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by paulriddle 2479 days ago
I'd like to go a little meta.

If you really want to do it, then stop looking for a reason to do it. Because any piece of text containing the answer is probably going to fit in a few HN comments, because that's what you're currently looking at, an HN thread. You are looking for a small piece of text giving you the reason to limit your information intake and providing a technique to do so.

Most likely you won't find what you're looking for. And even if you do find something that appears to be that, it will be inferior to your experience of actually doing that. Imagive a set of all possible HN comments. It contains no element that is better than you simply deciding, without any good reason or a way to do it clearly formulated in your mind, to simply set aside a couple of weeks and read only one book exclusively.

Now you might have two objections.

First, what if the piece of text is large, like a book? To that I'll say that books have to satisfy publishers and earn a profit, which manifests itself in disgusting ways like containing a lot of filler text and flawed case studies that presumably prove the author's point. I couldn't read "Shallows: What the Internet Does to Our Brains" and "Deep Work" because of that. All books about talent or peak performance are pretty much worthless in my eyes. I might be wrong about their value, but one thing is certain - they do not contain a clear answer and come with it's own set of issues.

Second, my claim that taking two weeks and doing one thing is better than any HN comment. I'll say it doesn't even matter. Two weeks are gonig to pass regardless, so you might as well try doing that instead of simply looking for a piece for text saying whatever. You might decide to do two things or three. That's fine, the point is to get meaningful experience doing a few things over a period of time. It could be that it is simply not for you. It also could be that your brain, physically, reached the point where neurons are wired in such a way that you're never be effective. Good luck rewiring this mess with an HN comment.

3 comments

Beautiful. Thanks for this comment. Straight and upfront.

Why did I ask her , 2 reasons

1 . Selfish to find reason , I am addicted and I need some good reasons as reaffirmations. It is just me looking at a coach or turning to something positive and reaffirming. You did provide that here for me. This piece of text did that trick.

2. To others if they stumble upon this post , might do the same ( my best positive guess ) .

Cheers mate for this wonderful piece of text that is making me to check less social sites and more productive with my static site generator idea I am working on.

If I could vote for this more than once, I would
This is so meta, and so beautiful.