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Things that aren't doing the thing

strangestloop.io

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Re: Things that aren't doing the thing

#171

Post by thethingundone »

tillcarlos wrote: post #142
thethingundone wrote: post #132

That text is describing my life since 10 years or so. I am in my 30s and lost the capability to do the thing, _any_ thing, with the exception of going out with friends/family/my partner to do social activities. Everything else is literally impossible for me to do. I’m currently kicking off my second attempt to fix this by talking to a psychologist about it. But I am not very hopeful. Still searching for the root caus…

You probably lost the “finish” muscle. That happens when you lack wins for a long time. Best way to to train yourself to win again. Start, finish, and celebrate a 1h task. Then half day. etc

That is probably one of the causes. I don’t feel comfortable to put in effort into any _thing_. I probably unlearned that.

Finishing small things like cleaning dishes is no problem for me. It gives some sort of gratitude, but most likely not what bigger tasks would give.

Re: Things that aren't doing the thing

#172

Post by layer8 »

> Reading this essay isn't doing the thing.

Writing “$thing isn't doing the thing” 13 times isn’t writing an essay.

That aside, I thought this was going to be about products that fail to fulfill their advertised purpose.

Re: Things that aren't doing the thing

#173

Post by andai »

thethingundone wrote: post #169
andai wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you burned out at your job maybe?

I definitely lack motivation to do anything at my job, but it’s the same will all private/hobby stuff. IT is probably not it for me anymore, however I have that job situation under control. I wish I could do something else though (not IT at all), but that also requires me to start that thing (and take some risk).

Sounds like you'd benefit from working with a therapist, i.e. someone specifically trained in understand these kind of problems and guiding you through them.

Re: Things that aren't doing the thing

#174

Post by tyleo »

I agree with most of this but not the todo list part. I think more successful projects tend to have upfront planning and consider it a real part of the work. Even more successful projects will continue to revisit and update their plan as the project is ongoing.

As I like to put it: not having a plan is not a plan.

Re: Things that aren't doing the thing

#175

Post by chanux »

jimbokun wrote: post #84
nrhrjrjrjtntbt wrote: post #26

Right but I see this taken too far. Getting side eyed for creating a Jira ticket not doing it now. Dude, I am creating a Jira ticket because I have 100 things to do and need to actual priorise this! If I do stuff in the order of serendipity I will definitely be inefficient.

It does add up though. 1. Ticket 2. Feature branch 3. Write unit test 4. Periodically merge from main. 5. Implement to get tests to pass 6. Push changes 7. Create PR 8. Wait for PR feedback 9. Address feedback and repeat 10. Close and merge PR 11. Automated CI deploy 12. Integration testing as needed 13. Close ticket 14. Include in next prod release All of these are good things. But the overhead is significant. And t…

Now introduce change management and corporate into this.

Re: Things that aren't doing the thing

#176

Post by mberning »

If you work with a bunch of people who “just do things” you very well may wish to spend a lot more time “thinking about things” before you do them. If those things are more complicated and nuanced than “doing the dishes” or “putting away the laundry”. Sure, in those cases, just do it.

Re: Things that aren't doing the thing

#177

Post by Dilettante_ »

podgorniy wrote: post #129

For someone without ADHD's `executive disfunction`, one of the code ADHD struggles, this post reads as nonsense. Thus only minority could relate to the post: the ones who have ADHD ones who think they understand ADHD.

I've got ADHD and Preparing to do the thing, Scheduling time to do the thing and Making a to-do list for the thing are actually what enable me to Do The Thing in the first place.

If you're gonna build a house, building scaffolding is not a waste of time.

Re: Things that aren't doing the thing

#178

Post by rixed »

lukan wrote: post #146
jimbokun wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does add up though. 1. Ticket 2. Feature branch 3. Write unit test 4. Periodically merge from main. 5. Implement to get tests to pass 6. Push changes 7. Create PR 8. Wait for PR feedback 9. Address feedback and repeat 10. Close and merge PR 11. Automated CI deploy 12. Integration testing as needed 13. Close ticket 14. Include in next prod release All of these are good things. But the overhead is significant. And t…

That is all part of doing the thing called quality software develeopment. Quick and dirty does not work in all environments.

Haha, no! Notice what's missing form that list? QA.

Re: Things that aren't doing the thing

#179

Post by Dilettante_ »

epolanski wrote: post #71
seizethecheese wrote: post #59

> Making a to-do list for the thing isn't doing the thing. Don’t agree. Planning steps is part of doing the thing.

I was thinking the same, but at the end of the day the author has a point and it's not doing the thing.

If doing the thing without preparation would have taken 50hrs, and sitting down to plan cuts that down to 20hrs, I'd argue that planning did "get a chunk of the thing done".

Re: Things that aren't doing the thing

#180

Post by squeaky-clean »

TuringTest wrote: post #167
efitz wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Redefining doing the thing into a complex process, where actually doing the thing is only one step of the process, and then other steps, is not doing the thing.

Buying the wire and the pliers is not doing the thing either, but you can't do the thing if you don't have them.

It's still not doing the thing
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