

How I Optimize Myself - operand
http://danrodriguez.me/?p=56

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lazydon
I wonder how the author keeps such a long list in his mind while working. I'm
not sure how, when his brain is actually not cooperating, he would say "brain,
here's the remedy, so stick to it". Most points have this pattern "don't..",
"resist..", "seize..". Whom are we kidding - as if its that easy directing our
quirky mind.

I'm reminded of following Daniel Kahneman's closing notes in his books
'Thinking Fast & Slow'. So, after listing all biases and quirks (to which he
has devoted his life), he writes:

What can be done about biases? How can we improve judgments and decisions,
both our own and those of the institutions that we serve and that serve us?
The short answer is that little can be achieved without a considerable
investment of effort. As I know from experience, System 1 is not readily
educable. Except for some effects that I attribute mostly to age, my intuitive
thinking is just as prone to overconfidence, extreme predictions, and the
planning fallacy as it was before I made a study of these issues. I have
improved only in my ability to recognize situations in which errors are
likely: “This number will be an anchor...,” “The decision could change if the
problem is reframed...” And I have made much more progress in recognizing the
errors of others than my own.

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rickdale
>"Eat Well"

I can't think of anything more distracting than trying to fit in 5 meals/day.
Lost a lot of weight doing the slow carb diet, which is eating 4 times/day and
the gradually shifted to the warrior diet, which is essentially one large
meal/day. Takes a few days to adjust, but once I did my ability to focus has
been unreal. Not everyday, but somedays I feel like I am on adderall and it is
awesome. Anyways, just want to throw it out there, eating 5 times a day can be
a lot for some, and I have found other hn'ers out there that practice one meal
per day. I really really enjoy it.

~~~
operand
Interesting. You and another commenter on the article are making me want to
try this. I've definitely noticed better energy levels through the day when I
eat small quantities frequently, but I agree that it can be a lot of work.
I've never tried the once a day thing. I'm skeptical, but it sounds intriguing
enough to try...

~~~
rickdale
Try it, but you gotta get over the OMG I am am hungry feeling which takes a
few days. I remember the first time I had to drive an hour while fasting, I
was scared I was going to pass out, which in retrospect is ridiculous.

You adapt to it just like anything else. If you can, read The Warrior Diet by
Ori Hofmekler or just find him online. The other resource that I find amazing
is The Fat Burning Man podcast by Abel James. I found Abel and the podcast
while searching out stuff on Ori (he is featured for one ep), but Abel really
taught me how to live the fasting lifestyle, and he goes into depth about it
in the episodes. Abel fasts for most of the day as well. I dont know, it might
be a trend, but like I said, I really really like it. The worst part about
dieting for me was eating but not feeling like I ate enough. Turns out its
easier to just not eat, and then stuff my face like a child at night..

btw, I recommend working out while fasting to get the maximum benefit. If you
have more questions or whatever, I can give you my email, just let me know.

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danielharan
Upvoting this, if only for the suggestion to "Don’t think at your desk", which
is a strategy I hadn't heard before.

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TeMPOraL
I'm a person who just _plain can 't think_ in front of the code. Whenever I
need to design something, I need to take pen and some paper, or go use a
whiteboard, or go outside and take a walk, or sometimes take a shower (I use a
waterproof notepad to write down ideas there).

I always struggled with this, seeing how my friends can sit for 8h/day in
front of computers coding good stuff, and I need to take walks outside every
time I need to think something through. It's good and reassuring to find that
there are others in this situation as well.

~~~
yawz
_> I use a waterproof notepad to write down ideas there_

Seriously?! Very very cool. I should get one of those.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Seriously. It's more useful than I suspected :). I do the first sketches of my
talks in the shower now; calmness and hot water boost imagination :).

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linux_devil
>"Don't think at your desk" Personally it helps me a lot , I go for a small
walk alone and it helps.

~~~
thrownaway2424
I try not to go to my desk unless I have the program fully formed on paper
already. If I go to the desk with a half-baked idea I will either just stare,
or I will read pointless sites like this one all day.

I used to have a computer that for security reasons was only connected to
revision control, build-and-test systems, and production datacenters. No
outside access. Those were the days, frankly. I don't know why the company got
rid of the policy that required them, but it really improved not only security
but also productivity.

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finishingmove
Mostly reasonable advice. An important step was missing though. Editor / IDE
setup anyone? And in regards to that, I would like to point out one particular
thing that might seem trivial. Color scheme. I think most people don't realize
how much a proper color scheme helps reduce eyestrain, and hence general
irritableness. Not to mention saving your eyes in the long run... High
contrast between foreground and background color tires your eyes faster.
That's why you should never use (0,0,0) or (255,255,255) as your background
color.

~~~
nulldata
That's defiantly an important factor, I programmed with light ( high contrast
) colour themes for 3 years. I got frequent headaches ( especially at night
time ), but then I switched to a dart theme ( Monokai <3 ) and I barely get
any headaches while coding any more.

~~~
swah
Agreed. I even would say that I use a light theme in light places, dark in
dark places. So I use
[https://github.com/titoBouzout/Camaleon](https://github.com/titoBouzout/Camaleon)
:)

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sizzle
has the author never tried foam ear plugs before...?

" Eliminate distractions, and I mean eliminate For a long time there’s been a
fad in our industry of having open workspaces. While being right next to
someone and being able to just look over and ask a question is ideal for
communication, it can be the opposite for concentration. Headphones with loud
music don’t solve the problem either. What I believe works best is quiet. Can
you imagine taking a final exam in college with someone blasting music? You
can’t concentrate at your best when any sort of external stimuli is demanding
some of your attention. It needs to be quiet, and free of any visual
distraction as well. People walking by, a television, anything like this
should be avoided for you to stay in the zone. If your office doesn’t have a
quiet distraction free area to work in, take it up with your manager. I’m
personally lucky enough to get to choose when to work from home, and I often
do so when I have a large piece of work cut out for me that I don’t need to
communicate much more on."

~~~
nulltype
You wear foam ear plugs at work?

~~~
sizzle
I have foam ear tips on my ear buds and wear them without music playing so co-
workers are none the wiser while I get full sound isolation. It works out
quiet well for me, and pulling one out to engage with anyone is effortless.

~~~
sizzle
*quite

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nazgulnarsil
5-6 meals helps burn fat is broscience.

~~~
ChristianBundy
Claiming that something is "broscience" without evidence is even worse than
broscience.

~~~
jaredsohn
No. Science requires evidence; broscience includes everything else. (Unless
you think broscience requires surpassing a popularity threshold; you can see
this hits that by googling it.)

Edit: The burden of proof is in the original claim, rather than calling it
broscience. They even crossed off the claim in the article.

