How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome(japhr.blogspot.com)
japhr.blogspot.com
How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome
http://japhr.blogspot.com/2012/04/366-or-how-i-tricked-myself-into-being.html
117 comments
I think we're actually mostly in agreement :)
Neither The SPDY Book nor Dart for Hipsters was meant to be a definitive guide on their respective subjects. They are 150 page intros and, as you say, probably well suited for this approach.
For Recipes with Backbone, we aimed for the intermediate / advanced audience. Again, I agree that I probably could not have gotten there in 3 months on my own. For that, I relied heavily on my co-author (Nick Gauthier), who is battle tested with Backbone.js. So, again, I think we are in agreement.
That said, even the intro books are living books. I plan on refreshing and adding as the technology evolves and I as become battle tested (I'm working on edition 1.1 of The SPDY Book now). So over time, I hope to get closer to the ideal tome on the subjects.
Neither The SPDY Book nor Dart for Hipsters was meant to be a definitive guide on their respective subjects. They are 150 page intros and, as you say, probably well suited for this approach.
For Recipes with Backbone, we aimed for the intermediate / advanced audience. Again, I agree that I probably could not have gotten there in 3 months on my own. For that, I relied heavily on my co-author (Nick Gauthier), who is battle tested with Backbone.js. So, again, I think we are in agreement.
That said, even the intro books are living books. I plan on refreshing and adding as the technology evolves and I as become battle tested (I'm working on edition 1.1 of The SPDY Book now). So over time, I hope to get closer to the ideal tome on the subjects.
Maybe slightly OT, i would like to know your motivations for diving into multiple distinct subjects ?
Do you, kind of like Sal Khan (of Khan Academy fame) feel curious to know more & more stuff, & then want to share your knowledge & understanding with the rest of the world, by writing books ?
Context : my comment above http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3904024
Do you, kind of like Sal Khan (of Khan Academy fame) feel curious to know more & more stuff, & then want to share your knowledge & understanding with the rest of the world, by writing books ?
Context : my comment above http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3904024
Yup, that is absolutely why I do this. I'm not sure it would be possible to keep this up without an intense curiosity about these topics :)
There is also a selfish aspect to it. By writing the best book that I am capable of, I learn this stuff much better than I would by playing around with it for a day or two.
Motivations and results feed each other and (hopefully) produce great results.
There is also a selfish aspect to it. By writing the best book that I am capable of, I learn this stuff much better than I would by playing around with it for a day or two.
Motivations and results feed each other and (hopefully) produce great results.
Good argument.
But then by the same argument, would you not trust Sal Khan's Khan Academy videos, since he himself has experience in only a few of the many areas, he researches & then makes educational videos about.
I would tend to agree with you : as a rule, people need to be experienced in a discipline/area to produce high quality content in that discipline/area. People like Sal Khan are the few & rare exceptions to this rule.
But then by the same argument, would you not trust Sal Khan's Khan Academy videos, since he himself has experience in only a few of the many areas, he researches & then makes educational videos about.
I would tend to agree with you : as a rule, people need to be experienced in a discipline/area to produce high quality content in that discipline/area. People like Sal Khan are the few & rare exceptions to this rule.
Generally I agree, but the topics of his books (SPDY, Dart, and backbone ) are all extremely new technologies. Like they have all been released only in the past year. Very few people have a ton of real world experience with these.
So I think the book reader probably will know that the author doesn't have years of battle tested experience but understand that the book is meant to be a good way for a beginner to get up to speed and get going with the topic.
So I think the book reader probably will know that the author doesn't have years of battle tested experience but understand that the book is meant to be a good way for a beginner to get up to speed and get going with the topic.
They might be "extremely new technologies", but how do they fit into existing picture?
This is akin to a layman writing a book on International Klein Blue, but having no idea of what other colors are out there. It's a form of a "blind leading the blind" situation.
This is akin to a layman writing a book on International Klein Blue, but having no idea of what other colors are out there. It's a form of a "blind leading the blind" situation.
It depends very much on the topic. Something that can be approached with analytical rigor or determined completely through a few tests can probably be written by diving in and learning everything while you write. Personally, I write technical articles mostly to cement things I just found out in my own mind and I have often found that in my testing and writing I learn things creating my articles that I hadn't known.
But more ephemeral topics benefit greatly from experience. When I was in the military, I benefitted greatly from the experience of my NCOs and much of what they passed on to me where things that would have been very hard to put into a book or discover through any process other than experience.
But I suspect most technical topics fall into the former category rather than the later.
But more ephemeral topics benefit greatly from experience. When I was in the military, I benefitted greatly from the experience of my NCOs and much of what they passed on to me where things that would have been very hard to put into a book or discover through any process other than experience.
But I suspect most technical topics fall into the former category rather than the later.
Or maybe this post says more about the merits of writing a book vs. writing software than it does about the author's awesomeness.
As an editor at a publisher, I think book should not write this way, even for cutting edge technology that lack of documents. One can put his articles on web, but a book means responsibility. To ensure that a reasonable structure, good reading experience, the contents of profound value, of course, does not misleading the reader.
For the publisher, if know the author do not have professional background, should not publishing their book. Because that means risking a lot.
For the publisher, if know the author do not have professional background, should not publishing their book. Because that means risking a lot.
Theres a lot of 'sayers' in the world: armchair quarterbacks, pundits, etc, but not enough 'doers'. There will always be a glut of consumers and a small fraction of producers. Not even our "consumer generated media" age of twitterbooks and instafaces has stopped this. Although it has raised the amount of snark and uneducated criticism.
So if you move your hand to write three sentences about Django, you're already in the 2% (totally made up) of producers on the internet. Hell, if you blog consistently for a month straight you're in the top .5% of bloggers.
The fact is doing something, anything, is worthy of some admiration. People that would try to detract from your work are often the 98% of never-have-beens.
So if you move your hand to write three sentences about Django, you're already in the 2% (totally made up) of producers on the internet. Hell, if you blog consistently for a month straight you're in the top .5% of bloggers.
The fact is doing something, anything, is worthy of some admiration. People that would try to detract from your work are often the 98% of never-have-beens.
