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> PS. If you’ve made it all the way down here and don’t feel that you’ve just wasted ten minutes, consider scrolling back up to like the essay. It helps others find it. And it makes me happy.

There is also a like button on bottom, right over the comments. I used that one.

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You learn something new everyday. Thank you :)

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This was very informative. My problem for a long time was that I was collecting a lot of hollow knowledge without realizing it. Part of the reason was knowing that I could look anything up prevented me from exploring things in detail but the advice to focus on process rather than results is very useful.

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The whole series found me by way of an email list. So thank you for having me exposed to this milieu.

I've always been of the mind that "learning by osmosis" is the best way to learn a craft, or a trade. Simply by exposing ourselves to new tasks, we have the ability to pick up on very subtle traits that are crucial to said activity. That's why apprenticeships are so very powerful.

You have also exposed a pattern that I have instinctively used to find interesting work. Post a thing that you make that's somewhat uncommon and someone will find you. Bingo! That's a great way of shaping one's own destiny.

Oh, I also learn by expressing my thoughts. Thank you for sharing.

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This was beautiful and important. Thank you!

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Thank you! That means a lot to me coming from you.

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So many great and important ideas here

You put into words some intuitions that I have kinda independently figured but wasn’t eloquent to say or confident enough to pursue

You have given me permission (of sorts) to do the more passive input consumption of Rincon and your wife

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Metrics make is so that we aim to exploit paths we already know rather than to take the time to slowly explore and let information sink in

Switching from the mindset of instantaneous value production to that of long term satisfaction and gain is very difficult when your environment positively reinforces the former and negatively reinforces the latter. I've realized that I need an environment of people with whom to discuss and pick apart ideas to learn rather than to act. Because discussing an idea for action fails to consider the second and third order consequences and it's long term value.

As a teenager, I was a professional violin player and spent 40+ hours a week with the orchestra. In order to learn new pieces quickly, I learned that I could memorize pieces much quicker if I put them on repeat as background noise. Now reading this I am going to use this again

It's refreshing to read these thorough examinations of learning and environment curation

I look forward to reading more

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That's interesting.

I think it is important to be deliberate about balancing open-ended search and action, and toggling that up and down. I tend to only write about things that affect my action - that keeps me intellectually honest, because I can see the consequences of my ideas. But I also have very long time horizons for everything I do, so I can allow myself to mature an idea for several years, tending it now and then, before it is ready.

I'll think about the background noise idea would mean for what I'm doing!

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