Thread by @MichaelTrazzi

1 like = 3 ways to live more efficiently (where by efficient I mean optimized in terms of time, money, attention or whatever you care about).

https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1205357296714280962

[GOING FAST]

1/ Take ridiculously quick showers. If you're fast enough, you can do it in less than 1m37s.

2/ To avoid perfectionism, post one tweet after the other instead of writing a long thread and tweeting it all.

3/ To run faster, find a running group that runs slightly faster than you do. You can find local groups on meetup.com or adidasrunners.adidas.com.

4/ Tracking your time is the first step towards optimizing it. Use a google sheet where:
- one cell = 15 minutes
- one color = one activity

Here is mine: bit.ly/2ZoXzLT

5/ Work with busy people. They will teach you how to not waste their time.

6/ Try to get rejected as fast as you can. Talking for two or ten minutes won't change much.

7/ When dating, ask for what you actually care about.

Examples:
- Do you have a boyfriend?
- Do you find me attractive?

8/ Use a bike. It can be faster than public transport and there's less variance.

9/ Ask people out. If you like someone, send a message including the word "date". It will polarize the relationship and let your crush know that you like them.

Here's a video of harvard students calling their crushes (spoiler: it worked):

10/ Ask people for coffee. People that don't like you won't show up but people that actually care will find time to meet you, and spending 1h with that person will bootstrap your relationship.

11/ If you're afraid of not producing at a fast enough rate, create commitment devices to force you to meet your targets. This entire thread/challenge is the perfect example.

12/ Use the pomodoro technique for lunch/dinner. If you're quick enough you can get out, eat at a restaurant and come back in <25m.

13/ If you've been putting off a project and you feel you're almost done, try nerd-sniping it for 2-3 days. This might save you weeks.

14/ Everytime you finish something quickly, you're signaling to your future self (and everyone else) that you value your time. Each action produces a slight change in your identity. You don't just go fast: you become fast.

15/ Answer emails instantly. Your co-workers will message you more (as they see it as costless), and you will get more done as a team.

16/ Don't ask for permission. Don't ask to ask. Just do the thing and if there's a problem someone will let you know.

17/ To find a restaurant, use the 5-2-1 technique. Here's how it works:

- Alice tells her top 5 restaurants.
- Bob picks 2 restaurants among those 5.
- Alice chooses between the last two.

18/ Nobody wants to choose the restaurant because it costs "decision making energy". So when you're in a group, be the one to make a decision. It will save time for everyone.

19/ If you're starting to feel tired at a nightclub, go home. The music won't get better.

20/ If you're bored when having coffee with a friend, leave. If someone doesn't return your calls, remember to never interact with that person again (e.g. using flashcards). Life is too short for interactions without chemistry.

21/ Call people. If they don't answer, then the ball is in their court, and you can proceed to do the next thing on your todo list.

22/ Always ask for contact details after 5m of networking. You won't get to know each other much more from talking 10m, and you get to meet far more people.

23/ Take 5m breaks every 25minutes (aka the pomodoro technique). You'll get things done faster because you're more focused.

24/ Get out of your place as fast as you can in the morning. The real bottleneck in getting things done is starting your day, and it usually begins outside of your bed.

25/ Try to have quickies (=quick sex sessions). Sex is not a marathon. Erectile dysfunction is a thing, and you should use morning wood to your advantage.

26/ Listen to podcasts at 3x the speed. With practice, you'll only grasp 1.5x less so it's 2x more efficient.

27/ When watching Netflix, skip the fluff. If a scene is good, it will be obvious, and there's always time to go back to things you don't undersand. I've skipped most of the scenes from the show "Dark" up to S2E7. This episode got me excited, so I went back and watched the rest.

28/ Learn to type with your ten fingers. Practice 2h a day for two weeks on typing.com and you'll be able to type without looking at your keyboard.

29/ If you have roomates, pay someone to clean your place.

30/ Never eat alone. You can use your mouth and your ears at the same time.

31/ If you're remote working, use Discord. It's as useful as Slack and you also get instant voice communication.

32/ When sick, try to meet a doctor in <2h. This way you will immediately know if what you have is actionable. You might even start feeling better after taking your medication.

[FINDING FOCUS AND DEEP WORK]

33/ Turn off your notifications. Your environment triggers thoughts through smartphone sounds.

34/ Then, put your phone is silent mode. This way you're sure to never be disturbed from sounds/calls.

35/ To avoid any new information to reach you, put it on Airplane mode.

36/ If you're still tempted to check it, turn it off. With every layer of friction you add, your mind becomes a little bit clearer.

37/ If you're really serious, put your phone in a sock, then the sock in a bag, which can easily be transported to a room. The key to this room will be hidden by one of your friends, and the secret location will stay unknown to you as long as you're not done with your work.

38/ If you're stuck, spend 15m trying to solve the problem by yourself. When you respect the focus of your colleagues, they will learn to respect yours.

39/ Or you could do it the easy way and work with quiet people. They already know the effective use of silence.

40/ Use the chrome extension StayFocusd. Completely blocking distracting websites won't work immediately, but allowing yourself 10m of daily distraction will.

