2015 Repository Reruns - Boring Advice Repository

Use delayed responses to wean needy people when you think they are abusing your time and helpfulness. For instance, the new guy comes by asking for help getting started but keeps coming by for things he should do himself. You don't want to be rude but want to stop it. Progression like immediate response->5m->1h->1day has worked for me with email.

Delayed response is also great to cool off heated discussions.

Summary of best comments on the original repository

The best advice posted (best comments) in the original repository included (I blatantly pirate-copied it over from their various authors):

• Avoid commuting, or failing that, commute effectively (i.e. by train or bicycle and not by car, so you can do some useful work or exercise).

• Start your posts with a summary if it's more than 3-5 paragraphs. Use paragraphs.

• Treat craigslist as a free storage. You don't need to physically own all the tools if you can pick them up for <(0.1 paychecks). Treat those things as if you'd already own them. Pick 'em up when you actually need them.

• Spend more effort (money, time) on optimizing things you regularly use, such as clothing, matresses, hygiene products, kitchen accessories, and ergonomic computer hardware.

• If you are trying to do X, surround yourself with people who do X. E.g. if you want to read, go visit a (university) library.

• If you are looking for a job, tell everyone you know. Many jobs are gained through personal connections. Post on facebook.

• If a complete stranger or an acquaintance can do something useful for you, ask. (Politely. At a convenient time. With an appropriate amount of honest flattery.) If they say no, don't press them. Always remember to thank them twice: After they agree to help you and again after they've actually helped you.

• Obtain a smartphone. Use it to look data (wikipedia), directions, prices (amazon), and places (yelp), record memos and various data, and read emails. Also, set alarms.

• Learn to cook at least a handful of simple, cheap, fast meals.

• Never post a web link that requires readers to click on it to find out if they want to click on it.

• Observe the 80/20 rule for cleaning. Better clean twice as often less efficiently than waste a day cleaning stuff thoroughly.

• When in need of a conversation topic, ask a question about the other person's life. Anything about their life. People like to talk about themselves.

• Always negotiate the salary when being accepted for a job.

Lots and lots more, from habit formation to winter clothing. Just take a look.

Get enough sleep. It will give you better intelligence, happiness and health.

There is existing lots of research on how very bad sleep deprivation is for cognitive performance. Many smart people are keen to get smarter by taking nootropic drugs, which have not so good evidence of effectiveness, and not much evidence for long term safety.

Not to be sleep deprived is a massive, free cognitive enhancement. Not only is it good for your cognition. The long term health effects have been studied, and it is not only not bad for you, it is indeed very good for your health. You will almost certainly live longer as well as smarter!

Many smart people also stay up late at night and get up too early to get enough sleep. This is a bad bargain. It is hard to change this habit. However, the gains are potentially very big for people.

I have changed my behaviour before big days at work when I have to appear smart. In the past I am staying up late the night before to practice and prepare. I would not prepare for such meetings by drinking alcohol, because I know it would impair my cognitive function, including how well I am able to assess my own cognitive function, so I would not perceive how impaired I was. But I did prepare for such meetings by not sleeping properly, although the effect is the same. Now I go to bed early that night. I feel I am much smarter, and have had more success recently in these big days.

I consider going to bed early is my secret weapon to get smarter. This is a trick to make it seem more fun than staying up late playing a computer game instead!

If you're reading a document on a computer where you have to scroll to find the footnotes and then scroll back up to find where you were again, you can instead open another copy of the document in a new tab/window, and leave it at the footnotes.

You very probably have not all recommended insurances in your country of residence or your mandatory insurance doesn't cover everything you'd want it to cover. Same goes for savings, you don't save enough for old age and emergencies. Basically if at some point you would have had to do something to prepare for the future, you didn't do it.

The short version about insurance is this: Never insure anything where you can go "damn it" and pay in cash, the same rule goes for deductibles. On the reverse, insure anything that you absolutely have to pay for and would financially ruin you. Some possible areas are your house, liability insurance and health care cost. Google "necessary insurance" or similar.

The short version about savings retirement plans is this: Use google to find out if your government provides sufficient provisions for retirement, if you plan on retiring at all. If not, look for ways to provide for old age and/or invest money, the sooner you start, the better. Hold about three months worth of living expenses in the most liquid form possible to cover emergencies. To ensure saving, order your bank to transfer a set amount of cash every month to a seperate bank account which you can not access on the go.

Don't keep significant savings in accounts that don't bear interest for an extended amount of time.

Keep track of your spending. This is easy to do with an app such as Mint.

Related: save a fraction of your income and set up your bank account to do this automatically so there is never the temptation to skip a saving.

