I’m using chunk of my A-game days to improve the results of my B- and C-days. This means automating and simplifying things as much as possible. In work, hobbies and life in general. A-days are rare, and even though they are very productive, the output is mostly generated on B and C. Being able to progress even on the bad days shies away the meltdowns and burning out.
As a someone who can visualize a lot of things and enjoys cooking and fine-dining - I’ve also noticed that I can visualize the look, taste and smell of the end result from the raw components. So, when given a set of ingredients I start by visualizing the different combinations, picking out one and then refining it whilst cooking.
And the same applies the other way around, when blind-tasting some sauces or foods. I get a mental imagery of the components from the taste, not 100% obviously but usually it’s pretty accurate.
Yeah, this is what I’ve also experienced. You can have a great team, and a lot of influence in that team context. Scaling up that common feeling from 5-10 people gets harder. Realizing this, I’m not really interested in working in larger organizations anymore. All the overhead that bogs down speed just sucks the life out of me.
During the last 10 years or so I’ve gradually been using less and less Windows. Used to do everything on Windows - now at home, it’s only for gaming and I’ve been dabbling with proton to hop off the sinking ship. Due to some proprietary windows tied software, I have to use dualboot at work. All development work is and has been done on Linux for a good while.
Don’t want to support WSL - due Microsoft being Microsoft, mediocrity and smoke and mirrors to leech on your telemetry. Am waiting anxiously for the moment to cut off the final ties with Microsoft OS.
Have to share the sentiment. I remember the expectation of great systems engineering I had when I was at the beginning of my career. You know, ”These things must’ve been done well, as thousands/millions people use these daily”. I was enlightened pretty fast by the first couple of years as a consultant.
Nowadays I expect something clumsy and mediocre, regardless of the organization, with very apparent problems and _maybe_ some bright spots somewhere in the system architecture.
The reply you’re quoting could be written by me, though I’m a decade short. It gets complicated for people that compete (bodybuilders, powerlifters, weightlifters, strongmen, crossfitters… and insert the most of the sports), but that is around nationals level specialization. And it gets complicated because the actual problem space varies a lot from sport to sport. But to get there up to that point, one needs the consistency that the most of the people don’t have.
Edit: For an example a bodybuilder, an olympic weightlifter and a greco-roman wrestler all have muscle, but the problem space is very different even though they all share some common set of tools. But in any of these three you’ll get pretty far and see quite a lot of progress just keeping it simple. Optimization is needed only at the very top.
Lift or train about every other day, try to improve from the last time. Eat. If you feel extra tired, rest. If you dont seem to progress, change your regime a bit. Human body is built for adaptation, it’s the only thing we have. It is not complicated.
