
Ask HN: What are some available force multipliers that most people don't know? - newsbinator
All software is a force multiplier, but some tools, like Zapier&#x2F;IFTTT are in a class of their own.<p>Likewise concepts like Compound Interest and arguably knowledge of fallacies, such as &quot;sunk cost fallacy&quot;.<p>What are some force multipliers that are available to most people, but which most people don&#x27;t regularly put into use?
======
ahelwer
Eyerollingly boring advice, but quitting (and deleting!) reddit, twitter,
facebook, instagram, and maybe even HN. Anything designed with the explicit
goal of occupying your attention. Maybe you've noticed that you haven't
managed to read a book in a year. There's a reason for that. And none of those
sites can give you knowledge of the depth found in even a particularly
crappily-written book.

People get all worried about losing their followers & social connections. The
social fabric is very adaptable. It does not require public technological
codification. You realistically only need fewer than five good friends to be
happy; text them. I can guarantee your followers don't care about you at all.
The ones who do will reach out to you in other ways.

Since the OP also listed a fallacy, one in the same vein is the endowment
effect - where people value things more simply because they already possess
them. Consider the example of you holding a stock priced at $200. Now consider
an alternate universe where you didn't own that stock but had $200 cash (plus
some extra for transaction costs). Would you buy the stock? If not, you should
probably consider selling it. This same thought process can be applied to
nearly anything in your life: job, significant other, city in which you live.
It's good for keeping you out of traps.

~~~
alecr95
> quitting (and deleting!) reddit, twitter, facebook, instagram, and maybe
> even HN.

I've completely dropped twitter/facebook/etc, but have found that I keep
coming back to HN and reddit primarily to keep some level of awareness of
things that happen outside of my "bubble".

How would you maintain that level of awareness while still dropping those
social media platforms?

~~~
cellularmitosis
By scheduling time for them, if you have the available self-discipline.
Spending 30 minutes once per day on reddit is enough to keep you in the loop,
and if it is on your calendar at a specific time, your chances of sticking to
it are good.

Scheduled violations of the rules seem to paradoxically help you follow the
rules. Tim Ferris advocates for one dietary cheat day per week, with the idea
that it takes incredible will power to give up donuts forever, but almost
anyone can put it off until Friday.

Schedule your cheats.

Edit: scheduling is also great for beating procrastination. “I will change my
oil at 7:30pm Tuesday” is way more effective than “I need to change my oil
soon”

~~~
_t0du
I had a therapist a while ago that spent a lot of time talking with me about
how discipline and motivation aren't real. His point was that lots of people
lose before they start by feeling like they aren't disciplined or motivated
people inherently. And ultimately, the only way to measure motivation or
discipline is to measure something else - "I was motivated to stay fit because
I went to the gym"

He also spent a lot of time with me on understanding that motivation and
discipline are most times just thin wrappers around what people actually want.
Thinking less about "If I were just more disciplined I would be able to do
this" and more about "If I actually wanted to do this I probably would", and
then focusing on what you actually want, or why you don't want something, is
probably a much more valuable of a use of time for some people than thinking
about motivation or discipline.

I am not posting this to say "If you're a disciplined person, you're wrong" \-
but moreso "If you're a person that believes you struggle with
motivation/discipline, maybe you can rethink those concepts".

~~~
mod
I took a Jocko (he's a famous navy seal) quote and made it my mantra, it's
similar.

He said "Be tougher."

To paraphrase the context: mental toughness is a choice, and if you aren't as
tough as you want, you just have to be tougher. Choose it. In each moment when
you are tested.

Thanks for your comment. For a while I had been wondering why I couldn't
focus, wasn't able to accomplish some simple long term goals, etc. Be tougher
was my fix, and your comment expands on some ideas in a way that makes sense
to me.

~~~
KoosL
As other commenters have pointed out, environment and context of an individual
are often stronger than the individuals themselves. I thought I was tough,
resilient and mindful. Then the pandemic came and I couldn’t choose not to
feel stressed and distracted.

------
theriddlr
Bicycles.

Man on a bicycle can go three or four times faster than the pedestrian, but
uses five times less energy in the process. He carries one gram of his weight
over a kilometer of flat road at an expense of only 0.15 calories. The bicycle
is the perfect transducer to match man’s metabolic energy to the impedance of
locomotion. Equipped with this tool, man outstrips the efficiency of not only
all machines but all other animals as well."

[http://www.bikeboom.info/efficiency/](http://www.bikeboom.info/efficiency/)

~~~
upstill
"one gram of his weight over a kilometer of flat road at an expense of only
0.15 calories"? That can't be true. I weigh 70Kg, and I'm pretty sure I don't
expend 10,000 calories riding a bike for a Km.

~~~
nsilvestri
The calories we tend to think of aren't the same as the calories that we think
we know. In regards to energy intake and eating food, a calorie is actually a
kilocalorie. So your 10,000 calories to ride a kilometer is actually 10 kcal.

------
DenisM
Iteration speed is magic. The faster I can write and deploy code the more
motivated and energized I am to do more of it. Compile time, local source
control, one-click deployment, phased rollout, monitoring, solid roll-back
story, anything that gives you confidence to just roll it out. It's magic, I'm
telling you.

Static typing. It's like having a secretary who is doing all the writing, and
you only have to think big things. It's a relief.

Higher-level abstractions such as query languages (SQL, LINQ) or markup
languages (eh...). Forest for the trees etc. Also DSLs (consult someone with
experience first - far too easy to get bogged down).

The most productive way to write software is to borrow something already
written. Don't hesitate to buy components from professionals - you're paying
for better support, longevity, and less version churn.

~~~
raverbashing
> Static typing. It's like having a secretary who is doing all the writing,
> and you only have to think big things. It's a relief.

Funny. I see this as exactly the opposite.

To me static typing is a bureaucratic delay where you have to tell the
computer what it already knows (but thank the deities for "auto" or the walrus
operator in Go) and dynamic typing as the computer just doing what you tell it
to do without bothering me with trivialities.

Yeah, maybe static typing makes the IDEs smart, but I dislike IDEs being
"smarter" than compilers, I mean, the compiler should be the smartest one. If
your IDE knows x is an int, why can't the compiler know?

~~~
Smaug123
Maybe the computer can infer the types after you've written a correct program,
but if you write down the types up front before you start the implementation,
the computer will hold your hand while you implement.

It sounds like you haven't used something Hindley-Milner based - I'd recommend
giving it a go, so that you can feel what it's like. Much as Typescript gives
you incremental typing over JS, so too does type inference give you
incremental static specification of the types over the fully inferred program.
When you don't need to write down the types, the inference engine gets out of
your way; when you want to use the types to constrain the possible programs
you could be writing, the inference engine puts up the guardrails to stop you
making mistakes.

