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Things I do to be consistently happy

joel.is

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Re: Things I do to be consistently happy

#31

Post by cwp »

mparlane wrote: post #14

Why is being in love not mentioned? Or sex? Are you just happier being alone?

Well, sure. Being love might make people happy, but it's not great advice to give. Someone who reads the article might easily decide to take a walk every night at 9:30. He might have to rearrange my schedule or miss his favorite TV show, but it's not hard to figure out how to take a walk. But if the article recommended having a significant other—or even just getting laid more often, it just opens another can of worms. Most people can't just decide to have more sex, or to fall in love. So including it alongside habits like waking up earlier isn't very useful.

Re: Things I do to be consistently happy

#32

Post by corin_ »

leftnode wrote: post #10
csallen wrote: post #3

I'm curious how many programmers find themselves most productive at specific times of the day. Personally, I'm by far the most productive late at night, in 1am - 4am territory. The primary reason is that there are fewer distractions. The news cycle has slowed, my FB news feed is all but dead, I'm not receiving any emails/calls/chats, my roommates are asleep, and it's too late to accomplish chores like shopping or doi…

It's funny you call that late at night, I call it early in the morning. But I totally agree with you. I wake up daily at 3:10 and can get about 3 or 4 hours of good uninterrupted work done. It's also a great time to go to the gym because few else are there.

There's a huge difference in the context between 3am "late at night" because you've stayed awake or 3am "early in the morning" because you just woke up. Some will hate one but not the other - personally I find them equally useful times for different reasons.

Re: Things I do to be consistently happy

#33

Post by xiaoma »

I've never felt that great during those times I've had to regularly be up early school or work. Back when I was on the swim team and regularly got up by 5am, I was not a happy camper.

The happiest time I've had, my schedule was this: I slept from 5am to noon. I generally drank 1.5L of water and did about a 90 minute run right after getting up, showered, put on my suit and hit the office by 2:30pm. I stayed until about 11pm, then went out with my friends for seafood, veggies and beer at a 熱炒 (stir fry?) restaurant. Then, I'd come home at about 1:30 and do some work on my computer until 4am. After that I'd watch a video online, write a couple of note to myself for the next day and go to bed.

I completely agree with the blogger on the impact of exercising, continual learning, and helping others. It's not the most important stuff, though. I've found that having really good friends matters at least as much as any of his keys to happiness. Being in love doesn't hurt, either.

Re: Things I do to be consistently happy

#34

Post by reledi »

leftnode wrote: post #10
csallen wrote: post #3

I'm curious how many programmers find themselves most productive at specific times of the day. Personally, I'm by far the most productive late at night, in 1am - 4am territory. The primary reason is that there are fewer distractions. The news cycle has slowed, my FB news feed is all but dead, I'm not receiving any emails/calls/chats, my roommates are asleep, and it's too late to accomplish chores like shopping or doi…

It's funny you call that late at night, I call it early in the morning. But I totally agree with you. I wake up daily at 3:10 and can get about 3 or 4 hours of good uninterrupted work done. It's also a great time to go to the gym because few else are there.

What time do you usually go to sleep?

Re: Things I do to be consistently happy

#35

Post by cwp »

nostromo wrote: post #30
cwp wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even beyond correlation not proving causation, it doesn't sound surprising to me that unhappy people are looking for ways to become happy, but happy people aren't. You might equally conclude that restaurants make people hungry.

"...but they certainly don't seem to be helpful either." If people left restaurants hungry, wouldn't you suspect they're not living up to their mission?

I do notice that people invariably get hungry within hours of leaving a restaurant. Clearly restaurants cause hunger.

More seriously, it's not surprising that self-help doesn't produce instant results. People have widely varied and complex problems. It'll probably take a while to find the right advice, put into practice and see the desired results. Sure, there's a lot self-help gurus out there exploiting desperate people. But there's also a lot of genuinely helpful advice out there and people who benefit from it.

Re: Things I do to be consistently happy

#36

Post by ams6110 »

mparlane wrote: post #14

Why is being in love not mentioned? Or sex? Are you just happier being alone?

I don't know anything about the author, but sounds to me like he's a person who's not in a relationship and almost certainly doesn't have young children. Many of the things in his routine would be nearly impossible to do for a person who's in a "family"

Re: Things I do to be consistently happy

#37

Post by bialecki »

He mentions regularly helping people and then doesn't mention it in the context of how Buffer makes people happy. It's probably assumed, but worth saying: if you're working at a startup, one of the best (maybe the best) feeling is your users telling you how your work is helping them.

It's easy to get caught up in other stuff or forget, but talking to your users/customers and asking them how you're making their lives better is often very revealing and rewarding. It might feel scary/weird to ask, but the answers are awesome.

Re: Things I do to be consistently happy

#38

Post by reledi »

xiaoma wrote: post #33

I've never felt that great during those times I've had to regularly be up early school or work. Back when I was on the swim team and regularly got up by 5am, I was not a happy camper. The happiest time I've had, my schedule was this: I slept from 5am to noon. I generally drank 1.5L of water and did about a 90 minute run right after getting up, showered, put on my suit and hit the office by 2:30pm. I stayed until abou…

I've never felt that great during those times I've had to regularly be up early school or work.

Perhaps it's because you didn't voluntarily choose to wake up at those times. You had to wake up early for tasks that you had to do, even if unwilling that day. With little time to get ready, you'd also feel rushed.

With your happiest schedule, you have more control over when you can start working, and you also have a decent amount of time to get ready, so you feel more relaxed. Your happiest schedule also includes daily exercise, socializing, and entertainment.

Re: Things I do to be consistently happy

#39

Post by seanalltogether »

Honestly I believe going to the gym every morning M-F is the single biggest improvement to my life. There's something about forcing your muscles into "adapt or you'll fail" mode that has amazing downstream effects on energy levels, eating and digestion, sleeping, etc...

Re: Things I do to be consistently happy

#40

Post by eric_cc »

ams6110 wrote: post #36
mparlane wrote: post #14

Why is being in love not mentioned? Or sex? Are you just happier being alone?

I don't know anything about the author, but sounds to me like he's a person who's not in a relationship and almost certainly doesn't have young children. Many of the things in his routine would be nearly impossible to do for a person who's in a "family"

I disagree with you. He basically recommends a sleeping pattern, having fun, exercising, learning, helping others, finding ways to win. Which of these is impossible for people in a family? If many of these 6 things...lets say 4 of them... are nearly impossible for people in families then you'd think people in families would all be quite unhealthy.
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