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Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

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Re: Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

#21

Post by vesuvianvenus »

vesuvianvenus wrote: post #9

Scale back the "dream" and scale up the "grind". And of course, modularize. "If you have a big dream and a small grind, you'll never accomplish the dream. But if you have a small dream and a big dream, you're much more likely to get it done" -- Paraphrasing Dr. Eric Thomas. [1] [1] "iGrind" by Dr. Eric Thomas -- Explanation beginning at approximately 1m:00s https://youtu.be/4iKJMDRXR6U?t=58

Oops, I meant to say:

"But if you have a small dream and a *big grind*, you're much more likely to get it done"

Re: Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

#22

Post by _benj »

> Something in my brain seems to generate lots of complications to the tasks I am doing, and I lose enthusiasm and self-confidence.

Uff, I feel this so deeply!

I'm still struggling with this but I'm currently in working on a project that is the closest to done that I've ever been!

Recently I took at the book "Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done" (not affiliated, I just really liked it) and I certainly identify with a lot of what the author mentions, in summary, perfectionist masking as fear, as adding a bunch of extra steps to avoid finishing, and just plain the brain not wanting to use energy in difficult tasks and making anything else looks better than actually doing something to finish. I recommend it!

A few things that have worked for me:

- change of environment. I've super productive working from a local coffee shop

- prepare the space/materials for working. I'd open my editor, start the development servers and hibernate the computer before going to sleep so when I wake up everything is ready to start working

- separate "planning" from "doing". For me it feels like I need to use different brains, one to plan what to work on and another to just do stuff from a todo list. Separating the two has helped me a lot! When I used to plan and work at the same time, while working on a project I'd add A LOT of tiny unnecessary complications, go down useless rabbit-holes and waste time. Separating the two allows me to just open a todo list, get some focus music and just complete stuff.

Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

#24

Post by fizzyfizz »

amirkdv wrote: post #14

I used to struggle with this a lot. Here are a few things that have really helped me over the past decade: 1. This is incredibly common. Some of the most productive people you know probably struggle(d) with this. And this is important to keep in mind because if you think "there's something strange and unique wrong with me" your brain will dismiss standard insights and tools. 2. Dysfunctional perfectionism is a procra…

I like this. I do have large ambitions, swelling even as my daily achievements dwindle.

There could be a sort of vicious circle there. If you respond to short-term failure by putting more pressure on yourself to be outstanding, you end up being the sort of person who lives inside a dream of changing the world that they can never realize.

Re: Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

#25

Post by fizzyfizz »

hw-guy wrote: post #2

Sounds very familiar! I realized much, much too late in my career that I have ADHD; you might want to get checked for it (there are on-line self tests you can take first). I wasted many years underperforming in just the ways you've described.

I've been tested and I'm a borderline case. Not enough for a diagnosis.

Re: Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

#27

Post by brailsafe »

hw-guy wrote: post #8
brailsafe wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did you do about it?

Once I concluded that I have ADHD, I made an appointment with a psychiatrist, although it's still about a month out. I expect he will put me on medication. Actually, it took me quite a while to get the appointment; many therapists have very long waits for new patients, or are not taking new patients at all. Supposedly has to do with mental health effects of COVID. Also, the ADHD itself made the whole process of selec…

I feel that, and hear the same thing. I initially went through this 2 years ago, but gave up on finding a psychiatrist pretty quickly. Thankfully my Uni's nurse practitioner was able to help, and hooked up a prescription. Since then, I've just been going to whatever clinics are nearby, and they mostly seem fine with renewing. My guess is that there was one, or more likely a series of events that have caused you to seriously consider wtf is going on, possibly life de-railing events, and I wish you the best of luck.

Re: Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

#28

Post by brailsafe »

I have zero advice for the parent, sorry, I very much struggle with these things too, and I think it's probably the fundamental challenge of execution in anything really.

You, and anyone who was initially attracted to this question because they feel they might have ADHD or struggle with the same things, might find the below question I previously asked useful. It got some traction and had some helpful anecdotes.

With ADHD, how did you become an effective software developer? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21716306

Re: Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

#29

Post by keviv »

DwnVoteHoneyPot wrote: post #12
brailsafe wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did you do about it?

Andrew Huberman did a podcast on ADHD recently (available on youtube). Has some lifestyle recommendations that have helped me. I like his podcast because it's info dense and no BS.

Adding the link here: https://youtu.be/hFL6qRIJZ_Y
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