The only thing in my mind everyday is to get out of my 9 to 5 job. This keeps motivating me. I have started a blog which teaches a programming language. I had a target of 2 blog posts per week. I have given up watching television totally and I work for 12 to 14 hours daily even on weekends. My urge to resign my job and start on my own keeps motivating me. Although I am not able to achieve my target of 2 blog posts a week, I am able to post 1 per week and I guess I will be able to post 2 per week with a little more dedication. One more thing that helped me is the pomodoro technique. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique. I would encourage you to start first. Whether its a youtube video video or a blog post stop making it perfect and publish it right now. Once its out in the hands of the public you will learn a lot from their feedback.
Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?
131–140 of 282 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?
#132For me blogging worked best when blogging on a subject I just turned novice in. I'd write as if writing for myself 1 year ago. This worked out really well. Positive feedback made me write more. Now I've become more expert on that subject and I don't want to write simple tutorials anymore (it feels too much like work). I also gained a fear of being wrong, as I realized how deep and nuanced the subject really is.
As for Youtube: seems like you fell into the trap of planning too far ahead. Most channels never work out. Even if you stick to a weekly schedule, viewership will only steadily rise. Why not release your current videos, try a (bi-)monthly schedule and see where it goes?
Fear of commitment is a rationalized excuse your brain makes to avoid burning calories :). Or it's to avoid a setback: you put in all this effort and it did not work out. People avoid relationships for fear of commitment too, without ever giving it a shot, or asking if the other person also wants commitment.
For open source or research I give myself very small timeframes. You can think about it the rest of the week, and have a very productive hour or two coding or writing.
As for procrastination, check out "productive procrastination". It helped me get stuff done, when even more important stuff needed to be done :).
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/10-ways-for-pr...
Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?
#133I would ask if you think uploading videos to youtube that you feel obliged to produce for the sake of being 'productive', is really contributing to society. We have a glut of online content. For every tweet that illuminates, there are 9 that constitute meaningless chatter, background noise that serves only to obfuscate the good stuff. The freedom that the internet has given people to communicate is a wonderful and em…
This. Can you learn something so intensely that there's a purpose for you to produce, other than 'I don't feel like just enjoying and celebrating the creative works of others'? Anyone who's really locked into the nasty treadmill of staying creatively relevant, truly loves a good fan or good consumer. Somebody's gotta do the experiencing, sift through the chaff, find the gold. If you're working in the creative sphere,…
>Somebody's gotta do the experiencing, sift through the chaff, find the gold.
And if you're good at that, you can put the gold you found together, and become a content producer too...
Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?
#134I'm partly waking up for various reasons. And right now I just go to meetups, events etc to see what would stick. Fun fact, I expected that event related to my deepest hobbies would make me feel at home but not really (if at all). All in all, it's a human feel thing and a subject.
Also, I realize that existing as an adult outside of a field or shielded by a big company is quite a surprising experience. You have to integrate with people, communities, society and is mostly an altruism thing. It makes you see other working people differently and also adult life altogether.
Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?
#135I'm going to say something that might be wildly unpopular among ambitious people: If you have a full-time job, you are by far not a passive consumer. You presumably contribute >40 hours every week of creatively demanding, high-quality labor to society. For most people, the premise of this question is wrong. Procrastination, when you don't obviously have a lot of available time and effort, is a symptom that most of yo…
The guy wants advice on "how", not some words to make him feel better about not doing stuff, so let's give him that. > for most people this is an exercise that will in the long run lead to burnout. Your mind is already subconsciously telling you this. I want to point out that this is one of the reasons why people never start things. Let me share my experience as someone who has started, AND burned out, multiple times…
> The guy wants advice on "how", not some words to make him feel better about not doing stuff, so let's give him that.
Why don't we just tell him what he wants to hear instead of actually giving him good advice? Give me a break.
Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
The guy wants advice on "how", not some words to make him feel better about not doing stuff, so let's give him that. > for most people this is an exercise that will in the long run lead to burnout. Your mind is already subconsciously telling you this. I want to point out that this is one of the reasons why people never start things. Let me share my experience as someone who has started, AND burned out, multiple times…
> Another mistake people make is thinking that burning out is like dying, and you can't recover. Speak for yourself, buddy. I'm still trying to overcome medical issues from my last bout with burnout, including sleep disturbances and stress-related gastritis, and so far the medical profession hasn't had much luck in dealing with any of them. Burnout and the stress that goes along with it can absolutely do lasting dama…
You just answered a question that has been on my mind. I did not even realize these were affects of stress.
Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?
#137> I also would like to contribute to open source software projects
If you'd like, I'm looking for help on https://github.com/GoTeamEpsilon/OpenEMR-AWS-Guide
Send me an email at matthewvita48@gmail.com
...this applies to anyone in this thread as well :)
Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?
#138I can definitely relate to this. Here's how you do it.
You just do it. Period.
If you have two videos ready, make them public. It's the intention that counts. If you want to help people learn, or contribute, don't get bogged down by how people will judge you. It is an extremely exhilarating feeling when someone reaches out to you and lets you know that they found your content useful. The moment you make the switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer, something switches within you.
I started putting out videos on tensorflow a few months ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-EvyKpZjmQ
This was the first time I had done anything like this- my goal is not to get subscribers, or views or anything, it is just to put out content in a form that I would have liked to consume.
I have a three and half year old and there have been times where he is literally sitting on my head while I am trying to make the videos. It's all worth it.
Just take the next step.
Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?
#139I recommend the book "Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking"
Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?
#140publishing stuff means accepting its flaws, which is hard. just do it, the feedback you get will help you improve faster than if you hadn't.