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Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?

#91

Post by 4ndr3vv »

ajeet_dhaliwal wrote: post #10
hungerstrike wrote: post #8

Are you working by yourself most of the time? I forget where I read it, but I think it was Joel Spolsky that said “Don’t be a guy in a room” because even if you can do whole projects by yourself, it gets boring and feels unfulfilling compared to working on a team.

The exact opposite is true for me most of the time. The open office ruins it, working on my own or limiting contact is productive.

Think the GP isn't talking about "open office" environments but rather having a team to work with vs being one person development team (and apologies if you are too!) I find the latter much harder, and without people to bounce ideas off or discuss priorities with, i find myself quickly demotivated.

Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?

#92

Post by 3chelon »

topmonk wrote: post #57

I had the same problem you do. I used somewhat of an out of the box solution, which is to listen to subliminal audio. I do this while working, so it costs me no time at all. You can find some free ones on youtube. It changed me from someone who would want to mess around all day, to someone who actually enjoyed working. People underestimate the affect of what they listen to and see on a subconscious level and how it a…

>If you are listening to melancholy, nihilistic music, especially, change your habits

I really have to take issue with this. Some of my most productive coding sessions have been to the full-volume soundtrack of Nirvana, Joy Division, Pixies, Radiohead, etc, etc, etc.

In my experience it's important that the music has to be of the "wall of sound" type that acts almost as rhythmic white noise. Also they must be tracks you already know very well - new music is not conducive to working, because it distracts your brain.

Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?

#93

Post by xstartup »

ci5er wrote: post #54
xstartup wrote: post #24

You work alone right? I am hyperproductive when I work in a team because I want to show people who stuff is done within deadline with minimum efforts. But when I work alone, I lose all motivation. I achieve much less. Even after starting 5 companies.

People are funny. I am the complete opposite. (Not that I don't get lonely working alone)

Hey! I am an introvert and love staying alone. I like to think that staying alone helps me solve problems creatively but my major problem is that when I plan things they don't go well. For me, most of the success has come from flowing along tide when I wasn't eyeing the end or reward when I was going insane with the group.

Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?

#94

Post by pronoiac »

tlrobinson wrote: post #62
zinckiwi wrote: post #5

I'm familiar with this. There's no magic solution, sadly, but I'll share one thing that has helped me and may apply at least to some of your situations. I realised a while ago that my main issue was with nebulous tasks -- that is, the more concrete, defined, and _meetable_ a task was, the less trouble I had with it. So I started to break down large tasks, which never got started much less finished, into smaller ones,…

I've been wondering, is there a todo / task tracking app that can somehow aggregate tasks across multiple applications? Currently my tasks are spread across emails and email drafts, Github issues, iOS reminders, Slack, my head, etc. It's a lot of work to keep track of them all. Maybe I should just carry around a paper notebook and make that the authoritative source of tasks.

That feels kinda familiar. My experience might or might not be helpful.

I read about Getting Things Done, and I worked to track everything in one place, but I find that task tracking in two places work best for me:

1. Something like Evernote or Simplenote, for capturing notes on any device that's handy: phone, tablet, computer, etc. Being able to search really easily is crucial, to avoid duplicate topics.

2. Something like Trello for easier prioritizing and categorization. Moving around the index card analogies is much easier than moving text.

Using email as an issue tracker is an anti-pattern. It means your work to prioritize can get casually jumbled, and for me, that flow can get interrupted more easily. Ditto for Slack.

I like paper notebooks - I used one at work so I wouldn't drop any of the tasks I was juggling - but they're less portable than my phone. Before that, I had a Hipster PDA (index cards and a paper clip - http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/introducing-the-hipster-... ) but I had lots of notes, and searching was awkward, meaning "just write it (again) before I forget it, sort it out later," meant there was curation involved, and that using 1. above was lower-friction and just overall better.

Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?

#95

Post by tarruda »

I can relate to this and AFAIK there's no magic/quick solution.

Even if you find some job/project that motivates you a lot, that motivation won't last forever and eventually the lack of focus/procrastination will come back.

I work a full time as a remote software developer, and what helped me in recent years was to focus on developing self-discipline, which is what pushes you forward in the long term. And yes, self-discipline can be seen as a trainable skill.

I started by forcing myself to wake early and take a cold bath every week day. I've found that this habit helps me develop a work routine in the first morning hours. Even without having great productivity, I've found this greatly reduces the bad feeling you get from procrastination.

Almost a year ago, I started forcing myself to do something I used hate (but healthy, especially for someone that sits for most of the day): going to the gym and lifting weights 3 times a week. As the time passed, this became an habit which has an amazing impact on my work productivity. This may be because I'm following a program where I constantly try to increase the weights, giving a feeling of progress I don't usually get from daily work (Currently lifting about 4x weight more than when I started). It might not work for you, but this is what I'm doing, in case you are interested: https://stronglifts.com/

Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?

#96

Post by stared »

"Smart Guy Productivity Pitfalls" (http://bookofhook.blogspot.com/2013/03/smart-guy-productivit...) were useful to me and techniques related to "no zero days" and just getting started (with a single sentence, slide, line of code) are virtually the only things that consistently work for me. These techniques are nicely summarized in "Micro-Progress and the Magic of Just Getting Started" https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/smarter-living/micro-p....

Anything causing guilt turned out to be counterproductive, vide my answer to "How to stop feeling guilty about unfinished work?": https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17988/how-to-st....

Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?

#98

Post by 3pt14159 »

tarruda wrote: post #95

I can relate to this and AFAIK there's no magic/quick solution. Even if you find some job/project that motivates you a lot, that motivation won't last forever and eventually the lack of focus/procrastination will come back. I work a full time as a remote software developer, and what helped me in recent years was to focus on developing self-discipline, which is what pushes you forward in the long term. And yes, self-d…

I second most of this advice. I take cold showers and I exercise frequently. Both do wonders for my ability to focus. Also, see a psychiatrist if you think you have adhd.

Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?

#99

Post by jwl »

I often try to remind myself that it is better to start somewhere, than nowhere. Just getting started is often halfway done. Even though it might turn out that you could have started somewhere else which in hindsight would have been a better approach, it is still better than nothing.

Re: Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?

#100

Post by garmaine »

You have ADHD. Make an appointment with a qualified psychiatrist to see if you meet the requirements for diagnosis and medical treatment.

You are not alone. Your struggle is the result of a medical condition, and not your fault. ADHD can destroy lives. Don't let it ruin yours.

Source: I'm 35 and struggled with very similar things my entire life. It nearly destroyed my marriage and my career. I received a diagnosis 6 months ago and have been taking prescribed stimulants (Vyvanse) ever since. It was a life-changing experience. My only regret is that I did not seek help earlier, having for so long blamed myself rather than my neurochemistry, which only made me stressed and depressed without providing a solution.

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