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Finish your projects

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Re: Finish your projects

#201

Post by shrimp_emoji »

interroboink wrote: post #11

In general, I like the empathetic tone of the article, and I appreciate that it addresses an emotional facet of software development. But nevertheless it triggers some little part of me w/regard to telling people what they should or should not do, or what they may be proud of. I worry for someone who reads "You also have a duty to your future self to release the project" and "...you tell yourself that you are the kin…

> I think it's better to start from a place of (unconditional!) self-love, and go from there, rather than beating yourself up because you're not meeting some blogger's expectations of how you should act.

It took me a while to realize this, but it's the only way I want to live my life. Terrorizing myself through my ego was a retardedly pointless mental preset, and I'm very grateful I changed it.

Re: Finish your projects

#202

Post by aarondf »

outsomnia wrote: post #159

"Finish your projects", finger wags cheerful guy full of certainties, paid by large American corporation that makes money from your finished projects and doesn't care what happens to you before, during or afterwards.

I do work for an American corporation, but we're not large! Less than 100 people I think. I do care about what happens to you, but I assume you're saying GitHub doesn't. I don't work for GitHub.

I'm working incredibly hard to provide a better life for my family. For my two-year-old twins. Finishing projects is part of that work. It's not easy but I think it's worth it.

If you're curious about my story of working, side-hustling, and spending time with my family here's an hour of me talking about it: https://saas.transistor.fm/episodes/bootstrapping-with-kids.

It's full of nuance that you might be wishing was in the article.

Re: Finish your projects

#203

Post by robertlagrant »

interroboink wrote: post #173
robertlagrant wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On an emotional level, I think it's better to start from a place of (unconditional!) self-love, and go from there, rather than beating yourself up because you're not meeting some blogger's expectations of how you should act. This will only cater for people who don't automatically apply that filter. I'd say for most people the article won't stream directly into their consciousness as fact, and they will be applying…

Agreed that most people have some thickness to their skin already, so to speak. And communication styles vary, of course. But I do think there's something to be said for the sort of culture we want to foster. If one blogger writes something a bit one-sided or pushy, then no big deal. But if lots of them do, or most of them, then it starts to affect what we consider normal. Personally, I'd rather we don't normalize th…

Haha not overblown - I wouldn't worry too much.

I would just say that this is a link, and not from inside the HN community, so it's not a cultural issue as such. I think it's possible to try and enforce a monoculture internally, but enforcing it on what links get posted might be difficult.

Re: Finish your projects

#205

Post by aarondf »

doctor_eval wrote: post #32

I have two projects on the shelf right now. I’ve been dragged away (read: need money) to work on non-code projects. To the point where I don’t feel confident about opening my IDE! So, this article is really timely. Thanks.

Go get em. Thanks for the kind words

Re: Finish your projects

#206

Post by kaba0 »

Levitz wrote: post #198
kaba0 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Caffeine though really is a jackpot for humanity, it has realistically speaking no negative side effects. Even serious physical symptoms from withdrawal are basically just a week of headaches and other minor things.

Many people have a sleep problem disguised as a caffeine problem. Also many people have a caffeine problem disguised as a sleep problem. Taken now and then, sure, probably worth it. The part in which a lot of people's brains are seemingly unable to wake up without taking caffeine? Probably not good.

> The part in which a lot of people's brains are seemingly unable to wake up without taking caffeine

That’s very likely just placebo/power of habits, similarly to many people can’t go to sleep without brushing their teeth.

Re: Finish your projects

#207

Post by shrimp_emoji »

jhp123 wrote: post #30

To take the contrary position: give up. Your project will take far longer than you think, and you will get much less from it than you hope (at least in terms of external validation and rewards). You may feel a horrible pressure to finish it, but you are a free person and can simply choose not to. You can free yourself from this pain without lifting a finger. Go take a walk or bake some cookies instead. If you have th…

Haha. You are the Cerberus in my head that I must fight before beginning any of my projects.

> you will get much less from it than you hope (at least in terms of external validation and rewards)

The best thing is when you're not doing it for validation but for fun. Or, even better, for your own utility, like this is something I want to use for myself that ostensibly exists nowhere else! It's uncommon you think of something like that, though.

