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I hate working hard

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Re: I hate working hard

#21

Post by jkaunisv1 »

azeirah wrote: post #13
rmtutty wrote: post #8

You're describing me until about age 30. 1. You need to realize that if something was easy or obvious, it would already exist. The only things worth doing are things that appear impossible. 2. Don't try to keep it all in your head at once. Get good at making a plan or a list of steps, following them (almost blindly), and correcting course every few steps. Taking a big problem apart and bringing small steps to complet…

Where were you before you turned 30, what did you do that you did or did not like? And what happened to trigger the change in your thirtieth year?

The mindset shift for me was realizing that I kept having really fun/great ideas, but I didn't want to die with notebooks full of ideas and none of them implemented.

One thing that helped me towards getting them done has been to make projects as small as possible. For anything that I can't do in an afternoon, I try to make sure I can accomplish something small every day.

But it also took a lot of practice at improving self discipline (reading about it, writing about it, building habits), fixing my sleep schedule (way less lazy when I go to sleep at 11pm and wake up at 7am), and starting on pills to combat depression.

As others have said, make sure you love what you're working on. That's important. Don't get sucked into our society's focus on "productivity" over all else if it's not what works for you. There's more to life than producing output, and you are not what you create.

Re: I hate working hard

#22

Post by polybius »

gagege wrote: post #15
azeirah wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I enjoy listening to music, I enjoy gaming and I enjoy the end result of my projects and experiments, but as I've noticed, not the way. Apart from that, I'm a pretty stereotypical started programming on the TI-84 and did nothing but gaming nerd. I haven't really ever done anything else, except for a 1 year job at a grocery store. I simply took this path of the programmer as something that instantly "made sense". But…

I used to think I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to write novels and wonderful fictional worlds. The idea of crafting stories that people would eventually enjoy was very exciting to me. I tried and tried for years, but I could never write more than a few pages a week. I finished about 5 very short stories and started countless other shorts and novels. Eventually I realized that I didn't actually like writing. The ac…

This was wise, thank you. People who revise their ambitions are interesting... What proximate cause led to your admission to yourself that you didn't like fiction-writing?

Did you know that Winston Churchill wanted to be an adventure author? 'Savrola: A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania is the only fictional work of Sir Winston Churchill... Savrola is in many respects a conventional example of the "Ruritanian" genre, being published just four years after the classic The Prisoner of Zenda, by Anthony Hope...' Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savrola

Re: I hate working hard

#23

Post by err4nt »

I used to be just like you — Don't worry, it gets better!

Growing up I was a natural with math and science, and had sensitivity to the arts. I would often figure things out before needing to be taught, and because of that I always felt more comfortable in the truths I _knew_ that I knew, not just the truths that I _believed_ I knew.

I would get discouraged and frustrated when I wasn't able to use all of my intelligence to solve a problem, but was told over and over again: "Even though your answer is correct, since you didn't show your work or write down the formula using the exact model I showed you how can I tell you know the right answer?" and I would always answer, "Because if I didn't know the right answer my test wouldn't be the first to hit your desk and I'd still be working…"

Fast forward to high school, same thing. Even in college I had a me-vs-teachers struggle where I fought to push the limits only to be told time and time again to stay within the lines and do what's right in front of me.

Since graduating I've worked for a few companies, but for the last three years I've been self-directed. My income comes from large contracts and small freelance jobs and if I don't work - I don't get paid.

The other cool thing now - if I can work smarter, I can make more money!

So I would say that if you feel like your boss, your teacher, your leader, your '_x_' is holding you back - cut them out and _become_ that in your own life. You'll find the motivation to eat!

Now I've flipped. The amount of hours I work in a day _directly_ relates to how much I take home. My freelance rate is also a multiple of my contract rate, so it's easy for me to work hard and literally take home _double_ that day.

