Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?
He's unemotional yet thoughtful. If he doesn't have an immediate answer for something, he instinctively understands how to search for the answer. He has a natural sense of the real priority of work and discussions.
So I asked him for some of his favourite brain hacks...simple tricks he uses when he has a mental challenge to overcome. A couple of his insights were very useful to me, so I thought I'd share them here and ask HN for their personal brain hacks in response.
Artificial deadlines
He has a clever technique for bringing tough choices to a conclusion and avoiding procrastination. This is especially useful for life changing decisions such as moving country or taking that new job.
To put an end to the decision making process he sets a deadline for the decision to be made. Say 6pm on Monday. At five minutes to 6 he usually doesn't know the answer but in those 5 minutes something clicks, and by 6pm the answer is always there.
10/10/10 rule
This is something I've read before but he applies this. The 10/10/10 is the framing of the outcome of a decision across three timeframes:
How will he feel about the outcome 10 minutes from now? How about 10 months from now? How about 10 years from now?
The answers to these questions provide a different perspective and usually help him to find the correct answer without being misguided by circumstances at the time of making the decision.
This will all be over by 6pm
If there's an important meeting with stakeholders, a scary appointment with the doctor or a tough chat with an employee - he simply keeps in mind the fact that by "X time", the thing will have passed and won't matter anymore.
If it doesn't matter after X time, chances are it probably doesn't matter now.
Edit: Formatting.
369 comments
[ 0.25 ms ] story [ 306 ms ] threadThe other, cannabis.
It's not for everyone but for those that do use it, I sincerely believe it works.
I am a long-time user (~10 years.) When I wrote my original comment I had not smoked in a few days to try and cleanse my mind and body. Quitting for any period of time has never been a problem for me. I simply put it "out of sight and out of mind" and I've had no troubles. I cannot speak the same for everyone. Addiction affects everyone differently.
To directly answer your question, I have PAX3 I'm in love with and I tend to "microdose" with a hit here and there throughout the day. Sometimes I'll treat myself to a joint with a friend on the weekends but I tend to enjoy the small doses during the week a lot more as I can still be productive and have a more imaginative mind. I used to smoke everyday but I've since cut back. I don't feel any ill effects from doing so.
I don't smoke everyday anymore since taking a break and I've been filling the time with drinking more water, taking walks, and stepping away from the computer. As I mature in my career and in life, I find those are the things I enjoy more instead of "forcing" myself to be creative.
Like any psychoactive substance or even any form of escapism, there is a certain amount of personal responsibility required for safe usage. The user needs to be self-aware enough to be able to gauge when they should stop.
For most people, this shouldn't be a problem. but if you find yourself using it as "an escape" or "a way to cope" on a regular basis, I believe you are somewhat at risk. The same is true for video games, junk food, and collecting baseball cards.
It will never get to a point where you are sleeping in the streets robbing people just to get another hit of marijuana. But it may get to a point where you are smoking too much every day after work, and you start to have a hard time falling asleep without it. Maybe you spend too much money on it. Maybe you stop caring about other hobbies and interests.
Again, most people, especially relatively mature adults who don't have the unlimited free time to be stoned too often, probably don't have that issue. I suspect (without proof) that one is more likely to get addicted to soda or junk food. Like any psychoactive drug, it's not a substitute for mental health resources, whether that be family/friends or a professional therapist. In my opinion, even the temptation to overuse is a warning sign into yourself that maybe you should pause and figure out what's actually causing the temptation.
That said, if you just wanna get a little stoned on Thursday night after the kids go to sleep, you will be fine.
Still, after a year, familly support, a diploma, a great job, a non-abusive boyfriend and now an appartment, she is "clean" since early november, after her first try at stopping. I'm pretty sure she'll smoke again on some weekends or for new year eve, but it will be for fun and giggles, not because of any addiction.
Imo if you're well, it is not really addictive. Carefull though if you're at risk for heart problems (again: genetics, overweight, male), don't take it with tobacco. And like any drug, do not take it alone the first time.
If you possibly can, limit your use of those substances to the "good times": celebrating accomplishments, or winding down after a long successful day.
That's my two cents; I'm open to hearing other opinions.
I use small amounts of cannabis and avoid caffeine and sugar. Some people respond well to caffeine, but I don't. Gotta listen to your body and figure out what feels healthy.
That said, it is a valid brainhack for anxious people from my experience.
If you like white/brown noise, this is one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy it. I saw a link on HN for another one...
