I am an information addict, and this is what HN makes me do:
http://www.benjamincoe.com/tetris/
:-)
Ask HN: Are you an information addict?
11–20 of 63 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?
#12I am embracing it. I am trying to create a life that will allow me to gather information all day long and get paid to do it.
That's essentially what I did - given my mild obsession with figuring out how businesses work, I read thousands of books over ~6 years, started a website (personalmba.com), created a 12-week course (crashcourse.personalmba.com), took on private clients, and landed a book deal.
I'm essentially paid to learn as much as I can, isolate the useful/practical bits, then teach them to others. If learning comes naturally to you, figuring out how to teach what you know to people who want to learn it can be profitable and enjoyable. I left my job a year and a half ago to do this full time, and would never go back.
Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?
#13I believe there are different types of information addiction. Checking email and IM too frequently is hardly likely to benefit you, but reading Wikipedia and articles related to your profession, for example, can give you a serious edge.
Be addicted to information "assets" and drop the ephemeral stuff.
Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?
#14I am trying to use the Pomodoro technique - focus hard for 25 minutes, then relax for 5. This of course requires closing down mail, Twitter etc apps while a Pomodor is running. Unfortunately I still have problems, it is far too easy to open up a browser window and start looking at Hacker News, Digg, Engadget etc. I am thinking about making my own Pomodoro script which puts all my favourite timewasting sites in /etc/h…
If you're on OS X, check out Concentrate:
Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?
#15I am trying to use the Pomodoro technique - focus hard for 25 minutes, then relax for 5. This of course requires closing down mail, Twitter etc apps while a Pomodor is running. Unfortunately I still have problems, it is far too easy to open up a browser window and start looking at Hacker News, Digg, Engadget etc. I am thinking about making my own Pomodoro script which puts all my favourite timewasting sites in /etc/h…
I second using the Pomodoro technique - without it, writing my book would've taken 3+ years instead of one.
The key is to change the structure of your environment to support the Pomodoro as much as possible. Turn off everything not directly related to what you're doing - phone, internet, etc.
I used Freedom (http://macfreedom.com/) to completely disable my internet access for 6 hours at a time when I scheduled a day to write. If I didn't disable the internet, I'd waste hours doing "research" when the going got tough. Without any net access, I was able to persist through the hard parts and write a huge amount in a day.
Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?
#16I am embracing it. I am trying to create a life that will allow me to gather information all day long and get paid to do it.
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Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?
#17I am embracing it. I am trying to create a life that will allow me to gather information all day long and get paid to do it.
How are you doing it? Care to elaborate?
Sure. I identified the kinds of information I like (business and technology). Then I identified the skills I have (technology). Then I tried to find a niche that seemed underserved and combined my interest, skills and met an additional goal of teaching me something new. I'll be posting a link to my site in a few days here at HN - sort of as an official launch.
Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?
#18I am trying to use the Pomodoro technique - focus hard for 25 minutes, then relax for 5. This of course requires closing down mail, Twitter etc apps while a Pomodor is running. Unfortunately I still have problems, it is far too easy to open up a browser window and start looking at Hacker News, Digg, Engadget etc. I am thinking about making my own Pomodoro script which puts all my favourite timewasting sites in /etc/h…
The pomodoro technique seems like allowing yourself a hit of heroin every few days, even though you know it's a problem. I've never been able to follow it for long enough for it to be effective. Any tips?
Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?
#19I like long periods of being offline.
Still, looking for information is a common way of procrastinating. So for me spending too much time on HN is an indication that I'm pushing away something to do which actually bores me.
The best way to deal with it is to finish that boring thing and switch into doing something exciting and get "into the phase" with new task.
Sport helps also.
I like and admire community here, you are talented and insightful people, still I've had the best experience here when I just was absorbing information after long periods of being offline and the time I spent here was planned. Also, it was best when I hang around here at the end of the day, not by the morning coffee.
Reading news/email/whatever by the morning coffee, while tempting, is actually harmful for my focus needed to perform things after the coffee. Sad but true.
Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?
#20Information is mostly just noise. The actual useful stuff comes rarely, so I try as much as possible to minimize the external information I get that is not important - for example, the news. The news are mostly totally unimportant and irrelevant. If you read the news twice a week, that's more than fine.
I also believe in using tools that pre/filter the info I get so I don|t have to wade through junk to read the info that could be useful to me.
Information gathering can be a big time waste with no direct benefit. But it\s addictive, and hence dangerous.