Recently, a program I use got an update that's made it go from perfect to horrible. While it sucks, it's given me a project like that; I'm now working on my own substitute that gets back to my "perfect" and has none of the features I don't want. Until it's finished, I'm still using the original program, whose horribleness motivates me daily. ;D

Re: Finish your projects

#208

Post by SanderNL »

latexr wrote: post #187
SanderNL wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like it would complicate life, not make it easier? His wealth and power is predicated on him being the leader of the friggin’ Roman Empire. I don’t see that as an easy life. Being an emperor and even trying to do a good job is damn near impossible in my eyes. Lot of respect for that. My tiny life sometimes overwhelms me already.

> My tiny life sometimes overwhelms me already. Because you (presumably) have to deal with every tiny thing in your life. Even having to buy and cook food can feel overwhelming when you’re busy trying to accomplish other things. Marcus Aurelius had slaves. He was the emperor. He did not have to worry about the multitude of minutiae required just to continue to exist. When it seems to you rich people are able to achie…

No, because I am less capable. It’s sometimes simple like that.

He wasn’t “rich people” like some Russian oligarch. He had shit to do and deep moral obligations. Millions of lives depended on it. Things of vast strategic importance stretching both thousands of miles and many decades.

Slaves don’t manage your long term ambitions and juggle your various mental and moral anguishes. They keep your house clean and provide you with food, sure. But to be honest, as a rich Westerner, I’m not too far off that.

He didn’t dream about standing knees deep in foreign horse shit managing the nitty gritty of brutal wars for the continued existence of an empire that looked solely at you.

All this could be handled with great nonchalance and incompetency which would have made his life relatively easy. But he decided to try and do a good job, now that’s something to take serious.

I get that “rich people” have some leverage, but this is another thing altogether.

Re: Finish your projects

#209

Post by benatkin »

aarondf wrote: post #200
benatkin wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm who told him that was a good idea? I get talking proudly about it but unless there's a good reason it feels like a bad feedback loop. I am a little obsessed with songs at times and even I can't stand listen to the same song more than 10 times in a day unless I was trying to memorize it or something.

Huh? Nobody told me it was a good idea! I did it once and liked it and so I kept doing it. In that paragraph I'm describing how I work. The very next sentence is: > These things work for me, but you'll need to find what works for you. It's not prescriptive, just descriptive.

Ah I see. I tend to ruminate a lot so that must be why the idea seems problematic to me. But you didn't say you ruminate or that you were interested in the lyrics of the songs and I'm not sure it would increase my rumination if I did it. I suppose I do it anyways just not to the same level and for different reasons. I get obsessed with a set of songs and listen to them a lot for a while.

Re: Finish your projects

#210

Post by doingmaths »

eternityforest wrote: post #55
doingmaths wrote: post #50

I'm an anarchist --- wait hold on! --- not like "The Purge" kind, but the "mutual aid and share what you can" kind. I genuinely believe that if we operated more on a "people will produce the tools, food, and art they want to produce, and will improve their working conditions if given the opportunity" mindset, and less on a "hit this deadline so your boss makes a buck" mindset we'd be able to finish more of our 'side…

I'm all for mutual aid and sharing, and I am definitely not an endless growth capitalist, I want people to have time and resources to make art and tend their gardens. But I sure couldn't produce the tools I want without making use of the work of profit driven people, simply because advanced tech is a lot of work, takes hundreds of people, is too big for anyone to understand and thus is almost never made if idea-explo…

> But I sure couldn't produce the tools I want without making use of the work of profit driven people, simply because advanced tech is a lot of work, takes hundreds of people, is too big for anyone to understand and thus is almost never made if idea-exploring is the main motive, and generally seems pretty tied to profit.

Kropotkin's model of anarchist society is that we still have guilds and federations of workers, mostly composed of people drawn to whatever they are interested in most. If the farmers produce food, and the workers produce tools for the farmers, we can exchange them without having to profit from that exchange. Take the food or tools you need.

Over time, as practices become established, group up with other farmers, tools producers, etc. and form guilds that are democratically run. Those guilds negotiate with other guilds to help drive what tools are in demand and work to increase them.

Chip fab would necessarily be slower under the system -- democratically run organizations do take longer to reach consensus -- but we would probably route around that a bit by doing with fewer chips. (Or maybe we'd see more people enter chip fab as their career if there wasn't the concern about bankrupting themselves by going to college.)

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