Ask HN: Lack of self-discipline driving me hopeless. Tips?

Your lack of focus on a particular thing sounds similar to the cycle I have found myself in. Discover, learn, master, get bored.

I have my own concerns about this cycle, but it does have an upside you can channel; I have been picking up new skills left and right. As an example, I am currently fixing up a motorcycle I bought for real cheap. My passion for mechanics has long abated, but I still find it mildly pleasant and I want the goal (getting the bike running). Because I was so deep into cars and motorcycles for a while, I am quite excellent at servicing now. I know exactly what to do without much trouble, which enriches my life by opening doors and extending the life of my vehicles.

Virtually anything complicated enough to be stimulating can work with this cycle. I am currently contemplating diving into nutrition. I'll get completely bored of food after a while, but for the rest of my life I'll have the skills and knowledge to tap into.

Check out http://wishcraft.com to grab a PDF book from Sher.

This book: http://www.amazon.com/Refuse-Choose-Revolutionary-Program-Ev... helped me identify myself more.

I got this book for my wife: http://www.amazon.com/Could-Anything-Only-Knew-What/dp/04405... and she said it helped her refocus things.

The takeaway from all of this is that TMA page helped me identify and 'diagnose' (in a loose sense) that condition. The Sher books above helped with some practical advice on how to live and deal, and sometimes thrive, with the condition. Her term for someone with TMA would be 'scanner' , and she's written about scanners for years.

I've been juggling things for a while, and currently I'm a publisher (groovymag and jsmag), a consultant (really just consulting sometimes), a developer (hands on coding), a trainer, speaker (2-3 conferences per year), have written a book, and am working on some other projects for later this year which may help open some doors in to new avenues.

Had I stayed at my job I would have been more compensated financially but far less fulfilled. That said, I still wrestle with feelings of unfulfilledness, and some of that comes down to not being able to execute on all my ideas. What I'd like to do is get to the point where I'm comfortable hiring people to do a lot of the grunt work fulfilling my ideas (I don't particularly care to do the work, I just think it needs to get done).

This doesn't mean I'll never take a traditional full time job again, but I'm a lot more demanding and critical when I talk to potential employers. That still comes up now and then, and I'm a lot of aware of myself and open when talking about employment. Nothing has yet fit the bill, but I'm not shutting the doors to that possibility. I just don't think it'll be likely. It'll need to be a kickass company and/or working in an extremely engaging problem space with some freedom for me to float around some. Very few traditional jobs fit that bill.

I'm in the same boat. I have always loved and tried to make startups work. I read all the books and all that jazz. I took a giant leap of faith and failed. Slowly but surely I have started to get my life in order again. I have tried sucide before and failed. After that I have refused to try again. I see that as the easy way.

Now I'm starting to get my hopes back up and there are people around me that believe in me. I would highly recommend reading "think and grow rich". Ever heard of the book "the secret"? They ripped off that book.

I often find myself too making new friends only to not keep them after a year or so. Sometimes less. That's part of life.

Find something you like to do and obsess over it. That's what I'm doing now.

Also you will always need balance in your life and the focus and motivation will come.

Again, if you haven't read think and grow, read it and follow the instructions outlined within that book. If you have read it, read the damn thing again.

My suggestions:

1. You will grow out of some of this, even without therapy and/or medication. At least I did.

2. Exercise and eat right, try cutting down especially on caffeine, sugar and anything else that seems to have a weird effect on you.

3. Take up something you are bad at or that you have never done. Such as learning a different language, guitar, etc. Reason is that you are skimming the cream off the top of your abilities - I think if you choose something you can fail at, then you realized you failed but are still alive, it will give you a better perspective.

This world is very tough on non-conformists. Hang in there.

Sounds like you need some momentum to get the wheels turning again. Your mind sounds a bit claustrophobic - that is to say, lots going on that's making you go crazy. Go find some adventure and get off the road you're on. Go do something that 'crazy' people do. One time I was really really frustrated, so I traveled around the world (sounds absurd, but that's basically how simple my thought process was and how little planning i did. I just convinced myself I could make it up as I go). Getting on the road will distance yourself from a lot of things on your mind, provide some clarity on things that are important, and make you focus on immediate problems - like where to sleep so you don't get robbed and how you're going to get from A to B because the bus route in the book or on the website doesn't exist anymore. You'll learn a lot about yourself by dealing with things as they come, by meeting cool people, and by seeing new markets for your ideas everywhere you go. I was dead broke when I got back, and I slept on my friend's floor for 2 months before paying him any backrent - but hey, what're friends for. It didn't cost me a fortune, just most of what I made working summers in college.