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Advice That Actually Worked For Me

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Summary

This article offers various pieces of productivity advice that the author has found to be useful in his own life. The advice includes maximizing baseline energy levels by doing something important first thing in the morning, avoiding checking social media until tasks are completed, telling the right stories about yourself, not sleeping too much, using Fermi estimation and looking up key quantities, imagining the strongest argument against your position, writing regularly, and doing weekly reviews. The author also recommends using logic trees to map out problems and synthesizing information after reading.

Q&As

What advice does the author give to maximize energy levels?
The author advises to figure out a personal exercise practice and do it at least five days a week, do the most important thing first thing in the morning, and don't sleep too much.

What is Fermi estimation and why is it helpful?
Fermi estimation is a technique of estimating the rough order of magnitude of an unknown quantity using information that you already know. It is helpful because it helps you understand the scale of a problem and allows you to make more informed decisions.

What is the importance of telling the right story about oneself?
Telling the right story about oneself is important because the story you tell yourself about yourself matters. If you tell yourself you’re very energetic person, that feeling tired is temporary, and you keep this belief going, you actually become more energetic.

What benefits does writing regularly provide?
Writing regularly provides benefits such as clearing your cache, learning to think in writing, and synthesizing things as you read.

What is the logic tree technique and how can it help problem-solving?
The logic tree technique is a classic problem-solving and brainstorming technique. It involves breaking down a problem into logically exhaustive possibilities, and then breaking down each branch further into its component parts. This helps to spot options that other people may overlook and can be used to answer questions such as "how do we increase profits?".

AI Comments

👍 This is a great article that provides insightful and practical advice on how to become more productive and maximize one's energy.

👎 This article is overly long and some of the advice is too generic and simplistic to be useful.

AI Discussion

Me: It's about advice that actually worked for the author. It covers a lot of topics like maximizing your energy levels, doing the most important thing first thing in the morning, telling the right stories about yourself, not sleeping too much, getting in the habit of Fermi estimation and looking up key quantities, and using upper and lower bounds. It also covers things like writing regularly and doing a weekly review.

Friend: Interesting. What do you think are the implications of the article?

Me: I think that the article highlights the importance of having a routine and being intentional about how we use our time and energy. It also emphasizes the need to have the right mental models and to be able to think critically in order to make the most of our resources. Additionally, it shows that while a lot of people may ignore the importance of understanding the facts and numbers behind a certain topic, it is essential in order to properly assess the situation and come up with the best solution. Finally, it also stresses the importance of understanding one's own strengths and weaknesses in order to make the most of them.

Action items

Create a personal exercise practice and commit to doing it at least five days a week.
Prioritize the most important task of the day first thing in the morning and avoid checking social media until it is completed.
Practice Fermi estimation, looking up key quantities, and using upper and lower bounds when making claims or arguments.

Technical terms

Baseline Energy Levels: The amount of energy a person has at the start of the day.
Positive Feedback Loop: A process in which the output of a system is used as input to increase the output of the system.
Negative Energy Feedback Loop: A process in which the output of a system is used as input to decrease the output of the system.
Fermi Estimation: A method of estimating the rough order of magnitude of an unknown quantity using information that is already known.
Upper and Lower Bounds: The highest and lowest values of a range of numbers.
Psyop: Psychological operations, a type of military operation that uses psychological tactics to influence a target audience.
Thinking in Writing: A method of thinking in which ideas are expressed in written form.
Logic Trees: A problem-solving and brainstorming technique in which a problem is broken down into logically exhaustive possibilities.