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Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

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Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#171

Post by lamontcg »

duncanawoods wrote: post #108

I have found people like you really useful to know because you have had contact with such a broad range of techs that when I have a problem, I can quiz you and get some killer pointers for where to look next. I wouldn't want you to change, just to find your place in the world and satisfaction in being naturally you. Its like you have pockets full of keys and really good at finding new keys just no locks to use them w…

Yeah, I've got the opposite problem. I'm naturally conservative and dislike novel things because I figure they're a flash in the pan. I'm very cynical of new hype, and prefer tested technologies.

My enormous blind spot is that I then miss legitimate trends, and I can completely fall behind in the industry.

I also find myself not learning new tricks and techniques that would improve my workflow, and have to take time out of my schedule sometimes just to play around with new approaches.

I can definitely see how both approaches lend something, and both approaches have huge weaknesses.

The biggest issue that I've actually seen with novelty-seekers it that they'll build something based on some new framework or tool--that turns out to be be really rough and they hit those rough edges and get frustrated. Then instead of trying to fix the tool they're using they move on to some other new shiny tool of the day. That behavior can leave a ton of tech debt in its wake.

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#172

Post by atemerev »

y0y wrote: post #145
atemerev wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP here — I am on treatment now, including medication. Didn't help me strategically, but it was worth it being diagnosed nevertheless. At least, medications helped me stopping losing things.

Hey OP, I'm not keen on publicly talking about my exact medications / treatment specifics (though most can be gleaned), but if you are interested in talking offline more about what has worked for me, leave me an email address or some way to contact you and I'd be happy to offer any insight or help that I can. I'm not some professional expert, just another guy who can relate to you emphatically and who's happy to shar…

sorhed at gmail

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#173

Post by 8d7a8 »

hanniabu wrote: post #88
innertracks wrote: post #46

I can relate I think. Whether you need a cure or not is probably a question for you and a therapist. Ask about sliding fee scales and other options. My story and maybe something for you to explore. I never held a job longer than 24 months when I was younger. Not being able to figure out a career direction and trying to get some direction in 2000 I sought testing at a great organization called Johnson O'Connor Researc…

> The problem is if the aptitudes don't get used they agitate. Deeply. I really wish your response was higher up just for this line. It really hit home for me in helping me understand more about myself. Thanks for the response.

This really resonated with me as well. Something I don't understand though: if you have high aptitude in a lot of things then how do you make time to exercise all of those things? It sounds like an organizational hassle and like it will be hard to attend to, given that I'm quite impulsive.

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#174

Post by reitanqild »

atemerev wrote: post #64
y0y wrote: post #54

Do you often show up to work late? Are you seen as generally unreliable? (Be honest with yourself.) Do you procrastinate a lot? Do you have a hard time transitioning? Are you late for things because you a) can't accurately estimate time and b) can't pull yourself away from the thing you're doing at that moment even though you know you're going to be late if you don't? Do you have a very unstructured sleep schedule? D…

Diagnosed with ADD already. Writing here after 1.5 year of treatment attempts.

Don't give up. Find ways to use your superpowers, because you have: ADHD superpowers that I'm aware of includes hyperfocus, immunity to exam stress, being one of those: "when the going gets though, the tough gets going" etc.

While it is a real enough problem it has some remarkable upsides as well. You have to live with the downsides even though you can make them less visble and annoying, but also be aware of your superskills and put them to use for yourself so that you can have more to give back to your family, your friend and the world.

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#175

Post by 8d7a8 »

y0y wrote: post #132
colordrops wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. My answer is an emphatic yes to all of those questions. In the back of my mind I've always suspected that I would be diagnosed with ADHD, but never talked to anyone about it. In the end I just chalked it up to being a different kind of person and catered my life around my behaviors instead of trying to force my behaviors into some ideal notion. Looking back at the age of 40, my life has been much richer…

Just realized you had asked for what treatments I had. I use medication and cognitive behavioral therapy. They are a tandem duo and neither alone would be nearly as effective. First, do yourself a great favor, read the book Driven to Distraction. It's a super easy read and will give you a great amount of insight. Second, try to really re-evaluate your fear of medication. ADHD medication gets a bad rap. My opinion is…

Do you mind saying the specific medication?

edit: sorry, ignore that, just saw that you'd rather not disclose the medication.

Did you get CBT from a therapist or self administered? I've tried CBT before (from a counselor) and found it really difficult to suspend my disbelief about the process.

