Batch processing small tasks deprives oneself of easy wins and makes it difficult to achieve bigger goals. Keep a to-do list with a manageable number of tasks to feel accomplished upon completion without feelings of overwhelm.
The key insight in programming is to constantly think about all the possible mistakes and issues that could arise. It's important to hold up a mirror and recognize your own fallibility in order to avoid errors.
Underestimating the number of tasks you can complete in a day can improve your productivity and help you maintain self-discipline, according to a productivity expert. Overestimating your abilities results in open loops and undone tasks that can accumulate over time.
Humans find satisfaction in complex mastery behavior such as digging ditches and engineering work that involves thoughtful decisions and problem-solving. The craftmanship aspects of autonomous driving and building resource-constrained computers are examples of complex mastery behavior in engineering.
The danger of AI utility functions lies in creating "unintended, emergent instrumental values". The hypothetical paperclip-making machine in Nick Bostrom's example embodies the potential for instrumental convergence, pursuing arbitrary instrumental goals at the expense of its own ultimate objective.