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

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#61

Post by eru » Wed, May 25, 2011, 11:16 AM UTC

lsc wrote: post #18

Markku wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After dumping my TV some years ago, there are still some problems with time. Working, commuting, exercising and eating seem to take about 15 hours in total. Now with 7-8 hours of sleep it leaves approximately 1 hour for hacking or time with other people. A bit too little, no? Sometimes it might be possible to combine commuting and exercising, but at the moment it's not worth it, since commuting and meditation, as wel…

>I would say working less for money is the single biggest thing people can do to be more productive, or to have more time. moving closer to work has similar effects on your free time without cutting in to your free money. but yeah, I agree. It's hard to have time to work on your stuff if you work 40 hours a week, especially if you need some family or social time. working part time helps a lot, if you can pull it off.…

> moving closer to work has similar effects on your free time without cutting in to your free money.

Depends on house prices. I remember a study about those prices around London, and they found a nice relation between duration of commute vs house price. (I did some calculations, and assuming a reasonable hourly wage and interest rate (to convert the house price into a rent): each minute was bought at less than what you'd get for working that minute.)

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#62

Post by eru » Wed, May 25, 2011, 11:22 AM UTC

BruceForth wrote: post #29

philipDS wrote: post #17

But how can you do your work out immediately when you wake up and have to go to work? Wake up earlier? But you still have to sleep around 8 hours per night.. so you'd have to go to bed earlier, which gives you less time in the evening to do some hacking and other things you like. How can you pull this off? Go to work later?

There are still 24 hours in a day, doesn't really matter all that much in which order you do stuff when they still take the same amount of time.

Not all time is created equal.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#63

Post by mikle » Wed, May 25, 2011, 11:47 AM UTC

fmavituna wrote: post #52

latch wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

:) Clearly you are not a hard-core gamer or you don't have any friends who spends 200~ hours on a MMORPG per month. Although I generally agree with that TV argument.

I'd argue that playing 200 hours of a mmorpg is more valuable, helps grow more, and is generally way better than watching TV 200 hour.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#64

Post by dennisgorelik » Wed, May 25, 2011, 12:20 PM UTC

Tichy wrote: post #58

JacobAldridge wrote: post #15

I'm a massive fan of life-task automation, for the benefits of not worrying about certain things (and therefore being generally happier in life). Classic example for myself - when I used to commute to work, I would change lanes at exactly the same point every day. There was a month of trial and error to begin with, but this route and those lanes gave me the 'most likely fastest journey'. No more thinking about traffi…

"when I used to commute to work, I would change lanes at exactly the same point every day." Wouldn't it be easier to just take a train then? :-)

Even better: work remotely or move closer to the office or change work location closer to home.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#65

Post by dennisgorelik » Wed, May 25, 2011, 12:27 PM UTC

fabjan wrote: post #38

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…

Wow, I'm so happy I stopped commuting and got a job in my home town. I went from being away from home 7-19 to being away from home 7.30-17.30 Now, I don't exercise but I spend 2x30 minutes bicycling to and from work.

1 hour bicycling every day is a very solid exercise.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#66

Post by Markku » Wed, May 25, 2011, 12:38 PM UTC

dennisgorelik wrote: post #64

Tichy wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"when I used to commute to work, I would change lanes at exactly the same point every day." Wouldn't it be easier to just take a train then? :-)

Even better: work remotely or move closer to the office or change work location closer to home.

A rough example. Moving closer costs 100K more, working for 200 days a year, less commuting provides 1.5 hours more time per day, same client (place of work) for five years. Cost of hour of free time is (/ 100000 200 1.5 5) = 66.7 units of money per hour.

Worth it? Don't think so.

Working remotely is often impossible because of security policies and also not the same in terms of presence.

Difficult :)

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#67

Post by dennisgorelik » Wed, May 25, 2011, 12:48 PM UTC

dennisgorelik wrote: post #64

Tichy wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"when I used to commute to work, I would change lanes at exactly the same point every day." Wouldn't it be easier to just take a train then? :-)

Even better: work remotely or move closer to the office or change work location closer to home.

Do you mean that moving 50 minutes closer to work would cost $20K per year more?

What location are we talking about?

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#68

Post by Markku » Wed, May 25, 2011, 1:01 PM UTC

dennisgorelik wrote: post #67

dennisgorelik wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even better: work remotely or move closer to the office or change work location closer to home.

Do you mean that moving 50 minutes closer to work would cost $20K per year more? What location are we talking about?

I used numbers that are reality to me. Plug-in your own numbers for comparison.

For a 10 minute commute today, I would have pitch in another 100K for living. My experience at the moment is working 5 years for same client/location on average.

P.S. If I move out I can reclaim some of that 100K, some go to tax, fluctuating prices, I don't calculate inconvenience of moving and stressful location etc. details.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#69

Post by terio » Wed, May 25, 2011, 1:15 PM UTC

I think the take-home point of the article is to avoid depleting your limited energies making new decisions about every little thing, which makes perfect sense for me.

Now, Whitehead's cite is another thing:

"It is a profoundly erroneous truism that we should cultivate the habit of thinking of what we are doing,[...] The precise opposite is the case. Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them."

I find it much better for me to be mindful of the things I do. That does not mean I have to make new decisions all the time. It is a non-judgmental mindfulness, the practice of experiencing the present moment.

Re: The Only Way to Get Important Things Done

#70

Post by matwood » Wed, May 25, 2011, 1:20 PM UTC

Tichy wrote: post #55

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?

I am sure it must be more complicated than "not eating a cookie depletes your willpower". So if I stare at 100 cookies in the morning, all my willpower for the rest of the day will instantly evaporate? I was half expecting the advice to be: "the only way to achieve stuff is to give in to the less important cravings. That is, you get extremely fat eating cookies, but in exchange you finish your weekend project".

Willpower for me is the exact opposite of what you were expecting. Having willpower on the simple things leads to having it on bigger things and so on.

I also think willpower is learned just and takes time just like building muscles. It takes practice and doesn't follow a linear trajectory. There is also a personal aspect that each person must find on their own to help them keep going when the ability to maintain willpower becomes tough.