Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

There's no speed limit (2009)

sivers.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 214 posts

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#41

Post by sivers »

reason wrote: post #36

This is a great article. My problem is, however, that I take it to the extreme: I set unrealistic goals for myself seeing as there are about 50 different things I want to learn outside of school. I almost always never meet my goals, and I become really discouraged. It also seems like most successful people can point to an event, person, etc, in their past that served as a great turning point in putting them on the pa…

First: Don't be a donkey. http://sivers.org/donkey

Also, ask yourself of those 50 different goals, which is something you HATE NOT doing? http://sivers.org/hatenot

Focus on that goal, and let go of the rest.

See my other reply here about the conditions of "flow". One is that you need to be getting immediate positive feedback on your actions. Maybe your 50 different goals aren't giving you any progress feedback, because they never get enough of your time to make progress?

Imagine kind of like some people take a 10-day meditation retreat, or a 7-day fast, maybe what you need is like a 10-day "ONLY ONE GOAL" retreat.

Pick the one thing that matters most, and only work towards that one thing. It's almost physically painful to ignore the other 49 at first, but soon the rewards from that one will be worth it. Then it feeds on itself, and perhaps could be your turning point.

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#42

Post by reason »

sivers wrote: post #41
reason wrote: post #36

This is a great article. My problem is, however, that I take it to the extreme: I set unrealistic goals for myself seeing as there are about 50 different things I want to learn outside of school. I almost always never meet my goals, and I become really discouraged. It also seems like most successful people can point to an event, person, etc, in their past that served as a great turning point in putting them on the pa…

First: Don't be a donkey. http://sivers.org/donkey Also, ask yourself of those 50 different goals, which is something you HATE NOT doing? http://sivers.org/hatenot Focus on that goal, and let go of the rest. See my other reply here about the conditions of "flow". One is that you need to be getting immediate positive feedback on your actions. Maybe your 50 different goals aren't giving you any progress feedback, becau…

Awesome. The One Goal Retreat sounds like a great idea. I'll give it a shot - thanks!

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#43

Post by sivers »

belnyc wrote: post #38
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, Do you have any experiences with or knowledge of speed learning being used to learn the physical skills of playing an instrument?

No, but my buddy Josh Kaufman, author of the great “Personal MBA” book, is doing a new project (and book) about exactly that!

He's using speed-learning techniques to learn 6 different skills fast, and one of them is learning a new instrument.

Contact him here - http://joshkaufman.net/about/ - to see if he could give you some starter points for now, until his book comes out much later.

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#44

Post by tomkin »

sivers wrote: post #25
maheshs wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How to you focus? Do you also face issue with your focus some time in life?

See my other comment here about the drive to "be the next Zuckerberg". Then look into the conditions of "flow" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29 1. A clear set of goals : you know exactly what needs to be done next. 2. The task is not too easy, but not too hard. It's just at the edge of your ability. 3. The task gives you immediate feedback. When you're engaged in that kind of work, you FOCUS! That…

> Then look into the conditions of "flow"

Since I was a kid, I would have these rare moments of intense calmness. Certain things would set it off: the sound of paper brushing together when someone is reading a book. I've also had this happen when listening to certain people talk; their voice or mannerisms trigger it. Other strange things also trigger it, like the sound of secadas in the summer. The older I get the more rare I experience it, but I've yet to hear anyone else talk about it. When I've explained this feeling to people, they look at me like I am crazy. I started to wonder if this elated feeling is so extreme for me because I'm generally tense, and so, extreme relaxation is so absolute in my case. Flow sounds like a similar experience. Maybe it's the same?

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#45

Post by sivers »

aclark wrote: post #35
sivers wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See my other comment here about the drive to "be the next Zuckerberg". Then look into the conditions of "flow" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29 1. A clear set of goals : you know exactly what needs to be done next. 2. The task is not too easy, but not too hard. It's just at the edge of your ability. 3. The task gives you immediate feedback. When you're engaged in that kind of work, you FOCUS! That…

Surely there must be more "cool stuff" to do? Also, how satisfying is helping others achieve their goals, and how much does it motivate you? Trying to "top" yourself doesn't sound right, but trying to find the things that match #1, 2, 3 sounds more like it.

Yeah, honestly I'm learning Rails, Sinatra, Sequel, Nginx, JavaScript, jQuery, and Backbone, all back-to-back from books and test projects, quite intensely, and not really matching those 1,2,3 steps, because I'm often in too deep over my head without a clear vision of what I need to do next. It's discouraging.

But I am quite driven to turn my next app/business ideas into reality : http://50pop.com/code

Definitely not trying to "top" CD Baby. Just following what fascinates me. Just not quite as intensely as when I was so driven to be a rock star. ☺

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#46

Post by sivers »

krmmalik wrote: post #37

I think there are a whole load of kids out there that could benefit from a "no speed limit" policy. I think the larger problem is that there aren't enough teachers that can set the pace. I remember, as a kid, reading an article in the paper about how two 10 year old kids had completed a computing A level course (i'm from the UK). I was 11 myself at the time and so much wanted to do that course. My parents looked in m…

Great point! Finding an outstanding teacher is HARD! It's never clear where to look.

Great performers are usually not great teachers. And great teachers aren't always great performers themselves.

Any advice, anyone?

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#47

Post by sivers »

aptwebapps wrote: post #30
sivers wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's OK. It's a common confusion. My senior year (at Berklee) the company that prints up our report cards sent them to Berkeley California. Kind of an ongoing joke. ("Where did you go to school?" - "Berklee" - "Oh wow, that's really prestigious!" - "... College of Music." ".... oh.")

Isn't Berklee, in music, just as prestigious as Berkley in the rest of academia?

Arguably. ☺

It's famous. It's quite good these days. Back in 1987 when I was there many of the teachers were phoning it in. I wouldn't call it a great school back then.

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#48

Post by sivers »

steerb wrote: post #21

Is this a way of saying one should always live on the edge of incompetence? Edit: I ask this, because I have difficulties applying your ideas on fields where I don't have any good teachers around (e.g., lets say I want to become a better cook).

Sorry your question got a little lost & downvoted.

See another reply, above, about the difficulty in finding a great teacher.

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#49

Post by unimpressive »

silverbax88 wrote: post #13

My favorite nugget: " I run across kids all the time who say they want to be a great musician. I tell them I can help, and tell them to show up at my studio at 9am if they're serious. Almost nobody ever does." I've learned this after so many years. Everyone talks about wanting to be successful. No one ever means it. Having someone just show up is a miracle.

As goes the famous Woody Allen quote that a large portion of life is just showing up. If a hacker gave me an offer like that I'd feel incredibly foolish not showing up. But then I guess you can discount that as talk until such a situation were to actually present itself.

But yeah, the disconnect between peoples words and their actions is laughably ridiculous.

Re: There's no speed limit (2009)

#50

Post by whyleyc »

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.

Great post - two questions:

1) What occupies your time these days Derek ?

2) Possibly related - what unfulfilled dreams do you still have ?

Post reply on HN