The Only Way to Get Important Things Done • Hacker News Board

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#41

Post by tomjen3 » Wed, May 25, 2011, 9:20 AM UTC

radu_floricica wrote: post #19

msie wrote: post #11

I read somewhere that it was a myth that willpower is a limited resource and that we imagine it is limited, but it's not. Does anyone else remember where this was mentioned?

It's definitely not a myth. Roy Baumeister mentioned in the article did most of the work in describing how willpower behaves, and a few years back somebody else pinned down the actual mechanism (something to do with glucose - drinking a glass of something sweet restores most of the will power back).

That is sorta where I loose it - that should mean that people who drinks lots of sugar would never be willpower deprived, right?

But they are not those most likely to loose weight.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#42

Post by sliverstorm » Wed, May 25, 2011, 9:32 AM UTC

BruceForth wrote: post #30

nickpp wrote: post #16

This is Gold, Jerry, GOLD. And the best advice on creating these rituals, or HABITS is Seifeld's "Don't break the chain", coupled with Pavlina's 30-day trials. http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-se... http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/04/30-days-to-success/

From the second article: > I lost seven pounds in the first week, mostly from going to the bathroom as all the accumulated dairy mucus was cleansed from my bowels (now I know why cows need four stomachs to properly digest this stuff) WTF? Does he think cows eat dairy? Or did I parse that wrong?

I didn't even get THAT far. I stopped once he started using words like 'cleansed'. All that hollistic feel-good talk.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#43

Post by syllogism » Wed, May 25, 2011, 9:34 AM UTC

Markku wrote: post #33

latch wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something's not adding up for me...even if you are working 10 hours a day, that means you are spending 5 hours commuting, exercising and eating? 1 hour commute each way, 2 hours exercise and 1 hour for eating?

A simplified example day: 07:15-08 Wakeup, shower and breakfast 08-09 Commute+reading 09-19 At work, includes lunch and snack 19-20 Exercise 20-20:30 Grocery shopping 20:30-21:30 Commute+reading 21:30-22 Dinner 22-23:30 Hacking 23:30 To sleep (slightly late) This routine gives a small amount of extra working hours to use for time off later. Cutting work to 8 hours gives 2 hours of which 1 usually goes to a longer exe…

You commute too long. That's where those missing 2 hours are going. My example's extreme, but:

  8:30 Wakeup, shower, breakfast
  9:00-9:50 Browse the net, email
  9:50-10:00 Walk to work
  10:00-18:00 Work
  18:00-20:00 Buy groceries, cook, eat, do dishes
  20:00-21:30 Relax in some way. May include tv, movies,  exercise. Sometimes extra hacking.
  21:30-01:00 Hack (may include leftover work)

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#44

Post by pestaa » Wed, May 25, 2011, 9:36 AM UTC

latch wrote: post #23

lsc wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over the last year, I've spent /far/ more time on HN than I have watching TV or movies (excluding time spent watching movies while exercising)

When I say stop watching TV , I don't mean stop doing sedentary things . I specifically mean stop watching TV . You can do almost anything else and I sincerely believe that you'll be better for it. Read a book, exercise, learn to cook, program, help your kids with homework, play video games, go out with friends...anything is better than watching TV.

Agreed. I often tell my parents to turn it off, to spend their free time actively. Watching TV is passive entertainment at its worst.

I wish they listened.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#45

Post by Markku » Wed, May 25, 2011, 9:38 AM UTC

swombat wrote: post #39

Markku wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A simplified example day: 07:15-08 Wakeup, shower and breakfast 08-09 Commute+reading 09-19 At work, includes lunch and snack 19-20 Exercise 20-20:30 Grocery shopping 20:30-21:30 Commute+reading 21:30-22 Dinner 22-23:30 Hacking 23:30 To sleep (slightly late) This routine gives a small amount of extra working hours to use for time off later. Cutting work to 8 hours gives 2 hours of which 1 usually goes to a longer exe…

1) 10 hours at work? Cut that to a healthier and more sustainable 9 including lunch hour - less if your lunch break is shorter. 2) grocery shopping every day? Order it online or do it once a week (or both) - another daily half hour gained. 3) daily exercise is laudable, but maybe you don't need a whole hour every day. Half hour after waking up should be more than enough - unless you're doing weight lifting for muscle…

1) I don't work 10 hours every day, 8 hours twice a week at least. Like this I'm saving a couple hours every week to have some time off later. Year ago I was at -50 hours but now I'm at over +50 already. A small reserve is good. I never work overtime for money.

4 x 10 might be nice to have a longer weekend. Have to think about it since now 5 days are mostly spent working, exercising, eating and sleeping :)

2) Well that was an example day. Instead of the shopping it might be cleaning, cooking or other housework that takes half an hour to an hour. I shop two or three times a week. I also don't cook every day but cook for two or three days at a time.

I don't own a car, bike or skis because the maintenance would take time :)

3) I keep a rest day once a week and on weekends I might do two kinds of exercise in a day. Still 6-7 times a week is fine counting the occasional extra walk back from shop. That totals it to 6-10 hours a week on physical activity.

