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Tell HN: A new method to maximize hacking in a startup

6 points by imjonathanlee 15y ago

Note: It seems like there seems to be a general misunderstanding about me. I'm not stressed or frustrated or lack the motivation/excitement to work on my startup. I have a steady job and a very healthy schedule (working out, eating healthy, don't drink or smoke), and a bit of money saved up. We're actually very efficient already in terms of programming and making our startups launch. What I'm trying to do is pause the chores/responsbilities/friends/lifestyle I have now, to increase the time I have to work on the startup because it's that appealing to me. I already sleep 6 hours and work 15 hours, so it's really not a big difference for me. It's the environment away from what I currently have that will enable me to spend more time on the startup. I'm 23, which is why I can do something like this before I have to uphold even more responsbilities. Also, a day has 24 hours, so not including sleep and the 15+ hours of work(breaks are included in that 15+ hours), I have 2-3 hours to myself. I'm not feeling insecure or hitting a midlife crises- I'm trying to gain even more productivity time for my startup, and the only way I see around it is to temporarily take a break from stuff I'm attached to here. ALSO: The only calls I plan are taking are from Hong Kong itself in case an emergency happens (A recent relative had a stroke and is in a Hong Kong hospital). Going to Hong Kong enables me to take trips to China, which is a lot of fun and doesn't require staying longer than a day to enjoy. I'm also choosing Hong Kong because I can borrow the vacant house for free (courtesy of my parents). Going to Canada is around 1k round trip for me, whereas Hong Kong is 1.1k round trip. I'd rather go to Hong Kong in terms of that preference. The remaining $900 involves around $200-300 for china (paying the visa to visit there, transportation, etc) and the rest is for food. I've considered going somewhere closer for a week, but I'll definitely burn out if I don't even have anything like China to look forward to. 2 weeks of coding non stop is fine but not 3 weeks( I've done 2 and barely managed to keep motivated towards the end). I could also take an extra week in Hong Kong to do nothing but have fun if that settles any argument for people. ---------------------------------------------- THE PLAN We go to Hong Kong for 3 weeks, living in a vacant house with 2 rooms (one for sleeping, and one as a makeshift office) doing nothing but coding. Literally sleep 5 hours from 3AM to 8AM, at work for at least 15+ hours a day for 6 days a week. I’m thinking this could work, because 1) no girlfriend, and no friends at all to visit- we’re only thousands of miles away from them, 2) no responsibilities- food will be delivered, trash/laundry taken care of by a maid (my parents offered to have their maid come up to our building and clean once or twice a week), 3) there’s absolutely nothing to do where we live! We’re surrounded by mountains, seniors, and the sea. The only thing we can do is run/workout which we plan on doing the remaining time that we’re not hacking away on our laptops, 4) the one day off we have off- we can use it to travel to China and explore and have fun there. In San Diego, there’s really nothing for us to do on our day off anyways- we usually just end up eating lunch, surfing the net, or just hanging out with friends at coffee shops. I figured that the thought of actually going somewhere fun and different like China would be very motivational to keep us working hard the remaining 6 days a week. 5) Oh, and forgot to mention- my cofounder is Korean, he doesn’t speak a word of Cantonese, which helps with keeping us stay focused. Cons: 1) I’d say we’ll each be short 2k in expenses by going to travel to Asia and do nothing but code. 2) For that 2k each, we won’t even be doing much sightseeing- so basically a waste of a trip in terms of travelling. ( 3) What other cons do you see? What do you think about our isolated environment dedicated to nothing but coding? We feel that we’ll definitely get somewhere(we better…) if we really can’t do anything else! The reasoning I have is when you’re forced to learn a foreign language fluently by living in a country you know nothing about- it works because you have no other options besides actually learning it, so hopefully the same concept applies here.

nudge 15y ago
I've got a better idea. You give me the $4k and I'll fly to San Diego and beat you with a stick any time you stop working. Seriously though, this is a really weird plan. It's a huge amount of money to spend for something that almost certainly won't have the effect you want. Unless you want burnout and a serious case of "maybe we should have budgeted more time to take a look around Hong Kong, which is actually pretty cool". Take a working vacation if you want, but it's not the place you're in that's causing you trouble.
- anigbrowl 15y ago
  Oh snap. Seriously Jonathan, what you have here is a mixture of impatience and imperfect self-discipline, probably because you and your partner have not yet hit on an idea that truly excites you, to the point where social or practical considerations are simply less interesting.
  - OWaz 15y ago
    I agree. The problem might not be your work environment, but what you are working on. When you say "we always seem to be distracted by all stuff going around us in our lives" I think that your project isn't interesting enough to over shadow everything going on around you. Do you even feel excited about your projects?
    - imjonathanlee 15y ago
      I understand where people are coming from. I've made a few small startups- that all ended up unsuccessful. I'm at the point where my standards for ideas are much higher now, so when I actually do have an idea- I'm often so excited by it that I can't sleep for weeks thinking about how I would implement it. The stuff that "distracts" us are responsibilities. They range from working part-time as a sysadmin to pay bills from taking care of family members who are in current need of my support, and having to deal supporting a friend who had to deal with an attempted suicide. I already sleep 6 hours, and spend the rest of my days working. I figured that one hour less of sleep, and relocating myself temporarily will allow me to simply shift the remaining time that I don;t have for the startup for the startup. It's precisely because I'm excited to work more on my startup that I want to move things around.

6 points by imjonathanlee 15y ago

nudge 15y ago

I've got a better idea. You give me the $4k and I'll fly to San Diego and beat you with a stick any time you stop working. Seriously though, this is a really weird plan. It's a huge amount of money to spend for something that almost certainly won't have the effect you want. Unless you want burnout and a serious case of "maybe we should have budgeted more time to take a look around Hong Kong, which is actually pretty cool". Take a working vacation if you want, but it's not the place you're in that's causing you trouble.

anigbrowl 15y ago
Oh snap. Seriously Jonathan, what you have here is a mixture of impatience and imperfect self-discipline, probably because you and your partner have not yet hit on an idea that truly excites you, to the point where social or practical considerations are simply less interesting.
- OWaz 15y ago
  I agree. The problem might not be your work environment, but what you are working on. When you say "we always seem to be distracted by all stuff going around us in our lives" I think that your project isn't interesting enough to over shadow everything going on around you. Do you even feel excited about your projects?
  - imjonathanlee 15y ago
    I understand where people are coming from. I've made a few small startups- that all ended up unsuccessful. I'm at the point where my standards for ideas are much higher now, so when I actually do have an idea- I'm often so excited by it that I can't sleep for weeks thinking about how I would implement it. The stuff that "distracts" us are responsibilities. They range from working part-time as a sysadmin to pay bills from taking care of family members who are in current need of my support, and having to deal supporting a friend who had to deal with an attempted suicide. I already sleep 6 hours, and spend the rest of my days working. I figured that one hour less of sleep, and relocating myself temporarily will allow me to simply shift the remaining time that I don;t have for the startup for the startup. It's precisely because I'm excited to work more on my startup that I want to move things around.