~~~
DenisM
> if you write down the types up front before you start the implementation,
> the computer will hold your hand while you implement.

This is exactly it. Thank you.

------
WhompingWindows
Habits. Pretty much all of the comments here boil down to habits.

Sleep, diet, exercise, attention, focus, productivity, knowledge, workflow,
socializing -- anything we do repeatedly is a habit. Right now, in each and
every moment, we are all the average/sum of the daily habits of the past few
years.

So, the "level" we achieve in each domain is a lagging indicator of our
habits; fat stores up over time, dirty dishes stack up, lack of knowledge is
the result of lack of learning habits, etc.

If you make weekly improvements to your habits, that means small changes are
sticking each week. While 1% better doesn't seem to matter much in the short
run, if you stack 1% every week, in one year you're now 50% better in your
routines.

How to do so? Here are some ideas:

-Make the bad habits harder to do. Keep the snacks, games, distractions out of reach, so you have to expend extra effort to get to them. You want high-effort barriers to beginning bad habits.

-Make good habits easier to do. Prepare yourself for workouts in advance. Commit yourself to things that will be helpful. use daily streaks, motivation, positive thinking, and imagination to encourage your good habits.

For more information, check out James Clear + Sam Harris' conversation on the
Making Sense podcast (or the Waking Up app).

~~~
abhayhegde
This is an amazing piece of advice. At the risk of sounding cliche, I would
still like to recommend _The Power of Habit_ by Charles Duhigg. The basic
premise of the book is this: The Habit loop is a neurological pattern that
governs any habit. It consists of three elements: a cue, a routine, and a
reward. Understanding these components can help in understanding how to change
bad habits or form good ones.

~~~
hanley
Alternately, I found _Tiny Habits_ by BJ Fogg to be more actionable and was
able to stick a number of new habits using the recommendations from the book.

~~~
abhayhegde
Glad you mentioned about this, I was unaware. You seem to have read both, how
exactly have you been benefited from _Tiny Habits_?

~~~
tertius
[https://www.tinyhabits.com/join](https://www.tinyhabits.com/join)

Try this for 5 days, it'll give you everything that the book gives you and it
is very low commitment.

Also, if you find that it works, you can move on to the book.

------
Briel
How you speak. It's something that almost all of us have to do everyday for
work and our personal lives and how you speak has a huge effect on how your
message is perceived, and each of these interactions over time shapes your
relationships.

Since many of us are taking online calls now, this is a great time to record
your side to hear how you really sound like. You may be quite surprised - it's
not just that your voice sounds different, how often you use filler words,
repeat yourself, ramble and the tone that you used can be quite different than
what you thought it was. From there, you can identify your weak points,
practice (speak on your own and record it) and improve.

~~~
mavelikara
What are effective ways to improve on this aspect?

~~~
keenmaster
1\. Talk to people who don't dominate the conversation. Talking to
conversation dominators is anti-practice: you're practicing how not to finish
your thoughts and express yourself fully.

2\. Read smarter material.

3\. Write more and edit your writing more than you normally would. That will
force you to think about where you can improve your verbal expression.

~~~
oblio
> 1\. Talk to people who don't dominate the conversation. Talking to
> conversation dominators is anti-practice: you're practicing how not to
> finish your thoughts and express yourself fully.

I guess the opposite is true if you're the one dominating conversations :-)

~~~
chordalkeyboard
your comment and its parent reminded me of this:

[https://sambleckley.com/writing/church-of-
interruption.html](https://sambleckley.com/writing/church-of-
interruption.html)

------
TamDenholm
Having 2 (or more) completely unrelated skills provide a shitload of advantage
to yourself. The intersection of those skills helps a lot. I run 2 businesses,
software and a property renovation business. Local independent trademen are
for the most part great at the actually doing the job, plumbing, electrics,
tiling, fitting, joinery, etc. What they suck at is running the business,
finances, marketing, customer service, reliability and anything to do with
computers.

I can use my tech skills to MASSIVELY enhance the trades side of the business.
While i can do enough of the trades myself to cover my employees sick days,
emergencies, etc, i dont do it day to day. I run the business and make sure
i'm using my primary tech skills to grow us. Its working well so far.

~~~
christiansakai
I have a totally quite unrelated skills and degrees. I don't think I'll be
able to combine all of them.

~~~
TamDenholm
You'd be surprised, i'm not saying you definitely will but even if you cant,
the perspective that comes from having another skill often provides an
extremely valuable point of view.

There are people out there that provide a very specific service cutting
kitchen worktops, explanation here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux3EZhhYdZo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux3EZhhYdZo)

Its typically done with a jig and a router, its not that hard IMO, but a lot
of kitchen fitters either cant do it well or hate doing it and they hire
someone to do this (as well as other things like sink cut outs) and they get
paid DAMN GOOD money to do that, especially if you can show up at a new
housing development where you can bash out 30-100 homes as one job.

Personally, while i have no experience with CNC's, i know what they are and
how they work and i reckon theres a way to make this job more efficient by
having a CNC machine in the back of a van that can be setup to cut these
joints. I've not tried this idea, but i may do it one day.

This is the kind of different persepective you can have from completely
different skillsets and experiences that people who do the same thing day in
day out for years just dont arrive at.

~~~
mft_
Have a look at the Shaper Origin. I’ve not used it myself (and it’s not cheap)
but its handheld nature may suit your use case even better than a traditional
CNC in a van.

------
nikivi
Learning in public I think [1]. That is asking things on social media,
starting a blog or even better, digital garden [2]. Removing all kinds of
friction between sharing, creating and learning.

That assumes the essentials of proper sleep, nutrition and basic fitness are
taken care of [3]. Aside from this meta 'help' stuff, the one tool that was a
100x force multiplier for me is Karabiner [4]. Share it on HN all the time but
no one uses it. :|

1: [https://www.swyx.io/writing/learn-in-
public/](https://www.swyx.io/writing/learn-in-public/)

2: [https://joelhooks.com/digital-garden](https://joelhooks.com/digital-
garden)

3:
[https://wiki.nikitavoloboev.xyz/health](https://wiki.nikitavoloboev.xyz/health)

4: [https://wiki.nikitavoloboev.xyz/macos/macos-
apps/karabiner](https://wiki.nikitavoloboev.xyz/macos/macos-apps/karabiner)

~~~
ZephyrBlu
The one thing I have against learning in public is that it often seems like
pandering to the lowest common denominator with generic learnings/advice.

