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Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

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Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#171

Post by masukomi »

uh_uh wrote: post #170
borski wrote: post #150

Read up a bit on ADHD. That 'hyperfocus' that occurs either with deadlines or on a passion project is a symptom, as is the inability to get excited about projects you simply don't want to do - especially given your otherwise positive reviews and your ability to clear your mind and hyperfocus near a deadline, it's something to consider. I was diagnosed at 33, and it changed my life infinitely for the better. YMMV, and…

Isn't it just rational not to get excited about boring stuff that is rewarded by a fix monetary ceiling? Economically it completely makes sense: why put more energy into something that yields the same result either way? Or maybe I have ADHD too.

it's not about not getting excited. It's the result of being "not excited". Neurotypicals can work on things that are uninteresting to them. ADHD people can sit there yelling at themselves to "do the thing" that they _know_ they need to do and still be completely incapable of starting regardless of how "easy" it is to actually do it once something forces them to actually start.

this video does a good job of explaining the motivation problem when you have ADHD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM0Xv0eVGtY

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#172

Post by maerF0x0 »

topicseed wrote: post #46
bun_at_work wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that you shouldn't work yourself to the bone for someone else's profit, but ADHD can be insidiously crippling, at least for me. Seeing a doctor and getting medication (I don't take amphetamines) has been super helpful for everything from feeling better about my work and being more productive, to handling day-to-day life. The biggest improvement is just in conversation/meetings/engaging with people, where I do…

Might be TMI but your "bizarre hypotheticals" triggered me. What often occurs in conversations in my life is... We chat, we disagree on a random point and the second we start arguing it, my brain brute forces every single path possible. What if they say this? Then what if I say that, or this, or even that? And it keeps on branching out. Eventually I come back to the chat, after what seemed like an eternity but was in…

> my brain brute forces every single path possible. What if they say this? Then what if I say that, or this, or even that? And it keeps on branching out.

To me this just sounds like intelligence. Not a disorder.

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#173

Post by datameta »

bigbillheck wrote: post #108
humbleMouse wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Not working enough? Just take meth!”

ADHD is not meth in the same way grain alcohol is not wood alcohol.

For the reader, that's not only an apt analogy - it's a chemically accurate one. Structurally the difference between methamphetamine and amphetamine as well as between ethanol and methanol is a methyl group.

Pharmacologically it's a different story - methanol is not a safe substance with any dose.

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#174

Post by throwaway389983 »

borski wrote: post #150

Read up a bit on ADHD. That 'hyperfocus' that occurs either with deadlines or on a passion project is a symptom, as is the inability to get excited about projects you simply don't want to do - especially given your otherwise positive reviews and your ability to clear your mind and hyperfocus near a deadline, it's something to consider. I was diagnosed at 33, and it changed my life infinitely for the better. YMMV, and…

Same story. Founder, early 30s, a couple kids, just got diagnosed last year. Life-changing. Loved the Suster blog posts you linked. The book I liked was "A New Understanding of ADHD in Children and Adults".

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#175

Post by uh_uh »

masukomi wrote: post #171
uh_uh wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it just rational not to get excited about boring stuff that is rewarded by a fix monetary ceiling? Economically it completely makes sense: why put more energy into something that yields the same result either way? Or maybe I have ADHD too.

it's not about not getting excited. It's the result of being "not excited". Neurotypicals can work on things that are uninteresting to them. ADHD people can sit there yelling at themselves to "do the thing" that they _know_ they need to do and still be completely incapable of starting regardless of how "easy" it is to actually do it once something forces them to actually start. this video does a good job of explainin…

> ADHD people can sit there yelling at themselves to "do the thing" that they _know_ they need to do and still be completely incapable of starting regardless of how "easy" it is to actually do it once something forces them to actually start.

I also do this. Even worse: the easier and hence duller the task seems, the more difficult it is to get started on it. Once I do start on it and finish 5 minutes later, I need a 20 minute break (WFH doesn't help).

I also often zone out during meetings to the point I haven't got a clue what people are talking about. But to be honest the information content of most meetings is really low.

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#176

Post by andi999 »

masukomi wrote: post #171
uh_uh wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it just rational not to get excited about boring stuff that is rewarded by a fix monetary ceiling? Economically it completely makes sense: why put more energy into something that yields the same result either way? Or maybe I have ADHD too.

it's not about not getting excited. It's the result of being "not excited". Neurotypicals can work on things that are uninteresting to them. ADHD people can sit there yelling at themselves to "do the thing" that they _know_ they need to do and still be completely incapable of starting regardless of how "easy" it is to actually do it once something forces them to actually start. this video does a good job of explainin…

You mean people can fill out their tax forms before the due date?

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#177

Post by zrobotics »

duxup wrote: post #112
salixrosa wrote: post #16

This sounds like it might be good thing for the company. Having employees who have extra capacity is incredibly important for an organization that wants to get things done; if you're constantly hard at work on something important, when something else comes up (someone has a question, there's a bug or an outage, whatever), you either have to delay the thing you're already working on, or delay the thing that came up. T…

I used to work a tech support job overnight. Some nights I'd take two calls. This was expected for the reasons you noted. When there was an emergency someone needed to be idle in the first place so they could immediately respond fully focused.

Same story for me, they just needed someone available for emergencies. As long as I could respond when pinged, they didn't care what I did with my time. My boss came in one morning, saw I was playing Fallout 4 on my (personal) laptop, and just asked if it was any good. I finished a lot of books I wanted to read, and had lots of time for personal projects, but ultimately the boredom and overnight schedule were too much. I'd rather feel productive, personally, but for a certain type of person that job would have been paradise.

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#178

Post by cm2012 »

manmal wrote: post #66
cm2012 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did an HN poll, how many hours per day do you work including meetings and etc, and the answer was a normal distribution around 6 hours a day. https://imgur.com/qdSltlM The left axis is years of seniority.

Did you segment this for presentation purposes, or were there only 3 ranges to choose from? I‘m asking because the latter could also mean that most people work 4h. Deducing [4;8] = 6 would not really work.

Only three stages, the average there could be different than 6.

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#179

Post by d4mi3n »

borski wrote: post #150

Read up a bit on ADHD. That 'hyperfocus' that occurs either with deadlines or on a passion project is a symptom, as is the inability to get excited about projects you simply don't want to do - especially given your otherwise positive reviews and your ability to clear your mind and hyperfocus near a deadline, it's something to consider. I was diagnosed at 33, and it changed my life infinitely for the better. YMMV, and…

Reading the OP's account on it's own, I figured it may have been due to burnout or similar. Reading this (excellent) comment, I'm reconsidering my own experiences. I suspect this may be the WebMD effect in action (I clearly have cancer!), but it's definitely making me reconsider a lot of my own personal experiences.

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#180

Post by cm2012 »

phkahler wrote: post #62
cm2012 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did an HN poll, how many hours per day do you work including meetings and etc, and the answer was a normal distribution around 6 hours a day. https://imgur.com/qdSltlM The left axis is years of seniority.

For a lot of people "meetings" aren't productive work. They may be necessary for communication but they are not actual work for a lot of people. It's entirely different if you're a manager or someone else whose main job is largely communication.

Here's how I phrased the question: https://strawpoll.com/47x15cf1
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