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Ask HN: How do you stay disciplined in the long run?

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141–150 of 177 posts

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay disciplined in the long run?

#141
post #3

I'm convinced that almost nobody is good at the whole cycle of creating/maintaining something. Some people are great at coming up with new ideas but quickly bore with the implementation. Some people can relentlessly improve on an existing thing but can't come up with the initial idea. Some people are great stewards of an established program but don't thrive in the chaos of rapid iteration. I think instead of trying t…

Super good post. Long ago I realized that I'm a starter and not a finisher, yet I often end up in SRE type roles that are all about finishing and I struggle to have any motivation to work on things that just quite frankly bore me to death.

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay disciplined in the long run?

#142
>> --> Execute and get to, say, 25-50% of the journey

I think your problem is right over here.

I don't think you get to 25% let alone 50% of the journey. You are probably just over-estimating how much you have accomplished.

My guess is that you have probably completed less than 5% of the said journey.

There is more than just getting a first MVP bootstrapped. Getting the product polished is a big one. Marketing and content writing. Listening to users and discussions. Accounting and planning, etc... The journey is really harsh and long.

My advice is to not get over-excited. That's usually a sign that you have not thought it well enough. If you get over-excited a lot, it really loses its meaning. And it is useless unless you can get it everyday and on every step of the project (not just the cool hacking).

So don't get excited. Just decide on what you want to do and start doing it. Any idea is a good idea, because it is the journey that will shape the product; not the first trials.

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay disciplined in the long run?

#143
This is something I can relate to as well. Something that helps me is by creating small wins. Don't just have the overall completion of your project - Define some milestones to your MVP. This helped me go farther after I lost momentum. It gives you sense of achievement that you can use to move forward gradually. Another point made in the comments below has to do with partnership. This is great but it can be quite tough to get partners on board without having an MVP or something (except you're already influential) - chicken and egg situation. But when you have an MVP, you stand better chance of getting people interested and that could serve as further motivation to move forward...

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay disciplined in the long run?

#144
post #36

You don't. In the long run, you build a habit. Discipline is a short term solution to stick with something long enough to become a habit. How do you "stay disciplined" to brush your teeth every day? Chances are you just do it without thinking much about it. You don't hem and haw and read a bunch of motivational memes to gather up the willpower to brush your teeth. It's just something you automatically do. I highly re…

I could agree more with your post! Also, Atomic Habits really is a great book!

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay disciplined in the long run?

#146
You talk about "self-motivated" folks. How important is the "self-" part to you? I recently watched an interview with the Mathematician Terence Tao (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao) who is known (among a lot of other things) for being very productive while working on different areas of mathematics. From his answers it is getting clear, that he is very much influenced and motivated by other people. The thing that drives him, is when someone comes to him with a difficult question and he is able to help. Maybe try to connect and collaborate with other people from early on. The sense of being useful is known to be a good motivator.

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay disciplined in the long run?

#147
Not a complete solution, but I’ll throw in some tips:

1. Don’t show anyone. For me, this saps my interest by providing premature reward for my hard work. Keep it secret except from people helping you directly on the heavy lifting.

2. Will is a muscle. Strengthen it by doing other things religiously. For example, brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand. Go to the gym 3 times per week. Etc.

3. Read “War of Art” by Steven Pressfield. This book will teach you how to use resistance instead of succumb to it.

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay disciplined in the long run?

#148
Have multiple projects of different aspect of your life and cycle through them as you get bored (take a break from being burn out or boredom).

You'll eventually get back to the previous project that you were bored.

I think the trick is to have only one project in each aspect of your life.

Aspect of your life can be broken down in to many an example is "The Four Burners Theory".

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay disciplined in the long run?

#149

Quoting one of my favourite authors, Stephen Covey: “Begin with the end in mind”. Instead of forcing yourself to finish, better ask: why do you want to do this project? What’s in it for you? Money? Online portfolio? Better employability? How does your work align with your core principles and values? Are you making a tool for saving developer time? Protecting innocent lives? Earning personal profits? All are valid opt…

Yes. There are also some good comments at a previous related discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18903886 .

I wrote some thoughts about finding direction in life (focused on learning for one's growth, and using that to serve others in some way), at http://lukecall.net (a lightly-loading web site). You can click on "Life Lessons" (4th bullet), then "Everyone needs a direction in life" (~ 6th bullet). It is in progress but I still hope it can be useful. Or the direct link is http://lukecall.net/e-9223372036854588981.html .Feedback welcome.

Re: Ask HN: How do you stay disciplined in the long run?

#150

One of the things that gets me is analysis paralysis. When I first started programming (albeit not professionally) most people didn't have the internet, me included. So I had to just write code and figure things out. For a very long time it's how I did things. Now, with blogs, SO, github, etc. I fall into the trap of, "well, I need to do X, so let's see how others have done it." instead of just trusting myself and do…

>I really wish I could unplug my internet cable for a while each day, but people would freak if I were not easily accessible.

I had the luxury of living without internet for about two months last year. It was very influential. I would save up a list of things I needed to use the internet for, and do it on public wifi on the weekends. The rest of the week I was offline. Naturally this lead to more productive and proactive browsing (like saving documentation for offline viewing (or simply learning to navigate offline docs), locally storing wiki articles/blog posts/potentially relevant youtube videos, and using RSS feeds for efficient browsing on limited time).

Now that I have internet again, I've re-implemented some of those methods, like limiting my use of web browsers, especially full blown graphical ones like Firefox. For example, instead of surfing youtube, I use a script that takes my search and downloads the first x videos returned (or just download whole playlist with youtube-dl). I try to use $browser for less than an hour per day, and have found that postponing launching Firefox until later in the day (but not too late) helps - so those little scripts help a lot by not being potential "cans-o-worms". At some point, I go through my list of internet-todos I've gathered during the day, realize most of them were just stupid time sinks anyway, and then search or address the ones that survived. I've also kept the "proactive browsing" habit, and storing a lot of stuff locally (even whole websites).

Of course, for more urgent tasks, like things that could a quick solution /now/, I don't hesitate to launch $browser, but I try not to deviate from completing said urgent task and closing the browser as soon as it's done - no tangential searching allowed.

I guess one way to sum up the workflow I'm trying to achieve is a "power users" approach to the NoSurf[0] philosophy.

[0]: https://nosurf.org/

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