Conversation

Andy Matuschak
@andy_matuschak
A typical daily video has 150k+ views! There is *fan art*! There’s an encouraging chat full of other students. Other students’ video streams are picture-in-picture on the wall. There’s something very powerful about watching someone exhibit intensely focused behavior.
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Andy Matuschak
@andy_matuschak
That is: it’s one thing to read a self-help book on Deep Work or Atomic Habits, full of deeply-considered models and techniques; it’s another thing—maybe an emotionally more powerful thing!—to internalize those practices implicitly by watching them in action.
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Andy Matuschak
@andy_matuschak
In a typical session, he’s: * reviewing Anki cards for a couple hours (!!!) * doing written exercises (from textbooks?) * writing notes / Anki cards about class materials he’s reading * doing programming projects (for classes, I think) It’s interesting to see all this modeled.
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Andy Matuschak
@andy_matuschak
I’m hesitant about this kind of media. It can shade into willpower / motivation porn, particularly when centered on externally-provided curricula. James disavows this ("I don’t believe in motivation. It’s volatile.”), but it’s still there, in part at least.
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Andy Matuschak
@andy_matuschak
There’s a funny tension: part of the point of such streams is to help remind you (and the streamer!) to stay “on task.” Don’t check Twitter! This is usually good. But… Twitter is an essential part of curiosity-driven knowledge work! (Sometimes, when used in a careful way…)
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