Chat Thread

Zzonked wrote:Found dis old thing.

VivaRooney was a complete tool, whatever happened to him?

I think he's on EA now.

He's acting like a spastic on there, but the Manchester United fans seem to love him and think he's some sort of genius.

Glen Miller wrote:He's acting like a spastic on there, but the Manchester United fans seem to love him and think he's some sort of genius.

You just need to quote his posts and reply with a ""

Glen can you please help me

Glen Miller wrote:He's acting like a spastic on there, but the Manchester United fans seem to love him and think he's some sort of genius.

It's probably like if a monkey throws shit at someone all the other monkeys have a good chuckle, but if you're watching this as a proper gent it's not really funny to you, you need more refinement to the shit throwing before it's funny.

Glen Miller wrote:He's acting like a spastic on there, but the Manchester United fans seem to love him and think he's some sort of genius.

Is that him? I was certain it was Cr9boii

Keyser Söze wrote:

Glen Miller wrote:He's acting like a spastic on there, but the Manchester United fans seem to love him and think he's some sort of genius.

Is that him? I was certain it was Cr9boii

Is Cr9boii VivaRooney?

vel wrote:Glen can you please help me

I can try.  What is the issue?

Zzonked wrote:

Glen Miller wrote:He's acting like a spastic on there, but the Manchester United fans seem to love him and think he's some sort of genius.

It's probably like if a monkey throws shit at someone all the other monkeys have a good chuckle, but if you're watching this as a proper gent it's not really funny to you, you need more refinement to the shit throwing before it's funny.

I feel like this is spot on.

SBSP wrote:

Zzonked wrote:

It's probably like if a monkey throws shit at someone all the other monkeys have a good chuckle, but if you're watching this as a proper gent it's not really funny to you, you need more refinement to the shit throwing before it's funny.

I feel like this is spot on.

Agreed, +1 respect.

Glen Miller wrote:

vel wrote:Glen can you please help me

I can try.  What is the issue?

What do you do to manage your time properly? I assume you're a model student so hopefully you can give me some tips.

There are 168 hours in a week.
I sleep for 49 hours.
I work for 24 hours.
I have class for 18 hours.
Transportation is probably about 10 hours.

That's 101/168 hours. The question now is, how can I use those other 67 hours in a productive way (i.e. socalising, studying, planning, doing assignments, etc)

I'm actually reading "The 4 Hour Workweek" right now which is mostly about time management. I'll paraphrase a bit.

Two key things are the 80/20 rule and Parkinson's law. 

80/20 rule is the notion that 80% of the positive results you get come from 20% of the work you do. Basically you want to get rid of the 80% of shit you do that only gets 20% results. Parkinson's law is the rule that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". So if you set aside 4 hours to do something, it will take 4 hours.

Both principles work towards the same thing from opposite angles 1) Limit the tasks to the important to shorten the work time and 2) Shorten the work time to limit the tasks to the important.

So you're supposed to use both together, identify the key things that contribute most to progress then schedule them with very short and clear deadlines. It actually works too, I've tried it in practice and when I eliminated shit I could get roughly the same amount of stuff I could do in a day done in like an hour.

Don't set aside vague long periods for work and don't set aside shitty short blocks. Set aside 1-4 hours of work, stay concentrated in those periods and get everything done. It will be to a higher standard and over faster. People don't generally work well when they are given like 8 hour blocks, it's a waste of time. In that period they'll only do a few hours of good work, the rest will be shitty filler work that isn't worth the time. 

That's how you should approach studying imo. When the assigned time is over, move on to something else.

The problem I have is that I just can't find the will to fulfill those plans I make. I need to work under pressure to work effectively. I guess this is why I procrastinate, and often I do a very good job under pressure. But that was high school where you could scrub everything in class and do the work properly.

I used to do assignments regularly the night before it was due. But it obviously won't work in uni because you can't just scrub through classes unless they are poverty ones. I have a couple poverty classes but the rest will be challenging.

I think that if I stop working, I can set aside a lot of quality time I have in the evening (which is when I work) to actually study or review my schoolwork. But I need to make money to buy shit. I just spent $266 on jeans today

Is that a book? I'm considering getting one of those help books just to get some advice, might join the mentoring program to see if it helps as well. I want to do well, but I can't.

Yeah it's a book. I've not finished it yet, but I would recommend it so far. It made me reconsider how I do my work.

Total waste of time and money those books. You either have self control or you don't, and that's dictated by a chemical in your brain that your rational mind has no impact on and that has been proven by scientists. If you are a fuck up now you're probably always going to be, no book you read is doing to alter your brain chemistry. Visit your doctor and ask for some drugs if you want to change.

Zzonked wrote:I'm actually reading "The 4 Hour Workweek" right now which is mostly about time management. I'll paraphrase a bit.

Two key things are the 80/20 rule and Parkinson's law. 

80/20 rule is the notion that 80% of the positive results you get come from 20% of the work you do. Basically you want to get rid of the 80% of shit you do that only gets 20% results. Parkinson's law is the rule that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". So if you set aside 4 hours to do something, it will take 4 hours.

Both principles work towards the same thing from opposite angles 1) Limit the tasks to the important to shorten the work time and 2) Shorten the work time to limit the tasks to the important.

So you're supposed to use both together, identify the key things that contribute most to progress then schedule them with very short and clear deadlines. It actually works too, I've tried it in practice and when I eliminated shit I could get roughly the same amount of stuff I could do in a day done in like an hour.

Don't set aside vague long periods for work and don't set aside shitty short blocks. Set aside 1-4 hours of work, stay concentrated in those periods and get everything done. It will be to a higher standard and over faster. People don't generally work well when they are given like 8 hour blocks, it's a waste of time. In that period they'll only do a few hours of good work, the rest will be shitty filler work that isn't worth the time. 

