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Ask HN: Underperforming, feeling stuck

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Re: Ask HN: Underperforming, feeling stuck

#81
post #20
post #3

several strategies that have worked for me: 1. get yourself checked out for ADD. I'm not saying this is the problem, but it's easy to check for, and if it is the problem, there are drugs that can at least temporarily make the problem just go away. Now if this is something you've never experienced until just now, it's probably not ADD. But if you've had these sorts of problems on and off forever, (I know for me, my pe…

> You can get a CS student to watch you code and kick your chair when you stop for under ten bucks an hour. Excellent idea.

I've often thought this would be useful. Someone standing behind me to slap me whenever I compulsively checked email for the second time in a minute, checked a news site to see if anything interesting had happened in the last five minutes, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Underperforming, feeling stuck

#82
post #37

I think it's a common pattern, only perhaps the magnitude is worse in your case. I observed it on myself as well on other programmers back when doing a project management stint. What helps me personally is having a notepad where I jolt down TODO items, to the most atomic level if possible. To give an idea what's on it here now: - probe for activity on the I2C bus - find the SIGCHLD problem - remove rectangle in the l…

That's exactly my approach. I spent a month on a project not really getting anywhere, putting things off and moving things 2/3 pixels in CSS code doing "work". I then bought a whiteboard, itemised in root-level terms the tasks I needed to get done, how I would achieve them, and then crossed them off when done.

I not only felt accountable to myself, but as I work alone, friends or family visiting me would ensure my checklist was being ticked off and ask questions on specific points ("why haven't you done that?" "because XYZ is taking longer than expected" etc...)

The list makes you answer questions about how you'll tackle the problem, it also allows you to think without staring at a screen which is beneficial.

Re: Ask HN: Underperforming, feeling stuck

#83

Consider a complete change of career, if that is at all an option. I know that sounds pretty dramatic and drastic, but you've already changed jobs several times within the profession and that does not seem to solve anything. Apparently your inspiration is at a very low tide and you don't seem to derive much enjoyment from your work. This is not something you are going to 'fix' (unless you're just looking at the short…

Consider a complete change of career, if that is at all an option.

While this may be a huge change to think about, don't underestimate it as a real viable option.

I actually was having the same problem as OP and have been in the process of switching careers to screen printing of all things. I've noticed myself having more energy both in and outside of work and a feeling of accomplishment that I'm actually getting shit done in a measurable way. When I actually do sit down to write some code in my off-time, I've felt much more inspired and have actually had the drive to finish the things I start.

Obviously this is all heavily YMMV, but certainly something to consider.

Re: Ask HN: Underperforming, feeling stuck

#85
post #3

several strategies that have worked for me: 1. get yourself checked out for ADD. I'm not saying this is the problem, but it's easy to check for, and if it is the problem, there are drugs that can at least temporarily make the problem just go away. Now if this is something you've never experienced until just now, it's probably not ADD. But if you've had these sorts of problems on and off forever, (I know for me, my pe…

Pair programming is good advice - but then, I have a sneaking suspicion that the majority of what you find in Agile programming methodologies is pretty much designed at overcoming the problem that the OP describes. I found that morning meetings with the other devs on the project, where we are all publicly assigned stories to complete in the day also helps - you don't want the rest of the team feeling like you're slac…

As others said above I'd also suggest you try out pair programming (with a friend of yours). I find myself more relaxed when I'm with someone I can talk to, make jokes or just bitch about the things not working. When I feel stressed I change place with my friend and he continues with the code while I calm down. Also he might see mistakes you don't and helps you fix them right away avoiding the stress.

Another good strategy is to break everything down to small tasks. Tasks you can do in 30 minutes or less. Watching the list getting shorter makes you feel like you're doing something. I think this is part of the agile approach.

Re: Ask HN: Underperforming, feeling stuck

#86
Sounds similar, been in the same situation, to understand yours better one question that needs a honest answer - do you like what you are coding? Are you interested in the end result? In my case, switching over to a project that I was really interested in brought back the enthusiasm I started lacking. And losing enthusiasm leads to subconscious delays - it's as if your brain tries to avoid doing the work it does not get direct stimulation for. But if you (deep inside) do love what you are doing, then it probably does not apply to you. Do you have any side projects? Are they any different? Maybe you just avoid admitting to yourself that you are not doing what you want to be doing, really.

Re: Ask HN: Underperforming, feeling stuck

#87
I can totally relate to this. Having worked largely from home for the last decade, this is something I've had to battle a lot. Not being in an office, there's no-one else there to motivate me.

Here's what's worked for me:

10 under 10:

Every night I write out 10 (or more) tasks, each under 10 minutes. I make sure there's a few super easy ones (coupla minutes each) at the top of the list. That's what I work on the next day.