Some people didn't get one main aspect of his point which is the 'tricking' part where he publicly committed himself to his daily work output goal.
I guess two problems with that are A) I am unfortunately not that "gullible" as far as believing that there will really be dire consequences if I don't produce a certain amount and B) as far as I know there is no public for me who would care if I suddenly declared that I was going to produce one new feature every day no matter what or whatever. I have no twitter followers and no one ever really read my blogs and generally posts on sites like reddit are autobanned. The closest I could do would be to go on Facebook and almost everyone on there is family. They would probably react the way they usually do to my Facebook posts which is "wow, I forgot that guy was on Facebook? He is so weird" with an addition of "who cares".
Also, its easier to write one article a day than it is to say push a major feature per day. Also it is easier to measure and break off writing goals than software goals.
I don't have a problem doing work every day, but I do feel like some days are vastly more productive than others. Not sure what goal I could have per day other than X amount of hours of actual work.
I guess two problems with that are A) I am unfortunately not that "gullible" as far as believing that there will really be dire consequences if I don't produce a certain amount and B) as far as I know there is no public for me who would care if I suddenly declared that I was going to produce one new feature every day no matter what or whatever. I have no twitter followers and no one ever really read my blogs and generally posts on sites like reddit are autobanned. The closest I could do would be to go on Facebook and almost everyone on there is family. They would probably react the way they usually do to my Facebook posts which is "wow, I forgot that guy was on Facebook? He is so weird" with an addition of "who cares".
Also, its easier to write one article a day than it is to say push a major feature per day. Also it is easier to measure and break off writing goals than software goals.
I don't have a problem doing work every day, but I do feel like some days are vastly more productive than others. Not sure what goal I could have per day other than X amount of hours of actual work.
I wonder what's the point in writing a book about Dart, where the language, environment, toolchain, compiler(s), and community are still very, very unstable.
At best, it could be an intro saying "this is what they're trying to do"; but you can also cover that in a blog post, right?
At best, it could be an intro saying "this is what they're trying to do"; but you can also cover that in a blog post, right?
I was really unsure what the result would be -- I definitely shared your concerns when I started.
The core of Dart is surprisingly stable -- the team is doing a really solid job of not yanking the rug out from under developers' feet. Sure, I could have stopped at one blog post, but I ended up with 90 and still feel like I have more in me.
In the end, I was pleased with the result. But I might be biased :)
The core of Dart is surprisingly stable -- the team is doing a really solid job of not yanking the rug out from under developers' feet. Sure, I could have stopped at one blog post, but I ended up with 90 and still feel like I have more in me.
In the end, I was pleased with the result. But I might be biased :)
Suggested title for all self help submissions to Haxor News: "How I discovered the one and only one secret to being incredibly awesome at everything".
Sorry, but an awesome programmer does not only talk about programming, he does it.
I'm defiantly going to try this
Jerry Seinfeld used this exact technique to become a great comic. As told by software developer Brad Isaac when he asked Jerry for career advice[0]:
He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.
He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain."
"Don't break the chain," he said again for emphasis.
[0] http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-se...
He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.
He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain."
"Don't break the chain," he said again for emphasis.
[0] http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-se...
This is the reason why I use ["I done this today"](https://idonethis.com/). I have it send me an email everynight at 11pm and I respond back with what I did for the day. I cant wait to look at it in a year.
http://chains.cc is a good gui for this
I'm impressed. My first thought was "I should write an app for this", but seeing what they have done I have no intention whatsoever to even try. :-)
Wow, this is a really good UI. Having designed something similar with Commit I think did a really good job!
This is a really nice site. Thanks.
Thanks for this.
Yah, that's actually where I got the original idea: http://japhr.blogspot.com/2009/03/my-chain.html (should have made that more clear). I'm never going to reach Seinfeld levels, but that's all right.
Staying on track with a goal or two is easy. The hard part is that when you have enough goals, they all compete for time. So choosing which goals you want to follow becomes the ultimate problem.
I've used this in the past to track multiple goals in this way: http://www.joesgoals.com/
Thanks for the suggestion, I like this so far. My biggest beef with idonethis is the single check mark to indicate any activity whatsoever, making it less usable for tracking multiple goals.
Exactly. When I used this, I had some work and exercise-related positive goals, a multi-point goal (cooking, which I love but don't always make time for) and one negative line (caving in to the gaming addiction of the moment).
At some point I abandoned it, but I can't remember what caused me to break the habit. I might have more luck with an iPhone app that kept the chains in my face more often?
At some point I abandoned it, but I can't remember what caused me to break the habit. I might have more luck with an iPhone app that kept the chains in my face more often?
Try out http://dontbreakthechain.com/ - it's awesome.
This was also recently mentioned by YouTuber "CharlieIsSoCoolLike", who's taken to putting videos online every day for a week to overcome his perfectionism, but who's also been following the technique for a much longer time to keep himself learning.
This is a fantastic method. I wrote an iPhone app around this concept: http://thinklegend.com/commit
One of my current commitments is to write 1000 words each day.
One of my current commitments is to write 1000 words each day.
I can highly recommend 750words.com if daily writing is what you are after , lots of those little psychological hooks to keep writing.
I just love all those semi-useless graphs and stats you can generate if you wish.
Completely Free too (it shows around 5% of people as donating something).
I just love all those semi-useless graphs and stats you can generate if you wish.
Completely Free too (it shows around 5% of people as donating something).
Gah!
You have to log in to use it.
Worse, it the login has to be Facebook, Yahoo, or OpenID.
No fucking way am I going to sign up for any of that shit, or let them track me as I visit sites I'm interested in.
No thanks!
You have to log in to use it.
Worse, it the login has to be Facebook, Yahoo, or OpenID.
No fucking way am I going to sign up for any of that shit, or let them track me as I visit sites I'm interested in.
No thanks!
I'll check that out. Thanks!
Specific to open source on Github, but I've encountered this before:
http://calendaraboutnothing.com/
http://calendaraboutnothing.com/
Neat :)
There's only one problem. When you do break the long chain you're out for the count. When was the last time you heard anything from Seinfeld after his long-running eponymous show was cancelled?
