies and philosophy of which you have not yet had the chance to distill through the lens of experience.

The method may, perhaps, work for simple recipes, how tos and other procedural knowledge. I really don't think it would work for anything in or above the intermediate range of content on any meaningful, commonly deep topic.

Just imagine whether the "Mythical Man Month", "Code Complete" or "Innovator's Dilemma" could have been written with this kind of approach.

I don't know about others but when I read a book, I sometimes realize the presence of an unavoidable slight bias towards believing the author and respecting his conclusions, that is unless I am already deeply knowledgeable about the subject and have my own strong opinions. It better be the case that the author is in fact trustworthy on the subject.

Re: How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome

#70

Post by mindcrime »

dansingerman wrote: post #37
eee_c wrote: post #22

Earlier 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…

Is it more than superficial though? Depends on your definition of 'superficial':

I think that depends on who the audience is. If you're a CTO at a company that's up and running and live and you're beginning a deployment of something new, then yes, you need an overview rooted in hands-on experience. But if you're a guy who just wants to learn something new because "I might use this in the future" or "I'm just evaluating this" or whatever, a book which is based only on theory/research can be wildly useful if it helps you shortcut the learning curve to learning the tech. Actually, if it helps you shorten your own learning curve, it's beneficial in either of those scenarios, in a sense.

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