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Poisoning the Day

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Re: Poisoning the Day

#71

Post by high_priest »

vundercind wrote: post #37
card_zero wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I think they refer to the genetic make-up of the circadian timing system, as mentioned in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_owl .

Most modern night owls just have very bright whole-house lighting and a world-class 24/7 carnival in their pockets.

THIS is a brilliant metaphor. I see it myself, how being tired during the day, allows me to justify avoidance of important conflicts. Instead I prefer do indulge myself in the carnival of LED light, doing things which would have little-to-no priority in the middle of social activities. Without the stimuli & light of modern tech, this wouldn't have a chance to be a thing.

Also, I have started thinking about my Night Owliness, as a manifestation of avoidant character in general. The "waiting till deadline to do a sprint" type of mentality.

Re: Poisoning the Day

#72

Post by Terr_ »

nomilk wrote: post #20
Etheryte wrote: post #6

This feels like an incredibly elaborate way to say that he's a morning person. There's plenty of people for whom the entire thing works the exact opposite, and of course loads of people everywhere in between. I wouldn't really read deep into this, it's one of those takes that tries really hard to sound profound, but it really isn't.

Tangental but I noted this quote from 4HWW: > Ask: if this is the only thing I accomplish today, will I be satisfied with my day? Don’t ever arrive at your computer without a clear list of priorities, you’ll just read unassociated email and scramble your brain for the day. When I read that last bit ("scramble your brain") I had a profound sense of agreement that this was incredibly applicable to me. I feel like distr…

> Don’t ever arrive at your computer without a clear list of priorities

Sometimes I find it best best to stop my workday before entirely finishing a task: The next morning (or in some cases, the next Monday) there will be an obvious next-step to work on that which I'm already familiar with.

In contrast, arriving without a clear next step can trigger some severe doldrums.

Re: Poisoning the Day

#74

Post by flysand7 »

devjab wrote: post #68
Etheryte wrote: post #6

This feels like an incredibly elaborate way to say that he's a morning person. There's plenty of people for whom the entire thing works the exact opposite, and of course loads of people everywhere in between. I wouldn't really read deep into this, it's one of those takes that tries really hard to sound profound, but it really isn't.

I think there is some sound advice in there that just happens to fit into his mornings. Take always like having your day poisoned by news, stuff in your life and so on would also occur for you if you woke up later. I do agree that it’s not that deep. Anyone who’s bipolar has ADHD or other “doesn’t fit into the 9-5 society” issues can likely tell you how their emotions will fuck with their productivity. There isn’t a…

> Anyone who’s bipolar has ADHD

Did you miss a comma, or, like, where did that come from?

Re: Poisoning the Day

#75

Post by safety1st »

cocacola1 wrote: post #45
safety1st wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it sounds like he's just terminally online. The whole idea here did not resonate with me at all. If I have serious work to do I isolate myself and do it until it's done or I'm out of steam. If the day "poisons" me that means I should have been more disciplined - the correct answer to consuming news media, for instance, is always to consume less of it. If someone is consistently poisoning my day the answer is to…

That’s what he says, though, at least in the context of Antonoff. He gets to the studio and gets to work without being sidetracked or letting other things sidetrack him. The “poison” is just the distractions to avoid.

The part about accepting when your focus is shot is good, while I'm not convinced it's gone for the entire day, you can definitely get stuck outside of your "flow state" for a couple hours and you may just have to go do other stuff when it happens.

I think what triggered me was this line - "no early morning notifications - no sudden alert about Putin’s latest military actions."

Unless you're a journalist covering the Ukraine war, you really shouldn't have real time notifications informing you about Putin's military actions, and if you do, that's productivity problem #1.

I'm just saying this guy paints a picture of a constantly interrupted life and from my experience the first line of defense is to reduce the interruptions, with measures that are much more aggressive than the average modern person's.

Re: Poisoning the Day

#76

Post by dylan604 »

groby_b wrote: post #70
dylan604 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can wake up at noon and still do that. That's not necessarily true. If you're a morning person managing other people that are not morning people but insist on having daily meetings in the morning, you're an asshole. I find meetings early in the morning sadistic and way more draining than reading the news, but I'm not the type that gets emotional about the news while I will react negatively in an early meeting a…

> If you're a morning person managing other people that are not morning people but insist on having daily meetings in the morning, you're an asshole. This of course raises the question why forcing morning meetings on morning people is an asshole move, but forcing morning people to meet afternoon people in the afternoon is OK. Can I suggest that maybe we all need to put on our big-boy/girl pants and accept that the wo…

Because if you’re the manager, the time of your team is more important than your time is

Re: Poisoning the Day

#77

Post by _yb2s »

julianeon wrote: post #57
Etheryte wrote: post #6

This feels like an incredibly elaborate way to say that he's a morning person. There's plenty of people for whom the entire thing works the exact opposite, and of course loads of people everywhere in between. I wouldn't really read deep into this, it's one of those takes that tries really hard to sound profound, but it really isn't.

There's something it it though that's not interchangeable, that becomes a bigger factor as you age (see: that Bezos quote). The brain is becoming more physically tired during the day. At a certain point, say 5pm, it's done: the accumulated wear and tear is too much. Try again after sleeping. This might not be a concern at 20 but is at 60 (Bezos' age).

I usually take a few naps during the workday, and get the sharp morning over again each time.

Re: Poisoning the Day

#78

Post by _yb2s »

cadamsau wrote: post #4

Seems to be the exhaustion that happens when you’ve built up waste products that need to be cleared by sleep. But has anyone found success re-establishing that fresh mind without sleeping? Maybe meditation can help?

Short 10-20 minute naps during the day can do this

Re: Poisoning the Day

#79

Post by _yb2s »

world2vec wrote: post #43

This was a vapid and useless article. "Just be a morning person", gee thanks that sounds awful to me.

That isn’t what it says at all- they’re saying don’t get emotionally poisoned before you start working- the author says this is still important and doable even if you are an evening person, starting work early is just one strategy

Re: Poisoning the Day

#80

Post by _yb2s »

“Early in the morning, at break of day, in all the freshness and dawn of one's strength, to read a book -I call that vicious!” -Friedrich Nietzsche

Nietzsche noticed the importance of this even living in solitude a century before the Internet- he found even if he read books in it morning, it could “poison” his thinking the rest of the day, so he didn’t read until he was done working. Like him or not he stands out as someone that consistently came up with really creative and new perspectives, and managed to publish a lot of writing on them.

I think this is true, but find the Internet very addicting- it is really hard to just not use it casually until I’m done working, when my work itself requires being on a computer and looking up information. The Internet is a nuclear bomb of distraction and emotional manipulation compared to whatever books Nietzsche was likely reading in the 1800s.

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