Ask HN: How to deal with rapidly changing interests in life? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with rapidly changing interests in life?

#11

Post by mod » Mon, May 03, 2021, 8:07 PM UTC

alexanderbergi wrote: post #6

AlphaGeekZulu wrote: post #3

I have been there. I recommend the book: "Refuse to Choose!" by Barbara Sher. Short intro: https://www.getmotivation.com/motivationblog/2017/04/barbara... In short: get over the feeling of guilt first, then organize your multitudes of interests.

It's really scary reading those quotes, I will definitely have a look at the book.

Thanks to you and GP for posting this stuff. That article was written about me, too. I can't count my hobbies on two hands, and I spend a lot of time on HN precisely because the topics are so varied, and I'm interested in most of them.

Like the author says, I have spent most of my life wishing I was a Diver. That I could focus and become great at one thing.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with rapidly changing interests in life?

#12

Post by giantg2 » Mon, May 03, 2021, 8:15 PM UTC

I think it's fine to shift. Some of my interests are seasonal. I think it's also good to note that things like guitar and cybersecurity are never finished. If you can even find 15 minutes a week to practice a couple riffs, that can at least keep you from completely forgetting it. Then you can spend more time in the future improving.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with rapidly changing interests in life?

#13

Post by runjake » Mon, May 03, 2021, 8:21 PM UTC

I think it's fine to explore from one topic to the next. I'm 50 and I've done that all my life. I now have a deep and wide grasp of tech and how it functions together.

The downside? It took decades to get reasonably competent in it all.

On hindsight, if I had to do it all over again, I'd probably take the Derek Sivers route[1] of spending a year (or 6 months, or 3 months) on a particular subject before moving onto the next thing.

1. https://sive.rs/donkey

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with rapidly changing interests in life?

#14

Post by [deleted] » Tue, May 04, 2021, 1:08 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with rapidly changing interests in life?

#15

Post by smarri » Tue, May 04, 2021, 6:36 AM UTC

A way I try to manage various interests is to set a goal and think of that interest as a project. So if it's guitar, learn a tricky tab that will take a month or so to get the hang of, or mobile app development would be create an MVP, etc. I find that framing these as short projects helps me stick it for a while longer, achieve something, and gives me a better way to talk about it with other people.