Here it is: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18427538
Whew, that got specific.
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/691462
SYSTEMS
INBOX ZERO - Delete, Delegate, Respond, Defer, Do
ALWAYS BE KNOLLING - Put away tools, group like objects, align to surfaces
FOCUS - Work on one thing
FAST TASK SWITCHING - Work on the top of the heap
PERMISSION TO FAIL - Persist for 15 minutes
Continuous Improvement by SUBTRACTION
WRITE IT DOWN to relieve pressure
STRATEGIC PROCRASTINATION - Ignore your big audacious goal
This also applies to lots of things, you can quit, just do it after you made progress, regardless if it's shipping v0.1, running a marathon, etc. Don't quit when you're sad, get to a spot when you're happy then quit.
If it's 6pm and I'm stuck solving a bug, I call it quits and go home. Often the next day I have a new perspective and check that other place where the bug actually comes from, and solve it faster than if I had just banged my head until late.
(1) Stop work when the immediate path forward is clear, so there is less friction to restarting.
(2) Stop work when encountering a puzzling obstacle, with the expectation that ambient thinking will suggest a path forward.
I try to do both of these things. I'm more successful with the second.
I first read about (1) in a book on writing technical papers, where the advice was to NOT write until you've become confused about the way forward. Rather, leave off so you know how to begin on the next writing session.
The right strategy could depend on the application!
2/ when learning a new skill or trying to improve , focus on one or two things only for the duration of the training session. Eg : this tennis game i’ll consider i’ve won if i’ve managed to stay relax for the whole match, on every point.
This works. But only if there is a cadence that you comfortably settle into. Slow feedback cycles in your tools, real world blockers or other problem-domain bureaucracies can kill whatever sense of cadence you have, a bit like when a Parkinson's patient can walk forward quite well until they reach an obstacle -- and even upon removal of the obstacle, their motor cortex can't provide the necessary neurological oomph to get them back to cadence. This is how I currently feel where I work. I'm used to quick feedback cycles and a quick cadence. But am weighed down by endless blockers. It's a large company with lots of entrenched tooling, too, so not so easy to remediate the situation.
There's a point where pain and other senses disappear because you are so focused on the task.
I'd imagine it's similar, you fall in to a rhythm and then you sort of dissociate from the laziness.
Being suicidal depressed will also hinder things.
I will definitely use it.
I find that I need to set at least few small tasks to get the ball rolling. If I set something like this as the only task I needed to do I would just play video games or waste time afterwards.
This is also useful for side projects if you are under time pressure from more important things. Every day, spend ten minutes doing something that will move the project on and keep you in touch with it.
- things so easy they were guaranteed to be completed - things that I may or may not complete - things so impossible they were guaranteed NOT to be completed
This meant that every day I would defininitely finish some but not all of my list. This helped with getting started and also not beating myself up about the things I didn't accomplish.
When you've gotten up, gotten changed and begun to move, the prospect of going on to do an actual workout becomes like 90% less unpleasant of an idea, compared to how you perceived it from the comfort of your warm soft bed.
It works, try it.
I have a lot of anxiety about my mortality and I've been looking for (non-religious) ways to counter act this fear.
But I will go into how I think about these things anyway, because its an important question with important answers.
Basically, I consider death as a transition. This life's purpose isn't to perform to any human standard; so wealth, fame, notoriety, happiness, etc. are not direct goals of mine. Nor is it a goal of mine to have a lasting impact. I'm not here to impress anyone, or look or act in any particular way.
Some of those things may be a byproduct of how I live my life, but they are not necessary conditions to live 'successfully'.
I think that I should address my definition of success: 'success' in this life means to love God and love people. So what is 'love' (baby, don't hurt me)? Love is not an emotional state, rather it is the active process of listening, respecting, and acting on another's words and needs.
Coming back to mortality: being reminded that I am not long for this world reminds me of the greater purpose of life, relieves stress from performance related anxiety, and curbs worry about physical/mental illness and other maladies, money issues aren't issues anymore, and so on, because I know God will take care of me.
Perhaps things will be identical to you after you've died, and therefore absolutely nothing to worry about.
As a non-believer, I believe that we have just this one life, so make the best of it and enjoy it without worrying.
Oh, and try to leave the place a bit better than when you arrived ;-)
It works like this: 1. Realize that most of the world is out to distract you. 2. Realize that part of the way to do this is to make distraction, and access to distraction, as easy as possible. 3. Actively set up "friction" to reduce that ease.
