Quantcast
Channel: Metaprogramming Archives - J.D. Moyer
Browsing all 102 articles
Browse latest View live

Luck is the Opposite of Efficiency

I have a repeating to-do item in my Todoist: do something to increase luck. To remind myself of the things I can do to get more lucky, I include the following subcategories: Do something nice/kind Meet...

View Article


Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Remembering to Be Emotionally Non-Reactive (Electric Hot Tub Emergency)

Not our house, not our hot tub. My wife and daughter really wanted a hot tub. Eventually they convinced me. And with all the money we’ve saved by not traveling or eating out during the pandemic, we...

View Article


Low Risk, High Reward, Lots of Dice Rolls (or Act Smarter)

Nothing in the universe is truly random; reality is governed by cause and effect (at least on a macro scale). But many aspects of life appear random because we don’t have infinite knowledge or...

View Article

What Is the Limiting Factor?

In terms of reaching your goals, or progressing in a given area of your life, what is the main limiting factor? I think it’s worth spending some time and effort to consider this question. We might have...

View Article

Why Small Repairs are Important

Last week I fixed two things in our house: A drawer that wouldn’t open and shut smoothly A gate latch that tended to catch and get stuck Each repair took less than twenty minutes, including cleanup and...

View Article


Clean-Up Days vs. Build-Up Days (in physiology and life)

Over the past few years I’ve been trying to put on some additional muscle. Overall my progress has been slow. This is due to genetics, my inconsistent training, my distaste for eating large quantities...

View Article

Superpower Habit: Learning How To Not Self Reject

Recently I submitted some beats to Timbaland. He’s been reacting to beats live on his Twitch stream. Anyone can submit. I picked a few Momu tracks that my friend Mark and I have been working on and...

View Article

Ten Years Later, a New Pivot Point

Ten years ago I wrote this post about pivot points. Pivot points are conscious decisions about how to live your life differently. Examples could be quitting alcohol or drugs, leaving a toxic...

View Article


Be Stupid Faster

I’m in a life phase where I’m doing a lot of things for the first time. Kia and I are remodeling our Oakland house. I’m managing projects and coordinating teams of software developers. I’m parenting a...

View Article


Doing Training, and Natural Talent is Not Holding You Back

Following the World Chess Championship, I’m starkly reminded that there are many levels to the game that I will never personally experience. Magnus and Ian are freaks of nature in their ability to...

View Article

Having More Fun With It, Getting Better At It (Instead of New Year’s...

This year I wasn’t in the mood for revving myself up for ambitious goals or New Year’s resolutions requiring a lot of discipline. My family is recovering from Covid, we’re still in quarantine, and the...

View Article

More Kind but Less Nice

I don’t think I’m a “nice guy.” At least in my adulthood, I’ve gone after what I wanted, looked out for my own needs, and set clear boundaries. But I am naturally friendly and agreeable, and I enjoy...

View Article

Who Am I Trying to Impress?

In my twenties and thirties I remember being very motivated by wanting to impress and/or outdo other people. I’ll show them, I thought to myself. I would achieve this or that, at which point those...

View Article


Play Yourself as a PC

Sometimes I catch myself living my life as an NPC (non-player character). Doing the same thing, day in and day out. Making safe but boring choices. Focusing too much on distractions that don’t really...

View Article

How I’m Using My Distance Vision (through time, in life)

Walking along the Embarcadero every day, I have long unobstructed views. I can look east across the bay, north toward the Ferry Building, south toward the ballpark. Sometimes I try to identify people...

View Article


Empowering Action vs. Depression

Recently I read Steve Pavlina’s post “What It’s Like Being Me”. Steve really enjoys being himself, it seems, and part of my reaction was a slow clap — good for you, you smug vegan, your life is so...

View Article

How I Maintain Motivation (and dopamine levels)

I have the GG (val/val) variant in SNP rs4680, which corresponds with high COMT enzyme activity. COMT breaks down dopamine in the part of the brain related to higher cognitive and executive function....

View Article


Take Your Wins

Often when something good happens to me, I just take it in stride. I don’t want to get too excited about any particular success because fortune rises and falls. Everything that goes up must come down....

View Article

How to More Easily Use Your Own Power

Sometime in my forties I realized that all major choices could be boiled down to two paths: Empowering action (research/planning/implementation) Passive paralysis (inaction, worry, pathological...

View Article

10K Hours is B.S.

As I get a bit older, and the number of activities I have spent ten thousand or more hours practicing increases, I’ve come to the realization that just doing the thing is not enough to get really good....

View Article
Browsing all 102 articles
Browse latest View live


Latest Images