
Confront reality  - wglb
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/anders
======
wtvanhest
I'm shocked that no one else read this article, then thought to themselves,
"I've made both of those mistakes before". I know I have. In order to get
something really big accomplished I have to break it in to parts and just work
away at it.

My biggest failures early on were due to not knowing how to chip away, and my
biggest successes have been from chipping away. Breaking a big goal in to
parts and in the paraphrased words of Steve Jobs, knowing the dots will
eventually connect.

I read this 3 or 4 hours ago and couldn't wait to come back to the comments
but I guess I'm the only one that felt that way.

I really enjoyed reading the post today because I was having a tough challenge
the last 5 days or so and it made me go back, rethink where I need to be next
step and take a smaller piece first, then worry about the big execution later.

~~~
niels_olson
During the last Superbowl a friend quipped, at an Indian restaurant, regarding
Steve Jobs's cancer, borrowing from Feynman: "He could pitch anyone. But no
one can pitch nature. You can't pitch nature."

------
j_s
ViewText:
[http://viewtext.org/article?url=http://www.aaronsw.com/weblo...](http://viewtext.org/article?url=http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/anders)

(not yellow, not narrow column, not tiny font, does mess up some UTF8/extended
characters & quotation formatting, etc.)

~~~
thebigshane
I find it readable enough as is, but if textifying is desired, how about use
Aaron's own textifier?

[http://html2text.theinfo.org/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aaronsw.c...](http://html2text.theinfo.org/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aaronsw.com%2Fweblog%2Fanders)

------
purephase
I like this quote:

"Reality is painful — it’s so much easier to keep doing stuff you know you’re
good at or else to pick something so hard there’s no point at which it’s
obvious you’re failing — but it’s impossible to get better without confronting
it."

It is a measure of a good technology hire. I don't necessarily want someone
who is an expert in one language, one technology or even one particular
vertical. I want someone who consistently pushes to learn more. I would even
provide the necessary tools/training and time for them to do so.

It is a problem with a lot of developers. They get into a comfort zone and
stick it out.

Good interview question:

"Tell me about a time in which you were trying something new and it didn't
exactly work out as you expected. What did you do next?"

~~~
wglb
I have been known to ask that in interviews: "Tell me three things that you
know _won't_ work".

------
they4kman
I recall the day I didn't stop thinking how to break a problem down. I kept
chipping away till each bit was dead simple. It was absolutely magnificent! It
could be applied to everything! But within a month, I'd lost what I took for
granted: knowing the dots would connect. (Thank you, wtvanhest; that quote
struck a chord.)

I would chop up a big problem into beautifully simple tasks, but partway
through executing them, I'd begin to worry about another task. Maybe it wasn't
the best solution. Maybe it would be better this way, or if I changed dada-
dada... I would take the simple solutions and mangle their limbs, building
another big, complex, can't-fit-in-my-head problem, while still retaining the
notion I was being effective.

I solved this problem (for me) by keeping a "complex problem" journal. I write
roughly what the problem is and why it's a problem. I write how I'd know the
problem is solved. Then I break it down into bits, writing a few sentences on
how the bit connects to other bits. Sometimes it takes an hour, other times a
day or a week. But once it's obvious, when my replies to any question are
"yes, the sky is blue" and "it's because fire is hot", I need only reread the
journal (often) to keep it fresh.

I accomplish this through delegation. If you leave your keys in a bowl near
the door, you're prone to walk right past it, because you need to remember "my
keys are in the bowl" every time. And you will remember it, but sometimes you
won't. I leave my keys hanging on the door handle, so it's impossible to
forget them -- they fall when I open the door. I don't rely on my faulty
memory, I rely on my senses and the ability of the universe to trigger them.

It was a wonderful article, and I'm always thankful for whatever tests my
assumptions and manner of doing. After all, the nicest thing anyone can do is
knock you off your track.

------
olliesaunders
_Numerous studies have found an hour with a random stranger is just as good as
an hour with a professional therapist._

Yeah that’s probably because you can’t get much therapy done in one hour; all
the gives time for is the therapist to familiarize themselves with the
problem. You need a minimum of 6 sessions to see an effect on a modest issue
usually.

~~~
rfugger
Reference:

<http://csrp1.hku.hk/files/975_3792_927.pdf>

It definitely isn't drawing any conclusions based on a single hour, but on
repeated therapeutic interactions.

------
cb18
_The pundits try to weasel out of them. As Tetlock writes; “The trick is to
attach so many qualifiers to your vague predictions that you will be well
positioned to explain pretty much whatever happens. "_

Yes the equivocation can be absurd. One example that has stuck with me due in
part to it's brazen absurdity, was an expert something or other on some pbs
news show saying

"I'm going to predict that [so and so] _might_ happen."

I could only think, wow what a bold prognostication on your part.

\---

As to the article in whole, I agree. I've always found the feedback aspect of
deliberate practice to be a key part of the process.

------
debacle
I don't think it's fair to compare very subjective things like psychology with
chess, something entirely objective. That doesn't necessarily mean I disagree
with his point.

Aaron meanders a bit, but I think his core points could be summed up as "You
can't think your way out of all of your problems, and you shouldn't constantly
dwell on the intangible."

As a side-note, It's somewhat funny to me that Aaron lists reddit almost as an
afterthought in his bio.

~~~
naner
He was tacked on to the project, not part of the original team. And he seems
to be somewhat ashamed that he created something people usually describe as
addictive and time-wasting.

~~~
debacle
Some amazing things have used reddit as a vehicle. You have to take the good
with the bad.

