Ask HN: The “I want to do everything but end up doing nothing” dilemma

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I would say that a lot of this problem has to do with your being a student.

When I was a student, I found it completely impossible to learn anything in any depth, or remember it for a long period of time, simply because being a student means perpetually working on tasks that are kind of meaningless because they're being handed to you. They're not things you're doing for some purpose or cause, they're assignments. You're learning for the sake of learning, which is very appealing but doesn't work too well.

Since I started working, I'm learning a tonne more and I remember all of it because I'm doing real things. That's not intended as an insult, it just means that the tasks I'm working on are connected to the real world. They're less abstract.

So I'd say, pick things you need to learn and do something real with them. Take it as far outside the scope of being a student as possible. Start that business. Apply the stuff you're learning to real life.

And take the pressure off. You're not going to remember all this stuff, there's so much of it and it's so complicated. A CS course would destroy me, so you're obviously pretty smart. Just keep being pretty smart.

Learning never stops really and the amount of information available only increases so coming up with a technique that works for you is crucial.

I make lists of everything i want to do/read and find out more about and then split it up in to small goals like "Read article X", "Complete task X in project Y". Key is to make the goals small enough so they seem achievable relatively quickly, this way you don't feel overwhelmed and can move towards completion steadily and slowly.

I use Pocket for ALL the articles and blog posts I want to read and simply save it there, once I am bored or on a bus or on some journey that I have free time to read I read them one by one and learn slowly about the topic that interests me. I also have a list of things I want to achieve in the near future like this month and I pick random things off it to do.

I also try to come up with little projects that interest me and that I can adapt to utilise the things I am interested in learning. For example if I would like to try a certain static site generator, try out some new css trick or simple try a new language I come up with a little project that I find interesting and try to accomplish it while using these new tools. This way I am invested in the project and learning something new. But yet again key is SMALL achievable projects.

Hi Michael - my only add comes from my personal experience and may not be relevant as I didn't do CS or Engineering. I did however suffer curiosity overload and needed to find a way to focus, quick.

Know yourself - take a look at your past habits. Where did you feel you won? Focus your efforts there and build on that. Try to get a win every day.

Accountability - I learned I am only accountable when it impacts others. So I set all crucial goals to girlfriend, family, friends, co-founders, team, and customers. That way when it doesn't get done, it impacts me directly!

Diversify - I get most stuck when I think about my business for weeks on end. Help a fellow CEO noodle a problem, and I get focused. So MANAGED distraction could be the key to focus.

From what you wrote, time-blocking seems great by rewarding yourself curiosity blocks and productivity blocks.

For me, my strategy and planning is most productive before work, just after lunch and after 2100. So the day is all about my team and helping them out. In between, I allow myself to read industry pubs. Hacker News is my "diversification" time to immerse in other's challenges.

Hope this helps and keep up the curiosity, but take a breather, language lesson or play guitar to take your mind away so you can properly focus.

Cheers,

MC

I have been through the same problem myself. Too many interesting things to learn and too little time. What got me through it was to ask myself "Why?" 3 times for everything I was excited about and wanted to do. And I realized that only a few of those things I REALLY deeply wanted to do. I basically discovered my "life values". What I truly deeply cared about. And the moment I reached this core, everything became clear as to what I should focus on. Here is a practical way to do it: Write on a piece of paper: "I want to do X!". Then next line write "Why?". Write your answer. Followed by a new question: "Why?". Answer that one. Keep going until you can't answer the "Why?" anymore. And then do the same with everything else you want to do. Don't show it to anybody else. This is for yourself. So you can be brutally honest. Try it and see what happens. You might be surprised.