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There's no speed limit (2009)

sivers.org

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Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#181

Post by isurfbecause »

sivers wrote: post #20
aamar wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen this post before, but I was glad to reread it. A bit off-topic, but could you tell us about your sleep schedule?

6 hours has always been enough for me. At Berklee, I'd get a piano room every night at 10pm until midnight, when they closed. Then I'd sleep from 1am to 7am, practice some more, and go to class. I was quite driven. Kind of like someone who really feels if they just work their ass off they can be the next Zuckerberg, 20 years ago, being a successful musician felt more attainable. It felt like if I just practiced my as…

Yeah I was wondering how you balanced your personal life. Glad you had friends even though you were a robot haha

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#183

Post by chc »

EvilTerran wrote: post #130
sivers wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't saying "stop being stressed and burned-out". I mean that any time any of us get to that point, there are a few approaches we could take. (1) - Go take a long vacation. (2) - Quit and change your approach. (3) - Don't change a thing. Sleep tonight, but tomorrow just keep pushing the same direction as you've been doing. It'll be painful, you'll scream and complain, but just keep working anyway. I've tried all…

I guess the thing to bear in mind for this sort of lifestyle advice is: your mileage may vary . While one person experiencing "burn-out" may respond well to powering through it, as in your case, another person feeling "burned out" may follow the same suggestion only to run themselves into the ground doing so. A close family member of mine tried to power through her feelings of being burnt out, and wound up spending t…

I think that, like many disagreements, this is just a question of semantics. If your definition of "burnout" is "feeling unmotivated after playing video games for a while," that's a bit different from and calls for a different response than the kind of burnout that requires a shrink.

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#184

Post by kpennell »

I really appreciate your writing, TED talks, ideas, and the humble and positive way in which you present your work.

I think one of the problems I struggled with the most with this type of thinking is feeling like I'm being conceited or thinking that "I'm special" when I try to remove speed limits. I've always learned a lot of things fairly fast but I think I limited myself by subconsciously not wanting to feel better than other people.

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#186

Post by sivers »

mtrimpe wrote: post #156
sivers wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6 hours has always been enough for me. At Berklee, I'd get a piano room every night at 10pm until midnight, when they closed. Then I'd sleep from 1am to 7am, practice some more, and go to class. I was quite driven. Kind of like someone who really feels if they just work their ass off they can be the next Zuckerberg, 20 years ago, being a successful musician felt more attainable. It felt like if I just practiced my as…

Were there times when you considered giving up 'being the robot?' And looking back, do you feel that it was all worth it? Or would you make different decisions if you knew then what you know now?

I'd do it all again the same way. It was wonderful.

I was following my interests 100% without letting peer pressure convince me to do something I didn't want to do. (Hang out.)

I showed myself what I could do. Priceless.

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#187

Post by sivers »

msalvati wrote: post #171
sivers wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6 hours has always been enough for me. At Berklee, I'd get a piano room every night at 10pm until midnight, when they closed. Then I'd sleep from 1am to 7am, practice some more, and go to class. I was quite driven. Kind of like someone who really feels if they just work their ass off they can be the next Zuckerberg, 20 years ago, being a successful musician felt more attainable. It felt like if I just practiced my as…

I remember a little hanging out. This ring a bell Derek? "Don't give a f--k about roaches....tryin get em out of my mother f--kin head......can't get em out of my mother f--kin head"

hey Mark! You still remember our classic song! ☺

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#188

Post by sivers »

tnorthcutt wrote: post #132
sivers wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well... there is a "best of both worlds" approach that I'm considering, and might be right for you: Hire someone to do it for you, but on the condition that you can watch over their shoulder and ask questions as they go. That way, you can get it done and get it launched, while at the same time you get to watch an expert, learn enough to maintain and improve this project - and learn how to do it yourself next time. I…

How (practically) did you do the watching? Did you hire someone local, and just go watch them work, and ask questions as they went along? Was it hard to find someone willing to let you do that? Did it cost significantly more than if you'd paid someone to do it without the condition of letting you watch?

Found a guy halfway across the world, but we did Skype screen-sharing so we could talk and I could watch his screen.

Didn't cost much. The key was how I asked. I just made it a criteria of the job when I posted/announced it. "Looking for someone to program while I watch and ask questions."

I know he really enjoyed it. Said it was much more rewarding than the usual coding in solitude, not knowing if the client is really appreciating the effort.

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#189

Post by sivers »

db42 wrote: post #174
sivers wrote: post #7

Surprised to see a post of mine here on Hacker News. (First time in a long time. Thanks!) Feel free to ask me absolutely anything here.

Hi Derek, I can't describe how much motivated I feel everytime I read something similar to this. But I just can't convert this motivation into actual practice/habits. Any advice ?

A young man went to Socrates and asked how he could gain wisdom.

Socrates walked the young man into a nearby lake. When the water was a few feet deep, Socrates suddly grabbed the young man and pushed his head under water and held it there.

At first the young man thought it was a joke, but as he was held under longer and longer, he became frantic. He struggled desperately to get free and his lungs burned for lack of oxygen.

Finally Socrates let him up, coughing and gasping for air.

Socrates then said, "When you desire wisdom with the same intensity that you desired to breathe, nothing will stop you from getting it."

It's the same with your motivation/practice/habits.

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#190

Post by bprater »

throwaway00111 wrote: post #176
kooshball wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe this is also known as frisson. See /r/frisson for tons of media that can "induce" this. There was also an article in the WSJ that talks about what specific changed in music causes this. The most interesting thing I found was that even by just reading the WSJ article explaining the music, I can feel the shivers. http://www.reddit.com/r/Frisson http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020364600457721...

Thanks for the links, I've tried to auto-induce the sensation with sound or images but it doesn't seem to work for me. It appears to just be a people thing.

Don't give up. It is something that can be practiced and expanded into. I've struggled with poetry, but made a recent breakthru in finding a specific author. You may need a specific "seed" to get you into that place.
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