That's how you should approach studying imo. When the assigned time is over, move on to something else.

This is pretty much how I work, 8-11:30 is spent doing the work that's laid out for me. After lunch is pretty much browsing forums (exhibit A) and handling personal stuff.

I find a lot of self help books main message can be found in a quick synopsis, but obviously that doesn't sell a book so alot of it ends up as filler. Is this book actually worth reading?

ResurrectionRooney wrote:Total waste of time and money those books. You either have self control or you don't, and that's dictated by a chemical in your brain that your rational mind has no impact on and that has been proven by scientists.  If you are a fuck up now you're probably always going to be, no book you read is doing to alter your brain chemistry. Visit your doctor and ask for some drugs if you want to change.

what drugs

ResurrectionRooney wrote:Total waste of time and money those books. You either have self control or you don't, and that's dictated by a chemical in your brain that your rational mind has no impact on and that has been proven by scientists.  If you are a fuck up now you're probably always going to be, no book you read is doing to alter your brain chemistry. Visit your doctor and ask for some drugs if you want to change.

lmao

Sean wrote:I find a lot of self help books main message can be found in a quick synopsis, but obviously that doesn't sell a book so alot of it ends up as filler. Is this book actually worth reading?

I think you're probably right about the message being in the synopsis, the book itself actually kinda says that. I don't think it's got much filler in though, there's quite a lot of different concepts. There are a few examples, which is probably the only thing that could be considered filler.

It's kinda oriented towards business though, but it applies to other stuff.

what kind of drugs can i get to help me

Opium.

Meth.

vel wrote:

ResurrectionRooney wrote:Total waste of time and money those books. You either have self control or you don't, and that's dictated by a chemical in your brain that your rational mind has no impact on and that has been proven by scientists.  If you are a fuck up now you're probably always going to be, no book you read is doing to alter your brain chemistry. Visit your doctor and ask for some drugs if you want to change.

what drugs

Ritalin.

Zzonked wrote:

ResurrectionRooney wrote:Total waste of time and money those books. You either have self control or you don't, and that's dictated by a chemical in your brain that your rational mind has no impact on and that has been proven by scientists.  If you are a fuck up now you're probably always going to be, no book you read is doing to alter your brain chemistry. Visit your doctor and ask for some drugs if you want to change.

lmao

What's funny?

these 2 are top books:

http://calnewport.com/books/straight-a-student/
http://calnewport.com/books/how-to-win-at-college/

Well firstly the book isn't really about self control. It's not about working harder or for longer periods, it's about getting the most out of the time you do work. If anything it probably requires less self control, because it's setting out a model for like 2-3 hours of work a day rather than the standard 8 hours. 

But I also think you're kind of dealing in absolutes there too. Brain chemistry is a long way from fully understood. If you have that study that proves self control is dictated by chemicals that only drugs can effect I would like to read it. I know for sure there isn't a "chemical" singular that dictates your self control though, because I can think of at least 2 neurotransmitters off the top of my head that control your attention/learning and I bet there's more.

Stimulants might be an option for some people, but I think it's very extreme to not see a middle ground where someone can improve the way the work without them. Don't get me wrong, I love playing around with drugs that change my brain chemistry just as much as the next guy, but there are other options.

Oh and stuff other than drugs can change your brain chemistry too. Kinda ignorant to say "no book is going to change your brain chemistry"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2897704/

Aerobic exercise training is associated with modest improvements in attention and processing speed, executive function, and memory, although the effects of exercise on working memory are less consistent.

where do you work Zzonked?

Still at uni doing my masters degree atm, got about 2 weeks until my last deadline.

Zzonked wrote:Well firstly the book isn't really about self control. It's not about working harder or for longer periods, it's about getting the most out of the time you do work. If anything it probably requires less self control, because it's setting out a model for like 2-3 hours of work a day rather than the standard 8 hours. 

But I also think you're kind of dealing in absolutes there too. Brain chemistry is a long way from fully understood. If you have that study that proves self control is dictated by chemicals that only drugs can effect I would like to read it. I know for sure there isn't a "chemical" singular that dictates your self control though, because I can think of at least 2 neurotransmitters off the top of my head that control your attention/learning and I bet there's more.

Stimulants might be an option for some people, but I think it's very extreme to not see a middle ground where someone can improve the way the work without them. Don't get me wrong, I love playing around with drugs that change my brain chemistry just as much as the next guy, but there are other options.

Oh yeah, all it requires is for you to stay totally concentrated on one task for 1-4 hours. Self control is an absolute requisite for doing that. It wouldn't surprise me if you have an unusually high level of it given your academic credentials, but not everyone is like that.

I don't know if you've ever read Pinker but I'd highly recommend his book The Blank Slate for a view of this subject. It's one of two books he's written that have completely changed the way I see the world and shattered a lot of misconceptions I had. As a personal hero of mine he's part of an elite band known as ResurrectionRooney's Exceptional Intellectuals. Self control isn't something you can just will yourself to have, it's something you are physically capable of. Change the chemistry and you change the capability, leave the chemistry the same and any improvements you make will be marginal at best.

Of course there are ways of improving how you work.

Zzonked wrote:Oh and stuff other than drugs can change your brain chemistry too. Kinda ignorant to say "no book is going to change your brain chemistry"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2897704/

Aerobic exercise training is associated with modest improvements in attention and processing speed, executive function, and memory, although the effects of exercise on working memory are less consistent.

Sure other stuff can change your brain, but books can't unless you get hit in the head with one at very high speed.