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Scattered thoughts on why I waste my own time

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Re: Scattered thoughts on why I waste my own time

#31

Post by rnoorda »

I love blog posts like this- personal thoughts, not overly edited, and not professing a solution. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, scattered as they may be.

I've been thinking about the "motivation bursts" section in the post- I have certain things (quotes/songs/videos/books/etc) that are motivating, and giving myself easier access to those when needed may be able to help address those times I can't seem to stop wasting time.

Of course, as many other commenters have mentioned, many activities we consider "wasting time" are enjoyable, normal things to do. The goal doesn't need to be eliminating idle time.

Re: Scattered thoughts on why I waste my own time

#32

Post by colechristensen »

Barrin92 wrote: post #7

If you have such a hard time not reading reddit or hackernews maybe the correct conclusion is not that you're 'wasting' time but that there's something enjoyable about so called low quality or idle activities and that they're normal part of a healthy life. I think it's deeply ironic that people will judge videogames on that basis but then to proceed to gamify and min-max their entire life because of this rat race men…

Something can be both useful and a sort of “something to satisfy my need for simulation” at the same time. Most things can be and are overdone. Many people recognize this in themselves but have a hard time tearing away from it or only doing it in moderation.

You can enjoy something while admitting to yourself that you’re not happy about spending 9 hours today glued to X for no particular reason.

Re: Scattered thoughts on why I waste my own time

#33

Post by Swizec »

modeless wrote: post #27
Barrin92 wrote: post #7

If you have such a hard time not reading reddit or hackernews maybe the correct conclusion is not that you're 'wasting' time but that there's something enjoyable about so called low quality or idle activities and that they're normal part of a healthy life. I think it's deeply ironic that people will judge videogames on that basis but then to proceed to gamify and min-max their entire life because of this rat race men…

Many of the highest impact decisions in my life, I made because of things I learned reading HN and reddit. And I've even been able to promote my own projects and other projects I like with some success. It's hard to tell whether I'm wasting this time or whether I'm learning about the next Tesla or Bitcoin or deep learning before it's big. Or learning the skills to communicate effectively and promote my work to a big…

Or as Hamming says in his famous essay: He who works with a closed door is more productive today and tomorrow, but over time works on just slightly the wrong things to make an impact. But those with an open door are full of flitting and scattering and keep getting distracted, yet over time stay aligned with the field and are much more likely to do important work

Re: Scattered thoughts on why I waste my own time

#34

Post by suriyaG »

Swizec wrote: post #33
modeless wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of the highest impact decisions in my life, I made because of things I learned reading HN and reddit. And I've even been able to promote my own projects and other projects I like with some success. It's hard to tell whether I'm wasting this time or whether I'm learning about the next Tesla or Bitcoin or deep learning before it's big. Or learning the skills to communicate effectively and promote my work to a big…

Or as Hamming says in his famous essay: He who works with a closed door is more productive today and tomorrow, but over time works on just slightly the wrong things to make an impact. But those with an open door are full of flitting and scattering and keep getting distracted, yet over time stay aligned with the field and are much more likely to do important work

Is there a link to this essay? I'm curious now. Edit: found it https://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html

Re: Scattered thoughts on why I waste my own time

#35

Post by xgdgsc »

Recently I bought a Hisense a5pro eink phone as my secondary phone and commenting from it. I'm experimenting with reading those addictive sites only through this eink screen(block them on colorful screens). So far the desire to continue browsing or comment has dropped by a great deal. I think it might work if those sites are less visually stimulus than your workstation.

Re: Scattered thoughts on why I waste my own time

#36

Post by noduerme »

Waterluvian wrote: post #6
scorxn wrote: post #5

Allowing oneself to be bored, or at least idle, without self-judgement, can be extremely valuable. You're likely processing things in the background (often without realizing it), which will make your active decisions and activities easier.

I do most of my best software design when bored. I used to drive with a podcast on every time. Sometimes I put nothing on and do design. A lot of my shower time is “free range boredom” where I just think about anything. I really enjoy both of these things.

I should bill for my shower time. It's usually the most productive part of the day. After that I know exactly what code I need to write and how I'm going to tackle it.

On the other hand, I miss taking showers without muttering to myself.

Re: Scattered thoughts on why I waste my own time

#37

Post by coagmano »

O_H_E wrote: post #2

Man Wow! I did not get a chance to read the whole thing carefully (read the first bit properly and skimmed the rest) but man that is exactly the " "blog" post I've wanted to write since so long. It pains me to not be able to send advice with a straight face. Three of the rare things that have been kinda helpful and consistent (ie. not in a motivational bursts way) has been: seeing a social worker and getting diagnose…

Yeah I was diagnosed with ADHD this year and this read like a very clear summary of my symptoms, how I feel about those symptoms and various strategies I've tried.

The point about the "new todo-app effect" is very real, and so I have now accepted that no productivity system will work long term and instead try to enjoy switching to new systems every few months

Re: Scattered thoughts on why I waste my own time

#39

Post by coagmano »

sqidyyy wrote: post #15

For a year I've been constantly thinking about this state and how there must be way way more people with the same experience. I recently managed to ask a few people about their current situation. And indeed, they too share this experience. Thank you for the short "Absence of more meaningful activities" paragraph. I was about to head down a rabbithole and procrastinate higher priority tasks but the text reminded me of…

A 2hr 16min video is not particularly ADHD friendly

Well I'll give it a shot across my runs next week. Thanks for the recommendation

Re: Scattered thoughts on why I waste my own time

#40

Post by emacs28 »

zz865 wrote: post #30
totetsu wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This kind of thing works to begin with at least.. when that browser plugin in chrome stops me opening HN after 1hour it interrupts the impulse to browse, but then I can alway just open Firefox.. Limits outside ones control are best.. it's amazing how uninteresting youtube is when your data is rate limited.

Yeah I was going to say I used to have a pihole, worked great for a few weeks until you start disabling it all the time. I wish there were 3G only SIM plans. My prepaid goes slow but only after I hit my limit.

I've seen 3G-only plans before (in Canada), and they're cheaper: https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/plans
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