How are you supposed to motivate yourself to start a new chain, when it means you'll be working on this shit for the next 3,000 days?
How are you supposed to motivate yourself to start a new chain, when it means you'll be working on this shit for the next 3,000 days?
Don't knock it until you try it. I've found this to be the most effective technique for keeping myself on track.
It has far more to do with creating a habit than anything specific about this 'chain'. The book "Switch" covers this really well, you basically have a limited amount of self-control to use each day. Habits do not tap the self-control bank.
So in my case, I really want to make working on my sideproject a priority. For a while I tried to work on it as much as possible, but I failed to really motivate myself often.
Now I have a chain going. Everyday I wake up before work and do something. Whether its 5 minutes or 3 hours, everyday I boot up my computer and make a little bit of progress. The alarm goes off and a couple minutes later I have my dev tools open and a bowl of cereal in front of me and I'm working, no thought required.
I notice my progress has improved dramatically because of this.
It has far more to do with creating a habit than anything specific about this 'chain'. The book "Switch" covers this really well, you basically have a limited amount of self-control to use each day. Habits do not tap the self-control bank.
So in my case, I really want to make working on my sideproject a priority. For a while I tried to work on it as much as possible, but I failed to really motivate myself often.
Now I have a chain going. Everyday I wake up before work and do something. Whether its 5 minutes or 3 hours, everyday I boot up my computer and make a little bit of progress. The alarm goes off and a couple minutes later I have my dev tools open and a bowl of cereal in front of me and I'm working, no thought required.
I notice my progress has improved dramatically because of this.
This with a capital T :)
Brilliant insight. Great advice.
Brilliant insight. Great advice.
well, that's fair. do you think it works for "parallel chains", i.e. more than one major 'project' or 'initiative' you're trying to get ahead in?
to extend your example, a chain in the morning before work and a completely different project/chain after getting home from work?
to extend your example, a chain in the morning before work and a completely different project/chain after getting home from work?
True. But you're focusing on the chain for the chain's sake. Remember the chain is a hack - a method of altering your behavior to produce a result - and that result should be the focus. Of course, I'm not going to lie and deny that the chain has its own intrinsic value, which only intensifies as it gets longer. But consider-
a.) The longer the chain, the less willing you are to break it, the more you learn not to let superficial things (like the futility of starting a new 3000-day chain) get in the way.
b.) The longer the chain, the more you've achieved your result, and the less you need the chain. If that result didn't happen, then you should reconsider the chain in the first place (as per my point above.)
Example of a.) As of today I have not missed a day of running in 485 days. After finishing a 100-mile ultramarathon 3.5 weeks ago, I got out and hacked together a 1-mile run the day after. Super painful, and took me 15 minutes, but it was an honest jog, and it counts. If my streak was much less than 460 days (at the time), I would not have continued the chain.
example of b.) The result of the chain? It helped me to finish a 100-mile ultramarathon, even at 6'6" 285lbs. If I have to break the chain tomorrow, and its length keeps me from ever starting a new chain, well - look at what I accomplished. I'd say it was worth it. And I suspect Seinfeld would agree regarding his chain.
a.) The longer the chain, the less willing you are to break it, the more you learn not to let superficial things (like the futility of starting a new 3000-day chain) get in the way.
b.) The longer the chain, the more you've achieved your result, and the less you need the chain. If that result didn't happen, then you should reconsider the chain in the first place (as per my point above.)
Example of a.) As of today I have not missed a day of running in 485 days. After finishing a 100-mile ultramarathon 3.5 weeks ago, I got out and hacked together a 1-mile run the day after. Super painful, and took me 15 minutes, but it was an honest jog, and it counts. If my streak was much less than 460 days (at the time), I would not have continued the chain.
example of b.) The result of the chain? It helped me to finish a 100-mile ultramarathon, even at 6'6" 285lbs. If I have to break the chain tomorrow, and its length keeps me from ever starting a new chain, well - look at what I accomplished. I'd say it was worth it. And I suspect Seinfeld would agree regarding his chain.
He retired with his bucket loads of money, presumably.
Regarding Seinfeld: Have you seen his tour schedule? [0]
He's still working extremely hard as a standup comedian. In interviews I've heard him say that he likes to keep his routine 90% the same, refining it from show to show, while still adding some new stuff. I watched a one hour show on youtube from 3-5 years ago, and I saw him live less than a year ago here in Sweden. Almost all the material had changed, which tells me he's still working hard. In general, these type of people don't just retire - this is their life.
0: http://jerryseinfeld.com/
He's still working extremely hard as a standup comedian. In interviews I've heard him say that he likes to keep his routine 90% the same, refining it from show to show, while still adding some new stuff. I watched a one hour show on youtube from 3-5 years ago, and I saw him live less than a year ago here in Sweden. Almost all the material had changed, which tells me he's still working hard. In general, these type of people don't just retire - this is their life.
0: http://jerryseinfeld.com/
After "Seinfeld" ended:
He famously threw away all his stand-up material after doing the very successful special "I'm Telling You For the Last Time",
He was featured in a documentary called "Comedian" following his slow grind building up all new material, has continued touring with that new material,
He immediately began touring with that new material (I saw a show and thought it was really good),
He made "Bee Movie",
He made "The Marriage Ref".
And other things too. Some of the stuff in that list was nearly as good as "Seinfeld", and some of it was terrible, but he's been around.
And other things too. Some of the stuff in that list was nearly as good as "Seinfeld", and some of it was terrible, but he's been around.
It wasn't canceled, he chose to stop the show, and at the time it was the most viewed show [0]. They offered him a lot more money but he decided to leave on a high point [1]. After having one of the most successful shows of all time, he went on to create a successful movie (Bee Movie) [2] and continues to do stand-up.
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinfeld#Ratings
[1] http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9712/26/seinfeld/
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_Movie
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinfeld#Ratings
[1] http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9712/26/seinfeld/
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_Movie
> successful movie (Bee Movie)
This is debatable. The way I remember it, it was a clunker.
This is debatable. The way I remember it, it was a clunker.
