Reading "Moby Dick".
Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
281–290 of 785 posts
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#2823 things for me: 1) Meditation, I used to think it was something hippies did. I now think its worth 10 IQ points. I honestly can't recommend it enough. 2) Sleep, I'm getting close to 40 and the last 2 times I pulled all nighters I ended up deleting pretty much all the code I wrote from 11pm onward. 3) Occasional Fasts. I normally fast from 6pm until noon the next day but I now do one 3 day fast each month. I think th…
Not a hippie, but you do meditation and fasts... Okay, that came out a bit incisive. Do you have any scientific backing to support those claims? I'm especially interested in fasting. Not eating for 3 days a month does not seem especially healthy. Then I see the claim that it cures cancer and forgive me if all my alarm bells go off.
"Head off cancer" != "cure cancer."
There's (growing) research to suggest it partially mitigates risk: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3608686/.
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#283Starting to do burlesque dance. I had to go downtown for a doctor's appointment, and on a whim, I scheduled it so that I could go check out a school whose calendar I'd subscribed to a month or so earlier. I had fun, I kept going back. Got myself in great shape, got incredible amounts of confidence and charisma. These days I don't do it any more; the school moved to a less convenient location, and I ended up doing pol…
> Getting in shape is great but it's boring; doing it with the context of learning something on top of it works amazingly well for me.
Bouldering worked the same way for me. I don't do it anymore for stupid reasons and I should get back into it, but for a while I was in amazing shape from doing something not only physically but also mentally stimulating (and fun!).
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#284Podcasts! I was considering jobs on the buy-side and a friend recommended a couple of financial podcasts. Knowing that part of the interview would be about my financial style and what industry leaders I followed / read I had a strong incentive to give them a try. I quickly became hooked. More convenient during my (on-transit) commute than a book and there's such a vast range of topics available to keep you interested…
Names of podcasts are very welcomed :-)
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#285Using a daily planner (on paper, not a app). I figured this out about 2 months ago. Being able to write down the tasks and scan back through my backlog has helped me be more productive. For me, using a calendar service or task manager app just does not work as well... BTW, I am a millennial. edit: I am 10 years younger then everyone else at my company and get questioned all the time about "why I use a day runner" whe…
Silly question but what exact notebook are you using?
I'm, personally, a fan of the Staples Arc notebooks (similar to the Levenger Circa notebooks, but cheaper). Like a cross between a 3-ring binder and a spiral notebook. Makes it easy for me to start writing on the front sheet of the notebook, and move its proper section later.
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#286Podcasts! I was considering jobs on the buy-side and a friend recommended a couple of financial podcasts. Knowing that part of the interview would be about my financial style and what industry leaders I followed / read I had a strong incentive to give them a try. I quickly became hooked. More convenient during my (on-transit) commute than a book and there's such a vast range of topics available to keep you interested…
Would you mind sharing some of these podcasts? I work in software and I'm very interested in eventually making the switch into PE :) .
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#287After a single week of using a physical daily planner, I realized I'd accomplished more in the previous week than I had in the past 6 months. No looking back.
Every Sunday I write down a single thing to accomplish for each day of the next week: Read a chapter of a book, Write a post about a specific topic, etc.
Procrastination is super dangerous when there isn't a deadline. Way too easy for "tomorrow" to turn into never. Professional/Personal development stuff seems to fall into that trap pretty frequently.
I tried tracking things with all sorts of different software, but nothing clicked for me like pen and paper.
(Field Notes 56-Week planner pairs well with a uni-ball 307 Gel Pen.)
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#288Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just not eating for 2 days. It would throw of my "rhythm" and I would overeat for days until it balanced out again. Maybe my appetite is larger than most people.
Not a doctor and sample size of one. What worked for me was resetting the rhythm itself, by under-eating over long periods of time, 2 weeks at least, up to 1-2 months. I keep telling myself hungry is the new normal, and in the long run it becomes the new normal. Under-eating is not even that hard if one goes mostly veggie, that is eat fruits / veggies / eggs / cheese / yoghurt / fish and skip sugar / meat / pasta / b…
I can do that during the day. How do you prevent yourself from having midnight snacks? I sometimes "sleep eat" -- Very bad habit that I NEED to spare.
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#2893 things for me: 1) Meditation, I used to think it was something hippies did. I now think its worth 10 IQ points. I honestly can't recommend it enough. 2) Sleep, I'm getting close to 40 and the last 2 times I pulled all nighters I ended up deleting pretty much all the code I wrote from 11pm onward. 3) Occasional Fasts. I normally fast from 6pm until noon the next day but I now do one 3 day fast each month. I think th…
I think fasting is pretty interesting. I occasionally challenge myself with a ~24h fast and I think it's probably worthwhile. A three-day fast would be difficult for me socially -- I don't think I could skip consecutive dinners with the family (and attending the meal but not eating is IMO not polite). That said, it sounds appealing.
Could you eat less? Not an absolute fast, but more a minimal dinner. Have a salad and water, instead of whatever the main dish is.
Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not a hippie, but you do meditation and fasts... Okay, that came out a bit incisive. Do you have any scientific backing to support those claims? I'm especially interested in fasting. Not eating for 3 days a month does not seem especially healthy. Then I see the claim that it cures cancer and forgive me if all my alarm bells go off.
Anecdotal, I was like you, extremely skeptical of meditation. Seriously, try it, it's free! Immediate benefits: * Clear, focused mind. I stop hopping from topic to topic in my mind "oh should I tidy the apartment, work on my website, etc etc" to a far more focused state. What you should do next is there with extreme clarity. You stop reading random junk on the internet too, and get down to it * Much better sleep (thi…
A very helpful tactic I've learned recently is to not focus on not having any thoughts but instead - realize they're going to be inevitable, and when they pop up, acknowledge that it's a thought, a feeling or, an emotion - and let go of it.