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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?

#271

Post by eswat »

rak00n wrote: post #146
awl130 wrote: post #88

I made one change that made a difference: Cancel all-you-can-eat subscriptions, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. When you must opt-in every time to consume content, it makes it easier to instead dedicate your time to creating content.

I disagree. Some of the series I consumed through​ Netflix/HBO Now changed my perspective​. That's a fair exchange of my time.

I think similarly with video games. However very, very few of these ever has a considerable impact on improving my wisdom or changing perspective. It would be crazy for me to subscribe to something like Humble Monthly Bundle with this realization.

Might be worth to ask yourself if you really need to subscribe to have access to this content to reach the same outcome. Or if you can replace these experiences with something else or try them à la carte.

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

#272

Post by swyx »

factsaresacred wrote: post #18

How much spare time do you have, what are your living conditions like, your energy levels, hours of sleep, computer speed, monitor size, task management approach? I ask because you need to: A. build an environment conducive to producing. B. practice discipline. Like you, I had some half-baked blogs and projects that were doomed for failure. After way too much wasted time it was obvious that I wasn't living a lifestyl…

please also share your "learned to code" story when you show HN (or separately, whatever). would help me a lot. You are where I want to be.

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

#273

Post by wpietri »

tmbsundar wrote: post #267
wpietri wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally recommend physical boards when possible, especially for people just getting started. E.g., my startup-sized kanban board is here: http://williampietri.com/writing/2015/the-big-board/ You can happily use, e.g., sticky notes on a wall by your desk or inside a cabinet door. If you really can't do that, software can be ok, but it's easier to develop bad habits with software. With a physical system, certain t…

Thanks. That helps. Is there any place or book where I can read more about the "personal kanban" principles. Basically, I don't want to overdo it either. Want to understand the principles before jumping in.

As cotsog says, there's a whole personal kanban literature. I personally haven't read any of it, but I hear good things.

One tip, though: Be careful of focusing too much on the theory.

In my experience, a lot of task management methods fail to take root because the person is supposed to follow the system. However, the system doesn't really fit the person, so what is begun in hope ends up gradually falling apart. Doing a kanban approach right is about paying close attention to what's actually going on and then tuning the system.

As an example, take WIP limits. When I start teams with kanban approaches in work settings, they often want to pick high WIP limits, because a) they currently are doing a bunch of things, b) it seems macho and achievement-oriented to have many balls in the air. But they also want to follow the system, which says "minimum WIP". So they will either pick a high limit, and so get no benefit, or pick a very low limit and get frustrated with all the chaos that a big process change causes.

The approach I instead suggest is to just lay out the board to match what's really going on. Inevitably, they have a lot of WIP, so that's what the kanban board should show. If that's 10 things, it's 10 things. They agree that's a lot, so we might set a WIP limit of 8. If that works, we'll drop it a little more. And then again. At some point, it will get uncomfortable, and that's when things get really interesting, because it's exposing a problem in the workflow. Do you change the WIP limit back? Or do you say, "Hmmm, how can we remove the blockage?"

There's no right answer, really. It's about paying attention to the details of the work and your experience. Kanban boards aren't really a solution. They mainly make your workflow visible so you can notice problems and fix them. The magic isn't in the board. It's in your willingness to iterate.

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

#274

Post by jwdunne »

TheKarateKid wrote: post #219
ashark wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some days I feel fucking great . Like I can take on the world. Do anything. I'm motivated, want to get things done, and feel like I can do it. There's not a hint of fog in my brain, not a bit of fatigue in my muscles. It's awesome . I leap out of bed, think "damn, I feel great !" and just go . But... it's also only 5-10 days a year, and seems to hit more-or-less at random (though sunny, long, not-too-humid days seem…

What you described could be symptoms of undiagnosed ADHD. The brain fog, only 5-10 days of random great/motivated days. Contrary to popular belief, people with ADHD can be very smart and successful without even realizing they have it. Check out the ADHD subreddit and TotallyADD.com.

My boss said once "you're like a rollercoaster. When you're at your best, you're on fire. When you're at your worst, I consider letting you go."

Thankfully my "best" has, I hope, outweighed my "worst".

