karls's comments

karls | 3 years ago | on: Co-Founding Considered Harmful

Having co-founded an extremely tiny company that went nowhere, but during the operation of which I got to taste what it means to be in a very stressful environment with another person, I think if I were to start another venture, I'd also go solo and lean on a business coach, therapist or some sort of circle of likeminded people.

On the face of it, it seems like a good route — a neutral third party is able offer (professional) support, punch holes into your thinking, reflect back, ask great questions etc, without sacrificing your freedom and equity. Curious if solo-founder folks have tried the business coach approach and how does it compare?

karls | 3 years ago | on: Ask HN: How to break anxiety/fear-avoidance cycle?

I just want to add to the parent comment which I 100% agree with.

I have struggled with anxiety and fear-avoidance for a long time. Probably most of my adult life. It got to the point where I had to find external help in the form of a therapist. She specialises in cognitive behavioural therapy, which helped me take those first couple of steps. I got better after about 12 months of therapy, but felt like there was something missing in the CBT solution to the anxiety problem.

What really put things in a totally different gear was realising that the voice telling you to avoid, to put off, to cower and run from things, is just a voice. That voice feels like _you_, but it's not you. The voice is sometimes correct. Sometimes it's not. A part of CBT is questioning the unproductive thoughts and feelings, which helps, but it doesn't take this idea of "the voice being just a voice" to its conclusion. Just because you have a thought or a feeling does not mean you should take it literally, as the truth.

ACT, which I discovered by accident shortly after my epiphany, gets to the heart of it with defusion (de-fusing the internal chatter from your rational self) and five other core ideas. For me personally, the idea and practise of defusion was a core component in helping me deal with crippling anxiety. It requires work, but it's possible to feel great in the presence of _some_ anxiety and fear. It's possible to look forward to things which would normally make you anxious and avoidant.

Another book recommendation "A Liberated Mind" by Steven Hayes. I suggest reading a book or two and try to internalise these ideas through practise. No HN comment can provide the nuance and context you'll find in a book and through practise.

karls | 4 years ago | on: Memory leaks are crippling my M1 MacBook Pro

Nope, I just have an integrated Intel GPU.

I'm also pretty much always plugged in. It's likely that the issue was manifesting before switching to a 4k monitor, but after switching the issue became unbearable. E.g I'd wait 2-3s to switch between windows or desktops. Running both screens on native resolutions and I'm switching between windows near-instantly.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

karls | 4 years ago | on: Memory leaks are crippling my M1 MacBook Pro

Do you run your laptop on non—native resolution? Or an external monitor with a non-native resolution?

I'm runnign on 2018 MBP, 16GB RAM + 4k external monitor. I experienced the same type of issues a couple of months back — high WindowServer CPU, mega choppy UI after a few days of use. Initially thought it was Safari, but it kept happening with other browsers as well. Researched it a bit and found a thread where someone suggested running both the laptop and the monitor on native resolution. Haven't had any problems since doing that. WindowServer sits at about 10% CPU and ~2GB RAM, current uptime 10 days.

karls | 14 years ago | on: OpenClassroom: Free video courses from Stanford University

truly amazing!

about the stanford ML course (i'm not taking any others) -- i especially like the fact that i can always rewind, re-watch, pause-take notes-play, answer questions during the "lecture" without the embarrassment of getting it wrong the first time, unlike in real lectures. the forums are there in case of questions/problems. the content is presented in a clear and concise manner. and the length of each "lecture" is 10-15 minutes, no need to focus heavily for an hour straight.

for people who have not seen the ted talk by salman khan http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/salman_khan_let_s_use_vide... which, along with increasing number of online courses from prominent universities, suggests that the educational system is changing.

people who are behind this, i salute you.

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