13 ms·

Daydreaming about the future instead of doing work today

599 points by trevmckendrick 8y ago

quickthrower2 8y ago
Look past the title. It’s a good article.
- ct520 8y ago
  I agree great read, have to remind myself of this article when I feel I’m losing perspective or need clarity
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- lsen001 8y ago
  I found it confusing. Article says "Do the work" but gave 2 choices for the friend: "What’s the priority? Writing software for future use cases, or finding an assembler to build the signs for him?" If the friend wants to grow the project into a business, this is a false dichotomy. The friend should be doing both: adding value to his project by doing what he does best (enhance the product offering) as well as delegating jobs that someone else can do (find a builder). Either choice is "doing the work". Also, the friend has to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time if he wants to expand.
nicoburns 8y ago
Does anyone know where I can buy one of those signs?
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
  Wait, was the sign thing for real? I thought that was a parody...
- mhb 8y ago
  This looks like it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wiredin/wired-in-wireless-productivity-sign-with-arduino-a https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wiredin/wired-in-wirele...
- jkhowland 8y ago
  Trevor’s friend here: https://store.wearewired.in https://store.wearewired.in I took his advice haha. I have 300 fully packaged signs to pick up this week. Excited to fix the supply chain issues and start shipping end of the week.
- rvalue 8y ago
  What happens when you get disturbed even with the sign on?
  - nicoburns 8y ago
    Same as without the sign. It could be a useful communication tool though.
- spamalot159 8y ago
  A coworker has one.
dvt 8y ago
Great piece. Last year, I forced myself to release something every two weeks -- even if it wasn't finished or was just a poorly-written blog post. I can proudly say it was one of the most productive years of my life[1]. Most of those projects won't see the light of day -- no one will care and no one will notice -- but releasing is far better than endless planning. And just to really hit it home: this year I built Lofi (a small Spotify player replacement[2]) and I shared it on reddit[3] (and on HN). But if you read most of the posts, it's a whole bunch of angry people arguing about Electron sucking, about why the app is 100mb, about how C++ and Qt would be better, etc. etc. The difference between me and those people? I'm already working on my next project ;) [1] https://dvt.name/2019/01/06/retrospective-stuff-2018/ https://dvt.name/2019/01/06/retrospective-stuff-2018/ [2] https://www.lofi.rocks/ https://www.lofi.rocks/ [3] https://old.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/aufj4m/lofi_a_minimalist_spotify_player_with_webgl/ https://old.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/aufj4m/lofi_a_...
- siwatanejo 8y ago
  Well, Electron does suck.
- shdh 8y ago
  Many of your project links are dead.
  - vcavallo 8y ago
    Did you completely miss what he said?
    - yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
      If so, that makes 2 of us. I re-read the post, and he talks about releasing something on a regular basis. I don't see anything about then going back and unpublishing things once he decides it actually isn't good enough? Sorry if there are edits in play or I'm just missing something, but it sure looks to me like broken links should still be surprising.
sdrothrock 8y ago
For people turned off by the title: "Future You Masturbation gives you the pleasure of all your future accomplishments with none of the work. It’s your brain tricking you into something that feels good today in exchange for lost meaning and purpose and accomplishment in the future." It actually sounds a lot like the concept of not telling people about dieting or whatever long-term task you're engaging in due to the dopamine rush from telling people rather than accomplishing things.
gojomo 8y ago
Compare the classic Ze Frank bit on 'brain crack': https://youtu.be/0sHCQWjTrJ8 https://youtu.be/0sHCQWjTrJ8
egypturnash 8y ago
Maybe the friend just doesn't want to make a Serious Business out of this yet, maybe he just enjoys having this side project. Maybe he's still refining the physical design of these signs along with the software with every one he builds. Maybe he's got enough sources of chaos and craziness in his life already from work/family/the hairbrained schemes of his buddy Trevor and he just wants a nice little hobby where he can fiddle around. Maybe he just does not need a Side Hustle in his life right now. Maybe this is just what he's playing with instead of putting together model kits, y'know? It's quite possible to get lost in the weeds planning stuff with no forwards motion. It's also possible to make really, really expensive mistakes by plowing forwards. I've done both of those. There is an alternate reality where the friend has been looking for people to make this thing fast and cheap, and is now sitting on a pile of these things that he can't sell at a price point that will break even, much less make a profit, with an order of magnitude more money than he is comfortable losing sunk into them. And maybe that reality's Trevor just wrote a blog post talking about how this friend should have done their research first, what kind of idiot doesn't do their research? I'm not saying forging ahead is always bad. I've done it a lot in the past. Sometimes it's worked out, sometimes it hasn't. And when it doesn't work out it is a shitload of hassle and stress and I can only take so much of that at once.
- antt 8y ago
  > I've done both of those. There is an alternate reality where the friend has been looking for people to make this thing fast and cheap, and is now sitting on a pile of these things that he can't sell at a price point that will break even, much less make a profit, with an order of magnitude more money than he is comfortable losing sunk into them. Been there, done that. "Customers" that love the product, at the price point of the raw materials. Charges that come at you from nowhere because you didn't hire an import agent that knows widget X has anti-dumping duties attached to it for the next six months. Warehouses that look good until it rains and then your whole stock is ruined. This one was actually the best thing that could happen, because between the insurance and accounting the business finally broke even and I walked away from it. Hardware is different to software. It's all downside all the way. The only thing I learned is that you should do the most pessimistic accounting you possibly can for sales and manufacture and then divide the first by 10 and multiple the second by 10 and you will be right for what will happen in the first year.
StavrosK 8y ago
I noticed many people doing the same thing with "to do"/"to read" lists. They'll add items to their lists thinking they'll get around to doing them some day, not realizing that future me is probably just as lazy as present me, and if I were going to do something, I would have done it now. So, todo lists become a bit of intellectual masturbation in the sense of "oh I'm not putting this off, I'm definitely going to do it, since it's on my todo list!" I have on my todo list (see the irony) to build a mobile todo list app where tasks will disappear if not finished in a while, along with some other bells and whistles (they'll all move to another screen where you can't remove them and they'll mock you for ever), mostly as an art piece on this exact phenomenon rather than a useful app.
- john_minsk 8y ago
  Todo lists are useful to keep track of all the tasks in one place and not to hold them in your head. I heard of businessmen who as a rule of thumb delegate or delete tasks after not being able to start within 3 days. So it is matter of your system how you use your todo list
- vfinn 8y ago
  I found maintaining a TODO list was helpful in seeing how fragmented my ideas were, which helped me to start actually doing things, because for one thing, I realized that I had forgotten most of my (fragmented and peculiar) ideas, and even more so, there were ideas that I found important most of the time I eyed the activities on my TODO list. Still, even without this insight, I'd say one asks himself quite often "What I should do now" in terms of reading/watching a movie/etc., and to answer that TODO list is honestly pretty helpful.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  > I noticed many people doing the same thing with "to do"/"to read" lists. They'll add items to their lists thinking they'll get around to doing them some day, not realizing that future me is probably just as lazy as present me, and if I were going to do something, I would have done it now. Guilty as charged. That said, the primary purpose of my "to read" list today is to short-circuit my procrastination loop; when I realize it's high time to get back to work, I'll quickly scroll through the remaining 20 open tabs, put some on my "toread" list, and close the others.
