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Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

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Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#21

Post by unobliged »

Grad school is a popular choice, and many would favor candidates with 3-5 years of work/project experience. The application process also helps you reflect on what your goals are, why you did what you previously did, and so forth. Taking an exam like the GRE/GMAT/LSAT/etc can also be good mental exercise and give you something mindless to do in between introspection for essays/apps.

Alternatively, it can also be cathartic to do some volunteer work. It certainly would put a smile on someone's face and perhaps provide some different perspective on life.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#22

Post by troels »

In my early twenties I got tired of programming and started studying history at the university instead. I lasted about two years, at which time I had so much freelance programming work that I couldn't focus on the studies enough to pass tests. So I dropped out and got back into programming.

Not only did I regain my passion for programming, but I actually like to believe that the skills I learned there made me a better programmer to boot.

TLDR; You're young - Try something different for a while.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#23

Post by sun123 »

mrcharles wrote: post #14

Find a hobby. Something that is completely mindless, and won't use any of the centers of your brain that you use for programming. If you do love programming, you may just be burnt out; if you are like me, you spend long stretches coding for most waking hours. Eventually you'll run risk of burning out. Me, I build plastic robot models. It's no brain power at all, just precise physical motions. It's mindless and enjoya…

These toys are amazing.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#24

Post by w0utert »

aleprok wrote: post #3

Currently in the same position. I am only 22 and still studying in university about computers, but I have not touched to vim now for 3 months even though I used to write few hundred lines of code everyday as a hobby since i was 15 or something like that. Most likely my dilemma is that I seem not to be able to decide where to specialize and programming alone has become quite boring. I kinda want to do everything and c…

> Most likely my dilemma is that I seem not to be able to decide where to specialize and programming alone has become quite boring. I kinda want to do everything and can not decide which is the most fun of games, web, mobile, desktop or security.

This sounds familiar, I experience the same thing whenever I sit down to do anything (not just coding stuff) that's supposed to be 'for fun' only, and has no clear utility value. There's simply too many things I want to do, which paradoxically has a paralyzing effect on me. There's at least 20 things I still want to develop, at least 20 books I still want to read, 20 video games I'd like to finish, 20 things I want to improve around the house, I have a car disassembled to pieces I still want to put back together, I want to learn to play the guitar, I want to pick up sports again (tennis, so I'd have to join a club), I want to travel and spend weekends outdoors hiking and such, etc.

The net result is that every time I sit down to do something, in a strange way I feel guilty not doing any of the other stuff that's in the back of my head. This in turn distracts me from what I was planning to do. In the end, nothing gets done.

One thing that has helped me a little is to try and do one thing of each activity at a time. In other words: work on only one code project at a time, not multiple. Read one book at a time, not multiple. Play one video game completely through, or drop it completely if it gets boring. Pick one thing you want to improve around the house and finish it completely before starting something new.

This works for some things, but not all. Travelling more or picking up sports requires a different kind of discipline, but I'm not sure how to get myself to actually get moving. It's a character weakness I think.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#26

Post by mrcharles »

sun123 wrote: post #23
mrcharles wrote: post #14

Find a hobby. Something that is completely mindless, and won't use any of the centers of your brain that you use for programming. If you do love programming, you may just be burnt out; if you are like me, you spend long stretches coding for most waking hours. Eventually you'll run risk of burning out. Me, I build plastic robot models. It's no brain power at all, just precise physical motions. It's mindless and enjoya…

These toys are amazing.

They really are. You don't even need glue to put them together (though some parts will fall off easily if not). But in terms of reward for effort they can't really be beat.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#27

Post by smoyer »

mrcharles wrote: post #14

Find a hobby. Something that is completely mindless, and won't use any of the centers of your brain that you use for programming. If you do love programming, you may just be burnt out; if you are like me, you spend long stretches coding for most waking hours. Eventually you'll run risk of burning out. Me, I build plastic robot models. It's no brain power at all, just precise physical motions. It's mindless and enjoya…

I've spent almost 30 years in computer/electronics engineering (both hardware and software) and I think one thing you will suffer from is a lack of accomplishment. When it takes months or years to complete a project, you need to gain a sense of accomplishment from the little victories along the way.

As the parent notes, finding a hobby that's unrelated is useful, but not only as a diversion ... you can gain that sense of accomplishment in the preparation of a good meal or in completing a weekend woodworking project.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#28

Post by mrcharles »

smoyer wrote: post #27
mrcharles wrote: post #14

Find a hobby. Something that is completely mindless, and won't use any of the centers of your brain that you use for programming. If you do love programming, you may just be burnt out; if you are like me, you spend long stretches coding for most waking hours. Eventually you'll run risk of burning out. Me, I build plastic robot models. It's no brain power at all, just precise physical motions. It's mindless and enjoya…

I've spent almost 30 years in computer/electronics engineering (both hardware and software) and I think one thing you will suffer from is a lack of accomplishment. When it takes months or years to complete a project, you need to gain a sense of accomplishment from the little victories along the way. As the parent notes, finding a hobby that's unrelated is useful, but not only as a diversion ... you can gain that sens…

Yes, it's the sense of accomplishment, of finishing something that is the primary benefit of building these little models. You get to do it, it's relaxing, and you can say "I built that" at the end.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#29

Post by potatolicious »

mrcharles wrote: post #14

Find a hobby. Something that is completely mindless, and won't use any of the centers of your brain that you use for programming. If you do love programming, you may just be burnt out; if you are like me, you spend long stretches coding for most waking hours. Eventually you'll run risk of burning out. Me, I build plastic robot models. It's no brain power at all, just precise physical motions. It's mindless and enjoya…

Absolutely this. Programming simply cannot be the only major thing you do with your life, it's unbalanced, unhealthy, and unsustainable.

For me, I'm a fairly serious photographer on the side, and I spend a lot of time studying visual arts of all varieties - going to galleries, museums, talks and the such. It works a completely separate part of my brain that doesn't get a lot of exercise during the day.

The next question is: are you healthy? Are you getting enough exercise, sunlight - are you eating well? There are tremendous psychological impacts on what you do when you don't physically feel at your best.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#30

Post by SatvikBeri »

There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding exactly how passion works and what causes people to enjoy their work. Cal Newport wrote a very good book that dispels many of the myths surrounding the idea of passion and loving your work that might help you diagnose what's bringing you down and how to get past it: http://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You/dp/145550912...
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