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Do whatever you can't stop thinking about

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Re: Do whatever you can't stop thinking about

#71

Post by draw_down »

LoveMortuus wrote: post #57
Dansvidania wrote: post #47

What a simplistic way to put things in. You need to do a lot of things you do not love before you have the skills, the vision and the attitude to actually do what you love, and accomplish the goals you want to accomplish... As a millennial, I think this kind of attitude is the problem with our generation. I mean both simplifying things into instagram-quote-sized senteces like "always do what you love" and also convin…

The following quote helped me a lot: "The professional knows that the mundane physical act of sitting down and starting to work, sets in motion a mysterious process that produces inspiration. The amateur waits for inspiration, the professional knows that it will come after he starts. The professional therefore acts in the face of fear, when the amateur fears a big creative endeavor he waits for the fear to disappear,…

Well, there is nothing wrong with being an amateur. Recall that the root word means “love”. And I don’t think it’s necessary to hold a professional in higher regard than an amateur, either. Though you’d almost certainly pay the professional more money.

Re: Do whatever you can't stop thinking about

#72

Post by glouwbug »

LoveMortuus wrote: post #57
Dansvidania wrote: post #47

What a simplistic way to put things in. You need to do a lot of things you do not love before you have the skills, the vision and the attitude to actually do what you love, and accomplish the goals you want to accomplish... As a millennial, I think this kind of attitude is the problem with our generation. I mean both simplifying things into instagram-quote-sized senteces like "always do what you love" and also convin…

The following quote helped me a lot: "The professional knows that the mundane physical act of sitting down and starting to work, sets in motion a mysterious process that produces inspiration. The amateur waits for inspiration, the professional knows that it will come after he starts. The professional therefore acts in the face of fear, when the amateur fears a big creative endeavor he waits for the fear to disappear,…

Oh boy, I enjoyed that. Everytime I sit down to face a nasty problem I get a little sick, but as I start working a flow slowly starts to build, and before I know it the Starbucks I'm at is empty.

I wouldn't consider myself a professional, but I know how to beat my own inner dialogues it seems

Re: Do whatever you can't stop thinking about

#73

Post by [deleted] »

deepGem wrote: post #35

Being totally honest here. I don't find any work that I totally can't stop thinking about. There is always something that I need to get done that I don't relish, that I don't enjoy. Here's how it goes - there's an idea that you think is really nice, you start talking to people then you are hit with reality - no one gives a shit about your idea. Some do, but most of them are like meh. There comes the first punch and y…

[deleted]

Re: Do whatever you can't stop thinking about

#74

Post by seanmcdirmid »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #24
mikestew wrote: post #13

The author is quoting someone else: “Because every minute spent doing something other than what you love most today is a minute you’re more likely to regret when you’re 80.” Depending on how literally one takes that, you’re going to be one sorry motherfucker when you’re old. I like taking a shit, but I don’t love it. But I gotta do it, my Yelp review on “taking a shit” notwithstanding. Personally, I quit being so spo…

> But I’ve also learned to love the mundane. There’s more to washing dishes than you think. When I was looking for an entry-level New York studio apartment four years ago, one thing I absolutely insisted on having was a dishwasher. Screw the overall size of the kitchen or the square footage of the apartment, or even whether I had a stove or an oven—I needed a dishwasher god damn it! My parents and a lot of my friends…

We started using a dishwasher when our kid came. It turns out a dishwasher does a much better job of cleaning and drying dishes (hence better disinfection) than doing them by hand, especially milk bottles.

Re: Do whatever you can't stop thinking about

#75

Post by spdionis »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #24
mikestew wrote: post #13

The author is quoting someone else: “Because every minute spent doing something other than what you love most today is a minute you’re more likely to regret when you’re 80.” Depending on how literally one takes that, you’re going to be one sorry motherfucker when you’re old. I like taking a shit, but I don’t love it. But I gotta do it, my Yelp review on “taking a shit” notwithstanding. Personally, I quit being so spo…

> But I’ve also learned to love the mundane. There’s more to washing dishes than you think. When I was looking for an entry-level New York studio apartment four years ago, one thing I absolutely insisted on having was a dishwasher. Screw the overall size of the kitchen or the square footage of the apartment, or even whether I had a stove or an oven—I needed a dishwasher god damn it! My parents and a lot of my friends…

Sometimes we just get stubborn like little children and no amount of logic can get us out of that. Happens to me too sometimes.