I think the people who are inclined to be constantly learning are probably
less inclined to focus on broadcasting their life to others.

That's not to say that there aren't people who learn in public and create
valuable content in the process, they just seem rare.

~~~
tta
I started doing this a couple of months ago[1], and the fact that my notes are
public acts as something of a forcing function; I’ve found that I engage with
technical content a lot better this way. I consider myself the primary
consumer of these notes (I’m not looking to provide learnings/advice in
particular), but making them public has been a step in the right direction for
me.

[1]: [https://timothyandrew.net/learning](https://timothyandrew.net/learning)

~~~
sali0
Hey just wanted to say, after reading some of your posts, your subject matter
is exactly the things I'm trying to learn, so I much appreciate your writing.
I will be following your progress.

------
Balgair
A work journal.

I know this one seems a bit obvious, but in the workforce, I rarely see people
with them.

Work journals are not very exciting. But just writing things down really makes
a difference somehow. Those boring meetings become slightly less boring when
you take notes. That thing from six weeks ago doesn't slip by you as readily.
That person's name on that one call isn't a mystery. Your year end report is
chock full of stuff, not just a few .ppt bullet points of a few highlights.

It's pretty straightforward, and just takes about two weeks of practice to get
into the habit. For the effort, it really does multiply.

~~~
xcubic
How do you organise your journal?

~~~
Balgair
Personally, I _try_ to use the Cornell note taking method [0], just with every
meeting being a 'class'.

In practice, I list the name of the 'activity' (a meeting, a work session,
some forms filing, etc), the people at the activity, and then note whatever it
is that needs notes to be taken. To be clear, I'm not taking minutes in a
meeting, just more like action items for myself, and anything really important
that came up.

Like I said, it's not 'hard' stuff or very complicated, I may only have like
two bullet points for an hour meeting sometimes. The habit is what matters.

[0] [http://lsc.cornell.edu/study-skills/cornell-note-taking-
syst...](http://lsc.cornell.edu/study-skills/cornell-note-taking-system/)

------
PragmaticPulp
Consistency.

Achieving ambitious goals is much easier when you break it down into weekly or
daily habits.

Practicing something once per week means 52 times per year, or 520 times per
decade.

Practicing something every other day becomes 182 times per year, or a massive
1,825 times in a decade.

Just imagine how your life would be different if you had 500 x 30 minute
workouts over the next decade. Or 1,825 x 30 minutes of reading another book.

Putting 30 spare minutes to use once a week isn't as difficult as it sounds if
you make it a priority. The results add up over time.

~~~
k__
This.

Don't think in goals, think in consistent habits.

Don't think in weeks or months, think in years.

Most people will fail at everything that takes more than half a year to see
success.

Losing weight, getting fit, learn a language, learn an instrument.

------
yummypaint
Get enough sleep every night that you wake up naturally before your alarm goes
off. Drink enough water that your pee is clear. Merely not being chronically
sleep deprived or dehydrated greatly improves every aspect of productivity,
learning capacity, and subjective experience.

Most workflows can benefit from multiple monitors. it's a silly thing to be
bottlenecked by screen area on a fancy computer when used 1080p monitors are
nearly free in 2020.

Take regular walks and use that time to think. There is something about a
steady walk that seems to improve problem solving, especially for more
abstract/creative things.

When working, put the cell phone out of view and out of reach. It's too easy
to subconsciously pick it up and start scrolling a feed before realizing focus
had been broken.

~~~
manjalyc
> Most workflows can benefit from multiple monitors.

Maybe some people benefit from this but I’ve always found it distracting and
in some cases a bit annoying. I’ve always preferred simply having multiple
desktops and switching between them instantly with a keystroke which is great
in most Linux DEs/WMs but a terrible experience in Windows. It’s gotten to a
point where even though I have 2 displays, I just turn one off 99% of the
time.

~~~
fortran77
I can toggle between virtual desktops with a keystroke in Windows, too! I have
mine set to CTRL-WINDOWS-arrow. Let me know what you're having trouble with
and I can help you get Windows 10 set up the way you want.

~~~
thom
Without weird third party stuff, it annoys me that I can’t map desktops to
Ctrl-1/2/3/4 which is how I have it set up in Linux. Hopefully they eventually
make all this more flexible.

~~~
sp332
Doesn't that interfere with app shortcuts?

~~~
stjohnswarts
I think that depends on the apps you're using. I like his chances on the
desktop switching being more handy than in app combinations.

------
motohagiography
Super powers for me include:

Pareto distributions: start with hypothesis that any attribute you are looking
for in a given sample is Pareto distributed in the whole. Applies to
everything. It's more than the 80:20 rule. The shape of probability
distributions in general (s-curves, bathtub curves, etc) is a useful filter
for a fast path.

Negotiation: I recommend starting with the classic, "getting to yes." The
level of confidence you can bring to a discussion when you have a clear idea
of what the outcomes look like, and to have pre-accepted them, is a form of
charisma. Learning it is also good for the culture in general.

~~~
thih9
> Negotiation: I recommend starting with the classic, "getting to yes."

Could you elaborate?

~~~
pjmorris
Not the GP, but it's a book, 'Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without
Giving In' by Roger Fisher , William L. Ury, et al.

I read it ~30 years ago, the only thing I remember is that you always want to
understand your "Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement" (BATNA), e.g.
knowing that you can walk away from a car dealer's deal, if you don't like the
terms.

------
irjustin
This torque multiplier lug nut remover:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vesBDXCWrUw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vesBDXCWrUw)

All jokes aside - Learning a section of domain you interact with regularly
just enough to be dangerous.

Example is, as a programmer, doing product management job for 6 months or vice
versa.

Danger here is it's easy to wield that new found knowledge as a weapon for
evil - such as talking down at people, when really you want to be using it to
be more effective.

But thankfully, most people have seen it done well in one form or another - a
product person who can speak technical and not be jerked around or an engineer
who has a keen eye for product flow or growth efforts.

