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Ask HN: What do you struggle with?

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Re: Ask HN: What do you struggle with?

#461

Post by exikyut »

nerform wrote: post #315
tjungblut wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suffer very much from the same issue, although I'm not motivated by recurring revenue. I also figured out that I'm only motivated on a couple of evenings a month to really contribute to side projects. What helped me in the past was to write down a single thing that I want to add the next time I feel motivated again and then spend the whole evening focussed on shipping that particular thing. Because I always feel mo…

This worked for me too, but only for a while. Now I can't find motivation to even open the projects or start something new. I have way too many responsibilities in my life. I think I gave up on my hopes on building my own business alone. I'm thinking of hiring other people to do my side projects.

Heh, I've been thinking of the hiring thing myself too, although more as a moonshot idea since I certainly don't have the resources to actually hire anybody at this point.

But reading your comment got me thinking... what about, hiring someone to work on your idea, and then pair-programming with that person?

The (perhaps implicit) idea would be that the person/team would be leading, and you'd be given a clear path to focus on the bits you wanted to and/or had time+energy for.

Squinting at this from the right angles, you could interpret such an idea as a race-to-the-bottom toward project management. But... perhaps that's a direction you could go in?

In any case, what side projects were there?

Re: Ask HN: What do you struggle with?

#462

Post by amrx431 »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #240

I have a very wide area of interests, and doing things takes time. But while I'm doing thing 'A', I think about the fact that I'm making no progress on 'B', 'C', ... 'n' and it distracts me both from thinking as deeply as I need to on thing 'A' and the enjoyment I get from getting something done. So I struggle with letting go of the desire to get everything done that I can imagine would be fun and interesting to do.

Dude are you me? I have the same problem. Cant decide to fixate on one. Hell react seems cool so does fast.ai. Damn, there are so many options.

Re: Ask HN: What do you struggle with?

#463

Post by puranjay »

amrx431 wrote: post #462
ChuckMcM wrote: post #240

I have a very wide area of interests, and doing things takes time. But while I'm doing thing 'A', I think about the fact that I'm making no progress on 'B', 'C', ... 'n' and it distracts me both from thinking as deeply as I need to on thing 'A' and the enjoyment I get from getting something done. So I struggle with letting go of the desire to get everything done that I can imagine would be fun and interesting to do.

Dude are you me? I have the same problem. Cant decide to fixate on one. Hell react seems cool so does fast.ai. Damn, there are so many options.

Exactly my problem. Worse, my interests often have nothing in common. I like development. But I also like SEO side projects. I love making music, but I also love writing

This year I finally told myself that I'll focus on only one thing for 6 months and see the results. I actively push away all thoughts of working on B while I'm working on A

Re: Ask HN: What do you struggle with?

#465

Post by tonyedgecombe »

abledon wrote: post #256
legohead wrote: post #219

I don't like the new way of doing things. Kubernetes, node, react, terraform... Everything is more complicated and also more fragile. I feel like the software world is collectively mad and I'm sitting on the outside asking "wtf is going on?" Or maybe I'm the crazy one.

I’m playing with the idea of quitting software , getting a softskills excel/MS word gov job for equal pay then only programming on spare time in elixir and tensor flow for fun side side projects —- current web dev environment is ridiculous !

If you think this stuff is frustrating wait until you have to deal with government bureaucracy.

Re: Ask HN: What do you struggle with?

#466

Post by mellett68 »

SubuSS wrote: post #275
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #201

Everything worth doing and about half of the things that aren't. If I had to pick one thing, it'd be my weight. I've lost 150lbs and have been keeping it off for years. People who've never lost a significant amount of weight (north of 50lbs) probably can't understand what it is like to have to fight your body every day of your life. I have to avoid temptation as much as possible, which means keeping only enough food…

I personally have lost about 75 - but that was fueled by a cycling habit. (FWIW any regular cardio helps big time because you can expand your caloric needs to 2500 or so easily and have a reasonable meal instead of pure leaves diet that leaves you miserable) One anecdotal contra-point for me - and this is going against popular scientific wisdom of calorie in vs calorie out is that simpler foods have allowed me to con…

I found that for the time I was on the bike I just didn't have opportunity to graze!