Sometimes getting that little meaningless thing you want in your life is very important. If you can't even get a simple dishwasher when you _want_ it, then what's the point?

Just getting the thing is probably more advantegous from a psychological standpoint.

Re: Do whatever you can't stop thinking about

#76

Post by danShumway »

jfkebwjsbx wrote: post #61
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I’ve also learned to love the mundane. There’s more to washing dishes than you think. When I was looking for an entry-level New York studio apartment four years ago, one thing I absolutely insisted on having was a dishwasher. Screw the overall size of the kitchen or the square footage of the apartment, or even whether I had a stove or an oven—I needed a dishwasher god damn it! My parents and a lot of my friends…

Washing dishes takes no time. If you were single, it definitely takes less time than putting and maintaining the diskwasher.

Really?

Because I'm single, and I've done both, and the dishwasher is very clearly easier and faster to me. Maybe you have a secret dishwashing technique that I don't know?

A decent dishwasher doesn't require much maintenance at all. And the very, very little that it does is generally a more interesting use of time than washing dishes is anyway. But I started using dishwashers maybe 5-6 years ago, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've needed to mess around with fixing one.

Re: Do whatever you can't stop thinking about

#77

Post by Swizec »

Dansvidania wrote: post #47

What a simplistic way to put things in. You need to do a lot of things you do not love before you have the skills, the vision and the attitude to actually do what you love, and accomplish the goals you want to accomplish... As a millennial, I think this kind of attitude is the problem with our generation. I mean both simplifying things into instagram-quote-sized senteces like "always do what you love" and also convin…

Focus on things/projects you can’t stop thinking about, not tasks. Tasks are just the steps you take.

Of course you won’t love every task, some might even be downright terrible, but if you can’t stop thinking of the overall goal, then keep going.

But if you find yourself not caring about the end goal, time to reconsider.

Re: Do whatever you can't stop thinking about

#78

Post by ellius »

LoveMortuus wrote: post #57
Dansvidania wrote: post #47

What a simplistic way to put things in. You need to do a lot of things you do not love before you have the skills, the vision and the attitude to actually do what you love, and accomplish the goals you want to accomplish... As a millennial, I think this kind of attitude is the problem with our generation. I mean both simplifying things into instagram-quote-sized senteces like "always do what you love" and also convin…

The following quote helped me a lot: "The professional knows that the mundane physical act of sitting down and starting to work, sets in motion a mysterious process that produces inspiration. The amateur waits for inspiration, the professional knows that it will come after he starts. The professional therefore acts in the face of fear, when the amateur fears a big creative endeavor he waits for the fear to disappear,…

"The War of Art," if anyone needs a source.

Re: Do whatever you can't stop thinking about

#79

Post by caseymarquis »

Dansvidania wrote: post #47

What a simplistic way to put things in. You need to do a lot of things you do not love before you have the skills, the vision and the attitude to actually do what you love, and accomplish the goals you want to accomplish... As a millennial, I think this kind of attitude is the problem with our generation. I mean both simplifying things into instagram-quote-sized senteces like "always do what you love" and also convin…

I'd like to water that generalization down a bit: Unrealistic expectations and following/giving bad career advice are multigenerational human problems that have likely plagued humanity for millenia. I'd wager this problem began in earnest the moment humans started farming.

Generational division is also nothing new.

Please try to respond to the bad advice, and not provide generational troll bait. I'm not saying this with any authority, I just want to keep the level of discourse on HN from devolving.

Please don't respond to this if you disagree, just give it a down vote so the discussion stays on topic.

Re: Do whatever you can't stop thinking about

#80

Post by tluyben2 »

pdimitar wrote: post #42

Gosh, the dismissiveness of the average HN comment in this thread! I am surprised. Whatever you might think of the author's age or number of data points or whatever other platform you choose to berate him on, he still has a very solid argument: there are things that simply exhaust you when you are doing them. That's a fact. Haven't you all ever experienced this? And no, I never grew to like doing the dishes or cleani…

> I am surprised.

I think this all turns to reddit (the comments are very much Reddit like) because this is the 20billionth article about 'following you passion' basically. And this title really seems to annoy people who have seen it all before; most people cannot just drop everything and do whatever. No matter if you are thinking 24/7 about playing in a bluesband; most (by far and wide) people cannot and will never be able to do that unless they win the lottery. And then you have all the negative thoughts; the anxiety attacks and the cravings that you really should not give into... It is all not so surprising response wise, but I thought it would just drop out and be dead before this went so much Reddit. That usually does not happen.

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