------
valw
Might sound cheesy, but cultivating love and passion for what you do,
especially targeting the tedious aspects of it.

Most people tend to assume that they have a fixed amount of energy, motivation
and ability for their work, and don't realize how much these can be inflated
by positive emotions.

This is where a musician finds the perseverance to do the technical exercises
that get her to playing a piece. And where a budding scientist finds the
patience to work through a complex topic in spite of all the overwhelming
conceptual hurdles. And where a programmer gets the motivation to learn
arcanes of some obscure tool.

~~~
googlethrow
Any tips on how to do that? Over the last year or so I find that I have lost
passion for both my job and my side-projects. While I used to be happy working
60-80 hours a week between my job and side-projects, I now find both of them
mundane and can't pull off such focus. With side-projects it probably boils
down to not finding success...

~~~
dgb23
It’s fine to take time off first of all.

In terms of success: I have dozens of side projects lying around, some of them
educational, some practical, most unfinished.

It is completely fine, even beneficial to do so. At work you are already
forced to finish and maintain stuff. Giving yourself some free, playful space
balances this out.

Also in time some of those things trickle down (quasi) to your day job, or at
least it has for me repeatedly. Not in the exact form I was expecting, but in
tangible ways nonetheless.

There are two things that eventually keep me “on track” when I have a low
phase: reminding myself that I’m a creator with ridiculous power at my
fingertips is one. I keep a collection of notes with interesting and fun ideas
(together with a friend). The other is more like a safety net so to speak: I
seek long term financial security. This is one helps especially when I think
about people close to me and how I can be strong for them.

------
sorum
How to structure your writing.

Not talking about your style, prose or grammar, but how you structure the
points you want to come across. It's not just useful in the context of
"business writing", it's useful whenever you want something from someone else:
to take an action of any kind.

I see it every week at work where people put a presentation together at first
glance seems to be coherent, but if it had been written out as a document /
memo, you'd easily see the gaps in their thinking. Forcing yourself to write
out full sentences (not bullet points) into paragraphs and those paragraphs
having a logical connection to each other, shines a spotlight on places where
your thinking is weak or there are unfounded conclusions.

Here's the good news: there's one book that will teach you this thoroughly:
Barbara Minto's - "The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking". Bad
news: the book is out of print, since the author wants people to either buy
her courses or her updated textbook which she charges $150 for (not a typo):
[http://www.barbaraminto.com/textbook.html](http://www.barbaraminto.com/textbook.html)

The book is insanely useful, so find a used copy of the 1987 or 2002 edition
in a used bookstore.

~~~
DenisM
Does anyone still read though? I feel most of what I write goes unread, but
people do engage with screenshots or videos.

~~~
sorum
Two thoughts here:

1\. Even if the end-medium is something else than a written document
(presentation, video etc), you're still presenting your ideas from a->b->c, so
the gaps are still there and aren't as apparent, but the recipients' brain
still observe it.

2\. If your writing goes unread, it can actually be a symptom of the lack of
convincing presentation of the ideas. I spend probably 50% on the time on the
introduction and it's what I write dead last. Another problem may be length:
if it's too long it'll tire the reader (unless your writing is very good).
Problem is that to write something compelling that is also short, is very very
hard. I can bang out a 10-page document on a deadline in a day without much
problem, but a 2-pager I'll have to spend much more time on.

Writing is very much a must-have, in the corporate or business environment
especially.

------
quelsolaar
An integrated debugger. Writing code without a editor with integrated debugger
is madness to me. I think a lot of people who are used to using text
editor/command line, don't appreciate how effective its is to debug in
something like VS/VSCode. Its also the thing people dont talk about enough
when choosing languages: Does the language have rock solid debuger?

~~~
noir_lord
Couldn't agree more, a proper debugger is _not_ just a glorified printf.

Where I currently work there are two of us who actually leverage the debugger
everyone else is using printf() style debugging.

I can find an issue faster in a codebase I've never seen than devs who've
worked on it for years but in another part - the superpower? hit a breakpoint
nearby and single step through it at high speed adding stuff to the watch list
then repeating it and watching the watchlist mutate.

~~~
k__
I really liked working with xdebug in my PHP days.

But in my experience JS debuggers (outside the browser and inside the IDE)
were kinda brittle, probably because of all that bundling and compilation
going on.

~~~
noir_lord
Funnily enough in this case it's exactly xdebug I'm talking about and yes, it
is a really good debugger, Derick Rethans is a hell of a programmer.

------
sidyapa
Creating something. I am not a maker/creator but I have seen gazillion
examples of people building/creating things that ultimately gives them an
exponential push in life.

Creating can be blog posts, photographs, videos, software anything, doesn't
matter as long as atleast one other benefits from it, just one.

------
bsenftner
You may find the collected set of the most popular articles from Harvard
Business Review to be a treasure trove of force multipliers, various types of
success mechanisms, well written compact general solutions rolled into a pithy
sentences and paragraphs easily quoted. I was skeptical at first, but HBR is a
surprisingly engaging read that rarely suffers from hubris or conceit, as one
might expect from a publication with "Harvard" in it's name.

This is the entire collected set, but individual collections for each
specialization are also available. [https://store.hbr.org/product/harvard-
business-review-guides...](https://store.hbr.org/product/harvard-business-
review-guides-ultimate-boxed-set-16-books/10278)

It is shocking how fantastic this series is and how little the tech world
knows about it.

