There are no rules 2022-09-23T20:47:16.417Z

Reflections on a year of college 2022-05-25T16:26:56.792Z

Stop arbitrarily limiting yourself 2021-12-09T02:42:34.466Z

Comment by unoptimal on There are no rules · 2022-09-30T20:50:25.384Z · LW · GW

Yes! I love that post.

Comment by unoptimal on Reflections on a year of college · 2022-05-26T10:42:11.438Z · LW · GW

Thanks for this comment. I was hoping that segment would come off as a genuine reminder for undergrads to loosen up a bit and enjoy the fun parts of college after reading a chunk of heavy material that likely goes against many commonly held preconceived notions.

But I appreciate this pushback; it's one I haven't encountered much in my social circles, which usually view the "life is short" sentiment in a positive light (see: Kurzgesagt's Optimistic Nihilism video). FWIW, I find that this perspective encourages me to try harder and be better.

Comment by unoptimal on Stop arbitrarily limiting yourself · 2021-12-09T19:42:22.588Z · LW · GW

Fair enough. It just felt so jarring to observe (my WPM is ~110 on Typeracer) and it set off a chain of thoughts afterwards, so I thought it would be worth mentioning.

Comment by unoptimal on Stop arbitrarily limiting yourself · 2021-12-09T06:28:46.858Z · LW · GW

Good observation. I agree that it's a good idea to first recognize places of growth that you care enough about to want to improve at.

Personally, I've noticed that I subconsciously filter areas where I want to grow and areas where I don't. 

I sit on the fence when it comes to investing, learning about web3, or deepening my coding knowledge because I don't really know much about them. But since the social and online circles I'm in say it's worth paying attention to, I remind myself that I should probably not limit myself there.  

But I don't really care about getting better at some particular video game, for example, so I'll limit myself to gimmicky tactics and never look back.