yomritoyj 8y ago
When it comes to masturbation narrowly defined, most people now accept that it is not harmful or sinful. Nor is it a sign of a failed sex life. I believe that we should have the same attitude towards more general forms of self-gratification.
- pawelmurias 8y ago
  What's your source?
ryanmarsh 8y ago
If this was a form of cancer I would be Stage 4 and getting my affairs in order. So after years procrastinating on a book, doing research and taking notes but not publishing one word I started blogging. I’ve only written 4 blog posts and they get decent traffic. I was surprised. I’m trying to apply “do the work” to other areas too.
- sdinsn 8y ago
  > I’ve only written 4 blog posts and they get decent traffic. Do you mind me asking how you are getting traffic? Are you writing on your own personal website or on something like Medium?
  - ryanmarsh 8y ago
    See my other comment in this thread.
- shadowprofile76 8y ago
  also honestly curious. any specific efforts to get traffic or did you just post away and let traffic come organically?
  - badpun 8y ago
    I wonder about this. Let's say I create a really good blog about some niche subject, but I don't promote it in any way, so that no one links to it or even knows about it. In such case, if no page on the Internet links to it, will it even by indexed by the Google Search?
    - sdinsn 8y ago
      > if no page on the Internet links to it, will it even by indexed by the Google Search? Probably not. To fix this problem, you create a sitemaps.xml on your server and then give Google/Yahoo/etc. the link to it. https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/156184?hl=en https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/156184?hl=en
alashley 8y ago
> Complained about your dating prospects instead of making yourself more dateable? Being dateable and actually finding people to date are two very different things.
- mav3rick 8y ago
  The former is almost always helpful . Rather than lamenting about the latter.
  - alashley 8y ago
    Makes sense.
- wvenable 8y ago
  Part of being dateable is putting yourself in situations where there might be people to date.
- cheesymuffin 8y ago
  This is so true for me. I'm an ant.
- rzzzt 8y ago
  Sounds like an "If a tree falls in the forest" philosophical problem.
- MRD85 8y ago
  Unless you live in a small town there are people who are datable, the issue is being attractive enough to them that they want to date you.
adpirz 8y ago
Really great piece, take the time to read it. I've been quite prone to this, and one thing that's helped is building systems vs. goals, per Scott Adams[1][2]. If you read many stories of successful people, you see a pattern in having habits or systems that were built at some point that lead to those successes, as opposed to setting a specific goal and trying to plan around that. [1]https://blog.dilbert.com/2013/11/18/goals-vs-systems/ https://blog.dilbert.com/2013/11/18/goals-vs-systems/ [2]https://outline.com/TGYvt2 https://outline.com/TGYvt2
jimmy1 8y ago
> Whether you have a Tesla in your brain or a Tesla in real life doesn’t make a difference in how happy you are. This quote from the end of the article reminded me of the famous chimpanzee experiment where two chimps were hooked up to a brain scan, one was given a banana to enjoy the other just allowed to watch, but both seemed to have the same "pleasure zone" of the brain light up.
PieUser 8y ago
How is it related to masturbation I do not understand.
- wahern 8y ago
  It's a euphemism for self-gratification and self-indulgence.
jonahb 8y ago
The tone of this post is so superior and dickish I'd rather not listen to the author.
- buzzerbetrayed 8y ago
  Good advice is good advice, even if it is poorly delivered.
  - robc259 8y ago
    I disagree. As Marshall McLuhan said, "the medium is the message." Poorly delivered messages are prone to be lost as noise.
    - oasisbob 8y ago
      This critique is one of rhetoric - which is not what McLuhan meant in the concept contained in that quote at all. Your complaint seems to be that the use of a sexual metaphor affects the ethos of the speaker in the eyes of some. That metaphor is part of the message, regardless of whether or not you like it.
  - wastedhours 8y ago
    The article makes the assumption the creator's desire is to grow+grow it. It's only good advice is that's true, if the creator just wants to make some scratch, whilst scratching their own itch, then it wouldn't be good advice for said person.
- smokeyj 8y ago
  But why write this comment? You’re a critic, but are you a creator? Post so your creations. I’d like to offer my valuable input.
throwaway713 8y ago
I always wonder if people like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk daydream of their ideal future like most of us seem to do. They definitely seem to act on their vision more, but do they daydream as much as the rest of us?
- mlboss 8y ago
  Or maybe they daydream more than average but act on only top 0.0001%
  - keerthiko 8y ago
    Or they daydream bigger than average, but spend way more time doing than daydreaming than average.
- MRD85 8y ago
  Acting on your vision is easier for people when they have access to large pools of money. I'm not sure about Mark but Elon seemed like an entrepreneur when I read about his early adulthood. Not an inventor, just someone who found ways to make money. Then when he became rich he became a visionary.
  - koonsolo 8y ago
    > Acting on your vision is easier for people when they have access to large pools of money. This is a highly oversimplified vision. It's true that Elon has way more money at his disposal. But it's also true that he had the guts to put all of it on the line for his vision. If I was that rich (after PayPal), I would put money on the side that I would never touch, and then try the business thing with the rest of it. I think most of us would do that, or even retire at that point. Putting all your money on the line (and let's face it, if you have millions, you fall from higher than if you only have $100) really shows how dedicated you are to your vision. That's why we are talking about Elon here, and not about you or me.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
joesb 8y ago
Article like this is like how a fortuneteller works. It's vague and can be interpreted in many ways. > Put off the correct, hard work for the easier, less effective work? What's correct? How does that not conflicts with "future you" problem? You know that any one who is having the "future you problem" is also doing that while thinking that they taking the correct hard work approach, right? It's just one of those idea where you can just rationalize whether something fits the philosophy.
daeken 8y ago
NOTE TO ALL: The use of the word "mas...bation" will automatically kill your comment. Might want to censor yourself, as silly (and understandable, in most contexts) as it is.
- draugadrotten 8y ago
  The use of the "mas...bation" word also automatically meant I will not forward the link to co-workers or friends. So the author lost many potential readers from it.
  - VBprogrammer 8y ago
    But it most eloquently describes the problem. We shouldn't have to self-censor to get passed some prudish filter on a corporate network on which the reader is probably already not supposed to be reading for fun.
    - OJFord 8y ago
      It's anything but eloquent.
wokwokwok 8y ago
> Emailed someone where a call would be better? Better for you? Or for them? Funny how you can read something, mostly agree and then see an example and nope right out of the whole idea because the example tells you the author has an entirely different set of what ‘valuable’ is, compared to you. Maybe doing the ‘hard thing’ of jumping straight into action is good in some cases... but, mostly, it’s not. Plan first. Act second. Evaluate third. If you miss any of the steps, or get stuck at any of the steps you’re doing it wrong. I contend the authors supposition that most people get stuck on step 1 is wrong. Most people I know get stuck on step 2, and give up without trying to iterate on what they were trying to do, because they didn’t understand that maybe step 1 didn’t come up with a perfect plan the first time around. Sure, maybe it’s cool to have a step 0, which is ‘try it right now!’ to give you some idea & experience on how to get started. ...but the basic contention I this article; “the best thing to do is just to do something right now”; is wrong, and most modern learning & self development frameworks will back that assertion. Isn’t there some famous fallacy thing about this being how terrible political decisions are made?
