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I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

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Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#311

Post by grasshopperpurp »

praveen9920 wrote: post #285
bstar77 wrote: post #245

I was incredibly driven about 7 years ago... I was a founder of a startup and had really lofty aspirations. I told my wife that it was very possible that we would be millionaires by the time we hit 40. Fast forward to today and that did not happen. The startup is no more, but mainly due to burnout. We made money and did well, but not well enough. I never made my millions, but did have a substantial aqui-hire opportun…

> take advantage of bursts of motivation I understand this but most of the time I am excited about that new awesome idea that popped into my head. How do you focus on one thing without getting deviated?

For myself, I have two main creative outlets that take up most of my personal free time, and I alternate between the two depending on how I feel. I find them both rewarding and never regret the time spent on either - even when I don't produce anything of any value. I understand going in that there will be fruitless sessions (in terms of quantifiable output), so I count them as a price to get to the stuff of value, which is subjective anyway.

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#313

Post by balfirevic »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #275
balfirevic wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not uncommon for new grad SWEs to complain that an 8-hour work day is somehow consuming 100% of their weekday hours. I don't know man, I've been struggling with this myself. Obviously it's not literally true, but the problem is that after you account for 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of work and chores/eating/hygiene/cooking/commute, every thing you want to do starts seriously cutting into the time that's left. Ne…

I hear you, but I'll tell you what I tell my mentees: Most of it distills down to being honest about your priorities. If you value relaxed mornings, relaxed evenings, and never feeling rushed before or after work, then there's nothing wrong with that. You're not obligated to go out with friends or allocate hours to hobbies during the weekday. The problem comes when people say they value one thing, but when decision t…

> If you value relaxed mornings, relaxed evenings, and never feeling rushed before or after work, then there's nothing wrong with that. You're not obligated to go out with friends or allocate hours to hobbies during the weekday.

That is entirely reasonable and correct, but it's also really just saying "suck it up". Having a relaxed day vs. doing hobbies on weekdays is a hell of a dichotomy. It's a shitty choice. I think that lies at the root of your colleagues' complaints, even if they don't express it like that.

> Learning how to get out of bed, get dressed, eat breakfast, and get out the door in under 30 minutes was a game changer for me, and it wasn't even that difficult.

Yeah, I was pretty good at this. In addition to saving time, the main result was being filled with dread about the next day every time I went to sleep.

> If you don't want to real rushed or pressured during your off time, you don't have to, but you can't have it all.

I mean, I could if I just didn't have to work 8 goddamn hours 5 days/week :) It annoys me to no end that 6 hour workdays or 4 day work weeks are not more common.

That being said - I have tried and somewhat succeeded to resolve this by transitioning to freelancing. Many of the gigs will still require full time, but at least I get to have as much time as I want (or can afford) between them, and can also better control my schedule. But it's more stressful, comes with more uncertainty and if I'm for some reason unable to continue working I'm fucked.

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#314

Post by paganel »

abootstrapper wrote: post #116

Everyone here is reading this article as a cautionary tale on procrastination. To me it’s about the unrealistic expectations we place on ourselves. Maybe that’s due to our fake meritocratic society, or comparisons made on social media, or our parents expectations. I thought I’d be a millionaire by now, changing the world for the better, with a Wikipedia page and a yacht. But what I really want now is to put down the…

> with a Wikipedia page

Two of my personal projects that usually get 2-3 visitors per day have been linked from Wikipedia pages (both history-related), as a 39-year old guy that is good enough for me.

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#315

Post by secondcoming »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #69
secondcoming wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to stop being lazy too

At age 35, I was diagnosed with a genetic disorder. I spent years joking "They finally found a better name for my problem than lazy or crazy. " What gets labeled laziness all too often seems to be exhaustion, invisible disability or other hidden problems.

'all too often' is a bit subjective, and doesn't refute the fact that laziness exists.

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#316

Post by bdowling »

tudorconstantin wrote: post #305

Now, this will probably get me downvoted to oblivion, but the article sounds like the rants of a loser. We all have distractions. We all enjoy wasting time. Hell, I'm writing this after 5-6 beers and my tomorrow will most probably be wasted by hangover. But man, you definitely got to man up get your shit figured out. You're 42, you definitely didn't hit the lottery until now and the chances don't look good in the fut…

> the article sounds like the rants of a loser.

The article is published in the humor section of the New Yorker magazine. It’s clearly a humorous work of fiction written by a writer who was certainly paid for his work. It’s grandiose and delusional, because that’s what makes it funny on multiple levels. We relate to the story because we too suffer from procrastination and dismay at not meeting the fantastic goals we set for ourselves.

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#317

Post by juniper_strong »

I used to read the New Yorker, years ago, I don't know what changed, me or them. Much of what they publish now comes across as self-pity, I don't have time in my life for that.

Same as McSweeney's, I used to read it and I thought it was funny and now I read it and it comes across as self-pity.

Give me decorative gourd season any time, but pieces where people complain about the things they haven't done aren't worth my time.

Something new, please.

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#318

Post by sg47 »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #102

I've been mentoring CS college students and new grad SWEs for a while. It's shocking to see how many of them perpetually feel like they're overwhelmed and short on time, yet they can't account for where they've actually spent their time. It's not uncommon for new grad SWEs to complain that an 8-hour work day is somehow consuming 100% of their weekday hours, leaving them without any time to do anything else. On furthe…

I started mentoring new grads after covid hit, trying to help them find jobs. The more I talked to them, the more I felt that I should have talked to them before they started their undergrad or Masters. Most of them had wasted away 4-6 years of their life and were struggling to find jobs in an already competitive field. They took the wrong courses, did not work on communication or networking and in general, seemed to have made bad decisions. Especially the ones that came from India to do their Masters (I did so myself a long time back) but had no one to guide them on what courses to take and how to go about job search, internships, etc.

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#319

Post by grugagag »

jventura wrote: post #274
grugagag wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for reminding me to turn on screen time on my phone. I am indeed wasting a lot of time on my phone reading things that don't get me much value while procrastinating on real work or things that I consciously want to spend my time on. This problem is a lot more prevalent on my phone than on my laptop. I catch myself browsing HN without any intent and without any goal, mostly reading comments and skimming on arti…

I was on a similar situation until last month or so. I read this book called The Shallows by Nicholas Carr which references a lot of research that consuming lots of internet modifies your neural paths and makes you more distractable and harder to do deeper thinking (such as reading books, etc). I’ve since removed hn from my browser favorites and get a curated list of articles each friday from [1]. I just came here to…

I feel that's exactly what's happened to my brain pathways. Is this reversible? I'd love to get into the habit of deep thinking again. Thanks for the hakernewsletter link, I'll check that out and hopefully will make it a once a week habit.

Re: I thought I would have accomplished a lot more today and also before I was 35

#320

Post by why_only_15 »

oblio wrote: post #308
lol636363 wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For last few years, I have been telling myself to take it slow and do what you are doing now. I got a easy but a boring job. I figured this way I will save all my mental energy for my projects after work. But this is slowly burning me out. The boredom of not doing any real work for 8 hours is soul killing. I do a lot of busy red tape work but it is not intelluctly stimulating. So now I will do 180 and quit my job in…

Plan B would be to get a more challenging job for much better pay :-)

Where do such jobs exist?
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