So those long rides were really helping twice.

Re: Ask HN: What do you struggle with?

#467

Post by newfie_bullet »

chrisshroba wrote: post #146
newfie_bullet wrote: post #55

Procrastination - wanting to accomplish things (technical things - learn new language, stack, technology) in my head but not actually starting/completing them. I've tried to minimize my hobbies and whatnot so that I'm not being torn in too many directions but I guess I just aspire to do more software dev-type activities (in my head) but after a day job related to that I can't quite muster up the energy (default to FO…

I also noticed that after a day at work, I don't really feel like doing anything other than browsing the internet or reading. What's worked for me is recognizing that and moving things I want to do to the morning instead. I'll go to bed at 9 or 10 and get up at 5 or 6, spend a couple hours in the morning working on whatever project is currently interesting to me, and then go to work. I do find that by the end of the…

Accountability is huge - don't have that for any of my projects so that's a great idea.

Early mornings are a great idea too, but my default body clock is night owl, not morning person so I find it very tough to get up and do anything intensive in the morning. I'm sure that can be changed with time/effort, but it's a tough one (especially with a kid that might get up at 5 or 6 any given day)

Re: Ask HN: What do you struggle with?

#468

Post by cimmanom »

davnicwil wrote: post #255
cimmanom wrote: post #187

Making big life changes. I just don't know where to start, and even after breaking them down into tiny tasks, I procrastinate on them... probably because I'm a little bit scared. Or a lot scared. The current project is moving overseas. The next step is to find a recruiter in the country I'm looking to move to, since I'll need a job offer and visa sponsorship, and it's really difficult to job search internationally. B…

I have done this. The simple answer is just look up some recruiters on LinkedIn and fire some emails to them with a brief summary of what you're looking for and your CV. Then, view the rest as an interview process for the right recruiter. Lots just won't reply. For those that do, set a high bar for filtering the initial replies, then from that filtered group set up some calls. In the call, really take the time to get…

Thank you for the advice and encouragement!

Re: Ask HN: What do you struggle with?

#469

Post by le-mark »

serverlessadmin wrote: post #446
madushan1000 wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno, I think it's a pretty neat stack. At least you don't have to deal with OSGI and the works. In all seriousness though, please don't build things on k8s unless you have a couple of microservices or the infrastructure in place already.

Sorry for noob question, but what is wrong with OSGI ?

It's an abomination for the simple fact of how do you bundle a lib directory with an artifact? Someone will chime in with some solution, but originally, everything was supposed to be an osgi module. It was f-cking nuts, pita.

Re: Ask HN: What do you struggle with?

#470

Post by swaggyBoatswain »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #240

I have a very wide area of interests, and doing things takes time. But while I'm doing thing 'A', I think about the fact that I'm making no progress on 'B', 'C', ... 'n' and it distracts me both from thinking as deeply as I need to on thing 'A' and the enjoyment I get from getting something done. So I struggle with letting go of the desire to get everything done that I can imagine would be fun and interesting to do.

I dont think this is a bad thing actually. This describes me perfectly. You gain a lot more wisdom being familiar with many topics

What I do divide split different cycles out.

-dev cycle -I only focus on development only or 1 specific project. I limit myself to working on 2 projects max/day

-exploratory cycle -I let my mind wander. I realize how potentially unproductive it can be, so i limit this time to a few hours at most/day. Normally I do this when Im constantly distracted by clients / coworkers at work. Or when I get tired on my dev cycle.

What helps is I write what I wish to accomplish everyday. Its 1 to 3 things that take at least a few hours to do.

At the end of the week, i look back to see what I accomplished. What did I accompish for work, personally, and what major events transpired? How do I feel about this weeks productivity vs the last 2 weeks? Am i getting shit done?

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