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I never finish anyth

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Re: I never finish anyth

#71

Post by oalders »

huherto wrote: post #69
tsunamifury wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I compared people that take on big goals later in life with those who simply simulate them in their mind, then decide their projected end results are 'predictable and uninteresting', I saw something interesting. Those who take on big goals are seen as naive and almost childlike, because the 'experienced' believe they already know the end results. Those who don't take on big goals get to be in the audience and th…

Your comment is very interesting. But let me argue against it. May be when you are older, you can see the end result with more clarity, and decide that is not worth the effort and the sacrifices that you have to make. Is it better becoming a millionaire when you are 30 or when you are 50? If you do it at 30, you will enjoy the fruits for 45 years. If you do it at 50, you will enjoy them for 25. (Assuming expectancy_o…

You may, however, appreciate your millions more if they come to you at 50, even if you aren't wealthy for as many years. I think there's a quantity vs quality argument that could be made there.

I'm not saying that's necessarily the case, but perspective can be gained with age and experience and that can colour your view of the world and how much you appreciate what you really do have.

Re: I never finish anyth

#73

Post by hnriot »

Dewie wrote: post #37
Arjuna wrote: post #27

Just some encouragement here for you good people... You have to do the work. There is no one else that can do it for you. It is entirely up to you; actually, it has only ever been you, because it is you that rolls out of bed early to bring it. No one is going to do that for you. If you want to do it, then you will figure out a way to make it happen. Like some of you, I have a family. That makes things a bit challengi…

> Also, let go of "Internet Time." That is to say, we all read HN and see these impressive "Show HN" posts, and submitted stories about the Next Big Thing... and it seems like things are happening so fast, and we think, "Why even try?" Well, the reality is nothing is happening fast. It is an illusion. Most all of these stories have an incredible amount of time and work behind them, so let go of that illusion, get sta…

of course each one might have "an incredible amount of time and work behind them" but that's not the issues, it's that there are many of them, giving the accurate appearance that things are happening quickly - because indeed they are.

Re: I never finish anyth

#74

Post by Dewie »

iliis wrote: post #53
throwaway3301 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I think realizing you need to engage your will and discipline yourself into working hard when you don't want to is the easy part. The really really hard part is actually doing it. How do you find will where there is none? How do you motivate yourself when you feel unmotivated about everything? When you feel stuck in the rat race, stuck in the routine of monotony? How can I restore the drive and motivation…

Thanks! It is nice to know I'm not the only one going trough this. Let me know if you find the/an/your answer! Some things I've noticed: Being physically fit helps and doing sport is a bit easier than overthrowing the world. Maybe ask a friend to go with you. Sleep is also easily modified: Try out the effects of light, temperature, noise, sleep duration etc. Maybe use Melatonine or a sleep cycle alarm. It's also a lo…

> It's a bit like jumping out of the bed before the brain realizes what you're doing and has no time to scream "I don't want to wake up!" :)

Here's a good technique for training yoũrself to get up in the morning:

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/04/how-to-get-up-right...

It's the same technique that you suggested: train yourself to get up as more of a reflex of hearing the alarm, not as a series of mental motivations and self-persuasions.

Re: I never finish anyth

#75

Post by chipsy »

I only have starting problems. Right now my starting problem is the laundry. I abandon a lot of stuff, but only because I've built enough of it to see the flaws. I don't see that as a problem. It looks like a problem if you predicate the goal on external societal factors like "get attention/money," because a thing has to be finished (to some degree) to be part of society. But we already know that the external stuff is a poor motivator.

So stop beating yourself up about finishing. Play in society and worry about things when you feel it's necessary, but if it's your private, creative work, that is the time to be bold and selfish. Don't try to fit in for the sake of it, do things because you want them. You shouldn't care about "finished", because you should be engrossed in the act of creation.

Re: I never finish anyth

#76

Post by tsunamifury »

huherto wrote: post #69
tsunamifury wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I compared people that take on big goals later in life with those who simply simulate them in their mind, then decide their projected end results are 'predictable and uninteresting', I saw something interesting. Those who take on big goals are seen as naive and almost childlike, because the 'experienced' believe they already know the end results. Those who don't take on big goals get to be in the audience and th…

Your comment is very interesting. But let me argue against it. May be when you are older, you can see the end result with more clarity, and decide that is not worth the effort and the sacrifices that you have to make. Is it better becoming a millionaire when you are 30 or when you are 50? If you do it at 30, you will enjoy the fruits for 45 years. If you do it at 50, you will enjoy them for 25. (Assuming expectancy_o…

I'd say a sufficiently large goal is well beyond that of only self-fulfillment or making a lot of money. It would be an attempt to change a field, advance a given topic in that field, or create a system which a group of people could benefit from.

Re: I never finish anyth

#77

Post by dasil003 »

tsunamifury wrote: post #59
visakanv wrote: post #11

I relate to this, too. Here's some stuff that I read recently that helped me a little: "When you are young, beginning new projects is easy and finishing them is hard. As you grow older, beginnings get harder, but finishing gets easier. At least, that has been my experience. I think it is true of anyone of at least average intelligence, creativity and emotional resilience. The reason is simple. When you are young, the…

When I compared people that take on big goals later in life with those who simply simulate them in their mind, then decide their projected end results are 'predictable and uninteresting', I saw something interesting. Those who take on big goals are seen as naive and almost childlike, because the 'experienced' believe they already know the end results. Those who don't take on big goals get to be in the audience and th…

The first thing I'd say in response to your overall comment is that what other people think is a red herring. You'll never do anything interesting at any age if you decide to take on big challenges based on others opinions, and there are naysayers at every age. But also, the fact is that if someone says they're going to do some amazing huge thing I will be polite but I will probably not believe they can actually pull it off until they do so. This has nothing to do with my life experience, but just that talk is cheap and people like to dream. It's just a statistical fact that on average there's a lot more talk than execution, or perhaps a better way to look at it is that one ambitious idea might take 10 years of full-time dedication to execute successfully during which time who knows how many more lightbulbs would come on.

But perhaps more to your point, what does my experience tell me about bold ambitions? Well, mostly I've learned that making big predictions is foolish. The older I get the more I discover how extremely subjective life is, and how dependent everything we know and take for granted is based on personal experience and perspective. I'm much less likely today at 35 to predict the outcome of a project than I would have at 25. My experience comes in at a smaller scale on more specific issues. Engineering choices for instance, I have a much finer tuned sense of where to balance hackery and YAGNI, or how to manage different kinds of business relationships. But I certainly am loathe to sit around making armchair prognostications about the medium to distant future. In short, experience does not make me think I know more, it makes me aware of how little I actually do know.

Re: I never finish anyth

#78

Post by nathan_f77 »

I finally managed to finish one! http://www.youshouldbuythese.com

I think the secret to a successful side-project is deciding on an MVP that can be built in a single weekend. I've found that I'm also much more likely to keep iterating on a project if it's already in a 'finished' state.

I seem to run out of steam or lost interest in my more ambitious side-projects, where working for a whole weekend will only get you 10% closer to a finished product.

Re: I never finish anyth

#79

Post by krrishd »

I think one of the biggest things that causes is losing faith in your idea. No matter how good it is, the more you think about it without doing anything to go along with the thinking, your brain will naturally find minute flaws in the idea, making you move on.
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