- aws_ls 8y ago
  >Plan first. Act second. Evaluate third. Bingo. Why not plan? Also why not day dream sometimes? Some of the best days I've had are also one of when I pause to take a stock. Once I just took a notebook (physical) and went to a park. It was the best planning day, helping me set future direction for next 6 months. Also Bill Gates is(/was) famous for taking reading/thinking retreats. Also your whole comment also summarizes my take on the article.
jedberg 8y ago
The human mind is not a business. Fantasizing about the future is actually integral to the functioning of the human mind. It builds neural pathways and releases dopamine that makes you feel good about your choice, motivating you to execute. Without the fantasy, the reality would never come.
- sdinsn 8y ago
  > motivating you to execute The article is discussing fantasizing that does not result in action
  - jedberg 8y ago
    No the article is saying don't ever waste time fantasizing because it's the same as writing new features in code that no one will use. It specifically calls out things like buying workout clothes before you work out, or getting a new journal before you start journaling.
    - jakubp 8y ago
      Maybe you missed the point of the article. The author is describing a common issue where people have lots of ideas, plan them out in their heads and get the reward in form of pleasure (anticipation of success, power, beauty, anything). They don't imagine or plan actually doing the work, they plan for wonderful outcomes. They never do what's necessary and become quite frustrated, not knowing why. There was even psychological research into this phenomenon if I recall correctly , and it yielded the somewhat surprising result that this is a strong habitual behavior and thus fairly hard to change.
    - sdinsn 8y ago
      Because the risk is that you will never start working out or never start journaling, so your purchase / planning was a waste. Adopt good habits before you invest in them.
  - tachyonbeam 8y ago
    As a programmer, I find "fantasizing" important, as in thinking ahead. I'm working on a program, and I do from time to time imagine my software being popular, widely-used in the future, etc. I actually find it useful to, instead of immediately acting, sometimes take a bit of time to ask: how do I want my UI to look? How are people going to use this software? What are some typical use case scenarios? I've gained valuable insight by daydreaming a little bit, and not acting immediately. IMO, you need a mixture of both some planning and also actively working on the project. You can get stuck in fantasies, design something overly complex that you think will solve all use cases (but actually does many things poorly instead of doing one thing well). You can also fantasize about a project so much that you get bored of the project before you even really get started.
kgwxd 8y ago
Fuck myself, literally. This is me for the past 20 years. Imagining myself writing GPL licensed software, in Clojure, using Vim through an actual (not emulated) Linux terminal, for the domain I have the most knowledge, making millions. :%s/Clojure/IDEALISTIC_LANGUAGE_OF_12_YEARS_AGO/g for older projects.
- imhoguy 8y ago
  > in Clojure, using Vim Ouch, shoudn't it be Emacs? /s
  - kgwxd 8y ago
    I tried so hard to use Emacs, the pinky pain is real :) I know about parinfer but, oddly, Vim has better tools for navigating through parens et al out of the box.
  - rainygold 8y ago
    I think you have the Fireplace plugin for Vim but yeah Emacs for any Lisp is a no-brainer.
- imtringued 8y ago
  Reminds me of 2017. All I did was use C++ again for a year. I finished two personal projects and worked on an opensource project for a month. Every before that was as you described.
wallflower 8y ago
If this article resonated with that tuning fork in your head, you might be interested in “What's Your Future Worth?” by Peter Neuwirth. https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/whats-your-future/9781626563018/ https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/whats-your-future/97816... https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Your-Future-Worth-Decisions/dp/1626563012 https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Your-Future-Worth-Decisions/dp/...
jjtheblunt 8y ago
definitely the stupidest title i've ever seen
linkmotif 8y ago
This piece and its ilk are the real click bait of HN. Nothing new or interesting said here, just another “fail fast and early” piece that misses the bigger picture: namely, that unless you just want to make money—which is cool—failing fast and early is not what everyone is about. Finding a markov chain to a product is definitely a way to get there, if you just want to find some product, any product, that will sell to somebody somewhere. But okay, I’ve read this piece a hundred times. I get it. Please stop writing it, or at least please stop upvoting it.
- wahern 8y ago
  Maybe it's coincidence but IIRC there's some scientific literature that suggests simply imagining success can trigger similar reward pathways as actually achieving success. This in turn may sap motivation. (Not sure if this consequence is part of the science.) The remedy according to some sources is to avoid imagining success or even the end state of your project. To maintain perseverance, try to stay focused on the most immediate problems and potential future hurdles.
  - linkmotif 8y ago
    Your comment should have been the article. But regarding: > The remedy according to some sources is to avoid imagining success or even the end state of your project. Is it really the remedy? I agree the problem you state is real, but how does this, or all other possible ways to keep your eyes on the prize, the “remedy”? Growing up I was on a competitive swim team, and one of the exercises we did before meets was imagining the whole race, imagining how we would execute our performance from start to finish. You would imagine the start, how you feel fresh and easy, and then the middle, as you begin to feel yourself tire, and then the end, when you’re exhausted but then the reward of finishing. It’s about the whole race, I think, and day dreaming about the end doesn’t have to be so bad.
trevmckendrick 8y ago
Why did this get penalized from #1 down to ~15?
tomhoward 8y ago
In the personal development/emotional healing technique I've most used in the past few years, this concept is called "living in the future" and it's most certainly been a deeply ingrained tendency for myself and others I know, and is critical to overcome for one to make tangible progress in life. A personal development coach I know trained me to stop talking to others about the successful things I plan to do or expect to do, the theory being that the subconscious/unconscious mind can't tell the difference between talking about them and actually accomplishing them.
p4lindromica 8y ago
This was good motivation. I've been editing a book that I've been working on for over a year. I submitted it to a literary agent just now. It took less than an hour. I'll probably fail. But I'm living in the now. I also made the website first ;) - https://www.burnfastburnbright.com/ https://www.burnfastburnbright.com/
hyperpallium 8y ago
> You can picture how you’ll look and feel, the money in your bank account, the respect of your friends and peers. This is visualizing rewards rather than the thing itself. In contrast, visualizing the product you want, or people getting it (i.e the business operation you want) is inspiring. The difference is conceiving of yourself as a producer or as a consumer (of rewards).
mattnewport 8y ago
It's not this simple. Failure can be the result of too much planning and research as well as too little. Programmers in particular may be more prone to planning too much rather than doing too much but it's possible to overcorrect. The general advice to try something and move forward when you're stuck in analysis paralysis is useful and often good but it's also true that plenty of people put plenty of time and effort into things that ultimately were a waste of time and could probably have been avoided with a bit more planning or research up front.
