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There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

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Re: There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

#111

Post by voltagex_ »

codecurve wrote: post #33
egypturnash wrote: post #30

Stop caring. Make something messy and shitty. Tell yourself you are going to make something messy and shitty; gleefully ignore any "best practices" that make it a pain in the ass to just slap something together. Don't worry about a name or a domain or a hosting or whatever. Just slap it together in the stupidest way you can. You wanna make a game? Build the gameplay with colored blocks moving around in some crappy to…

This is really good advice. This is what I get out of hackathons. It doesn't matter whether it's clean, if you want to win, all that matters is that it works. You'll do whatever needs to be done to get there, rather than resting on some set of ideals. I just haven't quite figured out how to create the sense of urgency in my side projects.

I think what makes hackathons easier in some ways: time and feature constraints, plus working with others.

Re: There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

#113

Post by Magpies »

kephra wrote: post #96

We are cursed by infinite ideas vs limited time. Applying the law of diminishing returns results in ideas having a negative value. It like going to a bank and asking for a big debt, if you even consider an idea. Its hard to get rid of an idea, once its settled in our brain. Its taking space, and chanting code me , code me , when you prefer to be in flow of a boring big $$$ customer project. It looks as if you are goo…

Last year I only had 2 projects on Elance. One has been running for 14 months now, the other for 7 months. The projects I do for local businesses are also LOB applications that run for 9 months using a full agile workflow, complete with scrum/

I wonder why everybody assumes I'm only doing small projects.

Re: There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

#114

Post by jqm »

Magpies wrote: post #21
karmajunkie wrote: post #17

There's a concept called (in various circles) a spike, proof of concept, etc. You don't write tests, plans, requirements. You just code. Its a terrible way to write production software. Its a rare thing in my life to spike out an idea and put it unmodified in production. But when i find myself doing what you're doing (which does happen from time to time) I find its a crucial part of breaking myself out of the cycle.…

You are right. I am totally isolated. This consumes me to a point where I sit here for 16 hours a day, learning, coding, dicking around (like another commenter said). I know I need to break the isolation, but I fear I'm too deep into my own world. I'm The Lawnmower Man (just less evil)

Get a job. There are benefits to jobs beyond being paid. 6 or 8 months of "office space" ought to get your head straight.

Re: There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

#115

Post by darrennix »

Magpies wrote: post #15
smacktoward wrote: post #4

This sounds like the tech equivalent of FOMO, "fear of missing out": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_missing_out > If I am going to build this in React.js (which I totally should do) then I’ll spend less time in Visual Studio and more time in Sublime Text. Before I can start, I should first verify that my Sublime color scheme is up to par. The problem is the leap from "I'm going to be spending time in Sublime Te…

Thank you for giving it a name. I do believe you nailed it with FOMO. Interesting.

It's interesting that you "have tons and tons of ideas for mobile apps, web applications" but don't see them through to completion.

I'm the opposite: few worthwhile ideas but consistently finish the side projects I start, however minor -- I don't allow myself to start a new one until I've finished the last one.

We should trade.

Re: There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

#116

Post by inDigiNeous »

falcolas wrote: post #105
inDigiNeous wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am bipolar, adhd, add, whatever. "Stop being depressed" definitely doesn't work, but I dont really believe descriping mind altering drugs is the solution either. Especially to little kids as they are doing these days. There are better ways. Drugs only block the problem, but there are methods to overcome this dis-ease. Believe me when I say I have been there. About 15 years depressed, always full of energy, but very…

> but there are methods to overcome this dis-ease. No, no there are not. The ADHD brain does not produce the dopamine they need to allow the neurons to transmit information properly. Medicines address this in a way that no amount of meditation or Yoga or fru-fru dieting can. > Just to offer an alternative view on this condition, from someone who has suffered with this for the better part of my life and finally realiz…

I understand your defensive reaction, and I in no means try to undermine your condition, but OF COURSE there are natural means to handle this. What do you mean, this is something completely new in the human condition ? You don't think in the whole time humans have evolved that we haven't had this kind of condition already in some form ? That this conditions has become true only in the past 50 years or so, in one generation of humans ?

Or is it maybe because we are fed the idea that we _need_ to be focused, that we need to become some kind of robots that can focus and do mind numbing work just because some one tells us so?

We can agree to disagree, if you feel I'm spreading fud think about whose world view you are defending, yours or those who have come up with the idea that we should be medicated for this condition..

And with addiction I mean psychological addiction, where somebody thinks they need the medication to focus.

And of course, if you are on medication, your first reaction is to defend and attack against those who say otherwise, as it is helping you. If so, good for you, but I am only speaking for this info because there are children as young as 6 who are being medicated, for goddamn no good reason but just because they cannot focus at school and take orders properly, which is to be honest just goddamn stupid.

People have different ways to think and to act, and those who are diagnosed with ADHD/ADD are specialists, and they can act very well without any medication when the environment recognizes this and let's out their creativity in the way which is best for them,and not force them to the same mold as everyone else!

Re: There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

#117

Post by damosneeze »

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.” -Steve Jobs

Re: There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

#118

Post by IvanDenisovich »

"I have no clue why I still call it weekend, because there are weeks I don’t even dress myself, let alone keep track of what day it is".

To me it sounds like you're lonely, and it's affecting your overall emotional state.

The solution will not be a new clever time management system or reading a How-To-Monetize-Your-Zen self-help book. Maybe take a few months off and go to a place with 'fun and sunshine'. Meet new people every week. Everyone's friendly when they're on vacation.

Costa Rica's really nice all year round and it's pretty cheap.

Re: There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

#119

Post by techtics »

Get out of tech, at least for a while, it's a toxic industry. People treat each other like crap.

Your lifestyle is unsustainable and you're now paying the price. Which means you don't enjoy what your doing. You still enjoy the idea though and that's why you spend all your time planning.

Imagine if a professional soccer player suddenly didn't want to play anymore. Do you think people would go "oh, you're just procrastinating"?

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