How to be more productive

http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/productivity

by rhapsodyv • 13 years ago

190 47 13 years ago

pyre• 13 years ago

  | Life is short (or so I’m told)

Truer words...

jamesbritt2• 13 years ago

Not only is life short, it's shorter than you think.

swah• 13 years ago

jamesbritt's law: life is shorter than you think even when you consider jamesbritt's law

mikeroher4• 13 years ago

RIP Aaron.

enraged_camel• 13 years ago

I don't know what kind of person would downvote this comment.

mikeroher4• 13 years ago

No one has yet..

shrughes• 13 years ago

It's a vapid comment that lowers signal:noise, of course it should be downvoted.

ZirconCode• 13 years ago

It's interesting how technology leads to immortality, no?

He's dead, yet we still read his words, listen to his thoughts, think of him as a person.

hzay• 13 years ago

The written word leads to immortality. Although one could argue that writing and preserving writings are products of technology, I think you mean internet and such 21st century stuff, not the printing press or ink.

I don't mean to find fault - only replied because it never ceases to amaze me that people can talk to me across centuries.

mikeroher4• 13 years ago

What's the difference between Descartes' mediations and Aaron's writings? Ignoring the obvious, technology simply made them easier to read. They're avail. on his public website whereas Descartes' mediations are more commonly found in textbooks and reproductions of his originals.

Descartes probably isn't the best example because with one quick Google search, I found this: http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/descartes/medit... Still, the principle remains true.

realrocker• 13 years ago

Ok, It's just plain scary how much I identify with this article.

31reasons• 13 years ago

great thoughts.

loved this part:

But if you’re trying to do something worthwhile and creative, then shutting down your brain is entirely the wrong way to go. The real secret to productivity is the reverse: to listen to your body. To eat when you’re hungry, to sleep when you’re tired, to take a break when you’re bored, to work on projects that seem fun and interesting.

freework• 13 years ago

It reminds me of a saying they have in show business: You need to go away before you can make a comeback.

jakerocheleau2• 13 years ago

I have never heard that before but it is a very truthful proverb.

ricardobeat• 13 years ago

(2005)

sporkologist• 13 years ago

"So the secret to getting yourself to do something is not to convince yourself you have to do it, but to convince yourself that it’s fun. And if it isn’t, then you need to make it fun."

This one woke me up.

gdonelli• 13 years ago

Funny he mentioned TV? These days my problem is Twitter and Facebook. I even wrote a tool to reduce my Twitter intake (essenceapp.com)

jakerocheleau2• 13 years ago

I try to convince myself Twitter is for wasting time and that getting work completed is 10x more fun.

paduc• 13 years ago

I quit twitter altogether. Never felt better. I'm worried HN has replaced it though.

michzen• 13 years ago

Spent so much time a year back on twitter, facebook, instagram the best way is close all your accounts. It's hard the first month and then you realise how good in fact it is trust me!

Dewie• 13 years ago

The Web is easily my biggest timesink.

SatvikBeri• 13 years ago

Twitter didn't exist back then.

cs648• 13 years ago

His point about a dissertation is interesting, having just finished one myself, I had never thought that it could have been inspired as a task to focus (not distract) our attention on studying.

jasallen• 13 years ago

Speaking of 'lists of things to go back to read', I really need to go and read every essay he's written. Every time somebody links one on HN, I'm blown away.

robertskmiles• 13 years ago

If you have a reader, download the ebook from https://github.com/joshleitzel/rawthought. I read it not long ago, and it's one of the most interesting books I've ever read.

sneak3• 13 years ago

How to be more productive: don't intentionally and permanently stop producing things forever. :(

I have little tolerance for people that are hypocritical on that scale.

naradaellis• 13 years ago

Who knows what was going through his mind when he decided enough was enough. I think your comment lacks compassion, and that is a shame because one might argue that lack of compassion is getting to the root of the reasons behind his suicide.

sneak3• 13 years ago

> Who knows what was going through his mind when he decided enough was enough.

Who knows what's going through anyone's mind when they are being productive, either?

We hackers go by output, which is why his article is about being more productive.

Compassion or no, it's fundamentally hypocritical to espouse productivity as a virtue and then do an about-face in your own personal choices.

roflc0ptic• 13 years ago

> I have little tolerance for people that are hypocritical on that scale.

What are you going to do, write him a nasty letter? It's not even necessarily hypocritical. He didn't make the claim that one should value productivity over all other things. As can be said of all suicides, he lived his life as well as he knew how and then he ended it when he didn't know how to live it anymore. Let's enjoy what there is to enjoy about his legacy and let his mistakes, minor as they are, fade.

sneak3• 13 years ago

I do not subscribe to the common belief that it is better to minimize the shortcomings of people to a greater degree after they have died.

I'm not sure why dying confers greater respect upon people. Perhaps it's the fear of death in the minds of the living?

https://mobile.twitter.com/sneakatdatavibe/status/2901109457...

gcheong• 13 years ago

Does his hypocrisy, a debatable assertion here at best, render his advice on how to be more productive invalid somehow? Does not seem so to me.

theorique2• 13 years ago

It's a shame that his site is not updated more often nowadays. :(

stiff• 13 years ago

He died...

theorique2• 13 years ago

That is why the frown :(

How to be more productive

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