- charleyramm 8y ago
  “When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep.” Ursula K. Le Guin
mactyler 8y ago
Yikes. This is a really good one.
sidcool 8y ago
This hits home. I am personally a culprit in daydreaming and building castles in air.
hevi_jos 8y ago
Daydreaming is the first step, necessary and extremely useful.Alone on her own the visionary role does not go far enough though. What happens is that usually the capability of visionary (seeing what does not exist yet in front of you like it is real)is related with your personality. People who has not this capability could not really see what does not exist, but they are essential for following the roadmap(tracker) the good visionary can design. The tracker personality on her own can't really go far enough too. This person does not really know where to go. You can do both roles yourself, the visionary and the tracker, but that is very hard because you have to switch roles, almost like Mr Jekyl and Mr Hyde. And you will have a very strong tendency towards one of them. Or you can partner with someone who is a "natural" tracker if you are a natural "visionary". The sum of the parts will be much better than the individual parts.
monster_group 8y ago
The title needs to have NSFW appended to it. I just realized I clicked on a URL (from my work computer) with a word that is probably on IT's blacklist somewhere.
- OJFord 8y ago
  Not actually blacklisted here, but the usage is frequent and totally unnecessary. An unfortunate detraction from an otherwise good article.
dschuetz 8y ago
There is a rift between people, where there are some who can do just about anything, but they lack great ideas (which makes them unhappy), and there are people who have many great ideas without the ability or determination to implement them (which makes them unhappy). People who can do both are really, really rare. Both former kinds of people struggle in their own way. Daydreamers don't work, implementors can't dream. They plan, they invent, they struggle and fail. I wonder if there is any skill set behind that, at all. If you can learn to dream, or learn to just do it, at all.
- keerthiko 8y ago
  i think you learn both by surrounding yourself with people who do one or both (whichever you feel you lack). In my opinion, this is the one true secret sauce of silicon valley, living and working here means the likelihood of all your random encounters and people you are introduced to being dreamer/doer combos is very high (even if many of them may be misguided).
- snthd 8y ago
  They're all taking their own easy option. The actual rift is between levels of pain tolerance. Grit.
- behringer 8y ago
  People who lack great ideas fail to do anything at all. What they don't understand is that ideas come from doing things.
  - tachyonbeam 8y ago
    That depends. I'm in academia. I'm surrounded by MSc and PhD students. Some of them are truly creative, but they are the minority. Most of them are happy to implement an idea that was assigned to them by a professor they're working with, or make small incremental extensions to existing research. In this line of work, what matters most is getting publications. I would say (this is my personal impression) that many successful academics are not creative types, they conservative and incremental, but most importantly, hard working, detail oriented and determined. All that being said, I wish academia was more about really thinking out of the box, playing with ideas and trying things that are a little more "out there", but from what I've seen in the last decade, it isn't really the case, at least not in STEM.
woogiewonka 8y ago
This article hits me right in the gut because I'm guilty of every one of those HAVE YOU EVERs. Ouch. Even as we speak, I'm here commenting away (why?) on Hacker News when I should be publishing posts, building a list, growing my business so I can find a product in the service and getting it done already. Uuugh, just saying that makes me feel terrible. How do I overcome this...
- photonios 8y ago
  You could find some people to work together with. In my experience, it makes a bit easier to keep going because you are supporting and motivating each other.
mparr4 8y ago
> Started a business by making a website instead of finding a customer? How do you go about finding a customer without at least a prototype? You need to do market research, sure, but how do you get a customer without a product?
- Milank 8y ago
  Read this for example: https://lifehacker.com/im-joel-gascoigne-and-this-is-the-story-behind-buffer-1446437914 https://lifehacker.com/im-joel-gascoigne-and-this-is-the-sto...
  - mparr4 8y ago
    Wow. Great post. Thanks for sharing. The heavy personal touch at first reminds me of PG’s quote: “Do things that don’t scale” I’ve recently launched a product, https://bugbucket.io https://bugbucket.io that solves a problem I have but I’m struggling to find that first customer. The whole lightweight approach makes sense but now the problem is identifying whether the experiment is a failure or just needs to get in front of more folks...
    - HeyLaughingBoy 8y ago
      Ideas: Sell it to github or gitlab. Troll through github looking for repositories that are actually commercial products and contact the owners to use bugBucket?
    - Milank 8y ago
      You're welcome. It takes some time to get used to lean principles, especially if you have a dev background (as you do it seams). It's the opposite of "build it and they will come" mantra, and dev people are always like "how do you mean sell it before it's built?!" But it works. And it's a way better approach. As for your tool, if you built it because you had the same problem, you are in the perfect position. You should understand very well the pain points, who has them, how it affects their everyday work and from there it should be easy to make tactics on how to approach potential users, what are the best selling points. They say (and I completely agree) that the best sales person in a startup are founders, because they know everything about the idea, they are passionate about it and they don't give up easily. Good luck!
close04 8y ago
> What we should all do is pick the path that has the best 3 feet I hope I'm reading this quote correctly. This doesn't feel entirely right. Short vs long term gratification is probably a much longer topic but I still think a modicum of effort in getting the pros and cons for the most obvious of choices is helpful. Certainly more than just picking the choice that sounds good at the start. Most long term projects have no immediate gratification. Based on the advice above alone whenever you have some money you should pick the path that provides the best immediate benefit and turn it into wine or icecream :). Edit. > In my friend’s case: follow the money! The money you're definitely already making or the money you could possibly be making?
dejaime 8y ago
http://stopmasturbationnow.org/ http://stopmasturbationnow.org/
jchook 8y ago
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. If you love this article you will love this book.
Paul-ish 8y ago
One related study[1] found that when you tell people about your goal, you are less likely to actually achieve your task. [1] http://www.psych.nyu.edu/gollwitzer/09_Gollwitzer_Sheeran_Seifert_Michalski_When_Intentions_.pdf http://www.psych.nyu.edu/gollwitzer/09_Gollwitzer_Sheeran_Se...
MadWombat 8y ago
"Emailed someone where a call would be better?" There are no such circumstances. Fuck voice calls.
whiddershins 8y ago
I don’t know. I’ve lived what the article describes and there’s truth there. OTOH not everyone is required to actually manifest all their dreams. Maybe it’s more fun and satisfying to tinker endlessly without actually starting a real business. Yes, it’s a problem that people live in the future. But also not everyone is cut out to follow through on what they imagine. For me, 99% of what I imagine is just an excuse to tinker, but I’ve followed through on a tiny subset of things and that was great too. I like knowing I actually “did it.” I like pointing to the accomplishment. But there’s definitely a joy and peace in daydreaming and endlessly tinkering without ruining everything by setting yourself up to argue with manufacturers, look for funding, manage employees, live out of a tour bus, or any of the other practical realities that go along with pursuing your dreams in a professional capacity.

