Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?

#171

Post by TeMPOraL » Sun, May 21, 2017, 7:10 PM UTC

vldx wrote: post #155

TeMPOraL wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a hivemind, it's people expressing their frustrations. In this industry, it's easy to feel safe in terms of income, so naturally people seek fulfilling needs from higher up the Maslow's pyramid. And a typical programming job is not really doing anything useful for the society except maybe extremely indirectly. At best, it's not actually harmful . Personally, I've been through plenty of webdev jobs, and almos…

Essentially, companies/products like Google (AltaVista, Lycos, ect.), Facebook (Friendster, MySpace, etc) or Slack (IRC, Skype, etc)? IMHO, it's very rare to be working on something truly unseen; and if you are, the chances are numerous people are working on the same thing at very this moment, just in a different flavor. Aren't these incremental improvements part of the natural selection? IMHO, you should strive to f…

Outside of tech, there are plenty of pretty mundane businesses that do lots of social good. In tech this is harder mostly because everything has almost global availability by default. But still, you don't neccesarily have to work at one of the big five to have social impact.

As for finding meaning within, I see this as a cop out. If you extend it to the limit, the most meaningful life is that of doing nothing and enjoying your inner self. It's not the kind of life I'd personally find meaningful.

Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?

#172

Post by msaltz » Sun, May 21, 2017, 7:12 PM UTC

I was having similar thoughts/issues lately (a couple months ago), and I came up with a way to be more systematic about achieving goals, etc. I wrote about it here: https://hackernoon.com/an-agile-approach-to-life-7bb2e9ccbc8...

Tldr; Think of myself as a product, and try to use a sort of agile development style to improve myself. I assign myself "sprints" (one or two at a time, one to two weeks each) and basically during my free time when I think "What should I do now?" I just do the sprint and it takes the pressure off. I've still been doing it since I wrote the above post and it's been working pretty well. I've read 5 novels in the past two months or so (EDIT: for context, more than I'd read in the past year), and I've tried a variety of what I call "personal sprints" that include things like "Wake up at the exact same time for two weeks", or "Say yes to all invitations for things for two weeks". I sort of have the mentality now that "The sprint is the law" and it's helped me have a level of discipline that I haven't achieved in the past. It's really fun because it's low pressure and experiment-based ("Let's try making excessive eye contact for a week, lol") and if something doesn't work out, you didn't spend much time doing it anyways.

Another less related thing is that I read that habit forming is sort of like a muscle, and once you form one habit, it can become easier to form others. So for a little while I was doing habit "layering" where I'd have a priority list for habits and basically as long as I did the top thing on my list, I was happy, even if I didn't get the others. Gradually I moved to the top two things, and so on.

Hope that helps.

Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?

#173

Post by themagician » Sun, May 21, 2017, 7:22 PM UTC

Consume less.

When you post on Facebook or Instagram you are just doing work so someone else can make money off that work. If you want to actually make something then do it for yourself.

Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?

#174

Post by lemonsqueeze » Sun, May 21, 2017, 7:25 PM UTC

jorblumesea wrote: post #142

marvin wrote: post #27

I'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…

I really appreciate this comment, mostly because I feel an immense amount of pressure to use my remaining time to do something "amazing" or keep up with the insane rate of frontend changes. I feel the core issue is that as developers/engineers, we spend a lot of time doing things that companies want, which can be at odds with skill growth, professional development or other things that are actually really important to…

If You want to pursue Your creative efforts, then 20% time is not the solution, since technically that is owned by Google and Their creative endeavor

Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?

#175

Post by harlanji » Sun, May 21, 2017, 7:30 PM UTC

slothtrop wrote: post #125

watwut wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience worth people who work a lot in their spare time is that their productivity at work drops. Basically, former in the pub socialization is replaced by in the office socialization. Their tv watching is replaced by more browsing at work. Effectively they do 60% position, but are able to switch to full time productivity when needed. There are positions where it is ok (slow company) and there are situations wh…

I've seen the very same thing. I wondered why one particular guy I know managed to be relatively productive at his leisure with personal projects when development was also his FT job. He let it slip, effectively, that he was not so productive at work and even neglected it in favor of personal projects. This must be common practice in creating that mythos of the tireless programmer with a strong involvement in open-so…

Indeed, although it takes two to tango. Impossible to know the relationship between said person and their management. I take my inklings to start new things while employed as an indicator that I need to talk to my manager. Help doing more work should be a good request, and 'in a month' or so is an acceptable answer. If they don't help me out I start feeling restless and perhaps start that project on the weekend. If they don't respond to my progress then I start feeling unappreciated/underutilized, and express this. If it still goes nowhere, time to move on. Not moving on at this point is where the problems start, as you go into a reactionary mode and "aren't yourself" anymore.

Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?

#176

Post by lemonsqueeze » Sun, May 21, 2017, 7:31 PM UTC

eeZah7Ux wrote: post #92

ahmedk92 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 I notice a hive-mind of looking-down on "ordinary work" even if it's not really challenging, and is actually isn't less purposeful than open source projects that get to the HN front-page. 'Coolness' is an unmeasured and a dangerous motivation.

Writing just another automation tool, application, website is hardly helping the planet. Making some billionaire company owner more wealthy even less. Let's be honest: less than 10% of software jobs are producing something meaningful. Meaningful | interesting | paid. Pick one. Pick two if you are both very talented and lucky. Pick three if you are Torvalds.

Whqt are you talking about. If there is a more efficient allocation of energy to value, then it's progress.

Or are you saying you know which companies will grow and change the world?

AirBnb was for couch surfing... stupid and "useless" idea that allows my Mother to earn extra income from her suite in her older age.

Maybe Snapchat or Whatsapp are toys.... toys that let me keep in touch with family overseas more.

Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?

#177

Post by thatwebdude » Sun, May 21, 2017, 7:35 PM UTC

I recently ditched most social media. Starting contributing to my blog about guitar more. It gets basically no traffic, but I definitely feel like I'm actually contributing something, even if it's for the one lone googler out there.

I force myself into a specific topic that interest me. I think that's the key.

Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?

#178

Post by chauey » Sun, May 21, 2017, 7:46 PM UTC

doublelife wrote: post #51

marvin wrote: post #27

I'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…

Most weeks I expend about 40 hours (mostly remote) working as a software developer in order to pay the bills. At the same time I'm spending between 10 and 40 hours working on my own startup as I don't want to be an employee forever. I also have a young family and I really do my best to fulfil my obligations as a parent, as is fair and right. A day for me does not stop from the moment I wake up (7am) to the moment I g…

Whoa, I kinda feel the same way, always feeling I gotta be working something. Always balancing work and life. Lugging around my laptop everywhere in case I can do something productive on it. I quit my job recently, trying to focus on my side project, but also been busy getting engaged and married soon. Always feeling I don't have enough time or not focusing or getting enough done. GLHF!

Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?

#179

Post by maerF0x0 » Sun, May 21, 2017, 7:47 PM UTC

UnpossibleJim wrote: post #85

cocktailpeanuts wrote: post #75

Earlier 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…

I will counter with one (older person's, I guess) observation of a bunch of my friends who are now in their early to mid fourties and late thirties. The one's who focus on making a career and accomplishments, be they for social value or greater equality for all or the justice in society being more balanced, etc. etc...... anyway, they end up at my age, when naturally, the larger group starts to drift apart a bit, loo…

>But when their friends start dying, they'll see them all start saying the same sorts of things, and none of them are, "I wish I'd spent more time working."

The issue here is we do not know the true spectrum of outcomes with and without working. I assume many people who say "I wish i worked less" on their deathbeds presume that all the trappings of their work would come with.

I would trust it more if people paired what they'd give up with what they want to gain. ie if they said "Putting my daughter through college wasnt worth it, I wish i worked less". Or (more realistically) "I wish I spent less money on luxury, so I would have had more time with people".

Also a note of caution, any time you're wasting time thats marginal time you will be begging for on your deathbed. "I wish I had one more day with my wife (or kids)" -- today could be that day, instead of wasting it, use it up fully.

Re: Ask HN: How do I switch from being a passive consumer to an active producer?

#180

Post by ams6110 » Sun, May 21, 2017, 7:48 PM UTC

marvin wrote: post #27

I'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…

It's interesting -- I have sort of been coming to the same conclusion myself. I work full-time and have a family. I have ideas for side projects and learning new stuff but on any given day, after work and activities with kids I usually don't feel like spending the hour or two of spare time I might have on something that takes a lot of mental engagement. Sometimes on weekends, if there isn't a lot else going on, I'll spend a few hours on a Sunday afternoon on that sort of thing, but beyond that it generally doesn't happen.

Of course I then feel bad that I'm not getting things done that I want to do, but have lately been more inclined to think that I'm already at capacity and it just isn't going to happen unless I trade off something else. So now I'm evaluating whether I would really get more reward out of pursuing these extra activities at the expense of something else, or if I should stop even thinking about it and just enjoy what is already happening in my life.