Well, let's look at the numbers. With a budget of $150 million and a global box office release gross of $287 million [0], which doesn't factor in things like DVD sales/rentals and licensing, etc means they made about $137 million more than their budget. That seems like success to me, but maybe it's not that simple in the movie industry with Hollywood accounting [1] and as a lot of it seems to depend on costs after the making and a simple general guide is that the movie needs to make at least twice as much of the budget to be considered profitable [2].
[0] http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=beemovie.htm
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting
[2] http://io9.com/5747305/how-much-money-does-a-movie-need-to-m...
[0] http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=beemovie.htm
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting
[2] http://io9.com/5747305/how-much-money-does-a-movie-need-to-m...
Seinfeld is also simply not funny. Not on his show, not ever. So it's not surprising his movie was also total shit.
Sorry, I thought everyone knew this, I didn't pay attention to the connotation of "cancelled", since it was still cancelled. (Like, if a band's show is cancelled, it's often because of them). What I was getting at is that Seinfeld had a phenominally long TV-show run, which is extremely demanding of anyone, let alone its eponymous main character. He did not then do another long-running TV show, which would have simply been this unthinkable commitment. (This is how I'm interpreting it).
I'm not saying one causes the other, but Seinfeld was very good with his system, it led to a very, very long-running TV series, and he didn't follow it up with another series.
How or whether this has any effect on any projects you might do you have to decide for yourself.
I'm not saying one causes the other, but Seinfeld was very good with his system, it led to a very, very long-running TV series, and he didn't follow it up with another series.
How or whether this has any effect on any projects you might do you have to decide for yourself.
I wouldn't call Seinfeld himself an argument against the Seinfeld hack (aka "don't break the chain"). I think things worked out quite well for him!
But I agree that the Seinfeld hack's greatest strength is also its fatal flaw: Once you do break the chain, all the motivation it provided bursts like a bubble. You've got to somehow motivate yourself to build up another long chain to not break. Until then you're on a "one more day won't matter" slippery slope of sloth.
My startup -- http://beeminder.com -- is trying to get the best of both worlds: stay on a "yellow brick road" to your goal every day. You have to maintain a certain overall average every day but you can build up a safety buffer that allows you to, say, take the weekend off without relinquishing that psychological momentum.
But I agree that the Seinfeld hack's greatest strength is also its fatal flaw: Once you do break the chain, all the motivation it provided bursts like a bubble. You've got to somehow motivate yourself to build up another long chain to not break. Until then you're on a "one more day won't matter" slippery slope of sloth.
My startup -- http://beeminder.com -- is trying to get the best of both worlds: stay on a "yellow brick road" to your goal every day. You have to maintain a certain overall average every day but you can build up a safety buffer that allows you to, say, take the weekend off without relinquishing that psychological momentum.
thanks. your second paragraph is exactly my point - but I don't know if it's true, just a guess on my part (a hypothesis if you will). The way you stated it in the second paragraph is exactly what I was getting at.
This is fantastic. Another method to "tricking yourself into being awesome" (also called learning) is to jump right in and start working on a project. Like the author, you'll come up with loads of questions that need answering, and if your project is going to be successful, those questions must be answered. Otherwise your project/startup will die.
Personal experience: this is exactly how I learned Ruby on Rails as a non-programmer. I had an idea for a project, so I tried reading books and tutorials for months. Nothing stuck. It just didn't make sense. I couldn't translate the words I was reading into code. So I said "screw it" and started hacking away at my project, with absolutely no idea what I was doing. Progress was slow obstacles were rampant, but it turns out those obstacles are easy to overcome with stack traces and google/stackoverflow!
Personal experience: this is exactly how I learned Ruby on Rails as a non-programmer. I had an idea for a project, so I tried reading books and tutorials for months. Nothing stuck. It just didn't make sense. I couldn't translate the words I was reading into code. So I said "screw it" and started hacking away at my project, with absolutely no idea what I was doing. Progress was slow obstacles were rampant, but it turns out those obstacles are easy to overcome with stack traces and google/stackoverflow!
I think the difference is that some of us need a little more structure. By providing a method and a repetitive activity, by the 21st day or so (3 weeks they say), it will become habit. After that point, making a point of solving problems for a particular purpose everyday will be much easier, and you'll be making more progress.
A few stories to illustrate:
1. I had a few friends that made it a point to learn a new technology every day of the month and blog about it. In the end, the friends had learned quite a bit, and even though they only had cursory knowledge of the subject, the structure allowed them to succeed at their goal to have a more general knowledge in their discipline.
2. I have another friend that started writing an application with the point for it to be the central product of a great new startup. This friend is not only intelligent, but very capable in the whole stack, self-organized, and I would have expected him to succeed. However, he lost interest in the end before go-live. there were competitors, and I think he lost the vision that he had in the beginning. He could still finish the product, but now he has another job. I credit this to lack of structure, which is not his fault; I've gotten no where near as far as he did on a myriad of ideas for products.
A few stories to illustrate:
1. I had a few friends that made it a point to learn a new technology every day of the month and blog about it. In the end, the friends had learned quite a bit, and even though they only had cursory knowledge of the subject, the structure allowed them to succeed at their goal to have a more general knowledge in their discipline.
2. I have another friend that started writing an application with the point for it to be the central product of a great new startup. This friend is not only intelligent, but very capable in the whole stack, self-organized, and I would have expected him to succeed. However, he lost interest in the end before go-live. there were competitors, and I think he lost the vision that he had in the beginning. He could still finish the product, but now he has another job. I credit this to lack of structure, which is not his fault; I've gotten no where near as far as he did on a myriad of ideas for products.
> I think the difference is that some of us need a little more structure. By providing a method and a repetitive activity, by the 21st day or so (3 weeks they say), it will become habit. After that point, making a point of solving problems for a particular purpose everyday will be much easier, and you'll be making more progress.
Yep, I agree. As long as you are able to find problems to solve. Personally, this doesn't work for me because I am not able to come up with problems unless the present themselves in something I'm working on. I can read 100 books on a subject, but if I can't apply the knowledge or imagine how I can apply it, it doesn't stick. Just different ways of learning, I guess.