quickthrower2 8y ago

Look past the title. It’s a good article.

ct520 8y ago
I agree great read, have to remind myself of this article when I feel I’m losing perspective or need clarity
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
lsen001 8y ago
I found it confusing. Article says "Do the work" but gave 2 choices for the friend: "What’s the priority? Writing software for future use cases, or finding an assembler to build the signs for him?" If the friend wants to grow the project into a business, this is a false dichotomy. The friend should be doing both: adding value to his project by doing what he does best (enhance the product offering) as well as delegating jobs that someone else can do (find a builder). Either choice is "doing the work". Also, the friend has to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time if he wants to expand.

nicoburns 8y ago

Does anyone know where I can buy one of those signs?

AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
Wait, was the sign thing for real? I thought that was a parody...
mhb 8y ago
This looks like it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wiredin/wired-in-wireless-productivity-sign-with-arduino-a https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wiredin/wired-in-wirele...
jkhowland 8y ago
Trevor’s friend here: https://store.wearewired.in https://store.wearewired.in I took his advice haha. I have 300 fully packaged signs to pick up this week. Excited to fix the supply chain issues and start shipping end of the week.
rvalue 8y ago
What happens when you get disturbed even with the sign on?
- nicoburns 8y ago
  Same as without the sign. It could be a useful communication tool though.
spamalot159 8y ago
A coworker has one.

dvt 8y ago

Great piece. Last year, I forced myself to release something every two weeks -- even if it wasn't finished or was just a poorly-written blog post. I can proudly say it was one of the most productive years of my life[1]. Most of those projects won't see the light of day -- no one will care and no one will notice -- but releasing is far better than endless planning. And just to really hit it home: this year I built Lofi (a small Spotify player replacement[2]) and I shared it on reddit[3] (and on HN). But if you read most of the posts, it's a whole bunch of angry people arguing about Electron sucking, about why the app is 100mb, about how C++ and Qt would be better, etc. etc. The difference between me and those people? I'm already working on my next project ;) [1] https://dvt.name/2019/01/06/retrospective-stuff-2018/ https://dvt.name/2019/01/06/retrospective-stuff-2018/ [2] https://www.lofi.rocks/ https://www.lofi.rocks/ [3] https://old.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/aufj4m/lofi_a_minimalist_spotify_player_with_webgl/ https://old.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/aufj4m/lofi_a_...

siwatanejo 8y ago
Well, Electron does suck.
shdh 8y ago
Many of your project links are dead.
- vcavallo 8y ago
  Did you completely miss what he said?
  - yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
    If so, that makes 2 of us. I re-read the post, and he talks about releasing something on a regular basis. I don't see anything about then going back and unpublishing things once he decides it actually isn't good enough? Sorry if there are edits in play or I'm just missing something, but it sure looks to me like broken links should still be surprising.

sdrothrock 8y ago

For people turned off by the title: "Future You Masturbation gives you the pleasure of all your future accomplishments with none of the work. It’s your brain tricking you into something that feels good today in exchange for lost meaning and purpose and accomplishment in the future." It actually sounds a lot like the concept of not telling people about dieting or whatever long-term task you're engaging in due to the dopamine rush from telling people rather than accomplishing things.

gojomo 8y ago

Compare the classic Ze Frank bit on 'brain crack': https://youtu.be/0sHCQWjTrJ8 https://youtu.be/0sHCQWjTrJ8

egypturnash 8y ago

Maybe the friend just doesn't want to make a Serious Business out of this yet, maybe he just enjoys having this side project. Maybe he's still refining the physical design of these signs along with the software with every one he builds. Maybe he's got enough sources of chaos and craziness in his life already from work/family/the hairbrained schemes of his buddy Trevor and he just wants a nice little hobby where he can fiddle around. Maybe he just does not need a Side Hustle in his life right now. Maybe this is just what he's playing with instead of putting together model kits, y'know? It's quite possible to get lost in the weeds planning stuff with no forwards motion. It's also possible to make really, really expensive mistakes by plowing forwards. I've done both of those. There is an alternate reality where the friend has been looking for people to make this thing fast and cheap, and is now sitting on a pile of these things that he can't sell at a price point that will break even, much less make a profit, with an order of magnitude more money than he is comfortable losing sunk into them. And maybe that reality's Trevor just wrote a blog post talking about how this friend should have done their research first, what kind of idiot doesn't do their research? I'm not saying forging ahead is always bad. I've done it a lot in the past. Sometimes it's worked out, sometimes it hasn't. And when it doesn't work out it is a shitload of hassle and stress and I can only take so much of that at once.

antt 8y ago
> I've done both of those. There is an alternate reality where the friend has been looking for people to make this thing fast and cheap, and is now sitting on a pile of these things that he can't sell at a price point that will break even, much less make a profit, with an order of magnitude more money than he is comfortable losing sunk into them. Been there, done that. "Customers" that love the product, at the price point of the raw materials. Charges that come at you from nowhere because you didn't hire an import agent that knows widget X has anti-dumping duties attached to it for the next six months. Warehouses that look good until it rains and then your whole stock is ruined. This one was actually the best thing that could happen, because between the insurance and accounting the business finally broke even and I walked away from it. Hardware is different to software. It's all downside all the way. The only thing I learned is that you should do the most pessimistic accounting you possibly can for sales and manufacture and then divide the first by 10 and multiple the second by 10 and you will be right for what will happen in the first year.

StavrosK 8y ago

I noticed many people doing the same thing with "to do"/"to read" lists. They'll add items to their lists thinking they'll get around to doing them some day, not realizing that future me is probably just as lazy as present me, and if I were going to do something, I would have done it now. So, todo lists become a bit of intellectual masturbation in the sense of "oh I'm not putting this off, I'm definitely going to do it, since it's on my todo list!" I have on my todo list (see the irony) to build a mobile todo list app where tasks will disappear if not finished in a while, along with some other bells and whistles (they'll all move to another screen where you can't remove them and they'll mock you for ever), mostly as an art piece on this exact phenomenon rather than a useful app.

john_minsk 8y ago
Todo lists are useful to keep track of all the tasks in one place and not to hold them in your head. I heard of businessmen who as a rule of thumb delegate or delete tasks after not being able to start within 3 days. So it is matter of your system how you use your todo list
vfinn 8y ago
I found maintaining a TODO list was helpful in seeing how fragmented my ideas were, which helped me to start actually doing things, because for one thing, I realized that I had forgotten most of my (fragmented and peculiar) ideas, and even more so, there were ideas that I found important most of the time I eyed the activities on my TODO list. Still, even without this insight, I'd say one asks himself quite often "What I should do now" in terms of reading/watching a movie/etc., and to answer that TODO list is honestly pretty helpful.
TeMPOraL 8y ago
> I noticed many people doing the same thing with "to do"/"to read" lists. They'll add items to their lists thinking they'll get around to doing them some day, not realizing that future me is probably just as lazy as present me, and if I were going to do something, I would have done it now. Guilty as charged. That said, the primary purpose of my "to read" list today is to short-circuit my procrastination loop; when I realize it's high time to get back to work, I'll quickly scroll through the remaining 20 open tabs, put some on my "toread" list, and close the others.

