Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 174 posts

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

#141

Post by bemmu »

Maybe playing around with a lot of new frameworks, APIs is actually what you want to be doing? Maybe you don't actually want to make something popular that you'd then need to maintain, as that's more boring. But let's assume you do.

I also have a list of ideas, with hundreds of entries on it. As I've gotten older, the amount of time I can put into one without becoming demotivated seems to have increased. Used to be a weekend, but now I can now put ~2 months into one without knowing if anyone is interested in it.

To keep going past that limit, it helps if the idea has a shape such that a very simple version can be quickly released, but then extended. Once you have any minor traction at all, the external validation makes it way easier to remain motivated.

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

#142

Post by ozim »

b800h wrote: post #138
ozim wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I might be less favorable for OP but for me it looks like projects stop being interesting when any real challenge comes up. Making up name and setting basics for project sound like OP does only easy stuff but has no interest to go into details. Just like my nephew when playing games, he could “get bored” by 5 games in 1 hour. What I noticed was — he was switching because he was bad at these games but would not admit…

Well that's quite a different situation. I agree. It depends what is stopping the projects.

Yes you can stop project because after setting up name and code you realize it is not really that cool in terms of other people or even you won’t really use it if you build it.

One other way, is you realize how much more work it is and how much other mundane things go with it so you just come up with another project you believe somehow will be easier.

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

#143

Post by skjoldr »

b800h wrote: post #107
rtp wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"ADD" is so prevalent that it's basically part of normal human variation, and has enormous advantages. The name ought to be changed. I find the knee-jerk suggestion of medication offensive tbh. It's like medicating introversion. The trick is to learn how to use these personality traits to succeed, not to use a chemical cosh to beat yourself into being just like everybody else.

I don't want to stigmatize ADHD in any way, but the executive dysfunction of this disorder is debilitating and it is definitely not a "normal variation". Neurodiverse people are forced to lean into and develop their other talents to be able to cope with adult life, which gives an impression that neurodiversity has certain advantages, but the negative symptoms of ADHD and ASD outweigh the benefits. I'd rather have a prefrontal cortex that actually works.

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

#144

Post by skjoldr »

Danjoe4 wrote: post #117
rtp wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

After reading 4 paragraphs of text, your first suggestion to OP is to acquire dangerous drugs? This mentality defies common sense, medication should be a last resort.

Medication in psychiatry is not the last resort but the first line of treatment, because it drags people out of bad mental states and allows them the mental space to adjust their life to better cope with their condition.

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

#145

Post by lannisterstark »

danielfoster wrote: post #93
keyle wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

As someone with ADHD, the author’s issues sound very much like ADHD. I have yet to hear of someone who has a “lack of discipline” to this degree who does not have ADHD. I used quotes because the concept of discipline is also very relative. I have yet to hear of anyone being told by a medical professional that they don’t have ADHD but instead simply lack self-discipline. Yet probably many people become depressed or fe…

>I have yet to hear of anyone being told by a medical professional that they don’t have ADHD but instead simply lack self-discipline.

So you're saying that everyone who feels like this who goes to a medical professional, 100% of the people, will get told they have ADHD?

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

#146

Post by Lutger »

ozim wrote: post #110
b800h wrote: post #108

OP, bear in mind that you're still learning a great deal from all this. It's not a valueless activity. You're losing interest once the challenge and novelty have gone. It may not be in your interest to punish yourself into finishing something like this. Turn it into a superpower - you'll make one hell of a consultant.

I might be less favorable for OP but for me it looks like projects stop being interesting when any real challenge comes up. Making up name and setting basics for project sound like OP does only easy stuff but has no interest to go into details. Just like my nephew when playing games, he could “get bored” by 5 games in 1 hour. What I noticed was — he was switching because he was bad at these games but would not admit…

It is likely a bit of both. I had the same trait as OP. I would actually enjoy an intellectual challenge, but to see something through you also need grit and you must 'grind' your way through boring parts and dead ends.

Also, when starting out everything looks neat and shiny, and along the way there are ugly problems that don't neatly fit into the conceptual framework you started out with. Things start to get messy, there are workarounds, less than ideal code from finding the right approach, etc. The stuff that I refactor and just 'deal with' in my paid job, but doesn't really 'spark joy' in my private life. Throwing it all away and doing something else gives that green field feeling that anything is possible yet again.

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

#147

Post by Lutger »

Can you finish and release stuff in your working life?

There are lots of great tips and perspectives in this conversation. I think you should ask yourself the question why you actually want to finish these projects. Do you think you should? If so, but do you actually want to, and how hard do you want it?

If you don't find a clear answer to these questions, consider to decide to not finish from the start: take all these little projects just as experiments, explorations, little code essays. Do a lot of them but don't become invested as much.

If you do decide you want try finishing something, I think you need some external accountability. If you don't want that, you can also try to make a rule for yourself that you aren't allowed to work on anything else while your current project isn't finished.

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

#148

Post by Lutger »

dhruvkar wrote: post #132

Because it gets boring. You're looking for a feeling of excitement, to really feel alive. After the initial rush, that feeling fades. So do your chances of finishing the project. Recognize that rush/excitement/feeling alive WILL NOT come from your project. Disassociate that feeling from the project. Then you'll pick projects far more stingily. And then you'll finish one of those projects.

This is sound advice. I was once recommended something similar: budget time to do , and then do NOT invest more time than this. Stop once you reach the timebox, even if you feel like you want to continue working on it. Because you have to learn to decouple this task from your motivation. You are not doing it because you feel like it, but because you decided to do it.

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

#149

Post by zaphodias »

imtringued wrote: post #140

Here is the problem. The human memory is limited. When you are first excited about something you get lots and lots of fleeting ideas. By the time you are working on the ideas, you have most likely forgotten most of them and then you are stuck. You no longer know what the next incremental step is, even though you feel it should be obvious. My most successful project was organized via GitHub issues with a title and no…

Solid advice. I also have seen companies not able to follow the simple rules you described, or getting lost in heavyweight frameworks (given that I understand being a single individual vs an entire companies have different problems, my complaint is about underestimating the overhead they create).

Shipping should be a priority, not an afterthought.

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

#150

Post by Ambix »

Looks like ADHD person with high IQ and curiosity (like me). You could cure the problem with medicine or just become better managing it with age. From my experience, eventually you'd become more selective with your ideas and more involved into really finishing them when having long term plan and returning to implementation from time to time. But it might took some years for ambitious projects :)
Post reply on HN