Problem I am trying to fix: I feel like I don’t really succeed at doing deep work and having time to properly think about what I want LessWrong todo, and what I want to do in my life. Here are some ideas on how to fix that:
Just respond to all emails that want to schedule meetings with “sorry, I don’t take meetings anymore, if you want me to talk to you send me a Google Doc that I can comment on”
Set up a calendly that has exactly four slots per week, and just send that whenever someone wants to schedule a meeting with me
Move to Europe and change my name
Adopt polyphasic sleep and use the additional time for deep work
Adopt a daily meditation habit and use the resulting clarity to think better about my life
Go to an OAK retreat and use that to gain more mental clarity
Move out of my group house so that I am less distracted
Become a nomad that doesn’t have any responsibilities and have impact on the world by writing a pseudonymous blog
Quit all my grantmaking commitments so I have time to focus on LW
Make a list of everything that is distracting me, then magically fix them
Style my hair into spikes so I look menacing and people don’t want to talk to me anymore
Block all websites and video games
Track all of my time, then do weekly reviews in which I debug what wasted most of my time, and take appropriate action
Order food in bulk so I don’t have to spend time ordering food or cooking
Turn off my computer automatically at 8PM so that I have to use pencil & paper and other dumb media to reflect more
Go on frequent walks.
Commute to an office that is a 30 minute walk away so I can reflect on the way there and back
Uninstall Slack and other instant messaging apps
Invest in the stock market so I can become really rich and then just buy out lots of personal time for myself
Buy an even faster computer so I can be faster at programming so I have more time to think
Hire someone to be my personal assistant so they can do all of my gruntwork
Hire someone to impersonate me in meetings, so I don’t have to go to them
Lobby for the addition of an additional 8th day to the week, so I can use that day to do deep work
Just sleep less
Keep track of all the external commitments that take up all of my time and figure out which ones are dispensable, then not do them
Move to the east coast, which magically will make my life less distracting and make it easier to get things done, because of something something cultural osmosis?
Move into manufacturing physical goods, which are less likely to give rise to ongoing maintenance problems and sudden crises
Write a blogpost every day about what I am thinking
Only eat soylent so I can spend less time distracted with preparing/cooking food
Do lots of art-projects as a form of meditation that will allow me to express my thoughts on what I should do with LW and my life
Ask other people to meet with me to think about strategy and my life.
Reread Getting Things Done and maintain a healthy GTD system
Set up an auto-responder that I won’t be very responsive to emails, so I don’t feel bad about not responding to emails
Build my own note-taking system that is distraction-free and that I can tweak so I can build an environment that I can iterate on so that I can think more clearly
Start using Roam again
Keep a centralized record of all the projects that I am working on, and review it every week or month
Escape to the moon and build a moonbase with a more functional civilization that can grow into something much more productive than current humanity, then retire and have time to think
Go on lots of long hikes with different people
Move to some location where COVID isn’t happening and hang out lots on cafes where I can usually get a lot of work done
Fake my own death, then come back when everyone will have dealt with me not following up on all of my commitments
Only work in pomodoros
Use Twitter a lot, build a large following, then use the threat of the mob to attack anyone who wastes my time (this is obviously a really bad idea)
Recruit my brother to work with me, then sometimes have him attend my meetings instead, since our voices sound kind of similar
Take lots of nootropics
Clean my room and all other rooms I work in so I have a less distracting work environment
Imitate Richard Stallman and just use software that is usable under an Open Source license. Then nothing can send me notifications because basically nothing on computer will work anymore.
Take a class on management and/or operations and use that to spend my time much more effectively
Ask Geoff Anders whether I can have more courses on strategy with him, then use those techniques to think about my life
Attend more babble challenge events so I can come up with more ideas on how to solve my problems
Build friendly AI, then solve all the problems, including this one
Problem I am trying to fix: I feel like I don’t really succeed at doing deep work and having time to properly think about what I want LessWrong todo, and what I want to do in my life. Here are some ideas on how to fix that:
Just respond to all emails that want to schedule meetings with “sorry, I don’t take meetings anymore, if you want me to talk to you send me a Google Doc that I can comment on”
Set up a calendly that has exactly four slots per week, and just send that whenever someone wants to schedule a meeting with me
Move to Europe and change my name
Adopt polyphasic sleep and use the additional time for deep work
Adopt a daily meditation habit and use the resulting clarity to think better about my life
Go to an OAK retreat and use that to gain more mental clarity
Move out of my group house so that I am less distracted
Become a nomad that doesn’t have any responsibilities and have impact on the world by writing a pseudonymous blog
Quit all my grantmaking commitments so I have time to focus on LW
Make a list of everything that is distracting me, then magically fix them
Style my hair into spikes so I look menacing and people don’t want to talk to me anymore
Block all websites and video games
Track all of my time, then do weekly reviews in which I debug what wasted most of my time, and take appropriate action
Order food in bulk so I don’t have to spend time ordering food or cooking
Turn off my computer automatically at 8PM so that I have to use pencil & paper and other dumb media to reflect more
Go on frequent walks.
Commute to an office that is a 30 minute walk away so I can reflect on the way there and back
Uninstall Slack and other instant messaging apps
Invest in the stock market so I can become really rich and then just buy out lots of personal time for myself
Buy an even faster computer so I can be faster at programming so I have more time to think
Hire someone to be my personal assistant so they can do all of my gruntwork
Hire someone to impersonate me in meetings, so I don’t have to go to them
Lobby for the addition of an additional 8th day to the week, so I can use that day to do deep work
Just sleep less
Keep track of all the external commitments that take up all of my time and figure out which ones are dispensable, then not do them
Move to the east coast, which magically will make my life less distracting and make it easier to get things done, because of something something cultural osmosis?
Move into manufacturing physical goods, which are less likely to give rise to ongoing maintenance problems and sudden crises
Write a blogpost every day about what I am thinking
Only eat soylent so I can spend less time distracted with preparing/cooking food
Do lots of art-projects as a form of meditation that will allow me to express my thoughts on what I should do with LW and my life
Ask other people to meet with me to think about strategy and my life.
Reread Getting Things Done and maintain a healthy GTD system
Set up an auto-responder that I won’t be very responsive to emails, so I don’t feel bad about not responding to emails
Build my own note-taking system that is distraction-free and that I can tweak so I can build an environment that I can iterate on so that I can think more clearly
Start using Roam again
Keep a centralized record of all the projects that I am working on, and review it every week or month
Escape to the moon and build a moonbase with a more functional civilization that can grow into something much more productive than current humanity, then retire and have time to think
Go on lots of long hikes with different people
Move to some location where COVID isn’t happening and hang out lots on cafes where I can usually get a lot of work done
Fake my own death, then come back when everyone will have dealt with me not following up on all of my commitments
Only work in pomodoros
Use Twitter a lot, build a large following, then use the threat of the mob to attack anyone who wastes my time (this is obviously a really bad idea)
Recruit my brother to work with me, then sometimes have him attend my meetings instead, since our voices sound kind of similar
Take lots of nootropics
Clean my room and all other rooms I work in so I have a less distracting work environment
Imitate Richard Stallman and just use software that is usable under an Open Source license. Then nothing can send me notifications because basically nothing on computer will work anymore.
Take a class on management and/or operations and use that to spend my time much more effectively
Ask Geoff Anders whether I can have more courses on strategy with him, then use those techniques to think about my life
Attend more babble challenge events so I can come up with more ideas on how to solve my problems
Build friendly AI, then solve all the problems, including this one