~~~
vsskanth
Are they better than their articles ? I find the articles pretty mundane

~~~
bsenftner
It is the collected set of "Best Articles" \- like the "Best of Reddit" they
are the articles that shine like the sun.

------
cprayingmantis
Someone already mentioned sleep so I’ll mention the next most powerful force
multiplier: Kindness.

Kindness in your workplace and home is a huge force multiplier. Machiavelli
asked is it better to feared or loved and my answer is loved 1000x over.
People will do for one they love things that couldn’t be imagined for one they
fear.

Furthermore it’s relatively easy to be kind. Kindness comes in many forms:
remember someone’s birthday, give them a ride home, try out their app, buy
something cheep from their side hustle , check their mail for them when
they’re gone and water their plants, be honest about their performance at work
and what they can do to improve, buy your team donuts one morning. All these
are easy ways to show a little kindness.

Don’t try and take the shortcut and try to be nice or liked that’s not the
same as showing kindness. It’s so easy when someone asks how they’re doing at
work to brush it off and say “you’re doing fine!” all cheery but it’s another
thing entirely to say “hey you’re doing good but you can improve on x and
here’s the way I did it”. It doesn’t cost anything to be nice but true
kindness can cost quite a bit and be uncomfortable.

------
nagarjun
Here are a few that I find especially helpful:

1\. iOS Shortcuts - Lets you perform repeatable actions in the tap of a
button. Most of us do the same thing over and over again every day. The few
seconds you save not having to re-do something everyday really adds up over
time. I'll give you a personal example. I've been trying to maintain a
journaling habit for a while. None of the existing tools fit my need. I now
have a Shortcut that creates a journal entry in Bear
([https://bear.app](https://bear.app)) every afternoon for me to fill in. This
simple automation helps me maintain my journaling habit because I don't have
to use another journaling tool. I already use Bear for everything. Bear
doesn't have an in-built journaling feature but Shortcuts lets me use it the
way I want.

2\. Learn keyboard shortcuts - you probably use a bunch of different software
every day. Take some time to learn and get used to using keyboard shortcuts.
The instant gratification you get from being able to rapidly navigate through
the UI boosts your productivity.

3\. Use checklists - checklists are useful for your personal and professional
life. I have a Todoist project called #checklists where I store a bunch of
different checklists like: start of the month, everyday checklist etc. In my
everyday checklist for example, I have tasks like "Drink 3 litres of water",
"Read for 30 minutes", "Workout", "Top 3 priorities for today", etc. I set
these lists to repeat monthly, every day etc. (something you can do very
easily in Todoist). This helps me form habits easily. A huge part of habit
forming is to have someone (or some tool, like Todoist) nudge you to get
started or remember to do something.

~~~
myself248
I've noticed a trend in recent years that apps don't have keyboard shortcuts
anymore.

Why is this? And what can we do about it?

------
_Microft
Social skills. Nobody can achieve anything worthwhile completely on their own
[0]. Successfully cooperating, motivating and especially inspiring people
allows to achieve lots more than working on one's own, no matter how skilled
one might be.

[0] Of course there are exceptions to this rule, especially in e.g.
mathematics. I bet Terrence Tao can eat almost everybody's lunch in math.

~~~
maxov
I think your point applies, _especially_ to math. These days research math is
a very collaborative and social endeavor. Terry Tao would probably disagree
very strongly with you: [https://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/does-
one-have-t...](https://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/does-one-have-to-
be-a-genius-to-do-maths/)

“The popular image of the lone genius ... is a charming and romantic image,
but also a wildly inaccurate one, at least in the world of modern
mathematics.”

~~~
_Microft
Ha, thanks for letting me know :)

------
dragontamer
Print stuff.

Its like multiple monitors, except its cheaper. Like $0.05 a page. A lot of
paper-style documentation is still a gross force mutiplier, even in the age of
multiple monitors.

Learn to use paper tools to create booklets that are useful to you. I like
2-hole punch (2.75" US Standard) and comb binders. Spending a few minutes
honing your paper documentation for your current task can make you grossly
faster.

~~~
saltypal
This! A printout of the Paredit reference card [1] taped near my monitor is
the only way I was able to learn it.

[1] [http://pub.gajendra.net/src/paredit-
refcard.pdf](http://pub.gajendra.net/src/paredit-refcard.pdf)

------
gonzo41
Stop Drinking. You can still eat like crap, and not exercise, but if you stop
drinking you'll feel better. The force multiplier is that most adult have a
few glasses of wine a night and Alcohol is up there with cigarettes for
problems it'll cause you.

But exercising and eating well are also good to do.

------
larrydag
Finding and working with mentors. Learn from their successes and mistakes.

Learn and understand a niche business or industry. Gain expertise in a
knowledge or industry domain. Software is just a tool that brings a means to
an end.

~~~
dominotw
how i can i find a mentor. I've always been a lone wolf, shy person.

I really want to find a mentor but not sure where to even begin.

~~~
motohagiography
Learn something new from someone old.

The way I have found mentors is by starting with taking lessons in a skill
from people, which establishes the necessary boundaries in the relationship.
If they are the best at what they do, mentoring becomes the effect of the
relationship itself, since mastery above the skill is what you are learning.

Mentoring someone means sharing the right experience at the right time, which
means you have to be around to do it, so it's less of a transaction than a way
of relating, but it can start with the lessons/transaction based relationship.

------
cs702
Develop an intuitive understanding of the key mental models mentioned by
Charlie Munger in his classic speech given to a Harvard class 25 years ago:

"The Psychology of Human Misjudgment," by Charlie Munger

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqzcCfUglws](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqzcCfUglws)

[http://web.archive.org/web/20151004200748/http://law.indiana...](http://web.archive.org/web/20151004200748/http://law.indiana.edu/instruction/profession/doc/16_1.pdf)

If I may paraphrase Mr. Munger, you never want to be a one-legged man in the
ass-kicking contest of life.

------
holtkam2
Exercise. Your body and mind (brain) are not separate, they are one highly
integrated system. The performance capability of one will impact the other.

Furthermore, getting a solid workout in the beginning or middle of the day can
do wonders for clearing the mind and stimulating creativity & problem solving.

------
rossgordon
Feedback. The more you seek it out, the faster you can improve. People tend to
shy away from asking people to tell them ways they fall short. Don't be one of
those people.

Read more here: [https://gridology.substack.com/p/how-do-you-incorporate-
feed...](https://gridology.substack.com/p/how-do-you-incorporate-feedback-
into)

------
jrm4
With all of this workflow advice: Favor EXPERIMENTATION over "reading threads
like this and trying to analyze how they will work for you beforehand." E.g.
If you've used one smallish monitor over your life and you're deciding between
adding one more or one bigger one -- there is NO objective answer. To the best
you can, try them both.

------
ryanmarsh
“The only rules that matter are the ones that matter”

Most of the rules that most people live by are bullshit and only serve to hold
you back. The key is in figuring out which is which. In the extreme, many laws
are not even enforced.

I’ve mad my living breaking all the “rules” and by doing everything wrong.

The pearl clutching rule followers equate rule following with ethics. They’re
often wrong.

~~~
newsbinator
> I’ve made my living breaking all the “rules” and by doing everything wrong.

