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Although this book doesn't have a high rating at first glance, I still recommend people with limited experience like me to give it a try. This book revolves around the wisdom of improving one's life after entering society, similar to "Dark Time".
According to the book, to find gold, don't filter sand; although this book has a lot of sand in my opinion, it does have gold to be found, and it's worth finding.
Below are some of my takeaways (not necessarily in the order of the book's chapters):
Focus on the big picture, not the small details#
This can be interpreted as focusing on the main contradictions of dialectical opposition. Specifically, it means caring about the big issues and the big picture that you can take action on, and caring less about the small issues and the small picture that have little impact on your benefits. For example, even if you can afford it, don't be greedy for small advantages and try to take advantage of them. Compare prices before buying something cheap, but in reality, the value of the goods is not worth your time, and so on.
It can also be reflected in letting go of news and things that have little impact on your real life, there's no need to worry about them.
How to be self-disciplined#
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Give to gain. Improve your sense of value and build self-confidence by helping others. At the same time, according to the podcast "Time Management" in "Across the Seas", actively helping others within your capabilities can make you subjectively feel like you have more time.
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Form firm values. Good values provide guarantees for your actions and decisions, and are also necessary conditions for having sufficient energy (see "Energy Management" in "Across the Seas"). To have energy, you need values, physical strength, emotional health, and mental challenges. Without energy, how can you talk about self-discipline?
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Develop good habits: Associate with people who already have the good habits you want, find the root causes and alternatives for bad habits. The first step in the habit chain is the most important; don't worry about how much you can do, just start doing it. Don't let the inability to do something become an excuse for inaction. You must take action, even if the results of your actions are not satisfactory (inspired by "The Courage to Be Disliked").
How to approach perfectionism; how to break through#
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Iterate, not pursue perfection. From my perspective as a software engineer, it means not optimizing too early; don't disapprove a merge request just because the branch is not perfect; acceptable is better than perfect; agile is better than waterfall.
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First try to solve big problems with simple and low-cost methods; when the cost of action is not high, take action to achieve a minimum acceptable criteria. Perfectionism can sometimes become an excuse for not taking action (it's too difficult, we can't do it).
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There is no perfect plan. Take action first, and gradually adjust and improve your plan. There is no one-size-fits-all software design like modular design/information hiding, only continuous refactoring & evolving modular design.
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Achievements are in the past, but people need to live in the future. Living in the past does not bring benefits to your next steps and improving the current situation.