What I would do in your situation is start with reading books. If you’re not into reading, try Audible.
What you mention feels in line with the book Start with Why by Simon Sinek.
Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?
41–50 of 111 posts
Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?
#42You may want to change your attitude toward work. There's a reason it's called "work" and not playtime. There's a reason they pay you to do it. I like to think about the guy stuck in a shit town, working in a coal mine. Maybe they all drink themselves to oblivion and I'm delusional, but I envision at least some of them this way: Guy goes down there and busts his ass all day in the dark, getting dirty as fuck, probabl…
The needless aggressiveness aside, this goes completely against my job experience. The boring workplaces were those in which putting in the effort was actively discouraged and punished. Consider yourself lucky if you never worked in one of these places.
Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?
#43You may want to change your attitude toward work. There's a reason it's called "work" and not playtime. There's a reason they pay you to do it. I like to think about the guy stuck in a shit town, working in a coal mine. Maybe they all drink themselves to oblivion and I'm delusional, but I envision at least some of them this way: Guy goes down there and busts his ass all day in the dark, getting dirty as fuck, probabl…
While it might feel good to admonish people and tell them that they have to get tough and suck it up and pull themselves by their bootstraps, it typically does not do anything to help them; particularly if they are taking the initiative to ask for help in the first place. OP more likely than not realizes that they are in a situation of privilege compared to someone working in the mines to sustain their family; if the…
I realize my response may not be helpful and is not in the normal spirit of HN. But OP said this "My ideal life would be one where I am free to explore things that interest me and share that knowledge with others."
Look, not everyone can be an Instagram model or a YouTube star. Sometimes a good smack in the face is what's needed to spark a little motivation. Sometimes not, but I think it's worth putting out there.
For some less harsh motivation I'll offer this:
https://www.ted.com/talks/mel_robbins_how_to_stop_screwing_y...
Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?
#44Work or hobby, you can only choose one for each type of activity.
You need to decide if you want to do programming as work, or hobby.
If you decide to do programming as work, go find another hobby that keeps you interested and treat programming solely as revenue source and don't devote too much into it.
Otherwise, you get to enjoy programming a hobby, and you need to find a source of income. This can be from the hobby, but it kills the fun of it.
Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?
#45Do you get enough sleep? I know sleep makes a world of difference to me when it comes to working on less than exciting things.
This is really true for me, great point. There have been days where I had less than 6 hours of sleep and it’s made me very easily bored and disenchanted with the work that I had previously enjoyed. When I’m very well rested, I could probably enjoy most things for a little while.
Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?
#46I felt the way you did a few years ago. There are a couple ways to navigate around this type of block. First, try to connect with the customers/end-users of your code. Receiving positive or negative feedback is a great way to become more engaged with your work. Knowing that you make someone's life better can imbue your work with more meaning. Second, if you are interested in a profitable side business approach your side projects with monetization in mind. Learning something outside programming but tangentially related has helped me stay interested in my day job. Researching the depth and breath of the space (competitors, CPC for popular keywords, payment processing) can be very stimulating. Two years ago I started https://www.delayforreddit.com and its been a great way for me to explore a side business and work towards fulltime self-employment.
Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?
#47Boredom is caused by a lack of attention. You can change your activity as much as you want but after some time it will become boring again. The only solution is to realize the scale of this Grand Happening which we call as life or existence. That every day comes fresh and new, not a single atom is the same as it was a moment ago. But if you don't have this much attention it feels "the same", "boring". And it's not ab…
I'd love it if you could share some more information or materials on this. It's something I've been trying to comprehend and understand in my own way.
Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?
#48Discover what is meaningful to you. It may take some years.
Once you have ideas about what is meaningful, try to make your work more connected to these things.
If not directly, then indirectly. For example, your work could support your free-time hobbies that you love. Or, of course, the classic of supporting your family and community through a job that you may not love but can tolerate.
Try to cultivate a sense of pragmatism in your life. It is fun to hide in the clouds -- I've done it before as well -- but unfortunately you can't stay up there forever. People (and yourself) will very much enjoy what your pragmatism can accomplish, and it is nice to see that.
I once heard a quote that happiness isn't what people want. It is meaning that we want. This idea rings true to me.
Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?
#49Maybe you're focusing on the wrong problem. Without knowing what "naturally motivates you," one thing that does motivate most people is helping others and feeling important. Look up from your monitor at the business around you. Your job isn't simply to sling code all day: you're a problem solver. If you can write a little script that removes a small inefficiency in the sales teams' process you'll be their hero. If you start adding some code to ship usage metrics that help your team adopt a feature that improves your users' workflow -- you'll be a champion. Follow this path and you'll come across interesting problems to solve.
Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd love it if you could share some more information or materials on this. It's something I've been trying to comprehend and understand in my own way.
Here you go: https://www.ishafoundation.org/news/columns/Bliss/2009/Bliss...
You're living in your own petty creation, man!
Just kidding. Aside from some of the funny wording this is a nice, simple philosophy and I'm going to think about it today.