Avoiding direct questions about bad habits by answering something like "I would have told some of my really bad habits if HN allowed anonymous comments".
Ask HN: Bad habits
31–38 of 38 posts
Re: Ask HN: Bad habits
#32All sorts of bad habits crop up left and right. Instead of going with the "willpower" method I've adopted what my friends and I call the "moneymouth" method (short for put your money where your mouth is). Exploit your honesty and financial sensibility by making bets to architect your habits.
Real examples: I'm lazy and get up late, but this system got me up before 7am daily for 3 weeks. I wanted to begin practicing guitar, I practiced for 30 minutes daily for a month with this. Right now I'm riding my bicycle 100 miles a week. I am not generally known for my extreme willpower to do stuff like this, I think I just found a functional self-exploit.
Re: Ask HN: Bad habits
#33Super Procrastinator, I mean I'm here and I should be working.
Re: Ask HN: Bad habits
#34I have an addictive personality, which means I like doing everything too much: coding, writing, visiting interesting web sites, smoking, drinking, eating. Basically if it has any sort of positive feedback loop at all, I can make a bad habit out of it. Fortunately I began suspecting this early in life, so I didn't end up a coke-head or worse. Instead I've learned to balance all of my bad habits in a way that continues…
Holy christ. I just read all about myself.
Re: Ask HN: Bad habits
#35Nail biting. Yes and no. Now it's not as bad as it used to be.
Germs and such on fingers doesn't appeal to me. Instead I just pick at them...it's just as bad. I tend to do it most when concentrating hard, and I've been doing it for as long as I can remember. Any tips? (I think I need nail clippers always available)
Re: Ask HN: Bad habits
#36I suppose this would be the perfect place for the following joke:
Most of my bad habits have had gray hair and foreign names. I don't have any at the moment, so I guess that makes me perfect (for now).
On a more serious note: My sense of humor is a bad habit that gets me into hot water. (Thus I imagine this post will be badly downmodded into serious negatives. ;-) ) I have half-baked plans to do a blog or webcomic or something as an outlet in hopes of spending less time in hot water.
Re: Ask HN: Bad habits
#37Procrastination - I haven’t been able to overcome it yet, things that mitigate it is - keep track of tasks, make them small easily achievable. Also make a new list every morning.
Procrastination has many, many causes. I strongly recommend Burka and Yuen's book "Procrastination: Why You Do It, What to Do About It" and Rubin's "Overcoming Indecisiveness".
Re: Ask HN: Bad habits
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your post is pretty close to where I am, 'cept I gave up smoking when I was 12 (I still fancy a ciggy occassionally!), apart from a few occassions since. I was speculating whether or not computers make me overall less productive or not - I'm convinced they do. I need other people around to work with, then I can get "addicted" to helping and progressing the task rather than anything else. Sadly I'm working largely aut…
You gave up smoking when you were 12 ??? Wow, most people that smoke would not even have started by that age... Apologies if it is too much of a private question, feel free to ignore: At what age did you start ? Were your parents aware ?
10; parents, probably though I thought not at the time - it wasn't exactly a big habit, probably like one a week! Just one of those things one does to try and be cool and fit in. Then I realised it's stupid. I was probably a little under 12 then.
My mates folks owned a pub, his parents definitely knew we were getting our fags there.