I'd like to hear more about this.

~~~
ryanmarsh
I dropped out of high school, didn't go to college, took a break from my
career to serve in the Army, started a business with an empty bank account
(multiple times), didn't pay my taxes until I could afford to do so, took big
risks, never asked permission at clients just did what I thought was best for
them (breaking all kinds of internal rules), violated contracts and non-
competes, skirted the law on international movements of money and doing
business with sketchy places, other things I won't mention that are
technically legal but could get me in hot water if someone didn't like me,
sold things I didn't have (yet), and much more.

~~~
zarkov99
Do people in your life like you?

~~~
ryanmarsh
IDK, I assume so, I have long close friendships and a stable happy family.

Why wouldn't they?

~~~
zarkov99
From your post it sounded like you might just not care about other people. I
was trying to understand where you were coming from better. Part of me likes
your approach but another part made me suspect you were just an A-Hole, no
offense. Seems like that is not the case.

~~~
ryanmarsh
I care very much about other people. I care so much that I am infuriated by
the structures around us that make a prison for those leading lives of quiet
desperation

~~~
zarkov99
Fair enough, you sound like a cool dude.

------
Abishek_Muthian
What helped me,

•Staying in present. Philosophers called it 'optimal state of consciousness',
Psychologists call it Flow, Rich kids call it as Mindfulness. What ever it's
called, its just simple focus on the present and it works wonders on mental
health.

•Using DND/Aeroplane mode more i.e. limiting phone calls to absolutely when
needed. As a side-effect saves battery as well & good for privacy too.

•Using email over chat, improved the quality of communication & again good for
privacy too.

~~~
Shraal
I differentiate between "Flow" and "Mindfulness". Mindfulness can help you to
achieve Flow much easier but that's more a side-effect.

IMHO:

-> Mindfulness is "constant emotional self-awareness". It's a skill that enables you to being aware of your emotions and state of mind while experiencing your day to day life. This sounds ridiculous until you realize that most people aren't aware of how emotions influence their rational decision-making. We can easily see how others become temporary irrational for emotional reasons but somehow we also try to denial that the same happens to us on a regular basis. A mindful person is in a way constantly calling theirself out in their mind (e.g. "I'm currently overenthusiastic/angry/anxious/etc. because of ...")

-> I think of "Flow" as a state of mind. It can be achieved by doing something that creates a positive feedback loop with challenges and achievements. This series of challenges can be of physical/cognitive/etc. nature but needs to be always of the right difficulty level. Too hard tasks will make you feel overwhelmed while easy tasks create boredom. Both extremes will make you lose your focus and/or motivation and that's where mindfulness can be helpful. Once you become aware of the problem, you can adjust the difficulty level by adjusting the difficulty with better goal-setting and other productivity tricks. Hit the sweet spot multiple times in a row and you achieve Flow.

------
Bhilai
Deep work time. I heard about it through an meditation app. I basically block
four hours per week on my work calendar for a time when I don't take any
meetings, turn off slack, email or anything else that might distracting and
try to give my full attention to a problem or a project or reading a technical
paper etc. This has helped me improve my knowledge over time and has improved
my ability to focus on a problem for a limited amount of time.

------
WJW
Margin of error. In financial matters, this can be savings or a relative lack
of leverage. In planning, this can be extra time for unforeseen circumstances.
In construction of buildings or software, it is that little over-engineering
that saves you when people do unexpected things with what you built.

The general principle is never to go all out and gain the maximum efficiency,
for then you lose the slack you will need when something unexpected inevitably
happens. Even the best can so easily lose themselves in competitions where
their desire to win drives them to take unwise risks and forego a reasonable
margin of error. This is not so much a force multiplier that people don't know
about, but more one that they disregard because it never seems important until
you need it.

------
kk58
2nd degree contacts in social network. You don't realise how many influential
people you are weakly connected by 2nd or 3rd degree. Harnessing this network
for mentors, benefactors, investors advisors is hardly done.

Secondly, breathing.. everybody breathes , very few people learn how to use
breath control to direct attention, calmness, clarity of thought,

Lastly, mindfulness, when we eat, indulge in binge gaming sessions, basically
when we give way to our immediate gratification instead of being in the
present and doing the right thing.

Doing many small things right compounds.

~~~
dataduck
> Secondly, breathing.. everybody breathes , very few people learn how to use
> breath control to direct attention, calmness, clarity of thought,

Are there any good resources online for learning this?

------
yagyu
Learn to communicate efficiently and directly in writing.

I personally like McCaskill's handbook from NASA Langley because it's focused
on practical matters:

[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19900017394/downloads/19...](https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19900017394/downloads/19900017394.pdf)

"Effective writing involves far more than following rules of grammar. There is
a craft to creating phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that ensure
communication."

------
SubuSS
Prompt and heartfelt attribution of contributions + thanks/praise that helped
you get your work done in public or to the donor's manager. Tacit feedback to
the person in private as necessary.

Even as the greatest developer, in most settings you have to work with people.
You can get very little done all alone nowadays - The basics of making people
feel appreciated takes you really far.

I am not very socially adept - so this was a revelation for me when I stumbled
on it after years of 'reward for good work is more work' philosophy.

------
LVB
Giving away material things, especially directly to a person. Our local FB
BuyNothing group is excellent, and the sole remaining reason for my FB
account. The receiver is happy, I’m happy at the time of giving, and my house
(and the world’s) environment is better with less crap in it.

------
fullshark
Asking questions when you don't know what's going on. If you are willing to
"look dumb" you will end up saving yourself hours struggling to understand
something when you are lacking key information / context that a simple
question/answer would provide.

------
k__
Passive income.

The problem is, most easily accessible passive income sources aren't enough to
live from, so people don't start investing time/money into them.

But multiple of them can add up over the years.

~~~
PaulStatezny
What are some good, low risk examples of this?

~~~
k__
Publish an online course on an online education platform.

------
vgchh
Exercising regularly and eating/drinking clean

------
raverbashing
YAGNI. This is not so much as a force multiplier but as greasing the wheels,
and I see it all the time

Shipping and revenue should be your goal. Sure, aim for a polished product,
but don't waste time with things that don't further your goal (unless it's a
security/correctness/legal issue, sure)

\- You don't need to rewrite your frontend in the latest .js library just
because. Ship first, think about rewriting later

\- You don't need to apply those 5% micro-optimizations if your site is
working fine (at least not before shipping)

\- You don't need your resources in a global redundant CDN right off the bat.
Use existing CDNs (for .js for example)

\- The thing that will break is not how you initially thought it would go.
Avoid premature optimization unless it's really obvious (example: front page
optimizations).

