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

The Art of Not Thinking

tiffanymatthe.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 168 posts

Re: The Art of Not Thinking

#71

Post by tmatthe »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #65

Thanks for sharing that Tiffany. This has been the way I've worked for decades. I've found that stuff gets done , once it becomes habit. It doesn't always become enjoyable , or even effortless, but it does get done . There's a saying: "Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don't want to do, as William James suggests,…

Nice to see it works for others as well. And thanks for sharing how you code while thinking less, it's interesting to see how this can be applied to different areas in life.

Re: The Art of Not Thinking

#72

Post by pier25 »

> Do the easiest part first

Yes.

Once you've started it will be easier to keep going. Also, it's harder to not to finish something the more time you've spent on it.

Re: The Art of Not Thinking

#73

Post by atdixon »

Similarly I tried to get myself to exercise for years and years.

I must have discovered the same approach as this author.

I stopped any kind of thinking about it and focused on observing myself drive to the gym, get in the pool, do the strokes, etc.

If my verbal ("thinking") centers of my brain needed to say something I would only let them describe what I was doing ("You are driving to the gym", "you are putting your swimsuit on", etc.)

Never did I let any other "thinking" or "reasoning" enter the picture. It was all observation. I was able to keep an exercise routine for years this way.

---

I think her post fails in the last section "Do the easiest part first". This is too much thinking, reasoning and I think will backfire. She should delete this section. I think this idea is hard for people to understand. You want ZERO REASONING to come into the picture when the time comes, not even a shred. Only pure observation of you doing the task.

Re: The Art of Not Thinking

#74

Post by tmatthe »

tomxor wrote: post #70

A more specific tactic I have discovered to avoid thinking and start straight away is to make a very quick promise to myself: That I can quit as soon as I get too bored or hit a block of some kind - this relieves me of all the concerns that I might need to worry (think) about upfront, I waved those requirements when I allowed myself that quick exit. Most of the time you just end up persevering, and due to the nature…

Oh that's a good one, thanks for sharing!

Re: The Art of Not Thinking

#75

Post by tmatthe »

atdixon wrote: post #73

Similarly I tried to get myself to exercise for years and years. I must have discovered the same approach as this author. I stopped any kind of thinking about it and focused on observing myself drive to the gym, get in the pool, do the strokes, etc. If my verbal ("thinking") centers of my brain needed to say something I would only let them describe what I was doing ("You are driving to the gym", "you are putting your…

I see your point. I meant it more as a method to quickly get started on a task without having to think too much, but I realize that having to select the easiest part might be too much thinking already. I'll add a footnote for that.

Re: The Art of Not Thinking

#76

Post by ep103 »

hinkley wrote: post #61
darkerside wrote: post #13

If you are in a similar boat, it's likely that when you consider an upcoming dreaded task, there is at least a small part of you that admits the possibility that you will not do the task . And because there is, and because your brain realizes it, it expends mental energy trying to convince you not to do it. Once you are actually doing the task, or it's done, or you realize that you must start doing it immediately, yo…

Some psychologists seem to be okay with the idea of self-bribery to get through difficult tasks. I think culturally some of us are taught that this is a form of weakness, but it just results in things not being done. I don't agree with a lot of Alcoholics Anonymous' philosophy, but the concept of 'white-knuckling' is quite a powerful metaphor for the trap we get into of trying to force ourselves through a difficult a…

I laughed while reading your response, because I was reading your response while eating a small amount of ice cream, specifically because I was about to go back to purging my day's worth of incoming emails, a task I genuinely hate doing : D

Re: The Art of Not Thinking

#77

Post by hinkley »

agumonkey wrote: post #58
darkerside wrote: post #13

If you are in a similar boat, it's likely that when you consider an upcoming dreaded task, there is at least a small part of you that admits the possibility that you will not do the task . And because there is, and because your brain realizes it, it expends mental energy trying to convince you not to do it. Once you are actually doing the task, or it's done, or you realize that you must start doing it immediately, yo…

Instead of lying I'd use the make it fun. Find any reason to make that task enjoyable, flip it around, organize it differently. At work (temporary gig): - manual labour == free workout. Whenever I have to crouch for a file.. I do it in a slow and perfect squat. I grab the file and stay down to strecth, then I go up swift .. I'm happy to have that file because I gained something. Other task like archive defragmenting…

You can't rationalize or intellectualize everything. Trying just makes it harder later on when the things you cannot bargain with start piling up, despite all of your engineering attempts to prevent them. Essentially the author is asserting that thinking harder isn't going to fix some classes of problem, no matter how hard you think.

Fundamentally, there's a trap. It's a short trip from "I can avoid this if I'm good enough" to "I didn't avoid this, so I'm not good enough (bad)." That's toxic dialog. If this is the way you think about anyone, including yourself, you're not being a good friend, and there will be consequences.

And I realize the irony in this statement, but if you like to out-clever problems, you should think about whether you are failing to maintain a diversity of rich, long-term relationships with people. If so, this is probably not a coincidence.

Re: The Art of Not Thinking

#78

Post by agumonkey »

tmatthe wrote: post #66
agumonkey wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instead of lying I'd use the make it fun. Find any reason to make that task enjoyable, flip it around, organize it differently. At work (temporary gig): - manual labour == free workout. Whenever I have to crouch for a file.. I do it in a slow and perfect squat. I grab the file and stay down to strecth, then I go up swift .. I'm happy to have that file because I gained something. Other task like archive defragmenting…

Yes I do this too! It's amazing what mindset can do.

We could talk about the social version of this. In my job nobody really works, it's an adversarial environment where everybody is hurting so wants to help nobody. A colleague and I did a thing together, the flow of shared tasks when done in friendly spirit helps immensely. Passing stuff between each others. Things happening while you're doing something else. Joining back together.. This should be mandatory in work and what leaders should be doing, ensuring people work in synergy.

Re: The Art of Not Thinking

#79

Post by watwut »

Tade0 wrote: post #22
bluntfang wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you won't find a physical hobby you enjoy because you never "just do it" enough to find out if you enjoy any of it. It's a bit of chicken and egg. People who think they have "emotional aversion to discomfort and disenjoyment of physical activity" should probably seek therapy if they really want to change.

I tried yoga, cycling, going to the gym - none stuck with me. I did try though. I only really enjoy swimming - but it's too much work to prepare yourself for the pool - and carrying things - the other day me and a few frineds helped my other friend move ten station wagons worth of stuff - but that isn't a particularly healthy activity.

I used to have swimming stuff in bag all the time when not wet, so getting ready meant just picking it up.

Re: The Art of Not Thinking

#80

Post by agumonkey »

hinkley wrote: post #77
agumonkey wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instead of lying I'd use the make it fun. Find any reason to make that task enjoyable, flip it around, organize it differently. At work (temporary gig): - manual labour == free workout. Whenever I have to crouch for a file.. I do it in a slow and perfect squat. I grab the file and stay down to strecth, then I go up swift .. I'm happy to have that file because I gained something. Other task like archive defragmenting…

You can't rationalize or intellectualize everything. Trying just makes it harder later on when the things you cannot bargain with start piling up, despite all of your engineering attempts to prevent them. Essentially the author is asserting that thinking harder isn't going to fix some classes of problem, no matter how hard you think. Fundamentally, there's a trap. It's a short trip from "I can avoid this if I'm good…

That's what I tried to say in my last sentence. For way too absurd things, if you're obliged that time, do it, and the next time simply refuse and go elsewhere.
Post reply on HN