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Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

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Re: Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

#101

Post by glancast »

borplk wrote: post #97
glancast wrote: post #87

In basically the same situation, here's what's helped me: 1. Hard limits on screen time (e.g. no screens after 5pm) 2. Basketball, tennis, chess (find a social activity - physical ones are a double whammy) 3. Personal training 4. Spend time learning - I spend a good portion of my free time learning about my craft, but also about other things. Variability spices life up a bit. 5. Working from coffee shops 6. Writing.…

Fun nitpick: Can "double whammy" be used in a positive context? I think it implies two negative things no?

Clearly I was referring to the original meaning: shooting curses at people with your fingers, which is a fun social and physical activity ;)

Re: Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

#102

Post by oaxacaoaxaca »

glancast wrote: post #87

In basically the same situation, here's what's helped me: 1. Hard limits on screen time (e.g. no screens after 5pm) 2. Basketball, tennis, chess (find a social activity - physical ones are a double whammy) 3. Personal training 4. Spend time learning - I spend a good portion of my free time learning about my craft, but also about other things. Variability spices life up a bit. 5. Working from coffee shops 6. Writing.…

Going on a tangent to this thread but would you be willing to share some of your experience getting to that level of success in solopreneurship? Asking OP the same question because I superadmire this career path.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

#104

Post by oaxacaoaxaca »

Likely unhelpful question but would you be willing to share how you got to your level of success? If you have a blog or something similar, plenty of folks would love to read about your solopreneur experiences. Perhaps some morning writing would help get the day going?

Re: Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

#105

Post by adamc »

j_s wrote: post #86
whamlastxmas wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, professional help can also sometimes be tremendously unhelpful.

If professional help isn't helping, find another professional. This is actually a real problem when people don't move on when things aren't working, because they assume they alone are the problem rather than in combination with the provider. Different approaches work differently for different people and it makes sense to try more than one.

This. In my experience, they are all over the map -- some are great, some are not useful.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

#106

Post by brianwawok »

owebmaster wrote: post #95
_xhok wrote: post #18

I used to be the same way. Wake up at 5am, meditate, exercise, and shower before starting your day. Stop eating processed carbs and sugar. Get off the computer at 9pm and sleep at 10pm. Clean your room. Schedule sprints of work for yourself, drag yourself over to your chair, and force yourself to start typing anything. Talk to your friends more often. Set 1-3 large goals at the beginning of the day and explain to you…

> Stop eating processed carbs and sugar. If I could pick one of all advices you gave this is the one which I think has more impact. Free yourself from food slavery.

I think cardio edges our carbs by a little bit.

If I am excising well, think marathon buildup.. extra carbs do not make me feel any different. Greasy and fried food gets me, but not carbs.

If I am not exercising, almost any reasonable of carbs makes me feel terrible.

Hard to just pick 1, but I do think exercise wins for me by a small margin over clean eating..

Re: Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

#107

Post by celestialcheese »

markfer wrote: post #84

I imagine it's from a lack of mission/end goal. It may feel that you're just "floating by" right now. What are your end goals? What's your mission? I would recommend working backwards from that and setting timelines/goals. Also, personally working from home as a solopreneur sounds like a nightmare for me. I interact at my best when I'm surrounded by others, though ymmv. If hiring is out of the question - spend $500 o…

I'd second the getting an office or joining a co-working space - i'm in a very similar situation to you and being alone all day was demoralizing. Getting up and going to an office makes the day much more bearable.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

#108

Post by ericmcer »

Holy cow you are in a great position. I am guessing you are missing social and health elements because your work life would be the envy of 99.99% about the people on this planet.

You already know how to fix the other stuff: exercise, find new hobbies, find new friends/relationships. Just do it. There are no shortcuts or secrets to getting in shape, getting good at stuff and meeting new people, it just requires a little courage.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

#109

Post by nicolashahn »

theonething wrote: post #94
ryanwaggoner wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neither getting up at 5am or daily meditation are all that rare or difficult. And if you take perfection out of the equation, as you should, then aiming to do them 80-90% of the time makes it even easier. I’m a natural night owl, but I routinely (80-90% of the time) go to bed early and get up at 4am. It’s really not that hard.

> It's really not that hard. Based on the current research on chronotypes [0], you seem to be the exception, not the norm. '“If people are left to their naturally preferred times, they feel much better. They say that they are much more productive. The mental capacity they have is much broader,” says Oxford University biologist Katharina Wulff, who studies chronobiology and sleep.'[1] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…

Throwing a bit of anecdotal evidence out: throughout high school I had to get up at 6:45 every weekday for four years, and constantly felt tired throughout the day, but it cleared up at night and I'd be energized at 1am. I had to take naps after school, but even if I didn't I'd still be unable to sleep at 11pm. Something about everyone else around me being asleep and not distracting me allowed me to focus on things better.

Now I have a job with very flexible hours so I go to sleep at 2am and wake up at 10am like clockwork. I feel and perform much better all around. I'm convinced that if I had had a sleep schedule that worked for me in my teens I'd have been able to achieve much more than I did.

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