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Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

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Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#201

Post by jasonv »

arosier wrote: post #137
ryeguy_24 wrote: post #34

I’m just like you. I stumbled upon a book called Refuse to Choose and it’s about a personality type (that is definitely not ADHD) that happens to want to do a lot of things (sometimes in parallel or in sequence). It was very comforting to know others struggle with this and this book helps you to be ok with it. I wouldn’t say it “cured” me but I think about it differently now and use it more to my advantage. Worth a r…

"maybe you already got what you came for." As someone who frequently starts projects and doesn't finish them, I've wondered if the part I enjoy about the project is the dreaming about what could be. That little rush you get when a new idea is upon you and it's all you can think about for x days. Doing the initial research and formulating a plan. This is a dopamine rush for me. The feeling of being laser focused for t…

I was reading a book called "You're Not Crazy - You're Codependent" (not relevant, except the source of what comes next in my comment) wherein the author made a distinction between "dreaming" and "fantasizing", the latter being destructive (in some cases) or unsatisfying.

I feel the distinction is valuable for me, but I've also been helping my teenager work through his challenges wherein he hits the first speed bump and invariably gives up on something. Getting "through" the challenge has been a learning process for him.

He realizes he doesn't want to kick things up over and over again, only to hit the first roadblock and then lose interest.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#202

Post by _hardwaregeek »

Get the stupidest thing done and finished. I started my compiler with waay too much ambition. I planned out a Hindley Milner type system but with row polymorphism. I planned out the entire syntax, records and all. But I didn't actually have anything done. I spent so much time trying to think about how to implement x feature or y feature because I thought I should get it all done at once. It took me maybe a year to figure out that I should just get the stupidest thing working: arithmetic from parsing to code gen. I had resisted this because frankly there's a million tutorials online about making a calculator compiler. But who cares? It doesn't have to be original. It needs to be done.

Also only learn one new thing at a time. Don't make a side project where you're learning to write a compiler in a language that's new to you. That's two new topics and therefore infinitely harder.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#203

Post by mm89 »

marianov wrote: post #152
ryeguy_24 wrote: post #34

I’m just like you. I stumbled upon a book called Refuse to Choose and it’s about a personality type (that is definitely not ADHD) that happens to want to do a lot of things (sometimes in parallel or in sequence). It was very comforting to know others struggle with this and this book helps you to be ok with it. I wouldn’t say it “cured” me but I think about it differently now and use it more to my advantage. Worth a r…

My pshrink told me the same "maybe you just like to learn the new technique, not to finish". Like that I have welded a ton of steel into a carport, then left it unpainted. Given the fact that I always focus on the hard parts and the struggle to finishe the "details" and that throughout my career I've been inclined to do POCs, MVPs, and never finish things. That and the fact that every single day it takes me several t…

Hmm I do have ADHD but your first statement "learn the technique, not to finish" definitely could apply to me both in technical (software engineering and coding) areas of my life as well as artistic (music, recording, mixing, etc.).

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#204

Post by StavrosK »

arosier wrote: post #137
ryeguy_24 wrote: post #34

I’m just like you. I stumbled upon a book called Refuse to Choose and it’s about a personality type (that is definitely not ADHD) that happens to want to do a lot of things (sometimes in parallel or in sequence). It was very comforting to know others struggle with this and this book helps you to be ok with it. I wouldn’t say it “cured” me but I think about it differently now and use it more to my advantage. Worth a r…

"maybe you already got what you came for." As someone who frequently starts projects and doesn't finish them, I've wondered if the part I enjoy about the project is the dreaming about what could be. That little rush you get when a new idea is upon you and it's all you can think about for x days. Doing the initial research and formulating a plan. This is a dopamine rush for me. The feeling of being laser focused for t…

I frequently think about how lucky I am that my dopamine rush is linked to seeing projects finished. People ask me how I get so much done, but there really isn't much of an answer other than "I like doing them and I enjoy seeing them finished".

