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The Hacker Lifecycle

benjaminasmith.com

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Re: The Hacker Lifecycle

#11

Post by tatituta »

michaelochurch wrote: post #10

I don't think you should conflate motivational recession (which is healthy and normal; almost everyone gets that once every few months) with "burnout". They're two different things. Motivation fluctuates and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with picking up a new video game. In fact, I think there's something healing about narrative that is especially relevant to creative people. We need to get into a novel or TV se…

Sounds like I'm going through a burn-out. I'm in my last academic year at uni, and for the past 6 months I worked almost continuously (with satisfying outcomes). However, what is left is preparing several exams and a couple of courseworks in less than a month, and right now I feel completely depleted. Can you, or somebody else, provide any advice?

Edit: As an invitation to discussion on the margin of the blog post, what happens when this lifecycle puts you in a position like mine? (i.e, the 4th phase occurs when critical responsibilities need to be fulfilled.) Wouldn't this be a problem with this lifecycle?

Re: The Hacker Lifecycle

#12

Post by tgflynn »

Unfortunately, the short time spent on each project due to a lack of interest means that the magnitude of the income is far lower than I had hoped for – and realistically, lower than could have been achieved with persistent effort.

Wouldn't an obvious way to break the cycle be instead of starting a completely new project on the next phase 1 to go back and spend time improving one of these previous income generating projects ?

Re: The Hacker Lifecycle

#13

Post by the_cat_kittles »

tatituta wrote: post #11
michaelochurch wrote: post #10

I don't think you should conflate motivational recession (which is healthy and normal; almost everyone gets that once every few months) with "burnout". They're two different things. Motivation fluctuates and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with picking up a new video game. In fact, I think there's something healing about narrative that is especially relevant to creative people. We need to get into a novel or TV se…

Sounds like I'm going through a burn-out. I'm in my last academic year at uni, and for the past 6 months I worked almost continuously (with satisfying outcomes). However, what is left is preparing several exams and a couple of courseworks in less than a month, and right now I feel completely depleted. Can you, or somebody else, provide any advice? Edit: As an invitation to discussion on the margin of the blog post, w…

look for the smallest possible successes

Re: The Hacker Lifecycle

#14

Post by tatituta »

the_cat_kittles wrote: post #13
tatituta wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like I'm going through a burn-out. I'm in my last academic year at uni, and for the past 6 months I worked almost continuously (with satisfying outcomes). However, what is left is preparing several exams and a couple of courseworks in less than a month, and right now I feel completely depleted. Can you, or somebody else, provide any advice? Edit: As an invitation to discussion on the margin of the blog post, w…

look for the smallest possible successes

Thanks, that's part of what I'm trying. I've already established which exams will be easiest to revise for; and have decided which exams to 'sacrifice' (in the end, I'm concerned with the overall grade). It's horrible crawling like this; I wish it didn't have to be this way. But right now I'm focusing on managing it in the best possible way.

Re: The Hacker Lifecycle

#17

Post by sstarr »

tatituta wrote: post #11
michaelochurch wrote: post #10

I don't think you should conflate motivational recession (which is healthy and normal; almost everyone gets that once every few months) with "burnout". They're two different things. Motivation fluctuates and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with picking up a new video game. In fact, I think there's something healing about narrative that is especially relevant to creative people. We need to get into a novel or TV se…

Sounds like I'm going through a burn-out. I'm in my last academic year at uni, and for the past 6 months I worked almost continuously (with satisfying outcomes). However, what is left is preparing several exams and a couple of courseworks in less than a month, and right now I feel completely depleted. Can you, or somebody else, provide any advice? Edit: As an invitation to discussion on the margin of the blog post, w…

When I've gone through periods like that I've found that something as simple as going for a walk every day really helps to lift my mood and increase my productivity.

Sometimes I feel like there's so much to do and so much pressure that I couldn't possibly spare half an hour away from it but I can guarantee that I'll get less done and feel less happy on the days that I don't go out for some fresh air and exercise.

Re: The Hacker Lifecycle

#18

Post by mwfunk »

I think a lot of people have experienced the situation where you spend like 10 hours staring at the same code trying to figure out why it's not working, then come back to it the next day and see the problem within minutes. It's like the brain gets stuck in repetitive cycles and you need to flush your cache to get a fresh perspective.

What the author's describing almost sounds like an equivalent to this with regard to inspiration- if you're in a creative state where you're constantly hacking away at something, it helps to step away from it all for a few weeks/months/whatever to let your creativity and inspiration rejuvenate.

Also, sometimes people get burned out without realizing it- this helps that too. For an unrelated example, sometimes I'll get really into some video game and obsess over it for several weeks. I'll get into the habit of playing it for a certain amount of time every day. At some point, I burn out on it and it's not as fun anymore, but it seems like it takes me a long time to realize that. I keep doing it because that's the thing that I do, but there's a lag where I'm not getting as much out of it and just keep doing it from inertia and habit. People's work habits can be very similar and I think there's a parallel with this article.

Re: The Hacker Lifecycle

#19

Post by tatituta »

sstarr wrote: post #17
tatituta wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like I'm going through a burn-out. I'm in my last academic year at uni, and for the past 6 months I worked almost continuously (with satisfying outcomes). However, what is left is preparing several exams and a couple of courseworks in less than a month, and right now I feel completely depleted. Can you, or somebody else, provide any advice? Edit: As an invitation to discussion on the margin of the blog post, w…

When I've gone through periods like that I've found that something as simple as going for a walk every day really helps to lift my mood and increase my productivity. Sometimes I feel like there's so much to do and so much pressure that I couldn't possibly spare half an hour away from it but I can guarantee that I'll get less done and feel less happy on the days that I don't go out for some fresh air and exercise.

Hi, thanks. Also, it seems fruits help a lot. Fruit juices are great, and along similar lines, soups too.
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