I don't spend any time going to exercise since all the equipment is either at work (gym, pool), at home (cross-trainer, weights) or I go running.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#46

Post by gcb » Wed, May 25, 2011, 9:38 AM UTC

it opens with "every time i'm home i'm with my kids" and then give an example:

- "today my [morning priority] was this blog, then i gave me a reward to play tennis" and

- "always get 8hours of sleep"

- "exercise in the morning"

...if i can always get 8h of sleep, always "be with my kids", write blog posts all morning (after the work out) and still have some time to myself to play tennis... i wouldn't be reading about getting things done.

The main problem everyone i know have is to conciliate work, loved one(s), hobbies, 8hour sleep. all in a 24h day.

and the only way to solve it is give up on two each day.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#47

Post by latch » Wed, May 25, 2011, 9:42 AM UTC

Markku wrote: post #33

latch wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something's not adding up for me...even if you are working 10 hours a day, that means you are spending 5 hours commuting, exercising and eating? 1 hour commute each way, 2 hours exercise and 1 hour for eating?

A simplified example day: 07:15-08 Wakeup, shower and breakfast 08-09 Commute+reading 09-19 At work, includes lunch and snack 19-20 Exercise 20-20:30 Grocery shopping 20:30-21:30 Commute+reading 21:30-22 Dinner 22-23:30 Hacking 23:30 To sleep (slightly late) This routine gives a small amount of extra working hours to use for time off later. Cutting work to 8 hours gives 2 hours of which 1 usually goes to a longer exe…

Your commute is long, but at least you get to read. Our schedules are similar. My morning commute is 15 minutes. I walk home at night, which takes about 45 minutes..i count that as part of my exercise time, and I also pick up quick groceries.

I guess I should add long commutes to my list of productivity hacks.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#48

Post by bobds » Wed, May 25, 2011, 9:50 AM UTC

rimantas wrote: post #37

bobds wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do cows only make milk for our enjoyment?

While calves do consume milk cows don't need four stomaches for that. Ruminants need them to break down plants enough to be processed and digested.

Well yeah that's sort of obvious. Frankly, I'm surprised that so many people will readily equate their lactose-intolerance to dairy being somehow evil.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#49

Post by Markku » Wed, May 25, 2011, 9:54 AM UTC

syllogism wrote: post #43

Markku wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A simplified example day: 07:15-08 Wakeup, shower and breakfast 08-09 Commute+reading 09-19 At work, includes lunch and snack 19-20 Exercise 20-20:30 Grocery shopping 20:30-21:30 Commute+reading 21:30-22 Dinner 22-23:30 Hacking 23:30 To sleep (slightly late) This routine gives a small amount of extra working hours to use for time off later. Cutting work to 8 hours gives 2 hours of which 1 usually goes to a longer exe…

You commute too long. That's where those missing 2 hours are going. My example's extreme, but: 8:30 Wakeup, shower, breakfast 9:00-9:50 Browse the net, email 9:50-10:00 Walk to work 10:00-18:00 Work 18:00-20:00 Buy groceries, cook, eat, do dishes 20:00-21:30 Relax in some way. May include tv, movies, exercise. Sometimes extra hacking. 21:30-01:00 Hack (may include leftover work)

You seem to stay up quite late. Unsustainable for me. Also making and eating breakfast takes for me at least 30 minutes at the moment.

Three years ago I had exactly the same 10 minute walk to work and then I did have more time available. However have to consider that:

1) Consultant usually works at client's location and client may change often, though I'm a counter-example of that myself. Moving often is not worth it. I consider my current location pretty optimal. A more central location creates more stress and costs way too much. I would believe it's more effective to just decide to work less hours every week for reduced pay but I'm not yet strong enough to commit to it :)

2) I do not spend any time travelling to shop, to exercise location or to do fun stuff. My travel time maximum is 2 hours every day - the shops, bars, movies, etc. are along the same route and do not increase time spent travelling in a day at all.

3) Car would not improve the situation. In fact it would be slower due to traffic. Or I would have to leave at 06 from home, way too early. And the tradeoff of money to time is ridiculous with so few other uses for a car. And there's the maintenance.

Thanks for the example. Maybe somebody else can chime in too.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#50

Post by hessenwolf » Wed, May 25, 2011, 9:54 AM UTC

gcb wrote: post #46

it opens with "every time i'm home i'm with my kids" and then give an example: - "today my [morning priority] was this blog, then i gave me a reward to play tennis" and - "always get 8hours of sleep" - "exercise in the morning" ...if i can always get 8h of sleep, always "be with my kids", write blog posts all morning (after the work out) and still have some time to myself to play tennis... i wouldn't be reading about…

Would that nobody had told me about the 8 hours thing when I was so young. I pathologically set alarms before free days to currentTime + 8 * 60 minutes and go to bed alarmTime - 8 * 60 minutes, and I feel wrong all day if this is interfered with.

In fact, I find that my body can handle significant variation to the 8 hour rule. Knowing this doesn't help my obsession.