In practice: I don't install FB on my phone; I have to use the crappier web version. I block reddit on my laptop, so I have to use my phone. Just by making stuff not ubiquitous, you add a little mental friction to using it that dissuades it usage.
One more: I always log out of FB and any other "easy-to-use" distractions. The act of logging in is costly enough (given my long passwords) that even if I open up the tab, I'll bail because I'm too lazy.
I'm usually too lazy to go get it.
Make it a rule to never put more than one in the fridge at a time.
One can also 'grease the rails' (the opposite of friction) for difficult to get-to tasks. Set out gym clothes and bag the night before, or meal prep on the weekends (so that during the week, the easiest thing to eat is what you want it to be).
This is front-loading executive function, and I find it very effective in my life.
For an even more powerful version of this, I recommend:
1) The chrome plugin Momentum
2) Internet-blocking apps like SelfControl, Freedom, or ColdTurkey.
Somewhat related: that's the only way I've been able to get myself to exercise with any consistency. I set things up so that the only way I could get to work is by riding my bicycle.
Best excuse ever
It happens that I can't really 'start' with work due to having too many things to choose from, or by not knowing how to really get started with it.
What always helps is writing down on a piece of paper a step by step guide of what I will do. this can be very general. But just having the steps written down helps me get started.
Kind of like a "todo list" except that I don't update it when I'm done.
This helps me when I need to make a choice for what to work on, but also to compartementalize the problems that I get stuck on.
For example, on my paper it says this at the moment:
It's just a rough outline for what I should be working on at the moment (instead of being on HN, probably).I almost never follow the schedule I set, but I manage to get everything done (deadlines are an advantage of being in school still, I think).
In a more freeform environment I impose a lot of structure on my schedule when I have a lot of executive function to spare (morning, coffee, 8+ hours of sleep, enough food). Then, the rest of the week (I plan in 1 week blocks) I stick to the schedule, and I don't really have to think about what I'm going to have to do.
There has to be some sense of flexibility, though. I forget to schedule things, and sometimes stuff pops up on short notice. Having items on my todo prioritized (1:=most important).
This is, of course, an idealized thing. I still strive to be consistent and effective in my routines.
It's a big motivator and important tool I've picked up.
The best part of the bullet journal method is the de-prioritizing of tasks. I don't give up on things to the point of detriment. With a bullet journal, I've learned to let go of stuff and move forward.
I have a kanban/whiteboard with small post-its and the "done" column is a reminder that things are being completed, even if not always at the pace I'd like. Not so much a hack as a reminder to not be down on yourself - we can't all be hyper-focused life hackers :-)
A trick I use is to start something "easy" towards the end of the day, but not finish it. That makes it easier to get the ball rolling the next morning.
Wikipedia has more details on MBTI, and there are online self-tests for your own MBTI classification.
Disclaimer: Note the "Criticism" part of the Wikipedia page. MBTI is AFAIK not a tool that professional psychologists would use. Nonetheless, I find it useful in order to find similar people on the internet. For example, if I want to learn a new skill, a search query like "[thing] tutorial for INTJ" gives me way better results than just "[thing] tutorial" because I get recommendations from people who think in similar ways.
Basically I am able to (mentally and physically) walk away from work and let go of it and go home and game or work out or whatever. Then, the next day when I sit down again, I get my bearings and see where I'm at and then proceed!
There are a few exceptions to this, of course, but it's always with hard problems I become absolutely OBSESSED about. For example I couldn't find an XML parser in Elixir a couple weeks ago that I liked, so I was faced with writing my own... which I did... and then released as open source https://github.com/pmarreck/mega_xml but I was literally up until 4:30AM one night figuring out how to turn an event-based XML parser callback mechanism into an Elixir Map datastructure (something I had never had to do before, but which I somehow knew I was barely capable of figuring out, lol). It was extra tricky (for me) due to the lack of mutability
| To Do | Doing | Done |
My technical solution for this is using a personal Trello board. Each task is a Trello card, and for a new task I write a rough outline of what needs to be done. I keep these cards in separate stacks: To-do (not started), In-progress, On-hold (waiting for external activity), Done (for archival purposes). For longer running tasks I do update the cards with additional information and progress status. And I can put high-priority tasks to the top of the stack. Creating, updating, and moving cards is all low-friction in Trello, so I find it to be well suited for me.
- Quiet room in the afternoon, with a bed
- Lay down but don't sleep. Drink coffee first if you need.
- Close your eyes, picture the problem, and relax. Visualize it existing in the world. Tweak it. Imagine others' reaction to it.
