
Ask HN: How would you spend $100 a month for a year on professional development? - 8611m
If you have a budget of $1,200 for a year, how would you spend it to get the most out of it?
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jonny_storm
Health hacks. Supplements, nootropics, MCT oil, sleep aids, HRV training
equipment, meditation software--whatever I find works. $1200 USD more than
covers my annual health needs for regular upkeep beyond food and exercise, but
I would spend four times as much for the same without hesitation.

From a purely monetary perspective, I know I can reliably turn $1200 USD
invested in my health into many tens of thousands more, but only if _I_ am
reliable.

Having the right tools helps me avoid illness, depression, inessential
idleness, "brain fog," anxiety, and other, similar maladies. Not fighting
myself means I have more energy to focus on my goals, which results in more
time for essential idleness, which provides me more energy to focus on my
goals, and so on.

With the right tools, I can work at peak performance every day, and $1200 is,
to me, a worthwhile price to achieve this. Regardless, I wish you well in
whatever you choose to invest your $1200 in.

~~~
paulcole
> Supplements, nootropics, MCT oil, sleep aids, HRV training equipment,
> meditation software

Is there any reliable, legitimate evidence that any of these things are
actually useful? Or is it all just hand-wavey nonsense?

From a quick Google, I'm seeing lots of results from the Bulletproof(tm)
coffee guy which isn't doing a lot for my faith in this.

Mostly curious because after pricing out the things that you listed, it feels
like you could get a lot more placebo-bang for your buck.

~~~
jonny_storm
Yes, there appears to be good evidence that Vitamin C and Zinc aid immune
function. Yes, Iodine deficiency is real, and you should ensure you have
enough. Yes, 5-HTP, Tryptophan, Melatonin, and Magnesium are excellent sleep
aids. Yes, Caprylic acid oxidizes in the gut to produce ketones. Optimizing
bodily function starts with diet, continues with exercise, and finishes with
topping off whatever is missing, or reducing whatever is in excess. Knowing
what's in your food, how your body interacts with it, and how to supplement it
doesn't seem like hand-waving to me. The hand-waving comes when people make
extraordinary claims far exceeding the known effects of any one of these
tools, and with time and effort, it is possible to cut the wheat from the
chaff.

There really is nowhere near enough epidemiological study on the effects of
nootropics or performance enhancing drugs, in general. Much of the science
surrounding the recent wave of biohacking is bleeding edge and, often, a study
on some particular use also represents the entire corpus on its effects. In
service of biohacking, this makes it difficult to weed out the hacks. As ever,
_caveat emptor_.

That said, when it comes to making personal decisions about what helps you or
hinders you, I don't believe you necessarily need to be a neurologist or an
organic chemist. You can collect stories from other people, and take them on
balance with what studies you can find. Going over something like
[http://www.jbc.org/content/89/2/547.full.pdf](http://www.jbc.org/content/89/2/547.full.pdf)
won't make for exciting reading, but it can help you make informed decisions.
You can, with a cautious and self-critical attitude, guinea pig yourself,
taking logs and noting your overall health and performance, preferably with
the help of your doctor. You can ask others near you if they notice any
changes in your performance or mood. And at all times, you can ask yourself
how you feel.

There are a lot of people cashing in on "brain drugs" of late. You mention
Bulletproof (Dave Asprey), and while Dave surely is making good money, he does
sell decent products. To be considered separately, Dave openly advocates for
sourcing food and supplements from wherever they may be cheapest and of good
quality, but I happen to like his coffee, so I fork over the cash.

I don't know how placebo effect for one supplement could amount to much if
you're already taking 30-40 vitamins, powders, and capsules a day (as I am).
If I take one more white gel cap, I barely notice. What matters to me are my
notes over the last few weeks, whether I've observed any positive or negative
impact in that time, and whether that impact was sustained without any obvious
confounding factors. This is hardly a multi-year, double-blind trial, but it
is enough for me to confidently decide whether I find a drug's results
favorable enough to continue using it.

As a freelance contractor, falling into even short bouts of illness,
depression, indecision, immobility, or myopia represents a real and ever-
present threat to my quality of life. For me, $1200 is completely worth the
price of finding new ways to increase my total productive time. For others,
that money is better spent elsewhere. Yet I would argue that even webmaven's
purchase of a good chair and keyboard is right up there in my original list,
under "whatever I find works." Any investment in one's health, I believe, is
sure to be repaid in full, for what use is the rest if we do not have our
health?

------
prostoalex
Safari books online subscription is one thing I personally find the most
useful. Potential cost could be $0, though, if your local library has access.

~~~
pkaye
If you get ACM membership you can get a good subset of Safari books and some
other online book selections as part of the deal.

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rgovind
I would hire a career coach. One idea I have been kicking around is bi-weekly
scrums for those who want to go up the ladder. You will go to the scrum,
explain what you have done in last two weeks and explain what you will do in
next two weeks. The scrum master/coach plus others will give you suggestions
based on what your career goals are.

~~~
jtcond13
+1 to this. Most of us are terrible at understanding our own bad behaviors and
are friends are too nice to tell us.

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webmaven
#1 is a good chair. It's a cliche, but my Aeron has lasted for the entire 12
years of it's warranty (and they've shipped replacement parts out whenever
needed), and has been worth every penny I spent on it.

The newly redesigned version[1] looks attractive as a replacement (probably in
2018).

After that, I would say #2 is a good keyboard, but specific recommendations
are very personal. Suffice it to say that you probably want to spend at least
$150 (and possibly 2-3x that) for the right keyboard for you. I am very likely
to purchase a Keyboardio Model 01[2] next to replace my venerable Unicomp
buckling spring keyboard[3].

Once you have the ergonomics of your work environment adjusted to your
physique, you can commit to an extra hour or more every day of studying (by
using) new tools, libraries, languages, etc. without unnecessary stress on
your body.

[1] [http://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/performance-
wor...](http://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/performance-work-
chairs/aeron-remastered.html)

[2] [https://shop.keyboard.io](https://shop.keyboard.io)

[3] [http://www.pckeyboard.com/](http://www.pckeyboard.com/)

~~~
twoquestions
Man, with a keyboard from keyboard.io, it might actually make vanilla Emacs
easier to use!

I wonder why previous designs of keyboards, including typewriters, didn't make
greater use of your thumbs. It's a good half of the functionality of your hand
that most input devices blithely ignore, in favor of our pinky fingers?! On
the surface that seems like an ergonomic catastrophe.

Does anyone have a good reason why keyboards are designed they way they are
now?

~~~
wapz
I just looked at keyboard.io. There is only space on the right hand?!?! I
could never make that sacrifice.

~~~
webmaven
The Model 01 is reprogrammable. Add a space key for the left hand if you like.

~~~
wapz
I don't know why they wouldn't make the space for both fingers. I used to use
logitech software for programming keyboards and mouses but the software was so
ram intensive for what it did (few keyboard binds). I'm sure this is not the
case with a simple key re-binding but not for me unfortunately.

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rcavezza
Read more. Buy books when you hear someone online make a recommendation. The
cost per book is inexpensive.

Books force you to disconnect and take time to think about your day's work and
what to do next. I think that's my favorite part.

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gspyrou
Pluralsight subscription
[https://www.pluralsight.com/](https://www.pluralsight.com/) .

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Zelmor
A threadmill desk and books, pretty much.

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shortoncash
I'd gamble it all on games of skill to improve my risk management abilities.

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wprapido
udemy courses