yomritoyj 8y ago

When it comes to masturbation narrowly defined, most people now accept that it is not harmful or sinful. Nor is it a sign of a failed sex life. I believe that we should have the same attitude towards more general forms of self-gratification.

pawelmurias 8y ago
What's your source?

ryanmarsh 8y ago

If this was a form of cancer I would be Stage 4 and getting my affairs in order. So after years procrastinating on a book, doing research and taking notes but not publishing one word I started blogging. I’ve only written 4 blog posts and they get decent traffic. I was surprised. I’m trying to apply “do the work” to other areas too.

sdinsn 8y ago
> I’ve only written 4 blog posts and they get decent traffic. Do you mind me asking how you are getting traffic? Are you writing on your own personal website or on something like Medium?
- ryanmarsh 8y ago
  See my other comment in this thread.
shadowprofile76 8y ago
also honestly curious. any specific efforts to get traffic or did you just post away and let traffic come organically?
- badpun 8y ago
  I wonder about this. Let's say I create a really good blog about some niche subject, but I don't promote it in any way, so that no one links to it or even knows about it. In such case, if no page on the Internet links to it, will it even by indexed by the Google Search?
  - sdinsn 8y ago
    > if no page on the Internet links to it, will it even by indexed by the Google Search? Probably not. To fix this problem, you create a sitemaps.xml on your server and then give Google/Yahoo/etc. the link to it. https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/156184?hl=en https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/156184?hl=en

alashley 8y ago

> Complained about your dating prospects instead of making yourself more dateable? Being dateable and actually finding people to date are two very different things.

mav3rick 8y ago
The former is almost always helpful . Rather than lamenting about the latter.
- alashley 8y ago
  Makes sense.
wvenable 8y ago
Part of being dateable is putting yourself in situations where there might be people to date.
cheesymuffin 8y ago
This is so true for me. I'm an ant.
rzzzt 8y ago
Sounds like an "If a tree falls in the forest" philosophical problem.
MRD85 8y ago
Unless you live in a small town there are people who are datable, the issue is being attractive enough to them that they want to date you.

adpirz 8y ago

Really great piece, take the time to read it. I've been quite prone to this, and one thing that's helped is building systems vs. goals, per Scott Adams[1][2]. If you read many stories of successful people, you see a pattern in having habits or systems that were built at some point that lead to those successes, as opposed to setting a specific goal and trying to plan around that. [1]https://blog.dilbert.com/2013/11/18/goals-vs-systems/ https://blog.dilbert.com/2013/11/18/goals-vs-systems/ [2]https://outline.com/TGYvt2 https://outline.com/TGYvt2

jimmy1 8y ago

> Whether you have a Tesla in your brain or a Tesla in real life doesn’t make a difference in how happy you are. This quote from the end of the article reminded me of the famous chimpanzee experiment where two chimps were hooked up to a brain scan, one was given a banana to enjoy the other just allowed to watch, but both seemed to have the same "pleasure zone" of the brain light up.

PieUser 8y ago

How is it related to masturbation I do not understand.

wahern 8y ago
It's a euphemism for self-gratification and self-indulgence.

jonahb 8y ago

The tone of this post is so superior and dickish I'd rather not listen to the author.

buzzerbetrayed 8y ago
Good advice is good advice, even if it is poorly delivered.
- robc259 8y ago
  I disagree. As Marshall McLuhan said, "the medium is the message." Poorly delivered messages are prone to be lost as noise.
  - oasisbob 8y ago
    This critique is one of rhetoric - which is not what McLuhan meant in the concept contained in that quote at all. Your complaint seems to be that the use of a sexual metaphor affects the ethos of the speaker in the eyes of some. That metaphor is part of the message, regardless of whether or not you like it.
- wastedhours 8y ago
  The article makes the assumption the creator's desire is to grow+grow it. It's only good advice is that's true, if the creator just wants to make some scratch, whilst scratching their own itch, then it wouldn't be good advice for said person.
smokeyj 8y ago
But why write this comment? You’re a critic, but are you a creator? Post so your creations. I’d like to offer my valuable input.

throwaway713 8y ago

I always wonder if people like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk daydream of their ideal future like most of us seem to do. They definitely seem to act on their vision more, but do they daydream as much as the rest of us?

mlboss 8y ago
Or maybe they daydream more than average but act on only top 0.0001%
- keerthiko 8y ago
  Or they daydream bigger than average, but spend way more time doing than daydreaming than average.
MRD85 8y ago
Acting on your vision is easier for people when they have access to large pools of money. I'm not sure about Mark but Elon seemed like an entrepreneur when I read about his early adulthood. Not an inventor, just someone who found ways to make money. Then when he became rich he became a visionary.
- koonsolo 8y ago
  > Acting on your vision is easier for people when they have access to large pools of money. This is a highly oversimplified vision. It's true that Elon has way more money at his disposal. But it's also true that he had the guts to put all of it on the line for his vision. If I was that rich (after PayPal), I would put money on the side that I would never touch, and then try the business thing with the rest of it. I think most of us would do that, or even retire at that point. Putting all your money on the line (and let's face it, if you have millions, you fall from higher than if you only have $100) really shows how dedicated you are to your vision. That's why we are talking about Elon here, and not about you or me.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]

joesb 8y ago

Article like this is like how a fortuneteller works. It's vague and can be interpreted in many ways. > Put off the correct, hard work for the easier, less effective work? What's correct? How does that not conflicts with "future you" problem? You know that any one who is having the "future you problem" is also doing that while thinking that they taking the correct hard work approach, right? It's just one of those idea where you can just rationalize whether something fits the philosophy.

daeken 8y ago

NOTE TO ALL: The use of the word "mas...bation" will automatically kill your comment. Might want to censor yourself, as silly (and understandable, in most contexts) as it is.

draugadrotten 8y ago
The use of the "mas...bation" word also automatically meant I will not forward the link to co-workers or friends. So the author lost many potential readers from it.
- VBprogrammer 8y ago
  But it most eloquently describes the problem. We shouldn't have to self-censor to get passed some prudish filter on a corporate network on which the reader is probably already not supposed to be reading for fun.
  - OJFord 8y ago
    It's anything but eloquent.