You might not even need code at first. MVP your thing.

~~~
davnicwil
YAGNI is such a powerful philosophy that I think within reason you should look
at it as a hypothesis to disprove on _every_ new thing that you work on.

It's really difficult advice to follow because, very often, the thing you
don't need is actually quite fun to work on. You start out wanting to work on
it, so the hypothesis becomes flipped: "why _shouldn 't_ I build this", or,
"If I _can_ build this, I _should_ ".

Focusing on the category of things that fall under 'optimizations', the key
here is that the problems they solve are not the problems you have when you
launch something, and you will only have them at all if your thing is a
significant success. They're nice problems to have. I wrote a short blog post
on this theme recently: [https://davnicwil.com/if-its-a-nice-problem-to-have-
dont-sol...](https://davnicwil.com/if-its-a-nice-problem-to-have-dont-solve-
it-now/)

------
throwaway98797
You only have time to read 300-3,000 books in your life. Pick wisely.

~~~
chrisshroba
As a tangent, I find audiobooks offer a great multiplier to the number of
books I can read. I'd say I get maybe 80% as much out of a book I listen to
versus reading it in print, but I end up reading 3-4x as many books because I
can listen while I bike to work, drive to errands, etc.

They also force me to stay focused while I'm listening, versus how my mind
tends to wander while I'm reading a print book (where I realize I've been on
the same page for five minutes).

~~~
Trasmatta
For fiction, I get more out of audiobooks than print. There's something about
hearing a story, especially from a good narrator, that just sticks in my mind
and affects me more.

For non fiction, I'd probably agree with your 80% number. I generally prefer
print in those cases, where I can easily highlight important sections and take
notes.

------
alsargent
Hacker Newsletter. The best* of Hacker News, delivered once a week. Each
newsletter contains a few useful articles that have helped me in work and
life.

* not sure how they figure out “best” but the articles are general good.

------
leugim
Programming itself.

That click of understanding the basics and being able to develop problem-
fitted solutions although not perfect/professional is a game changers for most
of the people. Specially people with jobs outside IT.

~~~
TeMPOraL
In particular programming without writing code in a _proper_ programming
language. Knowing how to use Tasker (Android), or AutoHotkey (Windows) or
Excel to automate the things you need.

Like in manufacturing, the leverage of technology comes mainly from automating
and scaling the repetitive. It's a shame most tools aimed at regular computer
users de-emphasize, or fail to recognize entirely, the concept of batch
processing.

~~~
EForEndeavour
> It's a shame most tools aimed at regular computer users de-emphasize, or
> fail to recognize entirely, the concept of batch processing.

I don't see it this way at all.

\- In MS Word, OSX TextEdit, and most other editors/word processors, search
and replace is front and center. Heck, search itself (both within local files
and search engines) is the ultimate example of automating and scaling the
repetitive, and it's _everywhere_.

\- In OS X Finder, you can batch-rename files by highlighting them, right-
clicking, and clicking "Rename [N] Files..."

\- Mail merging has been a thing in MS Word and other processors for a long
time.

\- In Excel, all kinds of repetitive, menial tasks are immediately
discoverable to even a complete beginner: highlight more than one numeric cell
and the status bar instantly displays the average, count, and sum. Conditional
formatting, number formatting, sorting, filtering, and all kinds of data-
reshaping tasks are baked into the UI.

~~~
TeMPOraL
> _In MS Word, OSX TextEdit, and most other editors /word processors, search
> and replace is front and center._

What about batch S&R in multiple files? What about S&R by regular expressions?
What about both? There are entire _dimensions_ of basic automation that aren't
covered, except in editors used by programmers.

> _In OS X Finder, you can batch-rename files by highlighting them, right-
> clicking, and clicking "Rename [N] Files..."_

Didn't know that. I have only seen "batch rename" in Windows Explorer, and
it's pretty basic (and not even advertised - whether you select one or
multiple files, the option is always called just "Rename"). So if you want to
turn "foo.exe" and "foo.dll" into "bar.exe" and "bar.dll", that'll work. If
you want to turn a bunch of files into "foo1", "foo2", "foo3", I'm not sure if
you can do that.

> _In Excel, all kinds of repetitive, menial tasks are immediately
> discoverable to even a complete beginner_

Agreed. On top of that, working with Excel is essentially programming (FRP at
that), just not advertised as such. Altogether, this makes Excel one of the
best pieces of software written in the history of mankind. But it's an
exception that proves the rule.

------
thewebcount
Learn how money works. This means learning how to save money effectively, how
much to save, when it’s appropriate to spend and when you’re better off either
waiting, borrowing, or going without.

------
flyinglizard
Write down your tasks and ideas. Find a method which works and stick to it.
Not forgetting things is the side benefit; the primary benefit is not worrying
about forgetting things.

------
natch
Car safety features that make driving way less stressful and less dangerous.
Example any advanced cruise control / auto pilot system.

bash or any substitute.

Knowledge of a scripting language and general idea of what libraries are
available for use.

Relationships with non-toxic people.

Ability to defer rewards and pleasure sometimes if needed to achieve goals on
a different time scale.

Getting clues early by learning from the mistakes of others. Making your own
mistakes leads to strong learning but sometimes the cost is very high and a
lot of time is lost.

------
ak39
Hiring help for things that you can't or won't do but needs to be done. Other
people helping you with tasks is the biggest force-multipliers human society
has known.

------
0xfaded
Worm gears, centrifugal transmissions, bridge rectifiers, ...

~~~
njsubedi
Didn’t know what worm gears are until I saw this the other day
[https://youtu.be/oHg5SJYRHA0](https://youtu.be/oHg5SJYRHA0)

------
whalesalad
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torque_converter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torque_converter)

------
steventey
Might be a little clichéd but I'd say a simple for-loop is super powerful and
can cut down the time spent processing a dataset by a large multiple. I'd go
as far as to say recursion too but then that might also be a little clichéd so
I'll say that a simple for-loop is super powerful and can cut down the time
spent processing a dataset by a large multiple. I'd go as far as to say
recursion too but then...

------
Hippocrates
Tune your push notifications for need-to-know information. This directly
influences how many times I pick up my phone (usually needlessly) and get
distracted. You can disable push on most apps that just use it for marketing
or to get your attention into their app daily. Ecom and news apps are the
worst offenders.

------
chris_wot
I found that when I started to write about a module in LibreOffice I started
to understand it much better.

For instance, I’m currently trying to understand how UNO works, I have a
chapter I’m writing:

[https://chris-sherlock.gitbook.io/inside-
libreoffice/univers...](https://chris-sherlock.gitbook.io/inside-
libreoffice/universal-network-objects)

The other thing - very programming specific - is to understand a long
confusing function I found extracting if, while and for constructs to their
own functions with decent names suddenly explained what was going on far more
clearly.

------
phineyes
Investing in promising people that are new to the industry - the easiest way
to do this is through Twitter. I've found some amazing new developers which
have great mindsets that I knew would do well in their careers, which I've
capitalized on by following them early on and having regular chats with them
about what they're working on, etc.

It allows you to maintain leverage in your field because once they're
successful, you both already have a relationship and it becomes a lot easier
to network and strike deals.

It has a huge upside with almost no risk - all it takes is a Twitter follow.