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

#275

Post by shriya »

jwdunne wrote: post #274
TheKarateKid wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you described could be symptoms of undiagnosed ADHD. The brain fog, only 5-10 days of random great/motivated days. Contrary to popular belief, people with ADHD can be very smart and successful without even realizing they have it. Check out the ADHD subreddit and TotallyADD.com.

My boss said once "you're like a rollercoaster. When you're at your best, you're on fire. When you're at your worst, I consider letting you go." Thankfully my "best" has, I hope, outweighed my "worst".

This comment is exactly how I've described myself for the past two years (first two years of my career). I say it like a joke, but a part of me is worried that I won't be able to fix it.

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

#276

Post by summarite »

Xcelerate wrote: post #110
UnpossibleJim wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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." I hear this a lot. But I'm not sure if this is always true. I chose an education path that required a much greater amount of work than other paths I could have taken. I would spend weekends working on homework and projects when others were out having fun. But as…

If i can suggest a reframing:

Do you really want to spend your most productive, healthy and free/uncommitted years working too much just to have more time when your body is starting to weaken and many of your dreams start to become impossible?

Do you want to spend less time with your children for the chance to have more time for your grandchildren?

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

#277

Post by mpfundstein »

awl130 wrote: post #88

I made one change that made a difference: Cancel all-you-can-eat subscriptions, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. When you must opt-in every time to consume content, it makes it easier to instead dedicate your time to creating content.

Yes. I also started to get cds/lps again and quit spotify. Automatically you consume less with the extra effect of slightly better quality and more active listening :-)

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

#278

Post by justboxing »

Here's how I did it. YMMV.

[NOTE: I do have a fairly taxing full-time job and also go to a boxing gym 5 times a week or more after work, and still made the time to be a creator after all that, by forcing myself to adhere the following rules I set for myself. Not bragging, it took me over 10 years to finally get the discipline, just trying to tell you it can be done.]

1) Stop watching the news * , on TV and online. It's hard at first, but can be done.

2) Sign out of all social media apps, and pick just 1 or 2 that you really cherish, so that you are not out cold with nothing to consume. For me, I was able to whittle it down to just hackernews. HN does a great job of filtering out or flagging Political News articles and other click baity / fake stuff. And the quality of articles and stories are very high. I also use the Show HN tab to inspire myself, when I see that everyday, and almost every hour, someone has CREATED and SHIPPED something useful or awesome.

3) Set a small goal of 30 mins per day, or 1 hour per day to work on whatever it is you want to produce. I started with 30 mins a day and worked my way up (6 months later) to now 3 to 4 hours a day and 6 hours on weekends.

I shipped my 1st side-project last week -- soft launched it -- and am about to do a Show HN within the next week to 10 days.

Hope this helps!

[ You'll notice that when you do #2, your real-life interactions with your online friends and fam will dramatically improve in quality. "Catch-up" convos will happen in person in real life, at the gym or elsewhere, instead of mindlessly clicking Like and blowing hearts online on their "Stories" and "Feeds"]

* Related Reading (by Buffer Founder & CEO): "The power of ignoring mainstream news" => http://joel.is/the-power-of-ignoring-mainstream-news/

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

#279

Post by JakeAl »

Frondo wrote: post #121
UnpossibleJim wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Anyone who builds accomplishments without building lasting and deep relationships with people around them has done something wrong in the process. Early in life, I had a small amount of artistic success (music). Though I probably couldn't have gone big with it, I did enjoy some amount of regional fame. Hard work, definitely an accomplishment, and I built several friendships out of it that have lasted over two decades…

>Anyone who builds accomplishments without building lasting and deep relationships with people around them has done something wrong in the process.

This is one of the fundamentals of leadership, and leadership starts with leading your own life. One of the other fundamentals is awareness -- self-awareness and awareness of others, which these comments seem to be touching on.

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

#280

Post by myro »

shriya wrote: post #275
jwdunne wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My boss said once "you're like a rollercoaster. When you're at your best, you're on fire. When you're at your worst, I consider letting you go." Thankfully my "best" has, I hope, outweighed my "worst".

This comment is exactly how I've described myself for the past two years (first two years of my career). I say it like a joke, but a part of me is worried that I won't be able to fix it.

So how did you 'fixed' it? I'm feeling the same.
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