Yep, I agree. As long as you are able to find problems to solve. Personally, this doesn't work for me because I am not able to come up with problems unless the present themselves in something I'm working on. I can read 100 books on a subject, but if I can't apply the knowledge or imagine how I can apply it, it doesn't stick. Just different ways of learning, I guess.
Another method to "tricking yourself into being awesome" (also called learning) is to jump right in and start working on a project. Like the author, you'll come up with loads of questions that need answering, and if your project is going to be successful, those questions must be answered. Otherwise your project/startup will die.
That's closer to my approach. I thrive when given a never-ending stream of unique problems to solve, as I work through a project. But sitting down and going through some structured course or book or whatever can quickly become very boring to me. I like to just jump in with both feet and sink or swim.
That said, both approaches have value and I think it's more of a continuum than a binary dichotomy.
That's closer to my approach. I thrive when given a never-ending stream of unique problems to solve, as I work through a project. But sitting down and going through some structured course or book or whatever can quickly become very boring to me. I like to just jump in with both feet and sink or swim.
That said, both approaches have value and I think it's more of a continuum than a binary dichotomy.
I spent many years doing something similar, blogging about what I had just learned (no posing of questions, though). I posted once or twice a day in two blogs and what I learned wasn't so much via the content as it was via the research and curation skills I taught myself. To me, research is all about staying committed to the information I am looking for, yet being flexible in my approach (something I learned growing up with a computer, ie, a problem needs solving so I look at all the ways to solve it).
Still get close to 20K pageviews/month in the main blog even though I barely post anymore, which is cool, and the result is the same as your blogging and books...sharing what you learn with others.
Now I'm taking on a new subject/blog. I will try to use your method. Thanks!
Still get close to 20K pageviews/month in the main blog even though I barely post anymore, which is cool, and the result is the same as your blogging and books...sharing what you learn with others.
Now I'm taking on a new subject/blog. I will try to use your method. Thanks!
Very inspiring stuff. A friend of mine once told himself he'd never be stumped by the same question twice and held himself to it. It's amazing what simple habits can do if you give them time.
This is a great way of working. I just wonder if the books are:
(a) any good?
(b) selling?
There's a huge difference between writing a good book and sticking a couple of notes together. Anyone read the books in question?
EDIT: I didn't see that one of the books was published - search on Amazon gave nothing and all I could find was a buy-my-book landing page. Sorry about that.
(a) any good?
(b) selling?
There's a huge difference between writing a good book and sticking a couple of notes together. Anyone read the books in question?
EDIT: I didn't see that one of the books was published - search on Amazon gave nothing and all I could find was a buy-my-book landing page. Sorry about that.
One data point here. I found the Recipes with Backbone well worth the $24 asking price. Aside from the PeepCode screencasts, it was the source that most helped me get up and running with Backbone.
I've also seen it recommended in several threads so I'm guessing (b) is also satisfied.
I've also seen it recommended in several threads so I'm guessing (b) is also satisfied.
Did you miss this part: "The Pragmatic Programmers"?
Oh wow, I definitely missed that part. For some reason I thought the middle of the post was the end. The bold "How'd I do" made me think that was a closer
AFAIK many folks have a dream of getting a book published, not gettting it to be a best seller. (Probably getting a book published means less in the digital age but still a cool thing to have done.)
This only true the first time. The thrill of being a published author wears off quickly when you realize that this doesn't pay the rent. (In my case, the second time 'round I figured out how to get it to pay the rent as well. Believe me, it's very satisfying.)
I think you're patting yourself on the back too much.
I was reading about a woman in Cambodia who escaped from torture and near death with her two children and survived in the jungle for 3 years. They never stayed in the same place two days in a row and ate nothing but roots and bugs.
Despite this mother's best efforts, her youngest child starved to death and died in her arms.
A few years later, she founded a safehouse for depressed women who had been raped and tortured like her.
Now SHE is an awesome person and I respect her a lot more.
I was reading about a woman in Cambodia who escaped from torture and near death with her two children and survived in the jungle for 3 years. They never stayed in the same place two days in a row and ate nothing but roots and bugs.
Despite this mother's best efforts, her youngest child starved to death and died in her arms.
A few years later, she founded a safehouse for depressed women who had been raped and tortured like her.
Now SHE is an awesome person and I respect her a lot more.
She does sound like an incredible person, but what are we supposed to do with that information? Does it mean we should not try and do anything, given there is always someone out there who has a 'better' (for very wide definitions of 'better') story? I don't write this to be snarky, and I used to think in a similar way myself, but this is not a good way to see the world.
Here's what I took away from the story: there are incredibly humble people who have overcome incredible hardships and went on to help and heal others.
A lot of the "accomplishments" I read on HN like raising VC money or blogging for a year straight is weaksauce in comparison.
A lot of the "accomplishments" I read on HN like raising VC money or blogging for a year straight is weaksauce in comparison.
So? If we never achieve such greatness, does it mean we shouldn't go for the weaksauce?
My answer is no - not every has to be the hero. If one's a decent one, it's great already in itself.
My answer is no - not every has to be the hero. If one's a decent one, it's great already in itself.
I think OP is just making a general call for people to be a bit more humble. Fueled by this particular case where a guy declares himself to be awesome, because he wrote a blog post every day for a year, and self-published 3 PDF's.
Fair point, noted and accepted :-)
I wonder if it would be possible to find someone who endured even more hardships than the woman you read about? Or someone who dealt with them with even more courage or more grace? If so, I wonder if that means the Cambodian woman's story should never be told, in any context?
Thing is, the fact that you give more of your respect to that woman than to Chris changes little. True, we can try and “rate” these accomplishments, and that woman probably would receive higher “mark”. However, it obviously makes little sense—because we're unable to judge the outcome, since causal relationships are too complex; because what matters is doing things, not recognizing and/or ranking others' achievements.
the woman didn't decide her fate. It was accidental. He accomplished something with resilience. Why do we have to compare everything in terms of heroism? Who cares about heros. The lady wasn't a heroine neither is he.
Ima let you finish but Beyonce had the best album of all time!
What is wrong with you?