10 mins is a good length. It means you have to think down to near the deepest level of a task. I found with 20 min tasks, it's very easy to get mentally lazy, & next thing you know you're depressed/unmotivated coz something you thought would take 20 minutes is actually a day's work, full of subtle gotchyas.

Each day I try to do 10 of these tasks. If I achieve 10, I know I've had a good day. Thing is, once I've done a bunch of them, I'm usually motivated enough to do to a ton more. Eg, today I've done 79 (so far).

10 * 10=100 minutes of coding may not sound like a lot, but you'd be surprised how little actual work most people do (see: Office Space).

I keep two lists: the 10 under 10, and my 'done' list for the day. As I do something, I c&p it from the former to the latter. That way if I need perking up during the day, I can just look at my 'done' list to see how productive I've been.

Identifying limiting beliefs:

This is a bit trickier. It's easy to see the noise at the top level of our mind (mental chatter: "This problem is too tough for me" "I can't do this" etc). That stuff is relatively trivial to let go of (just decide to, you're the boss of your brain).

What's trickier is finding the subconscious stuff, doubts etc that affect our behaviour, but don't necessarily rise to the level of conscious thought. What I've found is that a lot of times things are so abhorrent that our mind "protects" us from them by hiding them. You can only see that you're being limited by looking at your output (behaviour, patterns, productivity etc).

A useful framework is this:

1) Assume you can do anything (as you pointed out, within this field there's no reason you can't).

2) From that basis, anything you're not doing is because you WON'T. Thus,

3) Ask yourself "Why won't I do X?" - with the followup question "What am I afraid of?"

What I've found is for every "won't", there's a fear behind it.

Now, the super subtle thing is this: You won't necessarily get any internal (mental) answers to these questions. However, if relaxed & attentive, you may feel tension or energy rising in your body in response. This is your body's physiological connection to those deep fears. Know how when you get stressed you tense your shoulders? Yeah, it's like that.

So, when you feel that energy or tension rising, in response to the questions, just let it go. Make the choice to consciously relax & let go of that tension. As you do, what you're doing is simultaneously letting go of the associated belief. Keep letting go till you feel relaxed about the questions.

Those two techniques combined have worked wonders for me, coming from exactly the same situation you describe. Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: Underperforming, feeling stuck

#88
Lot's of good responses but there's one thing I'm missing: working out.

A few years ago I was playing icehockey maybe once a day or something and I felt great, school was easy and I had a lot of energy to spare (well, for a teenager anway).

Then I quit hockey and I started doing nothing, just sitting in front of the computer and guess what happened? I got inexplicitly tired and burned out. I love math but it got boring and my arms where like spaghetti and I almost tanked school (thankfully I didn't). I've always thought it was lack of challenges but now I know it wasn't that simple.

I think that my lack of working out really did make me more tired, and not just a bit but extremely tired and depressed and a whole heap of things. Now when I've started at the university I had this same strange sensation like back then, much milder but still familiar. So I went to a couple of taekwondo practices and I'm feeling a ton better already.

So my suggestion is to start a regular, and then I do mean regular with no skipping because you don't feel for it or don't have time etc, workout. You don't have to go for a run if you don't think that's the most fun thing there is (I personally really dislike it) but find something fun - ball sports, climbing, dancing whatever.

Definitely worth a try!

Re: Ask HN: Underperforming, feeling stuck

#89
I have a similar problem, i have knowledge, good coding skills but i never get things done on time, mainly because i have a serious procrastination problem. Is like i can only work under pressure, if i have a assigment of 1 month i try to do the things from the start date but actually start to be productive in the last week, and i never finish on time. I'm feel sick about this because the entire month is a pain to me, and my life quality sucks cause of that.

I have some success with a product(webapp) that i build, outside my job and recently get bussines angels money to start my own bussines. I dont know if i undervalue myself but i have the feeling that i dont deserve this success. I'm afraid of fail because my work style problem. I hope that now that i go into management and will hire people the things change but i'm not sure, maybe the problem affect all my personality, i used to act similar in my schools days. Some time i think is a kind of mental problem.

Excuse my english.

Re: Ask HN: Underperforming, feeling stuck

#90

I can totally relate to this. Having worked largely from home for the last decade, this is something I've had to battle a lot. Not being in an office, there's no-one else there to motivate me. Here's what's worked for me: 10 under 10: Every night I write out 10 (or more) tasks, each under 10 minutes. I make sure there's a few super easy ones (coupla minutes each) at the top of the list. That's what I work on the next…

I can't upvote this enough.

For what it's worth, I've gotten good use out of the Pomodoro Technique ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique ) to keep myself focused, but it usually only works for me if I'm already motivated to begin with.

Doing both the 10-under-10 and Pomodoro may help to get things started and keep the momentum going.

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