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Tips for a Better Life

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Re: Tips for a Better Life

#61

Post by phist_mcgee »

seveibar wrote: post #54
alkonaut wrote: post #52

Beware that some of these are US-centric (or I simply don’t get them) like “don’t talk to cops”. Why not? Mine would be “talk to cops whenever you have a chance. They’re nice”.

You can easily implicate yourself at the scene of the crime by speaking to an officer, but in the U.S. you have the "right to remain silent". The article is generally referring to cases where you are guilty of something or could be guilty of something.

I don't think so, there is no context of that in the article. This perpetuates the mantra that cops are an evil force out to get you. In my country, police are quite respected, and the ability to go over to a police officer and ask for help means that a more trusting relationship is built. How can the US ever hope to achieve police reform with this kind of antagonistic attitude!

Maybe the line instead should be, if you believe you are being interrogated by the police, do not speak until you have an attorney present? Different entirely.

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#62

Post by carabiner »

powersnail wrote: post #28
nlh wrote: post #19

These are really great! I imagine one could write a paragraph (or more) on each, and one could setup a whole process of following through with all of them. In fact, this is inspiring: I'm going to put these in a list and review them regularly and try to take a (small) action on each. Anyone wanna try it with me? BTW - only two that I disagree with: > 13. When googling a recipe, precede it with ‘best’. You’ll find bet…

I'd like to search videos for recipes. It's reassuring when I can see whether the author is capable of cooking, and whether the result looks appetizing (to me subjectively). For instance, I've found that Jamie Oliver, despite his big names, makes food that doesn't make sense to me. If I only read the recipe, I might not figure that out. But watching him cook and seeing the product, I'm pretty confident that I won't l…

I just watch Kenji Lopez-Alt's late night gopro videos. The guy has epitomized bachelor meals (though he's married). His tortilla pizza is brilliant.

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#63

Post by Baeocystin »

softwaredoug wrote: post #30

> 5. If your work is done on a computer, get a second monitor. Less time navigating between windows means more time for thinking. I really don’t do well with a second monitor, because humans suck at multitasking. Invariably slack or email end up on the second monitor, not real work. Better advice IMO: don’t task switch, stay in the shell as much as possible. Serialize your work to the limitations of human attention

Main monitor for work, second monitor for active reference materials. No slack, no email. I am much more effective this way.

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#64

Post by earwaxauditor »

NortySpock wrote: post #24

I think the compassion section has the most wisdom in it, especially the reasoning behind the recommendation: 82. Call your parents when you think of them, tell your friends when you love them. 83. Compliment people more. Many people have trouble thinking of themselves as smart, or pretty, or kind, unless told by someone else. You can help them out. 84. If somebody is undergoing group criticism, the tribal part in yo…

> Cultivate compassion for those less intelligent than you

Also cultivate compassion for the pseudo-rationalism cultists.

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#65

Post by Jtsummers »

jaybird878 wrote: post #45

> 48. Keep your identity small. “I’m not the kind of person who does things like that” is not an explanation, it’s a trap. It prevents nerds from working out and men from dancing. At the same time, identity can be used for positive change. My family values balance and as a result I've grown into a renaissance man. I'm at the time of my life (college, looking for internships) where balance isn't something I need. I ne…

The advice is still good. An identity, deliberately self-selected, can be a useful thing and bring you some happiness. Going from, "I'm the guy that hates exercise" to "I'm the guy that likes running" probably bought me an extra decade or more of life, and a lot more comfort vs being 240+ lbs. But many identities are not self-selected or are not deliberately selected. And they can create unhappiness and conflict, so people should be careful with how they finish the phrase "I am...".

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#66

Post by yters »

redleggedfrog wrote: post #56
yters wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. I spent 20 hours installing a remote start on my wife’s minivan for $150 when it would have cost $400 to have professionals do it in 3 hours. My time was well spent.

Yeah, it's not like I'm paying people to assemble my Lego sets or play my board games for me. But your example of 20 hours for $400 would definitely be one where I'd take that $20 an hour in a heartbeat and go do something else.

Right, definitely valid. But I could have spent that 20 hrs playing a video game, which has the same sort of feedbacks, but doesn't teach me a useful skill. If I reinterpret the installation as a meditative time of carefully learning and exploring, like playing an open world game like minecraft, it feels rewarding instead of tedious. Ideally I would do something similar for all my tasks so my life is very understandable and maintainable. Despite the normal call to just have a professional do it, many things are not so tricky to do one's self, and if I trick myself into thinking the time is worthwhile spent instead of wasted since I didn't do a preferred activity, I gain a sense of virtue and deeper satisfaction. Sure, I will miss out on financial and experiential opportunities. But, it seems with virtue and a sense of standing on my own feet, these missed opportunities don't bother me, which in turn gives me less anxiety over missing out on life overall, which is what I think I really want.

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#67

Post by earwaxauditor »

morlockabove wrote: post #43
lordnacho wrote: post #37

There's some real gems mixed in with some fairly mundane stuff. I would summarize the good stuff like this: Try to understand how evolution works, because you are a product of it. What you like to eat, what you like to do, who you want to hang out with, why you feel good or bad when {situations} happens. But don't be a slave to it. Yes, there is a pressure to be the alpha male. Yes, you will get angry when people che…

Alternatively, realize that repressing that urge to be an alpha male because that's the current high-brow societal pressure is isomorphic to being a gay guy in the closet ;)

That’s a bit aggressive, no?

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#69

Post by esc_colon_q »

softwaredoug wrote: post #30

> 5. If your work is done on a computer, get a second monitor. Less time navigating between windows means more time for thinking. I really don’t do well with a second monitor, because humans suck at multitasking. Invariably slack or email end up on the second monitor, not real work. Better advice IMO: don’t task switch, stay in the shell as much as possible. Serialize your work to the limitations of human attention

Two monitors doesn't work great for me because I always feel like one is "primary" and one "secondary", where all the crap like Slack and email that distracts me goes, which just hurts productivity.

I switched to an ultrawide, and though it's about the same amount of screen space I tend to organize it differently, keeping mostly on-task stuff visible. It's real nice to have 3 tabs of related code and an iOS simulator running as well as a console without having to tab switch.

Re: Tips for a Better Life

#70

Post by redleggedfrog »

yters wrote: post #66
redleggedfrog wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's not like I'm paying people to assemble my Lego sets or play my board games for me. But your example of 20 hours for $400 would definitely be one where I'd take that $20 an hour in a heartbeat and go do something else.

Right, definitely valid. But I could have spent that 20 hrs playing a video game, which has the same sort of feedbacks, but doesn't teach me a useful skill. If I reinterpret the installation as a meditative time of carefully learning and exploring, like playing an open world game like minecraft, it feels rewarding instead of tedious. Ideally I would do something similar for all my tasks so my life is very understanda…

Yeah, and the point you make about satisfaction is important. If you're doing it for the satisfaction of learning and attaining some competence at it, that's time well spent I think.
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