Oops. I'm sorry. I introduced another perspective into the discussion.
you introduced another perspective on the vague, arbitrary concept of 'being awesome', but the article was actually about a method for practicing and learning new skills... not about 'being awesome'. Yeah, that lady sounds awesome and inspiring, but I think you missed the point.
non-sequitur != different perspective
Super story!
This is exactly why we started writing a blog. It has kept is learning and recording new information everyday.
Pretty impressive to see the blog author publishing books on topics he knew nothing about a year ago.
This is exactly why we started writing a blog. It has kept is learning and recording new information everyday.
Pretty impressive to see the blog author publishing books on topics he knew nothing about a year ago.
I loved this story! The only parts that need a little work were: 1. His background, because he didn't just go from zero to book writer, 2. How in the heck Nick Gauthier decided to co-write with him on a topic Chris previously knew nothing about, 3. Usually "I'm awesome!" is just asking for a humility check... but I think that the point is that you can be awesome.
I've been coding since the mid-nineties and had been content to be good/competent. From there to book writer is, I think, a natural outgrowth of the chain posts.
I know Nick IRL. He had previously toyed with the idea of doing a book. I can't speak for him, but I think he signed up after seeing what I did with The SPDY Book. It worked out well IMO. He took the more in-depth ones, I took the more foundation recipes and then we proof read each other.
I know Nick IRL. He had previously toyed with the idea of doing a book. I can't speak for him, but I think he signed up after seeing what I did with The SPDY Book. It worked out well IMO. He took the more in-depth ones, I took the more foundation recipes and then we proof read each other.
This doesn't work for me. I've tried several times, but I just can't make it stick.
Maybe doing it daily is too often to get started, certainly if you have a lot of other stuff going on in your life too.
I set myself a target of writing one good blog post a week about a year ago, with the target of having 52 posts in a year. Right now, I have about 31 with 1 month to go - I am pretty pleased with that, especially since I have been on at least 4 weeks holidays through the year where I left my laptop firmly at home.
I set myself a target of writing one good blog post a week about a year ago, with the target of having 52 posts in a year. Right now, I have about 31 with 1 month to go - I am pretty pleased with that, especially since I have been on at least 4 weeks holidays through the year where I left my laptop firmly at home.
Though I respect the process and the efforts behind this, "How to write books with a superficial understanding of what you're talking about" would be more appropriate.
Ah, but I think that's the point. My understanding of the topics is anything but superficial. If you follow along with my daily posts, I think you can see me work through initial infatuation, recognition of limitations, and finally deeper understanding.
To be sure, I could know more. But I think you're being dismissive by characterizing this as superficial.
To be sure, I could know more. But I think you're being dismissive by characterizing this as superficial.
Is it more than superficial though? Depends on your definition of 'superficial':
If I buy a book on SPDY (or any technology), it is likely because I want to use it in a production/live environment.
I want to buy a book on technology from someone who has run a live system, and got the battle scars one gets from doing so; who has learnt from the experiences, which they can then share.
When it comes to technology, one can research all they like about it, but until you have practical _experience_ in a live environment, I would call it 'superficial'.
(From the blog post it is not clear; if you have run all these technologies live then I agree, your understanding is not superficial)
If I buy a book on SPDY (or any technology), it is likely because I want to use it in a production/live environment.
I want to buy a book on technology from someone who has run a live system, and got the battle scars one gets from doing so; who has learnt from the experiences, which they can then share.
When it comes to technology, one can research all they like about it, but until you have practical _experience_ in a live environment, I would call it 'superficial'.
(From the blog post it is not clear; if you have run all these technologies live then I agree, your understanding is not superficial)
I had the same thought as you about his books, if this is the methodology. But I also find it very inspiring, and am extremely envious. Every time I think, "Maybe I should write a book about this", I immediately project myself onto a prospective consumer of my unwritten book and think, "I wouldn't read a book written by me on this subject, because I am not enough of an expert, so why should I expect anyone else to feel differently?", so I don't write the book. This guy thinks the first thought and just goes for it. The word is overused, but: awesome!
Is it more than superficial though? Depends on your definition of 'superficial':
I think that depends on who the audience is. If you're a CTO at a company that's up and running and live and you're beginning a deployment of something new, then yes, you need an overview rooted in hands-on experience. But if you're a guy who just wants to learn something new because "I might use this in the future" or "I'm just evaluating this" or whatever, a book which is based only on theory/research can be wildly useful if it helps you shortcut the learning curve to learning the tech. Actually, if it helps you shorten your own learning curve, it's beneficial in either of those scenarios, in a sense.
I think that depends on who the audience is. If you're a CTO at a company that's up and running and live and you're beginning a deployment of something new, then yes, you need an overview rooted in hands-on experience. But if you're a guy who just wants to learn something new because "I might use this in the future" or "I'm just evaluating this" or whatever, a book which is based only on theory/research can be wildly useful if it helps you shortcut the learning curve to learning the tech. Actually, if it helps you shorten your own learning curve, it's beneficial in either of those scenarios, in a sense.
That is a fair point. I had not run SPDY in a heavily utilized production environment. I'll agree that there are things that I would learn had I done so, but I would definitely argue that this is the only way to learn something in depth.
To be clear : I'm dismissive about the title but admiring the results. I'm just tired of reading blog posts where everything from jquery plugins to pancakes recipes are "awesome"
Gotcha. The title is intentionally over the top and definitely worthy of, at least, a skeptical attitude. I do have some awesome pancake recipes though...
This was exactly my thought. More tech books written by someone who is just learning the technology. This is one of the main reasons I barely ever buy tech books. Useless.
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Chris - congrats man. I've been silently stalking your "chain", and also came across your posts frequently when I was writing Planscope and was frantically Googling for Backbone help.
The thing I like best is that you now have a time capsule for your professional life. You can look back and see exactly where you came from and where you went, which is more than most of us can say. I have a hard time remembering what I was doing a month ago!
Keep it up, and I look forward to seeing what technology or library you tackle next!
The thing I like best is that you now have a time capsule for your professional life. You can look back and see exactly where you came from and where you went, which is more than most of us can say. I have a hard time remembering what I was doing a month ago!