41/ Use newsfeed eradicators. There are chrome extensions for Facebook and LinkedIn.

42/ You can remove annoying html by yourself. Just "right click", then "Inspect" and "Delete element". I find it super useful to remove Youtube's suggestion bar.

43/ Answer DMs with "good enough" answers to reduce cognitive overload.

44/ Find an office where you can deep work without having to worry about closing time. I work at @42born2code, open 24/7, even during Christmas Eve.

@42born2code 45/ Find a meditation group. It will push you to your limits,
and add a social cost to inaction. (Plus meditation with other people is 10x more enjoyable.)

@42born2code 46/ Meditate everyday. You don't need a fancy app. Just sit and focus on your breathing. Being able to experience inner silence is the true superpower of the 21st century.

@42born2code 47/ Eat less at lunch and drink water 30m afterward. This will improve your digestion and free up mental space.

@42born2code 48/ Force yourself to write an absurd amount of words every morning (for me it's 750words.com). Every intrusive thought will flow from your unconscious mind to your screen, and then disappear, because negative thoughts look silly outside of your mind.

@42born2code 49/ Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Be sure to track it visually, so breaking your streak becomes more annoying than waking up.

@42born2code 50/ Only check social media notifications in batch (e.g. once a day). It will trick your brain into thinking that you have lots of notifications without the distraction from clicking on them.

@42born2code 51/ Uninstall social media apps. Use Chrome instead. You get the same features but you're less tempted to check notifications.

52/ Remove all apps from your home screen. Add habit tracking widgets instead.

53/ Organize your apps into different folders. One folder = one screen. This way, you're forcing your future self to swipe multiple times to get to distracting apps. Once you get used to it, rearrange.

54/ Leave your phone at home. Most of the important messages can be answered via desktop.

55/ Decide what activity you want to do on your phone. For instance, only use social media on your phone. This will free up mental space when on desktop.

56/ Never have your phone in your pocket. Turn it off and put it in your bag.

57/ Deal with DMs in batch. Answering becomes costless when the processing rate is high enough.

58/ Thinking is an action. You're responsible for what you decide to focus on.

59/ Decide to focus on the present moment. What are you currently touching, hearing and seeing right now?

60/ When meditating, breathe with your nose, not your mouth. Practice belly breathing, not chest breathing.

61/ Also, sit straight and don't move. A still body is a first step towards a clear mind.

[BUILDING HABITS]

62/ Don't use your willpower to get things done. Instead, stack habits to get you started. Examples:
- sit on meditation pillow after shower
- write in journal after meditation
- go to the gym after journaling

63/ Habits should be effortless. If you don't sound lazy when explaining your habit to a friend, you're doing it wrong. Examples:
- write one tweet/week
- run 1km/week
- read one page/day

64/ Even if your habit sounds easy, you're still likely to forget about it. That's when you need to use your willpower: to get back on track the next day.

65/ Self-control is a habit too. Everytime you notice an urge to check social media but decide "not today", it becomes easier.

[ON BUILDING A NEW IDENTITY]

66/ If you're undecided between X and Y, ask yourself "what kind of person will I become if I do X?". Actions shape identities and identities make certain actions effortless.

67/ Don't underestimate the impact of daily actions. Making hard choices today transform all the future hard choices into slightly easier choices, because your identity has shifted.

68/ Define your identity by the direction you are currently heading, not where you came from. You should be much more concerned about your current gradient than your past derivatives.

69/ Go to sleep early on a Friday night, run a half-marathon on a Saturday morning and see how it feels.

70/ Choose wisely with whom you hang out. Identity is contagious.

71/ Ask yourself "what would my future self think in this situation" more often. You'll slowly shift your identity towards the person you want to become.

72/ Don't hide your identity: it's a waste of time. Instead, try to show people who you really are as fast as you can. Someone not afraid to talk about his/her weird hobbies is way more attractive than a "mysterious stranger".

73/ Hang out with people you're genuinely attracted to. Chances are you'll end up exchanging useful complementary personality traits.

74/ To build a new identity, start by defining what you value. For me it's:
- honesty
- kindness
- positivity
- hard work

[ON EFFICIENT LEARNING]

75/ Become better at note-taking. You must become aware of what you want to remember before you actually learn it. This starts with writing things down. I use workflowy.com.

76/ Write quotes. There's magic in typing, like if your fingers were somehow directly connected to your medium-term memory.

77/ Identify chunks of knowledge and their dependencies until you reach definitions of things you already know (what we'll call "atoms of knowledge"). Then, you'll need to memorize the label of each atom, and how they are connected to each other.

78/ For that, you'll need to fight the "forgetting curve". Essentially, the more you review a material, the longer it stays in memory after the last review.

77/ The solution: flashcard software for spaced repetition. Read this essay: augmentingcognition.com/ltm.html

78/ Multitasking is underrated. Most daily tasks are "embarassingly parallelizable":
- watching a movie + eating + hanging out with family
- exercising + listening to podcasts
- reading in public transports

[ON FINDING YOUR PEOPLE (FAST)]

79/ Always add a note on LinkedIn. Most people don't.

