11–20 of 46 posts
If it is too much stress for you to work as a freelancer, just get a full time job. There is no shame in that!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sure you will take this as argumentative, which isn't really my intent, but, other than the hot bath part, I did all that while homeless. If you get access to any food at all, you can work on eating better by educating yourself about nutrition. I'm author of the San Diego Homeless Survival Guide and Pocket Puter: https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/ https://www.pocketputer.com/ Best of luck.
The thing about being homeless is that you have a lot of time. I had a lot of time while in jail too. I exercised 2 hours a day and ate healthy and felt great physically. If I spend any time exercising or taking a walk or spend my time doing anything other than working every waking minute, my wife and kids will be homeless.
From personal experience it sounds like you're in a very self-destructive pattern that it going to result in collapse from a combination of illness and stress. Not performing any self-care means you are running up a bill that someone else is going to have to settle if you fail.
I know you, I recognize your username. You wrote the tool for OSX: phoenix, hydra, mjolinr, etc. I think you are a very talented developer. I think you'll definitely be able to get a job in Chicago easily. There is no shortage of tech jobs. If it is too much stress for you to work as a freelancer, just get a full time job. There is no shame in that!
You're a knowledge worker. All the work you do...you do with your mind.
You NEED to separate from your distractions.
If you have more pressing needs that you can't get out of your mind it will be impossible to learn.
My suggestion is figuring out how to get your mind in a place where its 100% focused on your work and you are able to find that flow state where you tune everything out and can work and learn.
Things that help me are
1> Managing your real life like a project manager. Get the most stressful priority things finished as fast as possible. Or at least in a place where you understand and feel more in control.
2>Automate as much as possible(autopay bills etc.) In your life and outsource tasks to your family that they are capable of. You pay their bills they can chip in..
The goal of this step is to get rid as many trivial physical and external stressors so you can get your head focused on work.
2> Distraction free place to work. This is critical. Coffeeshop, coworking space, private home office....all it takes is a single distraction and your mind is out of the game.
3> Carve out large blocks of time where you can just...work. No appointments, no meetings, no interruptions...this may require scheduling meetings in the morning and working in the afternoon. Also, beware of friends and family..they will try to cut into this time...and it's very difficult to say no to people you love.
4> Do practice excercises in your mind and compare them to real world. I've found when Im having problems focusing on things it's because it's too abstract sometimes. And I have to bring it down to earth. Like start run a chunk of code thru a function in your head and then run it on the computer to see if your mindmap is correct. Like a poster in this thread said it's active learning which helps alot I think.
5>Physiological hacks: Some people say Yoga, antidepressants, nutrition, and/or excercise help. I typically dont practice a single one of those regularly but do notice I'm deff able to.focus more after I excercise. I think just getting your mind at peace is way more useful than Physiological hacks but these do help. Studies have shown that excercise is as efficacious as anti depressants. So take that however you want.
Anyway good luck sir.
I know you, I recognize your username. You wrote the tool for OSX: phoenix, hydra, mjolinr, etc. I think you are a very talented developer. I think you'll definitely be able to get a job in Chicago easily. There is no shortage of tech jobs. If it is too much stress for you to work as a freelancer, just get a full time job. There is no shame in that!
You can fight burn out for a short period but you can't delay it forever. You resist burn out by working out hard, engaging in stimulating non-job work (eg a hobby) and engaging in intentional relaxation.
Ultimately you need to find a way to take time off.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not in a position for any of that. We're living literally week to week, and every single hour that I'm awake I need to work. Our bills are past due and we're overdrawn $50 in the bank right now. I'm making $25/hour with this one client, and it's barely enough for the life we have. I would downsize our lifestyle if I knew how but we can't even afford to move to a cheaper city. As it is right now, the only choice I…
Something doesn't add up. Assuming "working every hour you're awake" means something like 12 hours/day 6 days a week, that'd be a $90k/yr salary at your stated rate of $25/hr. A more realistic (but still severe) schedule of 10hrs/day 6 days a week would be $75k/yr-- even in an expensive city, far from the brink of homelessness. Am I overestimating how much you're working? Or is the income being consumed by something?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The thing about being homeless is that you have a lot of time. I had a lot of time while in jail too. I exercised 2 hours a day and ate healthy and felt great physically. If I spend any time exercising or taking a walk or spend my time doing anything other than working every waking minute, my wife and kids will be homeless.
In jail, you had a guaranteed roof over your head and a meal coming to you. Homeless people have been known to commit crimes to get that deal. Please don't talk trash to me about what it means to be homeless. In addition to having spent time on the street, I have also had a college class on homelessness and public policy and also interned at a homeless shelter (years before I ended up homeless). You say you don't hav…
Technically I should be working right now, but I came here to ask for help thinking it might save me a few hours of frustrating non-billable time spent staring at code and not getting it.
We have looked into every single possible resource. My wife has a disability that's incredibly difficult to prove with insurance or the government. It makes her unable to move for large parts of the day several times per month. She literally drops things and is unsafe to drive, and it just randomly comes on out of nowhere. So she's unable to work because of this, and we're unable to get disability for it either.
We've gone through every single local church and food bank. She just stopped at the food pantry yesterday. We are on food stamps.
I'm saying all this knowing that it's a waste of billable time, because I think it's important that you know that first of all I don't mean any offense, and second of all that I'm not exaggerating when I say that we really have no other recourse at this point.