What I've learned these past few weeks
Improving focus, and distributed systems
Hi friends,
I hope you are having a wonderful week.
This past weeks I have tried implementing certain habits and tools from Andrew Hubermans podcast, intended to help me focus better, and the preliminary results are promising. I will tell you about it below, in addition to a few other things I have learned this week.
Andrew Huberman Podcast
Andrew Huberman is a big influence for me right now. He is a professor of Neuroscience at Stanford, and in his podcasts he explains, among other things, how focus and motivation works in the brain, and how certain tools and practices can facilitate focus and motivation in every day life.
I used to feel pressure, guilt and self-loathing for not being able to focus for long periods of time, and becoming distracted and unmotivated was an everyday struggle. After getting a better understanding of how my brain works, I now work with my brain to create better systems and habits, instead of just trying harder and going against its neurological design.
The point is: To achieve motivation and focus, it is much easier to change the system (your environment, habits, the task, etc.), rather than just trying harder.
Focus and motivation is not the only subjects he explores. Other areas include sleep, exercise, and goal-setting. I especially recommend listening to Huberman’s podcasts about motivation, focus, and sleep.
OK, I guess I can’t just leave you hanging. Here is a taste of the tools and routines I have learned from his podcasts, that I try to incorporate as often as I can:
The ideal duration for deep focus is 90 minutes. After this you need to decompress with simpler tasks or rest so you are ready for more deep work later. Decompression is important. The ideal time is 4 hours after your Temperature Minimum (which is usually about 2 hours before your regular waking time).
Viewing light in morning and evening has shown to set the circadian clock in your brain, such that you sleep better at night. Sleep is the driver for better focus , motivation, and health in general.
Cold shower increases dopamine (motivation) for several hours afterwards.
Waiting 1,5-2 hours after waking to drink coffee reduces the afternoon crash
Binaural beats can help you get into a focused state (I use brain.fm).
Non-sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) improves energy and memory, use it to refresh yourself in the afternoon.
Exercise improves memory, and doing it after a learning session helps you remember what you’ve learned that session.
Learn about this and more in the Huberman Lab Podcast.
Here are a few other things I have learned:
The very first website on the World Wide Web: info.cern.ch, went live one year after I was born (1989).
There is an initiative, called openAPI, that wants to standardize how APIs are described. How its useful:
Define your API formally in a YAML format, then use a tool to generate API documentation, boilerplate adapters, and client SDK’s, for your language of choice.
Compare new versions of your YAML API against old versions to detect breaking changes
TCP implements flow control by sending the receiver’s used buffer size in each ACK message, such that the sender can slow down if the used buffer size is increasing. TCP also implements network congestion control by keeping track of how many messages it sends out before an ACK is received.
I am reading a great book on distributed systems called “Understanding Distributed Systems” by Roberto Vitillo. It really puts everything together in a nice format and is easily understood if you’ve been in the web tech game for a while.
Thanks for reading,
Eric