Relevant in winter, when air is dry and noses are frequently blown: Placing petroleum jelly in one's nostrils for moisture, despite being icky, is a superior experience to a nosebleed.

Keep your work desk productive.

De-clutter your work desk regularly, getting rid of things you don't actually use. This includes equipment, paper, plants and even furniture that's doing nothing. Put misplaced items back to their designated space. Designate spaces for supplies and references if you haven't already. Free nearby spaces which are cluttered with things you don't actually use. Put those things out of reach, fill the space with other things.

A good idea is to remove every single item on your desk and think about what you actually need. Repeat this monthly. Put everything back to its place at the end of the day. Repeat this daily. If you find that you need to fetch something daily, put it closer.

Install a smoke detector (and reduce mortality by 0.3% if I'm reading the statistics right - not to talk of the property damages prevented).

Make a will. It's worth it, and too easy to put off. Here's a will-writing guide I wrote, including free ways in which you can do so (which also covers how to leave money to charity in it, but is a complete guide.)

Where would be a good place to discuss an old Boring Advice?

E.g. I have gave in and bought myself a smart phone last year, but the utility I derive from it is yet to turn positive. I should have been better off if I either allocated a significant portion of resources to learn using it properly, or not buy at all.

On dealing with a cold:

• In addition to frequently blowing your nose, use a sinus rinse to keep your sinuses clear.
• Instead of using a nasal decongestant pill such as Sudafed, try using a decongestant nasal spray like Afrin or Anefrin.
• Instead of using cough drops to deal with a sore throat, try gargling warm water with added salt at least once every four hours.
• Instead of using a liquid cough suppressant, try Mucinex DM if you need a dual expectorant/cough suppressant. (I'm less certain on this point than I am on the above three points).

If you feel a bit warm/cold/sticky/itchy, check your room's climate with the CBE Thermal Comfort Tool. Adjust your surroundings until you enter the blue zone. Click the "SI/IP" button to switch between metric (SI) and U.S. customary (IP) units.

If you're in the blue zone and you still don't feel good, then start looking for trickier explanations (e.g. air quality or illness).

You can read posts on a Blogspot blog sequentially by adding ?m=1 at the end of the URL of a post (so that you get the mobile version -- but actually I like what it looks like on desktop computers too) and using the navigation arrows near the bottom of the page, below the comment box. (They work backwards, i.e. the left arrow links to the next more recent post and the right arrow links to the next earlier post.)

Before stepping in front of a car make eye contact with the driver.

Do not assume they saw you just because they slowed down.

Use rechargeable batteries.

After two years of constant use in my headphones (8+ hours a day), I still get a full week's worth of power from each battery. I don't recall how long traditional batteries lasted, but I don't think it was all too much longer. I don't have any to compare it with as a major benefit is not needing to worry about buying batteries ever. I do need to make sure I keep charged and discharged batteries separate.

Estimate how valuable your time is so you can more easily determine if a cost that saves time is worth it, e.g. getting faster internet access. Also, consider using neutral hours.

Here is a little psychological trick that can be useful for those of us who have troubles with decision-making. I have found it rather helpful and time-saving on quite a few occasions.

So, suppose you are totally stuck trying to make a Buridan's ass choice between case A and case B, and you need to make a quick decision. Your quick utilitarian estimate have not been able to solve your problem, if you continue the deliberation, you are running the risk of missing both opportunities, and you are wasting your time and brainpower on this decision. There is also a known phenomenon that taking too much time for deliberation can be as bad for your performance/decision quality as taking too little time. So, here's a simple trick to make the choice quicker and easier: you toss the coin. The twist here is that first, you outsource the decision-making process to an agency outside of your control (the coin), and then you need to give yourself exactly one chance to veto the outcome. So, after the coin toss, do a quick evaluation of your feelings. If the outcome leaves you feeling resentful - switch the choice. If you feel relieved by the outcome - keep the choice. My guess at why this works is that making a decision incurs a larger willpower cost than judging whether the pre-made decision is right or wrong.

Now, the remaining outcome is that after the coin toss has been made, you don't feel anything. Then, if the choice is necessary - as in, you actually do need either A or B, just go with the toss and congratulate yourself for saving some time and mental effort. If you don't actually need either A or B - ask a little question on whether you actually want either of those items, because if you don't care about whether A or B was chosen, chances are you don't really need them that bad anyways.

If you give to charity, use the recommendations at GiveWell.org. (Familiar and boring to most people here I know, but new people might see this thread!)

80/20 tax law for your country. Unless your a tax lawyer you aren't going to have the need or ability to learn it in detail, but simple changes can often save several thousand dollars a year. In particular tax deductible savings accounts and charitable giving deductions are your friends.