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The hard part here, of course, is coming up with something else to do. While basically sound advise, after years of a wakeup-work-eat-bed cycle while worrying a

The hard part here, of course, is coming up with something else to do. While basically sound advise, after years of a wakeup-work-eat-bed cycle while worrying about the negative content of the bank account, thinking around a corner is hard, let alone thinking outside the box. But I'll try not to force the issue and see what comes up.

Goladus 16y ago
I would start by being less pessimistic about your own experience. What are you good at? What problems are you paid to solve today? How could you solve them better?
thaumaturgy 16y ago
I took a few-year vacation from I.T. quite a while back, and spent the time as a climbing instructor and in outdoor industry retail. It was a lot of fun, I met a lot of great people, and to this day I'm glad I did it. There are a lot of different opportunities out there that don't require having to deal directly with technology, so go get away from it for a while.
wallflower 16y ago
As someone much smarter than me once said: "Work doesn't necessarily make you happy but it may give you the means to do something to make you happy" Diversify your portfolio. Don't be all tech. Go sit in a park, learn how to draw (really, more learning how to see), take art or music classes. Realize how rich the world is.
Robin_Message 16y ago
All you do is work, eat and sleep, you're on a corporate treadmill, your bank account is negative, and you're fed up? You should be! Sounds like even though thinking around a corner is hard, you need to plan more! You need to plan to get out of debt, to live within your means and to do things more fulfilling than just working.
jcroberts 16y ago
> thinking around a corner is hard, let alone thinking outside the box. Well, thinking around a corner means you're already on the outside of the box. ;) Considering you posted this to HN, you're already thinking around corners. I think you should give yourself (and HN) a bit more credit. Though you never used the term "bored," you more or less described yourself as being bored and your situation as being boring. I'd like to share a wonderful piece of wisdom given to me by my friend, Reginia Riley. Fascination is a choice. When you choose to be fascinated, you are fascinating. When you choose to be bored, you are boring. In essence, when you say "I'm bored," you are actually saying, "I'm boring." At the same time, fascination is the source of motivation. If you find yourself being often bored, the above is tough to accept. Some even find it insulting. But it is true and the sooner you accept it, the sooner you'll no longer be both bored and boring. On the other hand, fascination with something tends to be contagious for others and tends to lead to fascination with other things. If you've done half the things you've claimed, then you are motivated by challenge. You were fascinated by the challenge of figuring out the technical bits (pun intended). Sure, far too much of HN is "money this" and "money that" for startup-du-jour. Sure, money is a way to keep score for businesses, but few ever realize their real driving force is the challenge of entrepreneurship. In this regard, the fascination with the challenge of technology is extremely similar to the fascination with the challenge of entrepreneurship. The root cause is the same. In technology alone there are countless challenges just waiting for you to choose to be fascinated by them, but it doesn't end with just tech; countless challenges and fascinations exist everywhere. Your own curiosity and fascination are priceless. When you decided to give them up, what were you given in exchange for something so priceless? Yes, I know this post may strike too close to home. I know it might hurt. I know you might resent me for it, well, at least at first. It was like that for me many decades ago when I needed to learn this lesson. None the less, by sharing what I learned, I do have your best interest at heart. You're asking to treat the symptoms, but I decided to treat the cause.

Goladus 16y ago

I would start by being less pessimistic about your own experience. What are you good at? What problems are you paid to solve today? How could you solve them better?

thaumaturgy 16y ago

I took a few-year vacation from I.T. quite a while back, and spent the time as a climbing instructor and in outdoor industry retail. It was a lot of fun, I met a lot of great people, and to this day I'm glad I did it. There are a lot of different opportunities out there that don't require having to deal directly with technology, so go get away from it for a while.

wallflower 16y ago

As someone much smarter than me once said: "Work doesn't necessarily make you happy but it may give you the means to do something to make you happy" Diversify your portfolio. Don't be all tech. Go sit in a park, learn how to draw (really, more learning how to see), take art or music classes. Realize how rich the world is.

Robin_Message 16y ago

All you do is work, eat and sleep, you're on a corporate treadmill, your bank account is negative, and you're fed up? You should be! Sounds like even though thinking around a corner is hard, you need to plan more! You need to plan to get out of debt, to live within your means and to do things more fulfilling than just working.

jcroberts 16y ago

> thinking around a corner is hard, let alone thinking outside the box. Well, thinking around a corner means you're already on the outside of the box. ;) Considering you posted this to HN, you're already thinking around corners. I think you should give yourself (and HN) a bit more credit. Though you never used the term "bored," you more or less described yourself as being bored and your situation as being boring. I'd like to share a wonderful piece of wisdom given to me by my friend, Reginia Riley. Fascination is a choice. When you choose to be fascinated, you are fascinating. When you choose to be bored, you are boring. In essence, when you say "I'm bored," you are actually saying, "I'm boring." At the same time, fascination is the source of motivation. If you find yourself being often bored, the above is tough to accept. Some even find it insulting. But it is true and the sooner you accept it, the sooner you'll no longer be both bored and boring. On the other hand, fascination with something tends to be contagious for others and tends to lead to fascination with other things. If you've done half the things you've claimed, then you are motivated by challenge. You were fascinated by the challenge of figuring out the technical bits (pun intended). Sure, far too much of HN is "money this" and "money that" for startup-du-jour. Sure, money is a way to keep score for businesses, but few ever realize their real driving force is the challenge of entrepreneurship. In this regard, the fascination with the challenge of technology is extremely similar to the fascination with the challenge of entrepreneurship. The root cause is the same. In technology alone there are countless challenges just waiting for you to choose to be fascinated by them, but it doesn't end with just tech; countless challenges and fascinations exist everywhere. Your own curiosity and fascination are priceless. When you decided to give them up, what were you given in exchange for something so priceless? Yes, I know this post may strike too close to home. I know it might hurt. I know you might resent me for it, well, at least at first. It was like that for me many decades ago when I needed to learn this lesson. None the less, by sharing what I learned, I do have your best interest at heart. You're asking to treat the symptoms, but I decided to treat the cause.