wokwokwok 8y ago

> Emailed someone where a call would be better? Better for you? Or for them? Funny how you can read something, mostly agree and then see an example and nope right out of the whole idea because the example tells you the author has an entirely different set of what ‘valuable’ is, compared to you. Maybe doing the ‘hard thing’ of jumping straight into action is good in some cases... but, mostly, it’s not. Plan first. Act second. Evaluate third. If you miss any of the steps, or get stuck at any of the steps you’re doing it wrong. I contend the authors supposition that most people get stuck on step 1 is wrong. Most people I know get stuck on step 2, and give up without trying to iterate on what they were trying to do, because they didn’t understand that maybe step 1 didn’t come up with a perfect plan the first time around. Sure, maybe it’s cool to have a step 0, which is ‘try it right now!’ to give you some idea & experience on how to get started. ...but the basic contention I this article; “the best thing to do is just to do something right now”; is wrong, and most modern learning & self development frameworks will back that assertion. Isn’t there some famous fallacy thing about this being how terrible political decisions are made?

aws_ls 8y ago
>Plan first. Act second. Evaluate third. Bingo. Why not plan? Also why not day dream sometimes? Some of the best days I've had are also one of when I pause to take a stock. Once I just took a notebook (physical) and went to a park. It was the best planning day, helping me set future direction for next 6 months. Also Bill Gates is(/was) famous for taking reading/thinking retreats. Also your whole comment also summarizes my take on the article.

jedberg 8y ago

The human mind is not a business. Fantasizing about the future is actually integral to the functioning of the human mind. It builds neural pathways and releases dopamine that makes you feel good about your choice, motivating you to execute. Without the fantasy, the reality would never come.

sdinsn 8y ago
> motivating you to execute The article is discussing fantasizing that does not result in action
- jedberg 8y ago
  No the article is saying don't ever waste time fantasizing because it's the same as writing new features in code that no one will use. It specifically calls out things like buying workout clothes before you work out, or getting a new journal before you start journaling.
  - jakubp 8y ago
    Maybe you missed the point of the article. The author is describing a common issue where people have lots of ideas, plan them out in their heads and get the reward in form of pleasure (anticipation of success, power, beauty, anything). They don't imagine or plan actually doing the work, they plan for wonderful outcomes. They never do what's necessary and become quite frustrated, not knowing why. There was even psychological research into this phenomenon if I recall correctly , and it yielded the somewhat surprising result that this is a strong habitual behavior and thus fairly hard to change.
  - sdinsn 8y ago
    Because the risk is that you will never start working out or never start journaling, so your purchase / planning was a waste. Adopt good habits before you invest in them.
- tachyonbeam 8y ago
  As a programmer, I find "fantasizing" important, as in thinking ahead. I'm working on a program, and I do from time to time imagine my software being popular, widely-used in the future, etc. I actually find it useful to, instead of immediately acting, sometimes take a bit of time to ask: how do I want my UI to look? How are people going to use this software? What are some typical use case scenarios? I've gained valuable insight by daydreaming a little bit, and not acting immediately. IMO, you need a mixture of both some planning and also actively working on the project. You can get stuck in fantasies, design something overly complex that you think will solve all use cases (but actually does many things poorly instead of doing one thing well). You can also fantasize about a project so much that you get bored of the project before you even really get started.

kgwxd 8y ago

Fuck myself, literally. This is me for the past 20 years. Imagining myself writing GPL licensed software, in Clojure, using Vim through an actual (not emulated) Linux terminal, for the domain I have the most knowledge, making millions. :%s/Clojure/IDEALISTIC_LANGUAGE_OF_12_YEARS_AGO/g for older projects.

imhoguy 8y ago
> in Clojure, using Vim Ouch, shoudn't it be Emacs? /s
- kgwxd 8y ago
  I tried so hard to use Emacs, the pinky pain is real :) I know about parinfer but, oddly, Vim has better tools for navigating through parens et al out of the box.
- rainygold 8y ago
  I think you have the Fireplace plugin for Vim but yeah Emacs for any Lisp is a no-brainer.
imtringued 8y ago
Reminds me of 2017. All I did was use C++ again for a year. I finished two personal projects and worked on an opensource project for a month. Every before that was as you described.

wallflower 8y ago

If this article resonated with that tuning fork in your head, you might be interested in “What's Your Future Worth?” by Peter Neuwirth. https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/whats-your-future/9781626563018/ https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/whats-your-future/97816... https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Your-Future-Worth-Decisions/dp/1626563012 https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Your-Future-Worth-Decisions/dp/...

jjtheblunt 8y ago

definitely the stupidest title i've ever seen

linkmotif 8y ago

This piece and its ilk are the real click bait of HN. Nothing new or interesting said here, just another “fail fast and early” piece that misses the bigger picture: namely, that unless you just want to make money—which is cool—failing fast and early is not what everyone is about. Finding a markov chain to a product is definitely a way to get there, if you just want to find some product, any product, that will sell to somebody somewhere. But okay, I’ve read this piece a hundred times. I get it. Please stop writing it, or at least please stop upvoting it.

wahern 8y ago
Maybe it's coincidence but IIRC there's some scientific literature that suggests simply imagining success can trigger similar reward pathways as actually achieving success. This in turn may sap motivation. (Not sure if this consequence is part of the science.) The remedy according to some sources is to avoid imagining success or even the end state of your project. To maintain perseverance, try to stay focused on the most immediate problems and potential future hurdles.
- linkmotif 8y ago
  Your comment should have been the article. But regarding: > The remedy according to some sources is to avoid imagining success or even the end state of your project. Is it really the remedy? I agree the problem you state is real, but how does this, or all other possible ways to keep your eyes on the prize, the “remedy”? Growing up I was on a competitive swim team, and one of the exercises we did before meets was imagining the whole race, imagining how we would execute our performance from start to finish. You would imagine the start, how you feel fresh and easy, and then the middle, as you begin to feel yourself tire, and then the end, when you’re exhausted but then the reward of finishing. It’s about the whole race, I think, and day dreaming about the end doesn’t have to be so bad.

trevmckendrick 8y ago

Why did this get penalized from #1 down to ~15?

tomhoward 8y ago

In the personal development/emotional healing technique I've most used in the past few years, this concept is called "living in the future" and it's most certainly been a deeply ingrained tendency for myself and others I know, and is critical to overcome for one to make tangible progress in life. A personal development coach I know trained me to stop talking to others about the successful things I plan to do or expect to do, the theory being that the subconscious/unconscious mind can't tell the difference between talking about them and actually accomplishing them.

p4lindromica 8y ago

This was good motivation. I've been editing a book that I've been working on for over a year. I submitted it to a literary agent just now. It took less than an hour. I'll probably fail. But I'm living in the now. I also made the website first ;) - https://www.burnfastburnbright.com/ https://www.burnfastburnbright.com/

hyperpallium 8y ago

> You can picture how you’ll look and feel, the money in your bank account, the respect of your friends and peers. This is visualizing rewards rather than the thing itself. In contrast, visualizing the product you want, or people getting it (i.e the business operation you want) is inspiring. The difference is conceiving of yourself as a producer or as a consumer (of rewards).

mattnewport 8y ago

It's not this simple. Failure can be the result of too much planning and research as well as too little. Programmers in particular may be more prone to planning too much rather than doing too much but it's possible to overcorrect. The general advice to try something and move forward when you're stuck in analysis paralysis is useful and often good but it's also true that plenty of people put plenty of time and effort into things that ultimately were a waste of time and could probably have been avoided with a bit more planning or research up front.

