Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work? • Hacker News Board

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

#351

Post by arbie » Tue, Feb 20, 2018, 3:21 AM UTC

davidjnelson wrote: post #319

ashtube wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% this. Break down the tasks into smaller and smaller chunks, use an app like Todoist to track it. So create a project for each major task, and have all the todo's inside that project. You'll feel achievement as you complete each small task, and within no time you'll find you have completed the project, AKA, one big task.

How would you compare Todoist to Trello? Would you recommend switching?

I think they serve orthogonal purposes (task-tracking vs Kanban project management). There is heavy overlap between them, and you can certainly use one over the other, but their original intent is clear.

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

#352

Post by adrianratnapala » Tue, Feb 20, 2018, 3:40 AM UTC

PinkMilkshake wrote: post #345

Clean your room! https://youtu.be/OoA4017M7WU (Then rescue your father from the belly of the whale, roughly speaking)

Yeah, I wonder how much of an up-tick in Pinocchio related revenue Disney is seeing thanks to JBP. Sadly it will only serve to remind them that there is value into hanging onto dusty, ancient, copyright.

And, come to think of it, it's hard to imagine a better example of what JBP calls "living off the body of your dead father" than Disney's modus operandi.

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

#353

Post by deathtrader666 » Tue, Feb 20, 2018, 4:37 AM UTC

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.

Personally, I use Trello with the Planyway addon.

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

#354

Post by dreeves » Tue, Feb 20, 2018, 5:33 AM UTC

kjhosein wrote: post #347

I can relate. I've probably tried the vast majority of the motivation 'hacks' recommended by the other posters in this thread with varying amounts of success and failure. The #1 thing I think that anyone in this situation, or any self-improvement challenging situation, should do is to understand themselves fully - what makes you tick, what do you like, dislike, etc.? Beware: this is not a 5-minute task; we could be t…

Thanks for the awesome Beeminder plug! Anxious to hear if it continues to work for months and years.

There's a great discussion of Gretchen Rubin's Four Tendencies in the Beeminder forum: http://forum.beeminder.com/t/which-habit-tendency-are-you/16...

(Apparently I too am an Obliger.)

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

#355

Post by endymi0n » Tue, Feb 20, 2018, 7:46 AM UTC

Fuddh wrote: post #133

endymi0n wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, of course this didn't come out of nowhere. After lots of failures on my own ambitions right after college, I eventually caved in (completely broke) and started a job in tech support to pay the bills. It was only then — where I got my problems and structure from an external source — that I started really excelling. I eventually automated my job away, worked my way up through engineering into a Lead Architect posi…

Hey - just wanted to let you know that I really identify with the comments you made here today. I just read the blog you linked and I think it could help me a lot. I struggle with excessive procrastination on a daily basis and seeing the stuff that generally gets posted on the topic of 'productivity' here and for example LinkedIn doesn't track with me at all since it tends to focus on doing massive amounts of work ev…

You're welcome.

I'll just leave this final piece of advice here, which I would say is the distilled essence of wisdom I've worked hard for in the last decade — whether it might reach you at the point you currently are or not:

It's not that when you have your procrastination issues covered, that you will finally be able to accept and trust yourself.

It is that when you finally accept and trust yourself, you will be able to have your procrastination issues covered.

It may sound cheesy and simple, but trust me that it's correct. Getting there is a whole different game, it took me 10 years for the first 80% and I fear the last 20% will take the rest of my life.

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

#356

Post by raducu » Tue, Feb 20, 2018, 7:50 AM UTC

herbst wrote: post #299

raducu wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ritalin and amphetamine did not improve your focus/motivation? Not even the first couple of times you tried them?

Not OP. But when my doc said I have ADHD I gave it a try and it doesn't for me. I tried several dosages and settings but it does never improve my focus and especially not my motivation. If anything the wrong dosage made it just worse. I still don't see the use for these pills out of last resort party add on.

I'm not a doctor, but if you do have ADHD, it's worth trying all the available medication -- amphetamines(adderall, dexedrine, desoxyn), methylphenidate in it's various release forms, strattera, or off label medicine -- modafinil, bupropion or even nicotine patches.

You might also have another condition like depression.

I've experimented with several chemicals (probably not legal where I live) and indeed not all provide both focus AND motivation.

Healthy work habits, enjoying the work that you do, having longer term goals and your work actually contributing to your longer term goals, having hobbies outside work and so on and on -- all these things can help.

Also make sure you lead a healthy lifestyle, you sleep properly, you do physical activity, check you vitamin Bs, hormone levels -- thyroid, testosterone.

You can also do a DNA test with 23andme/ancestry and then analyze the raw data with something like Promethease.

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

#357

Post by raducu » Tue, Feb 20, 2018, 7:54 AM UTC

giblaz wrote: post #190

raducu wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ritalin and amphetamine did not improve your focus/motivation? Not even the first couple of times you tried them?

Adderall helps me with focus and motivation but it makes me feel absolutely not like myself. I've done various drugs throughout my life but the feeling I had on Adderall was honestly downright scary once I had wrapped up the programming tasks I set out to do on it.

Did you feel "zombied-out" -- completely emotionless, staring at a blank wall, like you have your foot on both the acceleration and the break pedal of a car; I felt that way when taking too large of a dosage of certain stimulants.

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

#358

Post by endymi0n » Tue, Feb 20, 2018, 8:30 AM UTC

bitL wrote: post #224

endymi0n wrote: post #59

I can relate a lot. I'm still burning through self-motivation hacks at 35, some of which are helping while most don't. Eventually, the hack with by far the largest impact (which brought me to currently being cofounder and CTO of one of the more successful German startups) was realizing that while I simply suck at self-motivating, I never had a problem getting stuff done when working for others. I effortlessly produce…

I have a music studio in central Germany. Wanna do a single together? ;-)