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

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

#191

Post by ZenoArrow »

cocktailpeanuts wrote: post #157
ZenoArrow wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

cocktailpeanuts, one question, how would you describe the feeling of burnout?

You can't. Because it's impossible to describe how hard it was for me in words, you would have to experience it yourself. When I say "burnout", I don't just mean mental burnout. I've even been in situations where I went completely broke, lived homeless, and much more sensitive details I can't talk about on a public forum. Of course it doesn't have to be all life threatening to qualify as a "burnout". I've been throug…

Thank you for your reply.

I have been close to burnout before, so I have some idea what it's like, I was just curious what it was like for you.

I can't quite figure out something you said earlier...

"But eventually you recover and can't wait to start a new thing."

...when compared to...

"I still haven't fully recovered from this and don't think I ever will"

Do you find some value in lessons you've learned from burnout? That's the only way I can think of to understand both statements together.

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

#192

Post by taway_1212 »

delegate wrote: post #120
Fricken wrote: post #109

If want to deliver value to society, just stop. It's a bloated overweight out of control monster. It's already way too much, don't feed it. Don't contribute to it, it's not the sort of thing we want to encourage. We don't live in times of scarcity anymore, we live in times of too much of everything. If you feel otherwise, it's because you're a dumb ape who only understands not enough, because that's all your evolutio…

I have to admit that I'm leaning more and more towards a similar view. There's a (rapidly growing) Ocean of content out there and any one's contribution looks more and more like an insignificant drop in that Ocean. Consumers care less and less about what the content is, as long as it excites their input sensors in satisfactory ways. Content is functionally "attention grabbing" and there are many industries involved a…

There's an ocean of content nowadays, but masterpieces are still scarce.

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

#193

Post by rkunal »

We are always looking for answers in some 'advanced' system. Forcing ourselves to do something 'hard', to prove to ourselves that we are doing something. May be a simpler system is good enough.

1. You can better focus on producing, when your needs to consume gets satisfied. Techs such as Facebook, Instagram are designed to keep you hooked, give a hit on every use, but never lead to satisfaction. Trick is to go back to basics. Spend more quality time with people around you. The human bonding fulfils the needs that these tech claim to replace. With this alternative, your passive consumptions will automatically decrease.

2. Contribution to the society does not have to be via creating content on web platforms. Technology is an enabler, it should not be confused as something to do with the goal. One does not contribute to 'open source', one simply contributes to a 'mission'. May be, you are afraid of commitment because you do not have a goal, something that you would personally want to achieve for yourself in your contribution. But your focus is on the means to achieve it. Eg. Writing blog post, creating videos. Simplify it down. Write down your short term goal. Focus on working towards achieving it. You may realise that you do not need these platforms.

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

#194

Post by andrewem »

algesten wrote: post #185
manmal wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you 100% sure that it was positive stress that got you into the ER? I myself distinguish between stress (=anxiety of not meeting goals in time), and positive motivation (=joy, and not the caffeine one). Sadly, I haven't had much of the second type in recent years, but it's something I'm working on. It sounds as if your HPA axis gets super worked up and your body enters fight or flight mode, causing your heart to…

Quite certain it is positive stress. It's hard to describe, but I can quite easily get "into the flow". This is where I focus on a single project, time cease to exist and I just become one with the code. I can focus on coding for hours and hours without break. In fact, lunch and toilet breaks are irritating distractions. I can go to sleep at night uneasy about something I'm not exactly sure about and suddenly the sol…

I'm no doctor, but your description plus your use of the word "condition" makes me wonder if what you experience is hypomania.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypomania

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

#195

Post by ajani »

Ask yourself what it means to be consuming? Is it the same as depending on something other than you to tell you what to do? Is it not the same as asking people how to become a creator?

You don't need to become a creator. When you stop depending on outside agency, and just be, creation comes quite automatically.

It is hard to stop consuming. Because you believe that there is something in the video, the book, the blog, your friend's post, that is going to give you something. But what is the value of these things?

You can only give up consuming when you see the vapidity and the emptiness of what you are consuming. And you can only do that when you question what you are consuming. Question it's relevance. It's meaning.

Have you consumed this post and the replies? What now? What is it's value? Has this post changed you? Will you now at this moment, stop reading and delete all your social media accounts and go work on your project?

Then ask, what do you mean by contribute to society? What is society? Is it your friends? Does making an app that makes their lives easier, give you the feeling that you are contributing?

Or do you mean Society at large, where the problems are vast like hunger, disease, poverty, inane war and violence. Or is it solving the crippling effect that the education system has on generations of children world-wide making them into passive consumers, by years of exposure to images and ideas, not reality and learning.

Finally, what is your need to contribute? Is it a way to make yourself look better in your own eyes? By becoming a popular writer/anarchist/whatever. Or is it that you see the need for real work that needs to be done to fix the broken world we live in?

Stop consuming. Learn what is worth doing by looking at the world, with skepticism. Understand what is needed. Depend on yourself. Then the creation will come of its own.

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

#196

Post by aidenn0 »

The people I know that are most good at self-motivating production have two traits that seem almost opposing:

1) They are unsatisfied with what already exists

2) They aren't afraid to fail

#1 gives them a reason to get started and #2 makes sure that they finish.

People without #1 lack direction (If there isn't an open-source project that is both the best in the field, but missing something you deem important, how the heck do you pick what to write?)

People without #2 either spend so much time trying to make their creation the best that they never publish it, or end up giving up once they realize that they aren't going to write the "perfect" book/blog/code.

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

#197

Post by alexcnwy »

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 think there's something of a catch-22 here where it's much easier to get a low-hours job when you've already put yourself out there and have something like a blog that you can point to.

One thing I'd suggest is speaking to your employer and saying you'd like to take some time off to travel (preferably if you can spin this as needing to see family or something that would make them look like a dick for saying no to) but that you'd like to continue working while you're doing so and can commit to keeping all your current tasks going and bill say 40 hours per month.

I think many employers are paying full time salaries but only really need like 40-80 hours of work per month but they can't just pay for those hours so they pay a full time salary and the remaining time gets filled. Suggesting they can get 40 good, accountable hours per month can be a win win.

Worked for me at least.

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

#198

Post by oneplane »

I have two cents (eurocents):

Start small, and try to find your boundaries. Then get good enough at it to know you're contributing. This way there is a long term goal you'll always be able to reach, yet a short term check is in place so you don't go too far.

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

#200

Post by tordecken »

There is a thing which I constantly have to admit to myself: I will not do all the things I want to do. It makes me sad for a moment, until I realize that the chaotic and unfocused way I drift towards the thing that's currently grabbing my attention is reducing my productivity and the number of those projects I will accomplish.

The only answer is to get focused and prioritize the things you want to do. Make a plan. Create a system.

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