- Give yourself 20 minutes. If it takes longer, go for a walk.
This technique works well with large architectural decisions, and occasionally helps with debugging stubborn problems.
I try to start every day by opening a GSuite doc. It's synced to my phone so I can edit wherever. It's a running stream of minutiae.
What I've discovered is that by logging my ideas, no matter how trivial. It instantly frees my cognitive load for new thoughts to take hold. I no longer have to cling onto the old to remember them.
It also represents the first step in transmuting the abstract into something physically manifested ;)
Now i can give each thing i think of a priority and a deadline.
I sort my todos by priority and make sure i get the important things done, before anything else.
I start the day, by choosing which todos i want to get done today and then i work my way through the list in no particular order.
If i wanted to give each project a priority as well, i would probably just add a number to the project's name.
The next day, I often discover a solution I didn't realize before, or that same problem/bug goes away somehow, most likely because I was too tired and overlooked something.
Anti-schlep-blindness: Look for the thing you're avoiding thinking about. It's probably the most important thing.
Not taking an action, though, IS a decision so i’m not sure how exactly this compares to your statement.
Closely related... recognizing that everyone, including me, is just a thin coat of reason smeared on a dumb animal brain. Everyone's decision-making, including mine, is governed by a lot of reactionary, low-energy thinking patterns driven by instinct and bad assumptions, not reason - and our "reasoning" is often just thinking our reactionary assumptions are actually something we came to from careful thought. Recognizing that others are irrational helps me work with their interests and biases. Recognizing I'm also irrational helps me avoid the smug belief that everyone who disagrees with me is hateful, greedy, and stupid.
Our brains use reason to justify what we already did more than it uses it to choose what we will do.
Often when we see code, we have a feeling of ‘dirty’ or ‘clean’. An internal reaction that pushes us in some direction. It’s worth questioning why we think that about some things, but I think we eventually develop a sense of what is a good pattern and what isn’t and we actually use the emotional reasoning of our brain to guide us effectively in writing code. Perhaps we wouldn’t even be effective programmers if we had to actually think through full reason each time.
Less applicable when reviewing code, of course.
And for my own purposes, recognizing the possibility that I might be wrong in advance, and being comfortable with it, heads off a lot of wasted effort from defending my wrongness.
It made me realize how much "later" is a fictional time rarely arrives.
"No time like the present."
I've found pondering mortality to be an excellent motivator. Existentially frightening (sometimes), but motivating.
The hack is simple: maintain awareness of what your brain is doing, and police it: do not allow rumination.
Simple and easy are, of course, not the same thing.
If you avoid, you cannot heal. To heal you need to expose, clean, and re-bandage. For most of us, to do this right, we need professional help (note: not drugs).
If you want or need to vent/talk/etc shoot me an email: latham2 (at) wisc (dot) edu.
The former helps a lot when trying to make sense out of chaos. Even if I haven’t learned a sense of priority, having that list in front of me makes it an easier path to finding priority. And my rule is always if there isn’t any clear sense of priority, then just pick one and ignore the rest.
The latter helps with every-day communication. Repeating things back that I hear helps me remember them, but also can lead to the person or persons you are communicating with deciding what they said wasn’t what they meant. It seems like a small, and probably annoying task, but the amount of times it’s helped me remember something between my co-workers desk and my own so I can record what we decided, or the times it’s led to a convo going just a little bit longer because something needed additional clarification is worth the annoyance, in my opinion.
(This doesn't work if you keep score on the doing of favors.)
I think the pattern is - think about how you think, rather than just thinking.
If you want to understand your own brain, it's very important to study great thinkers on the subject, both modern scientists and thinkers from the past whose insights have survived the test of time. That doesn't mean you need to commit to any one of them (especially when they are often at odds with one another), but their insights are valuable.
That said, it is very easy to read a list like this, "feel inspired", and then go right back to your old habits.
However, you shouldn't follow other peoples' solutions to problems you don't have.
Simple and recent example - I'm putting on weight for the first time in 40 years. Sure I want to lose the fat, but that's not enough. Thinking about the end is what did it for me.
First, exercise gets rid of the fat. Second, when I'm finished I should have more muscle than I do now. Third, and what I've somehow always thought was awesome, was to reach a stage where I can so a one-handed push-up.
I hate exercising. Every minute of it. But thinking about that/those outcomes make me do exercise to myself.
It's been a very useful technique in all sorts of places. Especially in meetings.