Now I don't have a motivation problem, I don't have enough hours in the day ;)

Re: I hate working hard

#24

Post by gagege »

polybius wrote: post #22
gagege wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to think I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to write novels and wonderful fictional worlds. The idea of crafting stories that people would eventually enjoy was very exciting to me. I tried and tried for years, but I could never write more than a few pages a week. I finished about 5 very short stories and started countless other shorts and novels. Eventually I realized that I didn't actually like writing. The ac…

This was wise, thank you. People who revise their ambitions are interesting... What proximate cause led to your admission to yourself that you didn't like fiction-writing? Did you know that Winston Churchill wanted to be an adventure author? ' Savrola: A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania is the only fictional work of Sir Winston Churchill... Savrola is in many respects a conventional example of the "Ruritanian" genr…

That's cool. I didn't know that. That'll be good to remember if I'm ever on Jeopardy. :)

What led to that admission was all the built up stress of trying again and again to have fun while writing. Eventually I didn't even start new stories anymore, because I knew that even if I still had fun ideas for the story, I hated writing them down. I realized there was no point in trying to push through. I even forced myself to write a 12,000 word (quite a feat for me) short once and it was just awful (the story and the experience of writing it).

Things like NaNoWriMo were never fun for me, whereas game jams or hackathons or Startup Weekend are a blast. That's the main thing.

Re: I hate working hard

#25

Post by polybius »

gagege wrote: post #24
polybius wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was wise, thank you. People who revise their ambitions are interesting... What proximate cause led to your admission to yourself that you didn't like fiction-writing? Did you know that Winston Churchill wanted to be an adventure author? ' Savrola: A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania is the only fictional work of Sir Winston Churchill... Savrola is in many respects a conventional example of the "Ruritanian" genr…

That's cool. I didn't know that. That'll be good to remember if I'm ever on Jeopardy. :) What led to that admission was all the built up stress of trying again and again to have fun while writing. Eventually I didn't even start new stories anymore, because I knew that even if I still had fun ideas for the story, I hated writing them down. I realized there was no point in trying to push through. I even forced myself t…

Thanks for the reply!

> The idea of crafting stories that people would eventually enjoy was very exciting to me.

> game jams or hackathons

It sounds like you're still finding ways of building stuff to bring joy to strangers, although not in the way you thought you would be. You use code instead of prose. (:

Re: I hate working hard

#26

Post by Exenith »

All this self-help woo never worked for me. It probably won't work for you, and I don't think it actually works for the people regurgitating it.

You're probably just spoiled, like the rest of us. You spend all your time around things that are intensely stimulating. Delicious food that you barely have to do anything for, this magical thing we call the internet, beautiful music, captivating movies, hundreds of the most attractive women at your fingertips.

All this stimulation with no effort -- and you think it's a surprise that you don't like hard work?

Having this knowledge, now figure out the solution yourself. Something that you're too spoiled to have done already. :)

Re: I hate working hard

#27

Post by azeirah »

Exenith wrote: post #26

All this self-help woo never worked for me. It probably won't work for you, and I don't think it actually works for the people regurgitating it. You're probably just spoiled, like the rest of us. You spend all your time around things that are intensely stimulating. Delicious food that you barely have to do anything for, this magical thing we call the internet, beautiful music, captivating movies, hundreds of the most…

This is probably it to be honest.

Re: I hate working hard

#28

Post by nehan »

rmtutty wrote: post #8

You're describing me until about age 30. 1. You need to realize that if something was easy or obvious, it would already exist. The only things worth doing are things that appear impossible. 2. Don't try to keep it all in your head at once. Get good at making a plan or a list of steps, following them (almost blindly), and correcting course every few steps. Taking a big problem apart and bringing small steps to complet…

This -- you have to realize there are two different versions of you. You1 is ambitious and smart and wants to do awesome things. You1 should think things through, actually plan things out, and write things down. At a detailed level!

You2 is super lazy and won't do anything even slightly difficult unless you make it really obvious and clear. You2 needs commit to following You1's plan; this requires discipline, but also a really easy-to-follow plan.

Re: I hate working hard

#30

Post by jqm »

Working hard is habit.

Habit is born of doing. Doing is born of necessity. If you don't have an inner need you probably won't develop hard work habits. So find the need.

It's an emotional thing at the basic level really. If you aren't emotionally attached to what you are doing, the best thing you can do is something else. Not all the emotions involved are positive either. Fear, hunger and frustration are powerful motivators. But so is the joy of accomplishment. I do work hard and always have. I love building things. And I'm scared of being old and in poverty. The two of these together get me moving every morning without even thinking about it.

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