Am I the only one that is a little turned off by how everyone feels they deserve everything for free?
Readit Newssun_har commented on Show HN: Tell YouTube Ads to Fuck Off fuckoff.yt... · Posted by u/galuggus
sun_har commented on Ask HN: Which courses (online or not) have had the greatest impact on you? · Posted by u/debanjan16
Yeah. I liked that course too. I heard it mentioned on the radio and it was a pretty short course if I remember correctly. The only thing I really remember from it is "Pomodoro is Cool" and "If you're stuck on something mental, go take a walk for several minutes."
The third big part of the book is the concept of "Spaced repetition" as a key to learning. In practical terms: Use Anki.
sun_har commented on Critical ignoring as a core competence for digital citizens mpg.de/19554217/new-digit... · Posted by u/giuliomagnifico
Kind of a non-sequitor, but there is one specific tool that has helped me break out of my smartphone addiction: books! The process is simple:
1. Leave phone somewhere not in my pocket and not within reach 2. Always have a book handy in my free time.
At least in my case, reaching for and reading my phone happens pre-cognition. It's completely automatic. I've found that I enjoy reading just as much, but unless I plan for it I don't have a book in reach. So the solution has been pretty simple: keep a book in reach!
Highly recommend.
You won't necessarily become good at something just because you spend time and effort on it. You can certainly enjoy it, but you won't be as good as others who are naturally good at it.
You want to find something that:
1. You enjoy, are interested in, makes you happy etc.,
2. You are naturally good at it, ie. you are talented, will be competitive,
3. Is appreciated by others, ie. they will pay you to do it.
The luckiest people get all three in abundance. Others have to find a balance and compromise on one or the other. 3 can be a deal breaker but you can do without much of either 1 or 2, but not both. However, you will always be at a disadvantage to those who have both 1 and 2.
I agree with this take, but I’d say that #1 matters the most by far, and the importance of #2 is correlated with how competitive the field is.
For example, there is (currently) so much demand for programmers that IMO you really don’t need to be naturally gifted in order to have a very strong career.
However, want to be a professional violinist? That’s a different story.
>You don't "find what you are good at" - that is backwards. [...] , working at learning and practicing, you will become good at it.
Because of the imprecise way the op phrased his question, I think you've misinterpreted it. I agree with sibling comment (jstx1) that op is not asking about "good" as a skill-level change from beginner to expert.
Instead, the op is asking something like... "How do I find the one activity that really activates the dopamine reward feedback loop in my brain which in turn makes it effortless to stay focused on it because I'm magically in that flow state?"
And because most people who ask the above question are not clinical psychologists using precise scientific language... they end up expressing it in the lower-resolution form of, "How do find the thing I'm good at?"
But then language lawyers laser focus on the word "good" and think op is asking about skill... which leads to "well you can't get good at a skill unless you practice that skill" ... which isn't really what the op was asking.
>Instead, you do what you are interested in,
Yes, and that's the step the op is having difficulty with. Lots of people are trying to find that thing that really interests them to trigger more success in their professional careers.
I like and agree with the take that OP should look for opportunities that put them in a flow state. I'll give an example from my own experience.
I'm not a naturally great programmer. I mean, I'm not bad - I get the job done. But I know that there are plenty of folks out there for which it comes much more easily.
However - programming very consistently puts me into a flow state. My workdays pass quickly (in a good way), and for the most part I enjoy what I do. As a result I've found myself learning and growing at a consistent rate over the years.
Am I going to be the best programmer in the world? Absolutely not. But I found a career that I enjoy on a day to day basis, and I can well provide for my family.
I think a lot of people, including myself, waste way too much time trying to find the magic spot in the ven diagram between their genetic ability and a career in which they will end up a virtuoso rockstar. For most people, I think this is a waste of time. The key thing is: I don't think you have to be great at something in order for it to be a good conduit for focus.
Try things, if you stumble on something that engages your focus and passes the time, do that thing more. Especially if it pays.
sun_har commented on I interviewed at six top companies in Silicon Valley in six days blog.usejournal.com/i-int... · Posted by u/voroninman
"After about a month of consistently practicing problems each day (maybe 2–3 hours/day, more on weekends)..."
I'm reading this as a guy with a wife, kids, full-time job, and rusty whiteboarding skills. My inability to make this kind of time investment makes me feel trapped at my current position.
I think these sorts of posts give people a warped view of interviewing for SWE positions. Most companies don't ask whiteboarding questions of the difficulty discussed here. If you want to work at one of the biggest corporations in the world, thats one thing - but there are plenty of good jobs out there for people like you and me who don't want to put in this sort of time commitment to interviewing.
sun_har commented on So Good They Can't Ignore You commoncog.com/blog/so-goo... · Posted by u/wheresvic1
I appreciate Newports work on productivity and think there is a ton of insight here. But I often find myself wondering - what are we optimizing for when we talk about career success?
I understand that these principles can benefit people in figuring out their direction, they have certainly helped me, but I'm often let down that "purpose" is treated as an afterthought. At the end of the day you are going to die one day, large or small, don't you want to feel that you had a positive impact on the world? Shouldn't that be a defining metric of career success?