29 ms·

What advice would you give for productivity/getting things done?

• ScottAaronson 8y ago
  I'm like the worst person on earth to be giving anyone else advice about that!! Do you have any idea how much time I waste obsessively reading the news, or worrying about people saying mean things about me on social media, rather than doing research or anything else useful for the world? I suppose my advice would be: don't do what I do. As my former PhD adviser, Umesh Vazirani, likes to tell people, "concentrate on the high-order bits."
  • dreeves 8y ago
    I hear that. But followup question! What do you think of commitment devices (like Beeminder!) for imposing discipline on oneself?
  • davesque 8y ago
    It's actually really encouraging to hear that Scott has many of the same vices as me.
  • VladimirGolovin 8y ago
    > how much time I waste obsessively reading the news This is oddly comforting. As Tim Ferris said in Tools of Titans, every successful person is dysfunctional in some way. I guess the trick is to work around your own personal deficiensies, and that's something everyone must figure out on their own.