Keep it up, and I look forward to seeing what technology or library you tackle next!
Much thanks. I've definitely appreciated the encouragement along the way. But mostly it's cool to know that my posts have helped. Makes it that much more worthwhile :)
Someone here submitted site for the same thing. http://sein-cal.co.cc/
What I have done is taken a printout of the same and marked on it everyday.
What I have done is taken a printout of the same and marked on it everyday.
I'm really surprised nobody said it yet. But indeed, you are awesome.
Someone else with a similar attitude I find inspiring: Les Stroud. He'd go to some random remote wilderness location, take a few video cameras and nothing else, and record himself surviving for a week. Result: Survivorman, a hit TV show going into its fourth season, with at least 3 spinoff shows.
A more mundane example: my brother took a photograph every day for a year. Not a big deal, no particular subjects or goals, but getting that one picture a day was paramount. With some editing & on-demand publishing, result was a very nice coffee-table book of intriguing eclectic photos.
Same idea. Pick a topic, dive in, write/record for an audience, do it with passion and consistency and detail, the result is awesomeness. The more you strive the awesomer you get.
A more mundane example: my brother took a photograph every day for a year. Not a big deal, no particular subjects or goals, but getting that one picture a day was paramount. With some editing & on-demand publishing, result was a very nice coffee-table book of intriguing eclectic photos.
Same idea. Pick a topic, dive in, write/record for an audience, do it with passion and consistency and detail, the result is awesomeness. The more you strive the awesomer you get.
There's also this guy, who painted every day for nine years, and went from a completely unskilled beginner to a master artist:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3031684
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3031684
And the guy who, to test Gladwell's "10,000 hours" theory, has taken up golf and intends to turn pro. He knew nigh unto nothing about the game when he started. (BTW: how's he doing on that? anyone have updates?)
http://thedanplan.com/ where there's a blog, regularly posted videos, etc.
Current status (I just looked): 2 years in, 2700 hours done, and he just shot his first sub-80 round of golf.
Current status (I just looked): 2 years in, 2700 hours done, and he just shot his first sub-80 round of golf.
Thanks for making me waste an embarrassing number of hours!
hey man... I'm going to try this out.
Congratulations, you are awesome! Not only did you accomplish your goal, but you have tangible evidence of your achievement. Your name is on the cover of three books, and no one can ever take that away. So what now? Does the bar get raised. Are you saying to yourself "Wow, I can't believe I did that, what else can I do?" The difference between success and failure is ambition. You sir have tapped into your inner ambition. Harness it, focus it and you are unstoppable. You've inspired me. Thank you!
slow clap
This is pretty awesome. The best way to ensure that you truly understand something, is to attempt teaching it.
This is a technique I am starting to use in my quest to be more awesome too...doubt I will write a book, but you never know.
This is pretty awesome. The best way to ensure that you truly understand something, is to attempt teaching it.
This is a technique I am starting to use in my quest to be more awesome too...doubt I will write a book, but you never know.
I used this as a study technique in college. I didn't do it for everything, but for concepts that were difficult to grasp, I would explain it to an imaginary pupil. It's a good way to sort things out in your heads and helps a lot with memorization.
The best way to ensure that you truly understand something, is to attempt teaching it.
To put the foot on the other shoe, however, the last person I ever want to learn from is someone who is learning for the sake of teaching. Such knowledge is usually the thinnest of veneers.
To put the foot on the other shoe, however, the last person I ever want to learn from is someone who is learning for the sake of teaching. Such knowledge is usually the thinnest of veneers.
Couldn't disagree more.
He who has just learned something, or is in the process of FULLY learning it....is usually better able to teach it, because they understand the challenges with learning it.
I can't tell you the amount of times I have had PhDs explain concepts to me in the most convulted way - using terms and language that just flies over my head, until I am explained the same concepts by a fellow student or a TA or something in the simplistic of terms.
It's easy, once we 'master' something, to forget how to empathize with those that have not and to get caught up in our own knowledge.
Happens to me all the time, so I am not just pointing fingers at everyone else.
I have found that when I force myself to remember what it feels like to not understand something I am teaching, I tend to be a better teacher because I break it down to the simplest unit. Most experts don't/can't do that.
A simple case in point is, just pick up any of the hundreds of programming books...how horrible are they? Quite horrible...many of them. Some are good - and the ones that are, tend to stand out from the crowd. It's not because they are any less of an expert, it is usually because they can empathize with the reader more.
He who has just learned something, or is in the process of FULLY learning it....is usually better able to teach it, because they understand the challenges with learning it.
I can't tell you the amount of times I have had PhDs explain concepts to me in the most convulted way - using terms and language that just flies over my head, until I am explained the same concepts by a fellow student or a TA or something in the simplistic of terms.
It's easy, once we 'master' something, to forget how to empathize with those that have not and to get caught up in our own knowledge.
Happens to me all the time, so I am not just pointing fingers at everyone else.
I have found that when I force myself to remember what it feels like to not understand something I am teaching, I tend to be a better teacher because I break it down to the simplest unit. Most experts don't/can't do that.
A simple case in point is, just pick up any of the hundreds of programming books...how horrible are they? Quite horrible...many of them. Some are good - and the ones that are, tend to stand out from the crowd. It's not because they are any less of an expert, it is usually because they can empathize with the reader more.
He who has just learned something, or is in the process of FULLY learning it....is usually better able to teach it, because they understand the challenges with learning it.
Perhaps. Or perhaps they're at the point where they think they get it -- they understand it -- and they start espousing their wisdom to others prematurely? Only they have some fundamentally wrong ideas about the thing they just started to learn. This is the story of almost every developer's apprenticeship since the beginning of time. Heck, it's the story of the world (the whole "I was a better parent before I had children" thing. And of course the most you'll ever know is in the first year of university, before you learn how much you don't know).
A simple case in point is, just pick up any of the hundreds of programming books...how horrible are they?
I'm not sure how that is a case in point given that the overwhelming majority of programming books are written by people trying to gain credibility through authoring as a surrogate for actual code (indeed, isn't this what this submission is about?) -- it is hardly dominated by experts since, what, the 70s?
