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Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

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Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#31

Post by smoyer »

mrcharles wrote: post #28
smoyer wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've spent almost 30 years in computer/electronics engineering (both hardware and software) and I think one thing you will suffer from is a lack of accomplishment. When it takes months or years to complete a project, you need to gain a sense of accomplishment from the little victories along the way. As the parent notes, finding a hobby that's unrelated is useful, but not only as a diversion ... you can gain that sens…

Yes, it's the sense of accomplishment, of finishing something that is the primary benefit of building these little models. You get to do it, it's relaxing, and you can say "I built that" at the end.

Hmmm ... I missed one other point.

It's much easier to show your friends and family the mission-oak picture frame you built than some obscure bit of software. It needs no explanation and you'll be gratified (hopefully) by their response. Explain a low-level library you built to these same people and their eyes will glaze over while they hope you talk about something regular humans deem important.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#32

Post by steve8918 »

After graduating from college, I completely immersed myself in computers, programming, networking, system administration, etc. I taught myself how to program, got a job programming, learned just about everything I needed to learn. I would work, and then when I came home, I would sit in front of the computer learning. It got to the point where if I didn't spend time learning, I would feel guilty.

This helped me immensely, because I accelerated in my career and knowledge really quickly. But then, after about 10 years, I had gained about 50 lbs, and suffered through some personal issues. I was completely and utterly burnt out. I stopped being curious about technology, and couldn't bring myself to even turn on a computer after work, except to play games or online poker. This period lasted for about 5 years.

What rekindled everything for me was that I found something new to be passionate about, namely algorithmic trading. The entire topic absolutely fascinated me and continues to fascinate me, and that's where I regained my passion. I've been spending a lot of time on this topic over the last few years.

My advice to you is just take a break. You're probably burnt out. Give it some time, and you'll probably go back to doing it, or you'll find something new to be passionate about.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#33

Post by peteforde »

I went through the same thing you're describing, and I came to a very simple conclusion (in hindsite) that the other commenters haven't touched upon. I quietly suspect that I'm right, and it makes me sad that it feels like such a dirty secret.

When I was a kid, I loved coding. From the ages of 6-19 I didn't really want to do anything as much as hack on cool projects. The only thing that would make my life perfect — obviously — would be to get paid to code, so that I could do it all of the time and pay bills, too. I'd be the luckiest guy on earth.

So, why was I horribly sad (not depressed, btw - that's a disease which you don't bring upon yourself) as a professional developer at 25? I used to be so engaged, but then I could hardly concentrate on what I was doing, and it was very difficult to get started each day.

One day it hit me like a lightning bolt: the reason you do something impacts whether you can enjoy doing it or not. That's why being a prostitute is not generally considered the best job ever; I found that coding other people's ideas was like not getting to choose who, when or how to have sex.

For me, the solution was to gradually move out of coding day-to-day into a more pure consulting role while reintroducing lots of fun personal coding projects, which are mostly just as fun as I remembered from when I was a teenager. 8-9 years later, I simply don't take on paid coding projects.

As a corollary, I'm really into film photography and I flat out refuse to get paid to shoot, because I have no interest in difficult brides or screaming babies. I figure that I deserve a passion that isn't corrupted by my need to pay a mortgage. It's like an endless chain of discoveries and happy accidents that brings me mental calm and occasionally professional (consulting) opportunity.

I recently went to the Luminance photography conference in NYC, and during breaks I met as many people as I could. Every working photographer seemed stoic and anxious, and all of the aspiring photographers verbally differentiated between their "arty" work and the stuff they had to shoot in order to pay the bills. Not one of them thought that there was any hope of them having fans that would appreciate them the way a painter would. [Granted, painters often have patrons... but I digress.] I found it all quite sad.

Needless to say, I suggested that they all learn to code as a career so that they could take photos out of love. I said that if they needed to pay their bills with their camera, they would develop an increasingly abusive relationship with photography.

Don't worry about "coming back with a bang". You only live once, so stop hitting yourself.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#34

Post by outworlder »

It could be temporary. As others have commented already, this could be burnout.

There are other angles that you should consider. Is it only affecting your job, or are you apathetic on other things too ? If it is the latter (specially since you said 'everything'), it could indicate depression.

In my particular case, a mild form of depression always sets in whenever I am sleep deprived. This can go on for months if left unchecked. Go out, have some fun, sleep a lot and see if it helps. Have your health checked (physical and mental).

If everything checks out, you might just need a change of scenery. Another city, another job, a slightly different area, etc.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#35

Post by campnic »

There is a misconception, extremely prevalent on HN and in the startup community, that you're dead at 35. Really, if you are 25 and not certain about what you want to do, the real 'risk' you should be taking is trying something completely different.

Don't set yourself up for a miserable life. Become a well rounded person. Try something else and see if it clicks for a while.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#36

Post by outworlder »

peteforde wrote: post #33

I went through the same thing you're describing, and I came to a very simple conclusion (in hindsite) that the other commenters haven't touched upon. I quietly suspect that I'm right, and it makes me sad that it feels like such a dirty secret. When I was a kid, I loved coding. From the ages of 6-19 I didn't really want to do anything as much as hack on cool projects. The only thing that would make my life perfect — o…

This.

From time to time, I say that 'the worst thing I've done was to turn a hobby into work'.

It it not strictly true, there are worse things I could be doing instead. But I have lost some of the that initial spark.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#38

Post by pav3l »

steve8918 wrote: post #32

After graduating from college, I completely immersed myself in computers, programming, networking, system administration, etc. I taught myself how to program, got a job programming, learned just about everything I needed to learn. I would work, and then when I came home, I would sit in front of the computer learning. It got to the point where if I didn't spend time learning, I would feel guilty. This helped me immens…

Do you mean you now use algorithmic trading to make money, or just interested in different approaches, algorithms, etc?

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#39

Post by chrisbennet »

The "take a break" is spot on but I think a lot of burnout/loss of passion is related to what sort of work you are doing. If you are "paying your dues" in job that doesn't interest or challenge you it's going to be hard to stay excited. I look forward to going to work (almost) every day and I've been a software developer as long as you've been alive. At one point I was getting burnt out doing C++ and then C#/.NET came along and all the "newness" reinvigorated me. Maybe you need to change jobs or technologies?
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