charleyramm 8y ago
“When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep.” Ursula K. Le Guin

mactyler 8y ago

Yikes. This is a really good one.

sidcool 8y ago

This hits home. I am personally a culprit in daydreaming and building castles in air.

hevi_jos 8y ago

Daydreaming is the first step, necessary and extremely useful.Alone on her own the visionary role does not go far enough though. What happens is that usually the capability of visionary (seeing what does not exist yet in front of you like it is real)is related with your personality. People who has not this capability could not really see what does not exist, but they are essential for following the roadmap(tracker) the good visionary can design. The tracker personality on her own can't really go far enough too. This person does not really know where to go. You can do both roles yourself, the visionary and the tracker, but that is very hard because you have to switch roles, almost like Mr Jekyl and Mr Hyde. And you will have a very strong tendency towards one of them. Or you can partner with someone who is a "natural" tracker if you are a natural "visionary". The sum of the parts will be much better than the individual parts.

monster_group 8y ago

The title needs to have NSFW appended to it. I just realized I clicked on a URL (from my work computer) with a word that is probably on IT's blacklist somewhere.

OJFord 8y ago
Not actually blacklisted here, but the usage is frequent and totally unnecessary. An unfortunate detraction from an otherwise good article.

dschuetz 8y ago

There is a rift between people, where there are some who can do just about anything, but they lack great ideas (which makes them unhappy), and there are people who have many great ideas without the ability or determination to implement them (which makes them unhappy). People who can do both are really, really rare. Both former kinds of people struggle in their own way. Daydreamers don't work, implementors can't dream. They plan, they invent, they struggle and fail. I wonder if there is any skill set behind that, at all. If you can learn to dream, or learn to just do it, at all.

keerthiko 8y ago
i think you learn both by surrounding yourself with people who do one or both (whichever you feel you lack). In my opinion, this is the one true secret sauce of silicon valley, living and working here means the likelihood of all your random encounters and people you are introduced to being dreamer/doer combos is very high (even if many of them may be misguided).
snthd 8y ago
They're all taking their own easy option. The actual rift is between levels of pain tolerance. Grit.
behringer 8y ago
People who lack great ideas fail to do anything at all. What they don't understand is that ideas come from doing things.
- tachyonbeam 8y ago
  That depends. I'm in academia. I'm surrounded by MSc and PhD students. Some of them are truly creative, but they are the minority. Most of them are happy to implement an idea that was assigned to them by a professor they're working with, or make small incremental extensions to existing research. In this line of work, what matters most is getting publications. I would say (this is my personal impression) that many successful academics are not creative types, they conservative and incremental, but most importantly, hard working, detail oriented and determined. All that being said, I wish academia was more about really thinking out of the box, playing with ideas and trying things that are a little more "out there", but from what I've seen in the last decade, it isn't really the case, at least not in STEM.

woogiewonka 8y ago

This article hits me right in the gut because I'm guilty of every one of those HAVE YOU EVERs. Ouch. Even as we speak, I'm here commenting away (why?) on Hacker News when I should be publishing posts, building a list, growing my business so I can find a product in the service and getting it done already. Uuugh, just saying that makes me feel terrible. How do I overcome this...

photonios 8y ago
You could find some people to work together with. In my experience, it makes a bit easier to keep going because you are supporting and motivating each other.

mparr4 8y ago

> Started a business by making a website instead of finding a customer? How do you go about finding a customer without at least a prototype? You need to do market research, sure, but how do you get a customer without a product?

Milank 8y ago
Read this for example: https://lifehacker.com/im-joel-gascoigne-and-this-is-the-story-behind-buffer-1446437914 https://lifehacker.com/im-joel-gascoigne-and-this-is-the-sto...
- mparr4 8y ago
  Wow. Great post. Thanks for sharing. The heavy personal touch at first reminds me of PG’s quote: “Do things that don’t scale” I’ve recently launched a product, https://bugbucket.io https://bugbucket.io that solves a problem I have but I’m struggling to find that first customer. The whole lightweight approach makes sense but now the problem is identifying whether the experiment is a failure or just needs to get in front of more folks...
  - HeyLaughingBoy 8y ago
    Ideas: Sell it to github or gitlab. Troll through github looking for repositories that are actually commercial products and contact the owners to use bugBucket?
  - Milank 8y ago
    You're welcome. It takes some time to get used to lean principles, especially if you have a dev background (as you do it seams). It's the opposite of "build it and they will come" mantra, and dev people are always like "how do you mean sell it before it's built?!" But it works. And it's a way better approach. As for your tool, if you built it because you had the same problem, you are in the perfect position. You should understand very well the pain points, who has them, how it affects their everyday work and from there it should be easy to make tactics on how to approach potential users, what are the best selling points. They say (and I completely agree) that the best sales person in a startup are founders, because they know everything about the idea, they are passionate about it and they don't give up easily. Good luck!

close04 8y ago

> What we should all do is pick the path that has the best 3 feet I hope I'm reading this quote correctly. This doesn't feel entirely right. Short vs long term gratification is probably a much longer topic but I still think a modicum of effort in getting the pros and cons for the most obvious of choices is helpful. Certainly more than just picking the choice that sounds good at the start. Most long term projects have no immediate gratification. Based on the advice above alone whenever you have some money you should pick the path that provides the best immediate benefit and turn it into wine or icecream :). Edit. > In my friend’s case: follow the money! The money you're definitely already making or the money you could possibly be making?

dejaime 8y ago

http://stopmasturbationnow.org/ http://stopmasturbationnow.org/

jchook 8y ago

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. If you love this article you will love this book.

Paul-ish 8y ago

One related study[1] found that when you tell people about your goal, you are less likely to actually achieve your task. [1] http://www.psych.nyu.edu/gollwitzer/09_Gollwitzer_Sheeran_Seifert_Michalski_When_Intentions_.pdf http://www.psych.nyu.edu/gollwitzer/09_Gollwitzer_Sheeran_Se...

MadWombat 8y ago

"Emailed someone where a call would be better?" There are no such circumstances. Fuck voice calls.

whiddershins 8y ago

I don’t know. I’ve lived what the article describes and there’s truth there. OTOH not everyone is required to actually manifest all their dreams. Maybe it’s more fun and satisfying to tinker endlessly without actually starting a real business. Yes, it’s a problem that people live in the future. But also not everyone is cut out to follow through on what they imagine. For me, 99% of what I imagine is just an excuse to tinker, but I’ve followed through on a tiny subset of things and that was great too. I like knowing I actually “did it.” I like pointing to the accomplishment. But there’s definitely a joy and peace in daydreaming and endlessly tinkering without ruining everything by setting yourself up to argue with manufacturers, look for funding, manage employees, live out of a tour bus, or any of the other practical realities that go along with pursuing your dreams in a professional capacity.