Ask HN: Who else is working on nothing?

I often feel stagnant and like I should be "doing something". I've come to realize that the best way so far, for me, to add more fulfilling content in my life, is to meditate on what I actually want out of my life. What makes me excited? What gives me a reason to wake up in the morning? I started journaling this year, and it has forced me to record my thoughts and think about the answers to these question. Once I understand the goals that I have and what kind of life/environment I want for myself, I come up with action steps to lead my life in that direction. Whether it be taking a class, attending a type of social gathering every week, committing myself to sharpening a new skill, I follow it like a quest guide in a video game.

TBH modern music also bears a lot of negative vibes.

Great question & post!

I am definitely working on nothing (outside of my normal day job, of course).

I used to work a normal day job and then in the evenings and weekends work furiously on side projects. One of those side projects became a business that while still around today, is probably getting shut down this year due to failure to generate revenue that exceeds its relatively minimal costs. In other words, the business failed.

That business failing despite 3+ years of nights and weekends, and a significant chunk of my own money, is ONE reason why I struggle to find enthusiasm for new projects.

Another reason is something similar to yours which is that I am focusing on myself more these days. Mind, body, and spirit. I am taking more time to focus on things I enjoy rather than embracing a constant feeling that I need to do MORE. I work my day job and I try to be an excellent contributor there, but I've accepted that it doesn't seem like my path in life is going to be a tech entrepreneur. I just don't have what it takes to build something truly novel and unique enough to drive revenue, nor do I have the marketing and personal skills required to take something mediocre and generate sales.

That might sound like I'm giving up, and to a degree it is, but its more like I'm accepting reality. I don't think I was meant for that life and I'm learning to be ok with it. That means dropping all the side projects and constant hustle and just embracing life. Spending more time with family, working out more, and generally just chilling for a while (it's been a couple years).

At times this manifests as a mid life crisis where I worry that my time is running out and that I haven't accomplished my goals. I'm learning how to recognize these emotions and let them pass without disturbing me too much. It's definitely a skill and one that I am by no means an expert at.

On that note it's also worth pointing out that many of these feelings are common to people in their mid 30s. It's a time where I'm learning to re-evaluate what is important to me. I've accomplished a lot of my goals, and accepted some were foolhardy. Now I find that I should just learn to live well and appreciate what I have and who I am, rather than focusing on what I don't have, and who I am not.

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Sometime in my late 40s I got really tired of learning the "next great thing" only to realize that some young developers had reinvented the wheel. Again.

Since then, I have learned new things, but not because they were "relevant" or "important", bit just because they were fun.

Python is a crappy language, and always has been. It's just a happy accident that the ML folks glommed in to it. Most frameworks suck, seriously, they are awful, victims of their own success.

Learn a clean, new language. Use it to solve AdventOfCode, just for fun. Get back to the fun in programming :-)