3 ms·

That's a fantastic essay. Somehow I always thought that no-one else had this problem. Seriously. I hope I can finally give up my youthful arrogance. I always

by wynand 18y ago

That's a fantastic essay. Somehow I always thought that no-one else had this problem. Seriously. I hope I can finally give up my youthful arrogance. I always believed that when people spoke about getting experience they meant learning more about writing software (and how I scoffed at that). But it's just as much, if not more, about learning how not to turn around and run away.

yters 18y ago
Based on the WSJ article a couple days ago, this is a marketable asset in our generation.
tdavis 18y ago
I have this problem every so often; you're not alone. A few weeks ago I don't think I did any meaningful work for an entire week straight. I just screwed around each day, telling myself that the next day would be "super hardcore work day" and every following day would have to follow suit. I eventually snapped out of it, but it took that whole week of just recharging my batteries to get back into it. I even managed to start working a few times during that drought and I always stopped almost immediately afterwards, never getting into the zone. Maybe it's the nature of the work, maybe it's a common character flaw of people who do our work, I don't know. All I know is you're certainly not alone.
- kaens 18y ago
  I have this problem every so often; you're not alone. A few weeks ago I don't think I did any meaningful work for an entire week straight. I just screwed around each day, telling myself that the next day would be "super hardcore work day" and every following day would have to follow suit. I also have this problem. It seems like every once in a while, I get stuck in this weird anti-productivity loop. I know I should be doing things, and I'll tell myself that I'll start in just a little bit or the next day, but end up not. I've noticed that I can put a halt to this process quickly (hopefully this works for other people as well) by forcing myself to stop thinking about whatever it is I'm doing for a while, and do something creative or intellectually stimulating that is entirely unrelated to the problem at hand. In my case, the "recharge" activity tends to be one of: - playing musical instruments - reading - drawing / painting - going outside and doing one of the above, or thinking about nature, physics, etc. - studying (as in going through a book that I need a pencil and paper to make sure that I am understanding what's being shown in it). In the case of studying, the subject matter doesn't have to be entirely unrelated to what I'm doing. I've been using Concrete Mathematics for this purpose lately. Studying, however, doesn't help if I'm stuck in anti-productivity mode and feeling like my brain's a bit burnt out though. If I don't force myself to do one of my "recharge" activities, I remain in the "anti-productivity loop" for a while, at most a week or so. It should be noted that the "anti-productivity loop" is a powerful force. It's easy to fall into, and it takes a bit of a force of will to break out of. Perhaps it would be more appropriately labeled "state of negative-flow".
  - 13ren 18y ago
    Sounds exactly like "intensity cycling". You work hard, progressively improving, til you stop getting gains. Then you take a week off where you do virtually no work, to recover. Then, you start again at 70% of your previous peak, and work up again. It's from weight training. I just heard of it a couple of days ago, but it's eerily similar. Also, plain common sense (but I needed to hear it). http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/79fu6/7_ways_to_be_a_healthier_programmer/c061o7z http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/79fu6/7_ways_to...
    - tdavis 18y ago
      I've had to do that with regard to weight training before, I didn't think it was something that could be generally applied though! Thanks for the tips, kaens. I will certainly keep them in mind in the future.
      - fallentimes 18y ago
        I think that's what Wufoo does - vaca every 2 months. Granted I doubt they did it their first year out.
- fallentimes 18y ago
  So that's what you did that week. ;p I think everyone goes through those phases, but honestly I haven't since I left my "real job". Whenever I find myself in a small rut, I just switch to another task or take a nap. There's always so much stuff to do at a startup - it's never ending work - that I always can find something else to work on in the intermediary. Being able to say that your website/blog/product literally gets better every day feels euphoric especially when talking to your investors, friends, family, cofounders.

by wynand 18y ago

yters 18y ago

Based on the WSJ article a couple days ago, this is a marketable asset in our generation.

tdavis 18y ago

I have this problem every so often; you're not alone. A few weeks ago I don't think I did any meaningful work for an entire week straight. I just screwed around each day, telling myself that the next day would be "super hardcore work day" and every following day would have to follow suit. I eventually snapped out of it, but it took that whole week of just recharging my batteries to get back into it. I even managed to start working a few times during that drought and I always stopped almost immediately afterwards, never getting into the zone. Maybe it's the nature of the work, maybe it's a common character flaw of people who do our work, I don't know. All I know is you're certainly not alone.

kaens 18y ago
I have this problem every so often; you're not alone. A few weeks ago I don't think I did any meaningful work for an entire week straight. I just screwed around each day, telling myself that the next day would be "super hardcore work day" and every following day would have to follow suit. I also have this problem. It seems like every once in a while, I get stuck in this weird anti-productivity loop. I know I should be doing things, and I'll tell myself that I'll start in just a little bit or the next day, but end up not. I've noticed that I can put a halt to this process quickly (hopefully this works for other people as well) by forcing myself to stop thinking about whatever it is I'm doing for a while, and do something creative or intellectually stimulating that is entirely unrelated to the problem at hand. In my case, the "recharge" activity tends to be one of: - playing musical instruments - reading - drawing / painting - going outside and doing one of the above, or thinking about nature, physics, etc. - studying (as in going through a book that I need a pencil and paper to make sure that I am understanding what's being shown in it). In the case of studying, the subject matter doesn't have to be entirely unrelated to what I'm doing. I've been using Concrete Mathematics for this purpose lately. Studying, however, doesn't help if I'm stuck in anti-productivity mode and feeling like my brain's a bit burnt out though. If I don't force myself to do one of my "recharge" activities, I remain in the "anti-productivity loop" for a while, at most a week or so. It should be noted that the "anti-productivity loop" is a powerful force. It's easy to fall into, and it takes a bit of a force of will to break out of. Perhaps it would be more appropriately labeled "state of negative-flow".
- 13ren 18y ago
  Sounds exactly like "intensity cycling". You work hard, progressively improving, til you stop getting gains. Then you take a week off where you do virtually no work, to recover. Then, you start again at 70% of your previous peak, and work up again. It's from weight training. I just heard of it a couple of days ago, but it's eerily similar. Also, plain common sense (but I needed to hear it). http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/79fu6/7_ways_to_be_a_healthier_programmer/c061o7z http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/79fu6/7_ways_to...
  - tdavis 18y ago
    I've had to do that with regard to weight training before, I didn't think it was something that could be generally applied though! Thanks for the tips, kaens. I will certainly keep them in mind in the future.
    - fallentimes 18y ago
      I think that's what Wufoo does - vaca every 2 months. Granted I doubt they did it their first year out.
fallentimes 18y ago
So that's what you did that week. ;p I think everyone goes through those phases, but honestly I haven't since I left my "real job". Whenever I find myself in a small rut, I just switch to another task or take a nap. There's always so much stuff to do at a startup - it's never ending work - that I always can find something else to work on in the intermediary. Being able to say that your website/blog/product literally gets better every day feels euphoric especially when talking to your investors, friends, family, cofounders.