• Screen everything off, ignore your entire to-do list except for one item
    • This can be a costly tactic, but often it’s crucial
    • Your todo list is Pareto distributed in Actual Importance, and treating every item the same is a damaging illusion
  • Apply for an effective ventures grant
  • Hire a research assistant (via internet)
    • Watch the assistant work to gain tacit knowledge so you’re better at research next time
  • Get hired as a research assistant (via internet)
    • Much more people are looking than you think
    • Just email people you admire
  • Make a website
    • Ask Claude: “hey, can you help me make a cool-looking website with github pages?”
    • Domain names don’t cost much and are easy to set up
  • Dump your random thoughts on Twitter
  • Raise other people’s aspirations on purpose
    • Sending them this list might raise their aspirations :D
  • Walk away from political debates
  • Pick up trash on the ground when you see it
  • Use an LLM for everything
    • It’s genuinely better than you in many respects
    • You can get all the prompts you need with a claude.ai subscription
    • It just Wouldn’t Be Serious not use an LLM in 2024
  • “Buy more copies”
    • Buy from many different brands and then blind test yourself
    • Things are cheaper in bulk
    • Why waste time on shopping trips?
  • Buy more than you think you need
    • If something is good, why not increase it by an order of magnitude?
  • Send a cold email
  • Ask your university library to buy a book for their shelves
  • Memorize a poem
  • When someone gives you a compliment, ask for more details / examples
    • This is the kind of data outreach that has you grinning with glee when you think about it even weeks later
    • Works in reverse, too!
  • Clean your room
    • Or only just a little part of it
  • When you’re thinking about someone with fondness, tell them
    • I’ve messaged people I knew years ago after randomly thinking about them
    • This stuff is like crack cocaine for humans, but healthier
    • See also
  • Keep in regular contact with people by setting up a regular email scheduler with google scripts
    • My parents receive daily emails from my program: I just have to refill it from time to time, and then every email is queued
    • Just ask Claude how to do it
  • Ask someone out
    • Ask someone out that you’ve met for 30 seconds
    • They’ll probably say no, but now it’s easier next time
  • Spend money on things
    • That is what money is for.
  • Intentionally make close friends
  • Put money on the line
  • Sell something random online
  • Use google calendar for everything
    • Delegate work to future selves
    • Remind future selves to email friends
    • Schedule emails to yourself about your current problems, so that your future self will see how far you’ve come
  • Visit a city nearby for a day with a cheap bus
    • So many museums are free
  • Send pictures to an open-source open source archive
  • Cancel a subscription immediately after getting it so it doesn’t renew automatically
  • Avoid touching door handles like a psycho to halve the amount of colds in your lifetime
  • Work in progress