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Ask HN: How can I find something worthwhile to do?

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Re: Ask HN: How can I find something worthwhile to do?

#41

Post by al_borland »

This is why I work at a company. I have ideas all the time, but they are in the context of work. It’s there that I can work on stuff, and I like to think some of it is worthwhile.

I don’t think everyone needs to have a bunch of side projects related to their day job. I’m sure most plumbers don’t spend their nights and weekend creating and solving ever more complicated plumbing projects in their home. I think it’s nice if a person can have a hobby that scratches an itch that is completely different from their day job.

Re: Ask HN: How can I find something worthwhile to do?

#42

Post by yungporko »

circlefavshape wrote: post #34

Why do you think you need an "idea"? Seems to me like you're trying to live out a script you have pre-written, and you're judging yourself as "mediocre" because your life isn't corresponding to the script Life is not scripted, it's improv. Follow your nose. Do more of what you like, and less of what you hate

i think you might be projecting some stuff onto my post that wasn't there? i'm quite content with my life in general, i just enjoy programming and would like to do more of it and hone my skills but i struggle to think of ways to do that. i can't just open an editor and start writing "code", there has to be an end goal in mind.

Re: Ask HN: How can I find something worthwhile to do?

#43

Post by ziggyzecat »

Your are constantly being wired to be mediocre. It's your job and your environment. The same is true for 85+% of the population.

Look at the stuff in the list below, progress recursively. Think children, education, competitions and or real world problems, progress recursively until you hit something.

Everybody gets 'there' on their own time. There's guys tinkering with robots and rockets while others barely find the motivation to build the irrigation system in their garden. 8 years from now, people in various regions will have problems that started decades ago but could have been mitigated now.

The markets won't serve any of the solutions without binding people to subscriptions and when they can't pay, the service ends.

People are not able to learn anything all the time. That's where you come in, you can.

If you can't come up with anything, build everything with FOSS. Think local, don't ask, just build. Improve your town, your school, your hood. With indie tools, skills and hardware.

https://simplicable.com/world/real-world-problems

https://www.competitionsciences.org/

https://www.nextgenlearning.org/

https://www.millennium-project.org/projects/challenges/

https://resilienteducator.com/classroom-resources/real-world...

http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en

Re: Ask HN: How can I find something worthwhile to do?

#44

Post by seletskiy »

Hey. I know _exactly_ what you are talking about.

I've been thinking about that for a quite awhile now, and I guess I have some perspective, but don't have exact answers and I don't think I can fit it into a HN message nor have enough motivation to do so.

_However_, I'll be more than glad to chat personally, maybe we can figure something out together. So, if you¹ want, drop me an e-mail. Address in profile.

--

¹) You, the topic starter or anyone reading this message who finds it relevant.

Re: Ask HN: How can I find something worthwhile to do?

#46

Post by beardyw »

> I could lock myself in an empty room for days and come up with nothing.

Most good ideas come from observation. At work or outside look for things people do which could be better served. See how you could improve it.

Coming up with things people never needed or thought of is much harder.

Re: Ask HN: How can I find something worthwhile to do?

#47

Post by meiraleal »

h2core wrote: post #38
ecjhdnc2025 wrote: post #30

> Am I just hard-wired to be mediocre? Have you considered the possibility that you're actually clinically depressed? Working on the assumption you are male, I think a lot of guys don't realise that low-grade depression looks like this for a lot of us. Especially getting towards mid-life. One thing I would suggest is to embrace boredom. Cover up your television, delete your streaming video apps, cut back on social me…

can we stop diagnosing unknown people based on a 2 paragraph post on HN? the obsession with finding a label for all sorts of mental states is crazy. I agree with the rest of your post though

we should also stop treating depression as the ultimate disease,

Re: Ask HN: How can I find something worthwhile to do?

#48

Post by kleiba »

Tade0 wrote: post #26
kleiba wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was going to write something similar, "start a family". However, the problem is that that's not just something you _just do_ - it's not like you wake up one morning and decide, "I'm going to start a family", and boom! out come the rug rats. Getting a hobby is orders of magnitute easier.

> it's not like you wake up one morning and decide, "I'm going to start a family", and boom! out come the rug rats. Takes less time than getting good at a hobby really.

But not than _picking up_ a hobby.

Re: Ask HN: How can I find something worthwhile to do?

#50

Post by dzonga »

you're almost there.

get a pen and notebook. and have that on you everywhere.

have periods where you sit and do nothing. nothing as in - you're not on your phone, watching tv or reading. then let your mind wonder.

read a lot - i.e skip the typical tech news but read regular stuff like books, newspapers etc .

let me know if you do that and don't come up with 'ideas'

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