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#176

Post by reitanqild »

y0y wrote: post #132
colordrops wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. My answer is an emphatic yes to all of those questions. In the back of my mind I've always suspected that I would be diagnosed with ADHD, but never talked to anyone about it. In the end I just chalked it up to being a different kind of person and catered my life around my behaviors instead of trying to force my behaviors into some ideal notion. Looking back at the age of 40, my life has been much richer…

Just realized you had asked for what treatments I had. I use medication and cognitive behavioral therapy. They are a tandem duo and neither alone would be nearly as effective. First, do yourself a great favor, read the book Driven to Distraction. It's a super easy read and will give you a great amount of insight. Second, try to really re-evaluate your fear of medication. ADHD medication gets a bad rap. My opinion is…

> Second, try to really re-evaluate your fear of medication.

Seconded.

And know that those medications works wonders for lots of people, at least Ritalin which is the one I have seen in use.

Only be aware that the effects seems to differ from person to person, so work with a qualified person when trying these things out. I have seen some weird examples (same dose giving wildly different effect, even on siblings, same weight and generally similar) which is why it seems most professionals will generally start at 10mg and work carefully up to around 40 - 80mg/day. As long as instructions are followed however, highly recommended.

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#177

Post by invalidOrTaken »

Most addictions are flights from rather than flights to.

I realized embarrassingly recently that I am a mental coward---if I don't like the implications of something, I just don't think about it. This is surprisingly non-disabling in a classroom setting, especially if you enjoy learning. It is a no-good for homework, though. I was everyone's favorite student---and failing.

My fear of unpleasant mental work ( http://paulgraham.com/schlep.html) led to an inexperience with mental work, making the fear worse.

When I untangled all this, the solution manifested itself in a few different pieces:

1. I gave up on the entitlement of always being in a flow state. This was scary, and my faith helped.

2. I started my days by planning them. I am actually not very good at this, and often I just write "coding" for a significant portion of the day, but the biggest benefit here is that I force myself to think about whatever it is I don't want to think about.

3. At the end of the day, I write down what I did that day. This forces me to confront myself about whether I'm planning badly or not.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6906843

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#178

Post by atemerev »

reitanqild wrote: post #174
atemerev wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diagnosed with ADD already. Writing here after 1.5 year of treatment attempts.

Don't give up. Find ways to use your superpowers, because you have: ADHD superpowers that I'm aware of includes hyperfocus, immunity to exam stress, being one of those: "when the going gets though, the tough gets going" etc. While it is a real enough problem it has some remarkable upsides as well. You have to live with the downsides even though you can make them less visble and annoying, but also be aware of your sup…

Thank you. Indeed, these superskills are there. I always enjoyed exams. :)

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#179

Post by omgbear »

atemerev wrote: post #64
y0y wrote: post #54

Do you often show up to work late? Are you seen as generally unreliable? (Be honest with yourself.) Do you procrastinate a lot? Do you have a hard time transitioning? Are you late for things because you a) can't accurately estimate time and b) can't pull yourself away from the thing you're doing at that moment even though you know you're going to be late if you don't? Do you have a very unstructured sleep schedule? D…

Diagnosed with ADD already. Writing here after 1.5 year of treatment attempts.

I'm now 30, diagnosed with ADHD since pretty early on. I've on and off medication for most of my life, with some Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for a bit.

Now, I take Methylphenidate (long release Ritalin), and think it's wonderful -- it allows me to focus on tasks that need to get done, and has allowed to become more professional.

My biggest advice, as others mentioned, is play to your strengths. I've been incredibly lucky to find positions where I can design and prototype but don't have the trudgery that gives me trouble.

Find a team that will let you work on new problems regularly is very important. I grew very tired of working on the same tiny feature for a year, but it took me some time to realize.

A startup will have you facing different problems every week, but with fewer engineers, you'll need to do more maintenance, and it's even more important to temper the thirst for new tech stacks, because new features are more important.

tl;dr - meds until find ones that work and/or find a team that lets you work on new projects, something like R&D or custom integrations.

Best of luck, but I see ADHD as tradeoffs -- less focus on boring tasks for hyperfocus on interesting tasks.

Re: Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?

#180

Post by y0y »

atemerev wrote: post #162
y0y wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on his other replies, it seems he's given up on adhd treatments and probably didn't want all the replies focusing on that (oops!). I guess he was hoping there were some strategies others use that weren't related to treating an underlying neurological condition. /shrug

I currently take Elvanse (the long-action form of Adderall). It works for some issues (like forgetfullness and occasionally focus-related things), but it does nothing for novelty cravings. Before recently, I considered it to be a good thing, but when I understood that it is a primary driver of everything I do in life, I had doubts. Hence the post.

Aye, I understand. The impulsiveness is a big part of ADHD. I believe you should continue to work with your psychiatrist. Point this out to them specifically and let them know that while you are seeing improvement in some areas, this one is particularly bad for you and that you would like to explore some other medication options - either dosage change or new medications all-together. Worst case scenario is you go back to the medication you're on now which at least helps somewhat.
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