The software development how-to field -- and this has only been made worse by the whole self-publishing trend -- is dominated by apprentices. It is the guy who has laid his first brick telling the world how to be a mason. No thanks.
Perhaps. Or perhaps they're at the point where they think they get it -- they understand it -- and they start espousing their wisdom to others prematurely? Only they have some fundamentally wrong ideas about the thing they just started to learn. This is the story of almost every developer's apprenticeship since the beginning of time. Heck, it's the story of the world (the whole "I was a better parent before I had children" thing. And of course the most you'll ever know is in the first year of university, before you learn how much you don't know).
A simple case in point is, just pick up any of the hundreds of programming books...how horrible are they?
I'm not sure how that is a case in point given that the overwhelming majority of programming books are written by people trying to gain credibility through authoring as a surrogate for actual code (indeed, isn't this what this submission is about?) -- it is hardly dominated by experts since, what, the 70s?
The software development how-to field -- and this has only been made worse by the whole self-publishing trend -- is dominated by apprentices. It is the guy who has laid his first brick telling the world how to be a mason. No thanks.
I understand where you are coming from. You feel that if you are truly interested in a topic, you will explore it without ny other reason or incentive.
But I don't think they are saying they are learning for teaching's sake (what's wrong with that anyway). They are interested in the topic. But, having to put what you learnt into words for someone else, makes you crystalize your understanding. It reinforces what you learnt. Makes it stay more permanently in your brain. So it enhances your learning. Plus, answering questions raised by your readers makes you delve deeper. Just my opinion.
And if you proclaim upfront that you are learning while blogging/teaching, your readers are free to read or instead find a well known expert and read their book/blog. Amazon reviews, blog comments etc. also tell you what you are getting.
I have heard others say that when they want to learn something, they ultimately teach it and I have seen one of them live it. And I will say it works. She may not be The Expert on the topic, but her knowledge and passion grows everyday. I have been intending to put this in practice myself, high time I did!! Tonight!
But I don't think they are saying they are learning for teaching's sake (what's wrong with that anyway). They are interested in the topic. But, having to put what you learnt into words for someone else, makes you crystalize your understanding. It reinforces what you learnt. Makes it stay more permanently in your brain. So it enhances your learning. Plus, answering questions raised by your readers makes you delve deeper. Just my opinion.
And if you proclaim upfront that you are learning while blogging/teaching, your readers are free to read or instead find a well known expert and read their book/blog. Amazon reviews, blog comments etc. also tell you what you are getting.
I have heard others say that when they want to learn something, they ultimately teach it and I have seen one of them live it. And I will say it works. She may not be The Expert on the topic, but her knowledge and passion grows everyday. I have been intending to put this in practice myself, high time I did!! Tonight!
Very impressive self-commitment.
The idea behind this is roughly the same reason that I had a much harder time creating a habit of running 3 days a week, than I had creating a habit of running 6 days a week. If you start doing something daily, the friction to get started on the task is almost completely gone
This is a wonderful story about how impressive your willpower is. Everyone has the desire to be great, and most people can see the rough path they must take. But, the hardest part for everyone is keeping the willpower to continually push themselves to work towards that goal every day.
I am curious as to how you kept yourself motivated over the past 366 days.
I am curious as to how you kept yourself motivated over the past 366 days.
I'd say this in the original article's comments, but apparently it does not allow anonymous comments:
I found this article to be really inspiring. I guess I can see how some people may think Chris is just stroking his own ego, but I did not read it that way at all. First and foremost, I took from this article that a key to feeling great about yourself and your accomplishments is to actually do stuff, all the time. It's a simple concept that I'm sure we're all aware of, but this article really hit it home for me.
As a direct result of this article, I am inspired to do stuff, even if that stuff is considerably less awesome than what Chris accomplished last year.
I start with a personal response via blog post: http://epixa.com/2012/04/on-inspiration-chains-and-being-awe...
I found this article to be really inspiring. I guess I can see how some people may think Chris is just stroking his own ego, but I did not read it that way at all. First and foremost, I took from this article that a key to feeling great about yourself and your accomplishments is to actually do stuff, all the time. It's a simple concept that I'm sure we're all aware of, but this article really hit it home for me.
As a direct result of this article, I am inspired to do stuff, even if that stuff is considerably less awesome than what Chris accomplished last year.
I start with a personal response via blog post: http://epixa.com/2012/04/on-inspiration-chains-and-being-awe...
My takeaway, "Just Write. Go and Create Content. Stay Committed and you will surprise yourself at what you can accomplish."
The only thing I take issue with is the comment that the author has more than quiting smoking to show for it, he has 3 books.
as a former smoker, who hasnt smoked in 20 months, I can assure you that the struggle never ends, whereas once the book is finished, you can move to the next project.
I still rely on my 20 month chain once in a while to remind myself that I can do and continue doing the impossible... but the battle to quit smoking, is a constant one, and pays off for the rest of your life... the battle to write a few books is hardly comparable.
The only thing I take issue with is the comment that the author has more than quiting smoking to show for it, he has 3 books.
as a former smoker, who hasnt smoked in 20 months, I can assure you that the struggle never ends, whereas once the book is finished, you can move to the next project.
I still rely on my 20 month chain once in a while to remind myself that I can do and continue doing the impossible... but the battle to quit smoking, is a constant one, and pays off for the rest of your life... the battle to write a few books is hardly comparable.
However, I have serious doubts about the merits of writing a book about a subject intricacies and philosophy of which you have not yet had the chance to distill through the lens of experience.
The method may, perhaps, work for simple recipes, how tos and other procedural knowledge. I really don't think it would work for anything in or above the intermediate range of content on any meaningful, commonly deep topic.
Just imagine whether the "Mythical Man Month", "Code Complete" or "Innovator's Dilemma" could have been written with this kind of approach.
I don't know about others but when I read a book, I sometimes realize the presence of an unavoidable slight bias towards believing the author and respecting his conclusions, that is unless I am already deeply knowledgeable about the subject and have my own strong opinions. It better be the case that the author is in fact trustworthy on the subject.