101–110 of 236 posts
Relax, it's okay. :-) I went through the same thing. I realized that it is neither possible nor important to know a lot of stuff. It is more important and a much more satisfying experience to follow one's own interests and learn what one needs to in the process, as this kind of knowledge stays with you and does not clutter your mind. Knowing stuff is not at all as important as being able to apply logic and ask the ri…
I have the same problem, at some point you stop having time to read all that, you just collect the information for the sake of collecting it. It's actually a kind of hoarding disorder, and in my experience the similar measures can be applied: - Learn to prioritize important vs useless info - Impose yourself a limit on time/amount of data daily - To support the above set some offline time to do something else, somethi…
You should try David Allen's GTD system. I'm pretty angry at myself for not having tried to understand and apply it earlier (had been reading about it for many years before..) it really is a great holistic concept to give structure to your most precious finite resources (brain, time). Also delete your RSS reader, loopback HN and other "educational" sites to localhost (subscribe to http://www.hndigest.com instead) and…
Thanks for hndigest I hadn't heard of it before. I have to say though for me the comments are the best part of HN.
Yes, just purge them. Why not? I sometimes use my brother's computer and simply close all of his open tabs, and he always thanks me. You say you're not anxious... But I'd think more about that angle. What you describe sounds like a form of anxiety. You can be anxious and still be able to sleep. Information doesn't have to be painful or exhausting. Why do you feel like this information is a burden? Why do you hesitate…
Fear of missing something important I guess. The info could prove important in my life. It's a burdern because of the how I feel now. Worn down.
> You say you're not anxious... But I'd think more about that angle. What you describe sounds like a form of anxiety. You can be anxious and still be able to sleep.
I have an anxiety disorder and this could be anxiety. It's not the same feeling though as when I think I am going to have a heart attack.
> How do you relax? What are your habits like?
I go to work, work on computer. Come home and relax on computer. On weekends I occasionally go for a hike.
> when what's actually bothering you is something missing in the other parts of your life?
Certainly possible.
I'd love to hear more
For a long time I felt (and now feel) the same as you. I just wanted to share an experience that, while completely anecdotal, is perhaps atypical, and has been one of the defining experiences of my life. I got the Internet as a birthday present on my 8th birthday, and pretty much disappeared from normal society for the next few years. The Internet was (and is) fascinating - I could learn anything, interact with peopl…
Thanks for sharing. Allow me to provide another possible aid for those who would not be well-served by the kind of isolation and regimented schedule one would encounter on a Mormon mission (e.g. those with delayed sleep phase). I also went on such a mission for two years, and my mind could never adapt to the 14-hour 6-day workweeks. The only solution that worked for me, which I figured out years later, was controlled…
Would you mind sharing what kind of career you have chosen, or examples of others that fit this description?
For me: Pick some system for dealing with stuff. I dont think it much matters which one you do as long as you have one and it isnt based on stuff actively being in your brain. Mine is inbox 0/4Ds whatever you want to call it, with me allowing myself to put tasks for me in there. Most of those systems focus on aggressive prioritization and removing lists of tasks from your mind and moving them to paper. Be aggressive…
For me: Pick some system for dealing with stuff. I dont think it much matters which one you do as long as you have one and it isnt based on stuff actively being in your brain. Mine is inbox 0/4Ds whatever you want to call it, with me allowing myself to put tasks for me in there. Most of those systems focus on aggressive prioritization and removing lists of tasks from your mind and moving them to paper. Be aggressive…
This is the right way. A system allows you to unload your brain and get all the crap out of the way, so you can stop thinking about it and focus on the task at hand. As overplayed as it is, GTD really is pretty good. It basically boils down to: keep lists, use them religiously, and focus on one thing at a time. But the book itself is good and goes into significantly more detail, all of which is useful. Any system wil…
Same here. Recently my Moto G broke. It would take 3 weeks to get it fixed and I decided not to have a phone in the mean time. I did this before, people will complain about your poor availability but for me it is only friends, and mostly via Whatsapp. At Work I'm behind my PC mostly and very reachable, I have a desk phone as well so I can call people and I use Skype out... This experience is always eye opening. It al…
Thanks so much.
People may give you the advice to determine what is relevant to you, and then focus on that. Unfortunately, finding out what is important requires wisdom, and this will make you want to read books and papers again. With respect to this paradoxical situation, I found reading the Tao Te Ching very interesting. It suggests that you should stop focussing on wisdom and simply accept that things will go one way or the othe…
Taoism isin't too far. I once read the Tao of Pooh and thought the ideas were great. I think my conflict is that information allows things to change. Decisions can be made given a better understanding. I'll check out the Tao Te Ching book. Thanks.
This might be the root of the problem. You have to accept that most of the time you need to make decisions with your _current_ understanding.
There are some situations where you will need to seek information in order to make a better decision. (Trust yourself, you will know the difference instinctively.)
In those cases gather only the information you need to do a good enough job.
Decide what is important to you and ignore the rest.
Also focus on people and friendhsips, sports even. The human mind isn't meant to work without involving the body at the same time.
(I dare you to check your iphone or think about your reading list while trying to surf a wave for example :-) )
You might be INTP. FInd out and if you are, find a community of them. It helped me. And to put it succinctly, minimize your information firehoses and reject the notion that you need to keep abreast of everything even if it is not relevant to you. Purge all of your reading lists and resist building them. If you keep any lists or bookmarks, require that they be things you HAVE read and want to keep as reference for lat…
I don't think information addiction has anything to do with a particular Meyers-Brigg personality type. They seem like an orthogonal axes. If anything, I would imagine INTP are less likely to have this issue, because they are interesting in meaning and not just information. I would think the more social personality types would be more addicted to news or e-mail, but that's just speculation. One thing I do is take not…
Notes rock. I agree with 1, 2, 3, and 4.
I like tasks and reminders in any of a variety of systems. I send myself a lot of emails to process later.