~~~
lapaz17
Could you share a few twitter accounts if you don't mind?

------
nachteilig
Quit caffeine from time to time. Then it’s way more effective when you need
it.

~~~
jetpackjoe
I drink coffee less than once a month... All I get is anxiety instead of any
effectiveness

------
bg117
1) Take a deep breath 2) Hold for 4-5 seconds 3) Exhale slowly 4) Repeat

------
tyingq
Traditional troubleshooting techniques that seem obvious, like "half split" or
"rubber ducking", are often not used.

Teaching some of these can dramatically reduce downtime.

~~~
SomewhatLikely
Wasn't familiar with the terminology, but looking it up I've called the split
half technique binary searching because of its similarity to that algorithm
from computer science.

~~~
tyingq
Ah, yes. The "split half" is the common term for troubleshooting electronics,
and as you say, similar to a binary search.

------
leephillips
Touch typing.

~~~
collyw
I have tried to learn a few time, but I am so much faster without touch
typing. Especially with an IDE where it auto suggests the rest of the word.

~~~
e12e
Tab doesn't dissappear from the keyboard, just because you touch type - so
it's not really one or the other. If anything - being able to look at the
screen, not the keyboard makes auto completion work better?

------
huijzer
> All software is a force multiplier, but some tools, like Zapier/IFTTT are in
> a class of their own.

I have been looking through both sites but could not find one actual force
multiplier for my life or work, even though I would love to automate
workflows. Would you have suggestions for someone doing a PhD project and
communicates with a few colleagues and the occasional student?

------
nojvek
Write down what you plan to do each morning and why you’re doing it.

To create any sort of impact it takes effort. Effort is your input, and impact
is output.

Prioritize impact/effort first. Automate and delegate things that take effort
but don’t have much impact.

Easier said then done, but incrementally moving in the direction of where the
puck’s going to be makes all the difference in the long term.

------
wly_cdgr
Constraints. Using simpler, less powerful tools; self-imposing arbitrary
design restrictions; publicly committing to tight deadlines; etc. Makes your
brain go into must-beat-this-game mode, stimulates creativity, and channels
your energy.

------
theriddlr
Typing, touch-typing, writing shorthand will make transcribing speed match the
speed of speech.

------
mke
This thread is predicated on the value of time, but ICYMI:

[https://fs.blog/2017/03/seneca-on-the-shortness-of-
time/](https://fs.blog/2017/03/seneca-on-the-shortness-of-time/)

------
growlist
'Force multiplier'??? I've never understood this peculiarly American obsession
with military metaphors, and I'd say this one is particularly ridiculous.

~~~
newsbinator
I find this to be a useful label for "a tool, technique, or approach that
multiplies my ability to get useful things done by 5x, 50x, 1000x, etc"

Is there a better term for this?

We have "life hacks", but this isn't that.

------
greenie_beans
Markdown! It has helped my writing so much

------
szatkus
VerbalExpressions

Not for short regular expressions, but if you need to write longer ones you
probably would want to use it.

------
wwarner
Keeping track of the little things. And of course saying no.

If you take 30-60 minutes a day to be sure that little things that are easy to
take care of are actually complete, over time your coworkers will think you're
5x as productive as you are now. I have to work at this; I instinctively bury
myself in 1 problem and put every single other thing aside.

It's really the same trade-off as working hard on a low priority issue, but
being careful not to neglect the smaller, easier, but more important issues as
they come up.

------
blaser-waffle
As someone with a military background and experience working for contractors,
I really hate using this kind of jargon for non-military stuff.

These tools are not force multipliers. Adding in concepts like "compound
interest" or "sunk cost fallacy" stretches that meaning even further. Just
stop.

------
simonsarris
Getting married.

------
DanBC
Learning how to use the trackpoint properly.

Learning how to use a good dictionary instead of just banging something into
Google / Bing / DDG.

------
swayvil
Meditation.

However, a good butterfly is a bad worm.

------
hokkos
Pulleys

------
austincheney
Nonverbal communication.

------
wly_cdgr
Ego death

------
polynomial
Is this a GPT-3 post?

~~~
newsbinator
Why do you ask? Is it phrased strangely?

~~~
polynomial
Depends on what we mean by strange. As communication styles evolve to imitate
their imitators, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish, not just
because NLG is increasingly closer to natural language, but also as natural
language increasingly takes on the clumsy constructions of NLG.

------
endori97
Buy rental property with the bank's money, pay bank back with renter's money,
rinse repeat.

~~~
bananaface
Terrible advice, this is just leverage. What if you did this in 2004 in
Detroit?

Leverage magnifies gains _and magnifies losses._ It increases risk. If the
housing market tanks or rental prices drop too far below mortgage payments +
upkeep then you're fucked. The more you did this, the more you're fucked.

------
everyone
This is such a garbage question. "force multiplier" in this context is a
meaningless phrase cribbed from military jargon. You may as well have asked
"What is something useful that most people don't know" The answer could be
literally almost anything.

~~~
newsbinator
From Wikipedia:

> The expected size increase required to have the same effectiveness without
> that advantage is the multiplication factor. For example, if a certain
> technology like GPS enables a force to accomplish the same results of a
> force five times as large but without GPS, then the multiplier is five.

I am asking about concepts or tools that hackers have in their back pockets
which 5x or 10x or 1000x their effectiveness in life or work.

This is more specific than something useful that most people don't know,
though it does fall under that umbrella.

For example, "how to take apart your laptop to clean the fan and replace
thermal paste" is something useful that most people don't know, but that
knowledge is not much of a force multiplier.

