Earlier quoted context omitted.
writing this reply on hackernews is not "doing the thing" bro.
You have no idea what my thing is and whether or not I'm doing it via this post on HN.
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Things that aren't doing the thing
61–70 of 220 posts
Re: Things that aren't doing the thing
#62It doesn't matter how fast you are moving if you are going in the wrong direction.
Nonetheless, these are good points.
Re: Things that aren't doing the thing
#63Here's my take, in no particular order: - Ignoring that all people are different does not make you an expert in human psychology - Discovering what procrastination is (and still failing to name it or provide actual coping mechanisms) does not make you an expert in human psychology - Failing to recognize elementary human behavior does not make you an expert in human psychology - Utterly neglecting the act of double cr…
Today I learned that I know what the thing is, not because I know what the thing is, but because I was informed that I know what the thing is, and that to know what the thing is merely requires to be informed that I know by any person willing to allege such possession of knowledge, thereby eliminating any effort on my part to know the thing and appropriating such effort imposed on other persons whom are able and willing to indicate to me that I know the thing.
Re: Things that aren't doing the thing
#64In the Viable System Model[0], "doing the thing" is System 1. Yes of course you need System 1 or the thing won't get done. But in any viable system, you also have the "meta-systems", Systems 2-5: - System 2: coordination between multiple Systems 1 (which includes prioritization, communication, and exceptional conditions) - System 3: resource allocation and process development - System 4: strategy and risk management…
Certainly, but don't get confused: You are not doing the thing, until you do the thing. There are many ways to do the thing. There are many more ways to not do the thing.
Au contraire! Almost all the time you spend doing the thing is actually doing the things required before the final completion of the thing. I've taken to calling this "the work before the work" and it's at least 90% of the work.
Example: I get asked at the start of a project to provide ModbusTCP comms mapping for a new control panel, so that the client can start integrating it into their SCADA system. It's just a spreadsheet, maybe 100 rows, how hard could it be? They need it right now, why am I telling them it'll take 6 months?
Typing the addresses and descriptions into the spreadsheet is 'the work', and it only takes an afternoon, but it can't start until we do the work before the work:
- To document the ModbusTCP mapping I need to the PLC program
- To finish the PLC program I need the electrical drawings
- To finish the electrical drawings, the electrical engineer needs the device list, datasheets for all the devices, and the functional spec
- To finish the device list and functional spec, we need to agree with the client exactly what we're building and what it's meant to do
None of these things are 'the work' but all of them are 'the work before the work' and usually nobody wants to do, to wait for, or pay for this work.
Re: Things that aren't doing the thing
#65Writing about what things aren't doing the thing is not doing the thing.
The thing about that kind of writing is that the thing is a uniquely characterizable thing that is distinguishable from other things that are not the thing, thereby enabling the realization of the thing to be a thing, rather than not a thing.
Re: Things that aren't doing the thing
#66I'm trying to do the thing, but the thing is horribly documented and doesn't work. And nobody seems to know why. So am I still doing the thing if the thing isn't doing its thing?
Then the thing becomes :
Understand how to do the thing
Do the thing
Write down fresh documentation about the thing
Re: Things that aren't doing the thing
#67[flagged]
Re: Things that aren't doing the thing
#68I must add: discussing (or showing HN) To-Do apps or systems on how best organize yourself to do the thing isn't doing the thing.
Re: Things that aren't doing the thing
#69And now we have a whole post about not doing the thing, which is also not doing the thing.
In order to determine if something is or is not "doing the thing" you must first know what "the thing" is. If it's writing your thoughts on your blog, then this is indeed doing the thing.
Not doing the thing would be: planning to write a blog post, tweeting that you're going to write a blog post, reading articles about how best to word your blog posts, watching some YouTube videos as inspiration, etc.
I think the advice here is an anti procrastination advice: do the thing, don't just think about doing the thing.
Re: Things that aren't doing the thing
#70If you have no idea how to do the thing, isn't reading about how others did the thing doing the thing?
Or you could try and learn by experience. Software is an example, but so could be drawing or composing music. All of those things have been taken to extreme highs by people who had no idea what they were doing.
Naivety has its perks.