Here's a beeping ball toy I made for my blind cat yesterday:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-ml-2KgjsW/

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#205

Post by aryzach »

ryeguy_24 wrote: post #34

I’m just like you. I stumbled upon a book called Refuse to Choose and it’s about a personality type (that is definitely not ADHD) that happens to want to do a lot of things (sometimes in parallel or in sequence). It was very comforting to know others struggle with this and this book helps you to be ok with it. I wouldn’t say it “cured” me but I think about it differently now and use it more to my advantage. Worth a r…

I used to be a lot like this too. Eventually I got tired of it because I felt like I never had anything to show (mostly show to myself and feel proud of).

For hobbies/projects where the goal is just to unwind and enjoy myself, sure, I still do this. But that's often still not satisfying to me. I started making the intention to just complete the damn thing, even when it wasn't fun anymore. Motivation is hardly worth anything tbh. I used to only work with motivation, and while it felt good at the time, nothing ever got completed and I probably felt how you do a lot of the time.

Second, learning is hard. If you think you're comfortable with a new language, framework, whatever.. but you lose steam when working on whatever your building with it, you might not know it as good as you think you do. It's a lot easier to keep steam when there aren't roadblocks, but when you continually come across roadblocks, it just doesn't feel like your moving towards your goal with much speed. But this is generally where the learning takes place.

And I've also seen, finishing one project to completion makes it a lot easier to finish the next project to completion. It's a skill you have to learn (to do a personal project even when it's not fun, and there's nobody telling you you have to do it)

tl;dr: for enjoyment and relaxation, don't finish projects if you don't want. For learning / creating, make it the goal to finish and know that it'll probably be not fun sometimes

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#206

Post by alexashka »

This happens when you know little and yet you aren't aware of how little you know.

As a kid I self-learned photoshop and always struggled with coming up with projects to do with my knowledge.

Little did I know photoshop is a tool, not an end.

Web development is a tool. If all you know is how to hit with a hammer, it is pretty hard to make good use of it. You need to learn how to build a house, then your knowledge of a hammer will become a useful tool for accomplishing a well defined task.

Knowing how to build a house is much more difficult and isn't a 'side project' for most people. Hence the solution to your problem is realizing how little you know, how much it would actually take to create anything remotely useful, and moving on to learning something easier that'd have an actual impact in your daily life, such as exercise, a new hobby that'd foster new meaningful relationships, etc.

One last thing - if your motivation for a side project is money, you're kidding yourself - just go enjoy your life :)

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#207

Post by jvalencia »

aryzach wrote: post #205
ryeguy_24 wrote: post #34

I’m just like you. I stumbled upon a book called Refuse to Choose and it’s about a personality type (that is definitely not ADHD) that happens to want to do a lot of things (sometimes in parallel or in sequence). It was very comforting to know others struggle with this and this book helps you to be ok with it. I wouldn’t say it “cured” me but I think about it differently now and use it more to my advantage. Worth a r…

I used to be a lot like this too. Eventually I got tired of it because I felt like I never had anything to show (mostly show to myself and feel proud of). For hobbies/projects where the goal is just to unwind and enjoy myself, sure, I still do this. But that's often still not satisfying to me. I started making the intention to just complete the damn thing, even when it wasn't fun anymore. Motivation is hardly worth a…

I might also add that you may want to scope your projects small. If you try to boil the ocean, you'd never get done.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#210

Post by ABraidotti »

Ha, okay, just for some light-hearted context: it took me several decades of trying so many projects to finally find one and stick with it: web development. Now I'm a gainfully employed web developer and DevOps engineer, and a great load has been lifted off me. I am 15 years behind some of my peers but I no longer stress about finding that one project I'm gonna stick with.

So yeah, I've found my way out and here's my advice: it's a numbers game. Keep trying things. Even if you try to make a roguelike for 5 minutes and move on, that's a valuable lesson. Now try 100 more things and you might stick with 3 or 4.

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