Why you need both rituals and routines to power your workday • Hacker News Board

Re: Why you need both rituals and routines to power your workday

#41

Post by seer » Sat, Dec 08, 2018, 12:38 PM UTC

thatoneuser wrote: post #15

seer wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe not as pronounced as in your case but I can definitly understand where you’re comming from. What worked for me was trying to understand some martial arts / eastern spirituality, which brought a lot of peace and stability to my mind. I remeber being tald about all the spiritual things that seem bonkers to a western educated mind, but with the idea that - all models are false, some models are useful, I just “trie…

I’ve definitely been turning more and more towards the concept of mindfulness and being in the present moment. Although I’ll say that while it helps, I find it far from fulfilling regarding all this. It scratches the itch sometimes in a small way, but there’s still a lot of agony left over. I’ve also though more about boxing/martial arts but again I’m hesitant to jump in and try it when similar efforts have left me e…

Well I think the key for me was the phisical excercise - the body and especially the mind requires it to be healthy, and martial arts just gave me something that I could consider “worth it” in the long run, and has its own very deep history and practice to explore and progress.

And after I got started the whole mindfulness thing just happened naturally as it was an integral part of the training itself, so it just made sense.

And with mindfulness my mind just naturally calmed itself down, I started to appreciate the moment more, and care less about stuff I couldn’t control anyway.

I never could start doing the meditation thing before on its own, but when I put myself in an environment were it was just par for the course, it was easy. I’m sure there are other ways to do it its just what worked for me.

I think I now just try not to do exactly what I want, but rather try to position myself into environments where that happens naturally, and just let it be. Sometimes it doesn’t work out exactly, but mostly it does, and is much _much_ less stressful.

Hope this is useful and best of luck :)

Re: Why you need both rituals and routines to power your workday

#42

Post by dsego » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 5:06 PM UTC

andrewflnr wrote: post #2

I hate that this might actually be true. I don't want routines or rituals, I just want to do the smart thing at any given second. Empirically, however, that's not what actually happens.

Then make sure to do things with intention.

Re: Why you need both rituals and routines to power your workday

#43

Post by mockingbirdy » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 6:25 PM UTC

thatoneuser wrote: post #39

mockingbirdy wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People with this personality type are very reflective and have profound thoughts, but they often lack execution. You'll be most successful in think tanks or if you lead teams where you give high-level directions (you will need a business partner that is convinced by your vision and who implements it). It's also good to know that the brain constantly creates simulations about different situations. It's very important…

If I can pick your brain for advice - how on earth does one get into a position of being in a think tank or getting to lead teams if one struggles so much on the levels below? I have a decent-ish work history, still in my twenty’s and a masters in a hard science. I believe I’d do well in these positions but it’s daunting to think of how to get there. Any recommendations?

> I have a decent-ish work history

This is all you need - I think it's a necessity that you've proved to yourself (very important for your self-confidence) and potential business partners that you're able to do some real work (otherwise it could be that you're simply a talker).

The rest is finding the right people who believe in your vision. This is connected with a simple bit of luck, but I would definitely use networking - I did. Go to meetups, tell your friends that you're searching for committed people who want to do stuff and be able to tell the doers from the talkers. Meet with everyone who seems remotely interested in the idea of starting something. Don't get too excited and start a company with someone you don't know. Get to know each other. Continue to meet other people. I've met several interesting people before I've met my business partner.

I've met him through table tennis. He already built something (small one-person company) and therefore I had the confidence that he says what he does. Make sure that you see a provable track record of work before making it official and make sure that you understand your partner on a psychological level - What motivates him? What are his life goals? Why is he a good fit? In which areas do you complement each other? What are your differences in your personalities? How do you resolve conflicts? (essential) Rational or emotional? Narcissistic or other tendencies? (You should know that about yourself, too).

I do personality tests (most people like them, anyways) to identify the core strengths and weaknesses (I have to admit - I also did it for dating in the past). Most of the time the results are pretty accurate. It's not about a specific personality type I prefer (motivation is an important factor, too), but I need to know the weaknesses to accommodate for them (the same applies to me).

Re: Why you need both rituals and routines to power your workday

#44

Post by thecupisblue » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 6:29 PM UTC

thatoneuser wrote: post #38

thecupisblue wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely understand you. Some people go to school, spend hours studying at home and in school, apply to a company, get a job, have a routine. I get out of bed and somehow snowball into a tornado that I kind of steer towards where I wanna go in life. Anyways, the main difference here is in how I think your (and mine!) brain works - we think in abstractions, get bored with details and implementations. We recognize…

Wow that really hit close to home. ESP the bit about abstractions. And you’re right - I know a lot about things I rightfully should know very little. It’s led to people around me assuming I’m making things up when in reality I’m just connecting seemingly obvious dots. Have you been able to make this successful for yourself?

I know man, I feel you., I've spent my whole life trying to get down to people's level so they don't think I'm making stuff up. And you know what? It made it worse. It made me feel fake and closed. It led me to failed friendships and broken hearts.

Some time ago I just decided fuck it. I'm not gonna do it. And my life has been way better - the more I decided to be "me" and less "me disguised as an average person because I don't wanna scare everyone off and end up alone" the happier I was. And now I'm just like "okay whatever you wanna believe". (Unless it's work related, then I lead them to the conclusion by asking questions that will hopefully "connect their dots")

Re: Why you need both rituals and routines to power your workday

#45

Post by thecupisblue » Thu, Dec 13, 2018, 5:23 PM UTC

thatoneuser wrote: post #39

mockingbirdy wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People with this personality type are very reflective and have profound thoughts, but they often lack execution. You'll be most successful in think tanks or if you lead teams where you give high-level directions (you will need a business partner that is convinced by your vision and who implements it). It's also good to know that the brain constantly creates simulations about different situations. It's very important…

If I can pick your brain for advice - how on earth does one get into a position of being in a think tank or getting to lead teams if one struggles so much on the levels below? I have a decent-ish work history, still in my twenty’s and a masters in a hard science. I believe I’d do well in these positions but it’s daunting to think of how to get there. Any recommendations?

I'm in my twenties too without a degree - I just gave a ton where I was asked and where I wasn't but I knew I could make a difference. I always strive to make both active and passive changes to better in my ecosystem (be it my city, work, tech community - by doing where I can and teaching or spreading ideas where I can't. And socialising too!

Re: Why you need both rituals and routines to power your workday

#46

Post by thecupisblue » Thu, Dec 13, 2018, 5:24 PM UTC

thatoneuser wrote: post #40

thecupisblue wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to do voice, but don't want to listen to myself, I find sketching has a higher compression rate. Just saw your HN submissions and huh the coincidence - I listened to half of Hooked (making addictive apps by Nir) and got the physical copy sitting across me right now. And I also want to do the "crazy professor" style work, recently met another of our kin and we have 2 "implementers" with us in our little think…

How did you come across these implementers? I’ve recently been thinking about a concept like this, and how effective I would be to have one, but I’ve never heard the term until you used it. What does your group do? I’m very into the “crazy professor” work concept. I’d love to talk a little, even if just to see how others like myself are pursuing success in their own way.

In my surroundings - colleagues, friends, people I met at parties. Well, everyone is working on their own project - mostly AI, some random things we'll do in between and uhhh... a computing platform is the best word that fits.