80/ Do Hackathons. You'll meet 100+ people in <2d.

81/ Create a local Meetup. I really wanted to chat about AGI, so I created a group and in <2w I got 10+ interested members. Right now we're at >100.

82/ Stay in touch. It only takes one 30m call every year or so to keep a relationship alive. Most people will be glad you contacted them.

83/ Throw parties. Costs nothing and you get to keep in touch with 40+ friends and meet their +1.

84/ More generally, if you're not happy with the available options for socializing, you're likely not the only one. Be the one to create the missing event.

85/ Try to spend 1-2h at parties. After that, the marginal cost of staying an additional hour is too high compared to the number of people you'll actually meet. If you really had fun with someone you can always meet them another day.

86/ Be the ice breaker. Introducing oneself is hard, so try to wear unusual outfits so people have an easier time finding ice breakers. Ideas:
- Dye your hair
- Bring funny glasses

87/ Bring a badge with your name at parties. People will remember your name more easily, and will know who you are when you connect with them later on.

88/ Cold email. @ them. Message their boss.

89/ Instead of awkwardly saying "Err, and what do you do for, hum, you know, make money?" try asking "what's your story?"

[ON COMMUNICATING EFFICIENTLY]

90/ Be concise. Try to explain your idea to a friend, using only a tweet. If it makes sense, try going deeper with the two-tweets version, then three, etc.

91/ To make sure your writing is straight to the point, always get feedback from at least three writer friends.

92/ Tell people that you don't understand right away.

93/ Ask questions.

94/ If you're lost in the middle of a group conversation, say it. You're probably not the only one.

95/ Don't interrupt. Listen and communicate non verbally.

96/ Make the elephant in the room common knowledge. Think out loud. Misunderstandings arise when you're not communicating enough.

[BACK TO GOING FAST]

97/ You can only go as fast as the song in your headphones, so listen to tracks with BPM >150.

98/ Just after waking up, run to work. Just shower at the local gym and nobody will notice.

99/ Eat in <5m.

100/ Tweet fast. No one cares.

101/ Think about your next tweet in the shower.

102/ Don't cook, it's a waste of time. Eat sandwich in public transport instead.

103/ Don't sit for breakfast.

[OVERCOMING PERFECTIONISM]

104/ Use the pomodoro technique. Automatically track how many you have done. I use this chrome extension github.com/maggiedelano/S…

beeminder.com/mtrazzi/pomodo…

105/ Compute your average daily output in terms of pomodoro. For me it's 6/7 poms.

106/ Accept that THIS is what your output for today will likely look like.

107/ Remember that above average daily results are caused by months of thinking/work or luck. They are NOT the baseline.

108/ Try to have shitty conversations. Like, go talk to someone at a party and be like "this is going to be the worst chat of the night". Spoiler: it won't.

109/ Getting feedback on blogposts takes forever. Tweet instead.

110/ Don't care too much about your followers. Tweet a lot and get unfollowed as fast as you can. Don't waste people's attention & time by pretending to be someone else.

[ON CLOTHES]

111/ Keep your top 10 t-shirts, throw away the rest. Choose less, look good.

112/ Wear only black.

113/ Stop sorting socks.

114/ Don't buy clothes.

[ON GETTING REJECTED (FAST)]

115/ Am I good enough for this job? Does this person want to kiss me?

You can't accelerate the process until both agents know enough.

Communicating honestly and retrieving information should be your focus. Not getting a job or forcing chemistry.

116/ Materialize rejection. Here is a little exercise:
- try to high-five strangers
- for each rejection, draw one cross
- don't stop until you reach 20

117/ If you're applying to jobs/uni, you can do the same with a Trello, moving from "to apply" to "applied" to "rejected" (or "offer"!). Try to reach 50 rejections.

118/ Come to the terms with the fact that most people don't show up. If you're throwing a Meetup event, <10% of RSVP come. If it's a FB event, <25% will say yes.

119/ More generally, aim for things where the rejection ratio is high. When you're asking for things you truly want, you'll get rejected 99% of the time.

120/ Leave home as soon as you wake up.

121/ Don't walk, run.

122/ Take showers at your office, not at home. If it doesn't have showers, go to your local gym.

123/ Wear only black for 6 months. See how it feels.

124/ Drink powder food.

125/ Don't send availability. Send calendly link.

126/ Never sit for breakfast.

127/ Never take more than 1m for a text tweet.

128/ Be the last one to arrive and the first one to quit a party.

129/ If you've been speaking with someone for >5m, ask for their contact.

130/ Don't say long sentences to get their Facebook. Just give them your phone.

131/ Only use social media 1h a day.

132/Don't cook. It's a waste of time.

133/ Don't break your routine to prepare super hard for interviews. Your habits are more important than some small additional proba of getting a job.

134/ Always tell the truth. Lies are a small win in the present but cost lots of mental energy in the long run.

135/ Save your energy for the first ans last tweet of a thread. That's how Twitter wrap them and most people won't read the rest.