Ask HN: I am overflowing with ideas but never finish anything • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: I am overflowing with ideas but never finish anything

#41

Post by endymi0n » Sun, May 14, 2023, 9:43 AM UTC

Here‘s my hack: Surround yourself with equally capable finishers. Once I figured out that there were lots of people out there who had great finishing, endurance and project management skills, but lacking the knowledge and the creativity in how to build them, I just started to put both of them together.

Granted, it often doesn‘t feel good being pushed into finishing your own things, but the joy of having delivered something tangible makes up for it. And as a bonus, even in something as big as building a company, I got to start hundreds of sub-projects and seeing most of them grow to fruitition!

Re: Ask HN: I am overflowing with ideas but never finish anything

#42

Post by Ballas » Sun, May 14, 2023, 9:43 AM UTC

keyle wrote: post #39

Ballas wrote: post #12

That is a trait of ADHD. Hyperfocus until you find the next thing to hyperfocus on and then completely forget about the previous one. The best way to deal with it* IMHO is to have a long term goal - and a reason why you want to achieve it. The reason should be chosen so that it motivates you to continue with the project. If you cannot think of a good one that will meet that requirement, then consider switching to a p…

That's a very rash assumption. I'd go easy on diagnosing people with ADHD based on 4 paragraphs when it can be explained with either unrealistic expectations or lack of discipline. I'm not saying it's not ADHD, I'm saying it's a risky thing to imply it.

I agree, but I don't think I diagnosed anybody, or at least that was not my intention. I simply stated that it's a trait and gave advice that I consider to be valid regardless.

Re: Ask HN: I am overflowing with ideas but never finish anything

#43

Post by hackerloom » Sun, May 14, 2023, 9:44 AM UTC

One suggestion I have is to consider what problems people are currently facing that you could help solve with your projects. By focusing on a specific need, you can better direct your energy and attention towards creating something that is truly valuable and impactful.

It's important to remember that building something just because it's trendy or new doesn't necessarily mean it will be successful or helpful to others. Instead, focus on creating a product that genuinely meets a need or solves a problem for your intended audience.

Re: Ask HN: I am overflowing with ideas but never finish anything

#44

Post by hnarayanan » Sun, May 14, 2023, 9:46 AM UTC

keyle wrote: post #39

Ballas wrote: post #12

That is a trait of ADHD. Hyperfocus until you find the next thing to hyperfocus on and then completely forget about the previous one. The best way to deal with it* IMHO is to have a long term goal - and a reason why you want to achieve it. The reason should be chosen so that it motivates you to continue with the project. If you cannot think of a good one that will meet that requirement, then consider switching to a p…

That's a very rash assumption. I'd go easy on diagnosing people with ADHD based on 4 paragraphs when it can be explained with either unrealistic expectations or lack of discipline. I'm not saying it's not ADHD, I'm saying it's a risky thing to imply it.

I do not think this is that risky, it sounds quite clear from the parent's description of their life.

Re: Ask HN: I am overflowing with ideas but never finish anything

#45

Post by theshrike79 » Sun, May 14, 2023, 9:47 AM UTC

This is like the ADHD meme of "My hobby is collecting hobbies".

You get excited from the dopamine of New Shiny and as soon as that fades, you pick up a new one.

Re: Ask HN: I am overflowing with ideas but never finish anything

#46

Post by hnarayanan » Sun, May 14, 2023, 9:47 AM UTC

endymi0n wrote: post #41

Here‘s my hack: Surround yourself with equally capable finishers. Once I figured out that there were lots of people out there who had great finishing, endurance and project management skills, but lacking the knowledge and the creativity in how to build them, I just started to put both of them together. Granted, it often doesn‘t feel good being pushed into finishing your own things, but the joy of having delivered som…

This is a great strategy, I think. I am very similar to the OP, and this is how I have accomplished anything.

Re: Ask HN: I am overflowing with ideas but never finish anything

#47

Post by [deleted] » Sun, May 14, 2023, 9:49 AM UTC

isaacremuant wrote: post #13

anothernewdude wrote: post #11

This is called undiagnosed ADHD.

Not every bad approach is some illness to pop pills about. Terrible comments

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: I am overflowing with ideas but never finish anything

#48

Post by Ballas » Sun, May 14, 2023, 9:51 AM UTC

rtp wrote: post #34

Ballas wrote: post #12

That is a trait of ADHD. Hyperfocus until you find the next thing to hyperfocus on and then completely forget about the previous one. The best way to deal with it* IMHO is to have a long term goal - and a reason why you want to achieve it. The reason should be chosen so that it motivates you to continue with the project. If you cannot think of a good one that will meet that requirement, then consider switching to a p…

If this behavior is due to ADHD, then the best way to deal with it is to get diagnosed and then medicated, as medication is a really effective treatment.

I agree. I added a note to my comment for clarity - I did not want to discuss medication as I'm in no way qualified, but nevertheless agree with this sentiment.

Re: Ask HN: I am overflowing with ideas but never finish anything

#49

Post by kaesve » Sun, May 14, 2023, 9:52 AM UTC

I'm like this. I have started literal hundreds of projects, most of them game ideas. Projects are never _really_ finished, but through the years I have become better at leaving them at a satisfying point, even making some of my projects public. For me, this was a journey. Here's a few lessons I learned for me:

- Figure out why you are doing this in the first place. Usually, my core desire behind a project idea is not at all "to make money" or "help people", but something more simple. It's to figure out how to do something, or to quench my own curiosity. - I realized I have a near-unending pool of ideas, but I can just do one at a time. Which one to pick? For a while, I chose them based on project size; how easily could I gratify that core desire? How quickly could I be happy with this project? Almost any project that I'd think would take more than a weekend would be sent back to the pile. Sometimes it took a while to distill the core desire behind a project idea, to really see why it was interesting to me. - Doing this also taught me a lot about how to make projects smaller. This was extremely freeing. I don't have to worry about losing work -- I'll lose maybe up to a day of typing, and the real value was working on the project anyway, not necessarily the produced artifact. I also realized I can do many projects with nothing but a browser and a text editor, and the more I used this small tool set, the deeper my understanding got and the more I could do in a weekend project.

Over time, I've 'finished' many of these projects, and I've also started to learn that finishing really is a skill in itself -- something that takes practice. More of my projects nowadays are at least somewhat ready for public consumption, and I'm still getting better at this. I still start projects that I don't finish. If an idea is cool enough, I'll still give it a try. Some project ideas were so cool/fun to work on that they would just be able to capture my attention for the weeks or sometimes even months they asked for to get them somewhere (most recently, that's https://kaesve.nl/projects/shells/). Some projects can't capture all that attention at once, but are still fun enough to revisit. They take years, but slowly move forward. And if I abandon a project, that's okay too; it usually means I found a new, shorter-term project, or that I realize that that core desire behind that project idea wasn't so satisfying after all.

Re: Ask HN: I am overflowing with ideas but never finish anything

#50

Post by ryanjshaw » Sun, May 14, 2023, 9:58 AM UTC

shubhamjain wrote: post #28

Having gone through the same problem, I think it's important to develop a mental framework on how to evaluate ideas. I no longer feel excited by the prospect of a new language, or a framework, because it would be an uphill battle to drive up the adoption. Once you start thinking critically, you'd have fewer competing ideas, and hopefully, a longer lasting motivation. Instead of acting upon the idea by coding it right…

Been there, done that; +1 from me that this is the right answer.

Two thoughts:

1. Writing things down is critical for me.

You can use paper, Obsidian, Notion, AirTable, whatever works for you. But I must get every little thought around the idea on paper otherwise it swirls around my head and distracts me. Sometimes this can take hours.

At the end of this process I have comfort that I can always pick up the idea in the future, when my situation has changed, without having lost anything. This eliminates much of the anxiety that drives the "I need to work on this now!" behaviour.

2. Sometimes you need to allow yourself time to explore certain ideas to answer these questions better.

For example, I've had an idea for a game for twenty years that my brain still bugs me about from time to time.

Recently I decided to spend a few days watching solo game devblogs - that made it clear to me I'm not in a position to work on this game idea, or any game ideas, and now I can get back to focusing on the ideas that are better suited to my present circumstances.