5 ms·

The most common failure mode is failing to show up

82 points by ryanwaggoner 14y ago

ryandvm 14y ago
I really struggle with analysis paralysis as well. The best treatment I've found when realizing that I'm stuck is to identify the smallest viable action I can take to move the project forward. Often tackling this task is enough to overcome the static friction and get the project moving again. At which point I'm fully immersed in the project context and the larger issues somehow seem less formidable.
- ryanwaggoner 14y ago
  On a micro scale, I use pomodoros for this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique), but on a bigger scale, I often find that I'm subconsciously weighed down by worrying about things that I'm not currently doing anything on. Have to remind myself to just get moving and figure things out as I go. My long streaks of working out almost always start with a couple days at the gym basically screwing around. I know it's not optimal, but it's something, and I gradually get more intentional and serious as I keep going.
  - deweerdt 14y ago
    I second the use pomodoro technique, it's a great way to keep track of time. Shameless plug: i wrote an online pomodoro timer http://yay.im/pomodoro http://yay.im/pomodoro
- shardling 14y ago
  Yeah, when I was stuck writing up my thesis, I found it helpful to begin just by something silly. Things like tweaking the layout, or rewording or spot checking parts I'd already written, helped me get in the flow again.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
peachananr 14y ago
scumbag brains and its automated risk aversion..
drivingmenuts 14y ago
That pretty much sums up my whole life right now on every front. I have a good-paying job (a major change from two years ago) that I'm absolutely frozen in figuring out how to get things done. More than once, I've considered leaving for a lower-paying job where there's less decision-making. As for my personal life, fuck it. Not important.
- ryanwaggoner 14y ago
  Congrats on the job. If it helps, from what I've seen at a lot of higher levels of companies and organizations, no one really knows what they're doing. You're probably also suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect [1] and are doing better than you think you are. 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect
  - bluepaper 14y ago
    Forgive me, after a brief look over the Wikipedia article surely it's the opposite of that? "unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability much higher than average" - so they think they're better than they are, whereas you're suggesting they're doing better than they think they are.
    - ryanwaggoner 14y ago
      I'm talking about this part of the Wikipedia article: Actual competence may weaken self-confidence, as competent individuals may falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding.
kiba 14y ago
My solution to this problem is to cultivate habits. For example, I write or edit 500 words a day. That's enough to output more than 3.65 the size of a 50K words novel every year if one only write new words. However, with editing, it's more like a well crafted 50K words novel. (I don't write novels, just non-fiction essays, on a variety of subjects) Another habit I built is to self quantify myself in various dimension such as sleep/awake time, weight, steps, blood pressure, pulse rate, and blood sugar everyday. The result is almost 70 days worth of data. Every 21 days, I add new data points to measure. Next will probably involves sleep quality rating. I used the self quantification habit to keep tab on my health and conduct scientific experiment. I also learn using anki, a spaced repetition software, helping me remembering anything from programming facts to the multiplication table to spelling errors I made. I used khanacademy to review my mathematical knowledge, because it have a spaced repetition system built into it. I also used khanacademy to learn math(73% complete already!), but that's a medium-long term project that will get finished eventually. Reviewing math, on the other hand, is what you do for life, at least until the math becomes so deeply ingrained into your mind that you don't need to study them anymore. My rule for adding habits is to wait every 21 days before adding new ones. It's also important to make sure you don't have too many habits to maintain, as they impose a cognitive burden. If you can reduce them to code or programs, do it. Another thing to remember is that habit formation really depend on the habits and the person. Some people forms habits better than others, while some habits are easier to do. The rule of thumb is that the easier the task, the easier to form habit. For example, doing situps doing commercial breaks on television is much harder than drinking a glass of milk everyday. So, 21 days isn't a magical day when your effort to do something everyday becomes a habit. It's just a nice round number to use so that you won't be overwhelmed trying to add several new habits in a really short period of time.
- ryanwaggoner 14y ago
  Are you me? I do, or have done, almost everything on this list. My rule for adding habits is to wait every 21 days before adding new ones. It's also important to make sure you don't have too many habits to maintain, as they impose a cognitive burden. If you can reduce them to code or programs, do it. Couldn't agree more. I have a very hard time maintaining more than 10 total daily habits or about 90-120 mins of daily habits. What do you use for your quantified self measurements, in terms of devices, apps, etc?
scott_s 14y ago
Joel Spolsky has a similarly themed essay from back in the day, "Fire and Motion": http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000339.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000339.html
jamessun 14y ago
"Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good." - Voltaire
spindritf 14y ago
> The moral of the story of Narcissus, told as a warning for the very people who refuse to hear it as such, is that how Narcissus came to be is irrelevant. What was important was what he did, and what he did---- was nothing. from http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2012/10/the_story_of_narcissus.html http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2012/10/the_story_of_narcissu... and the whole thing is just great.
stephengillie 14y ago
Do something. Even if it’s the wrong thing, just do something. It might not be as wrong as you think, and if it is, you can adjust and do better next time. Hiring workers first as paid interns, with an option to convert to FTE later, allows the worker and the people in the organization to feel each other out and ensure a good fit of both personality and skillsets. If the worker doesn't fit in, then it saves both the group and the individual from a stressful work environment, and you can keep trying until you find the right person. Even doing the wrong thing works out, and sometimes better than doing the right thing. More importantly, you're making space in your life, schedule, and mind, for what it is you want to do. This allows people to try something out, play with the ideas, and understand the important factors in making the decision later. Many people share a similar philosophy when buying durable goods[1] - buy a cheaper/low-end model, and when it breaks you buy a higher-quality model. Or, if the higher-quality model isn't actually higher quality, but is simply more expensive, you know to buy the cheap one. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durable_good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durable_good
- mattmanser 14y ago
  This only works for unskilled workers in a bad job climate as they're desperate. You're not going to be hiring a skilled programmer with that. People don't quit their job for a paid internship. Anyway, what's the point? You can just fire them if it's not working out.
fitandfunction 14y ago
I've always thought that the "trough of sorrow" should really be re-cast as the "personal trough[s] of sorrow," i.e. every day, every decision is confronted by doubt, and you have to continually overcome the fear of failure. This is exacerbated by the fact that you're constantly confronted with stories about other people / teams / companies that are "crushing it." The good news is that it really does get easier with practice and repetition. Kind of like jumping into a freezing cold pool for swim practice. After the first couple of times you realize, "hey, I didn't drown," which makes the next few times easier. It never gets easy, just easier than when you started.

82 points by ryanwaggoner 14y ago

I really struggle with analysis paralysis as well. The best treatment I've found when realizing that I'm stuck is to identify the smallest viable action I can take to move the project forward. Often tackling this task is enough to overcome the static friction and get the project moving again. At which point I'm fully immersed in the project context and the larger issues somehow seem less formidable.

ryanwaggoner 14y ago
On a micro scale, I use pomodoros for this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique), but on a bigger scale, I often find that I'm subconsciously weighed down by worrying about things that I'm not currently doing anything on. Have to remind myself to just get moving and figure things out as I go. My long streaks of working out almost always start with a couple days at the gym basically screwing around. I know it's not optimal, but it's something, and I gradually get more intentional and serious as I keep going.
- deweerdt 14y ago
  I second the use pomodoro technique, it's a great way to keep track of time. Shameless plug: i wrote an online pomodoro timer http://yay.im/pomodoro http://yay.im/pomodoro
shardling 14y ago
Yeah, when I was stuck writing up my thesis, I found it helpful to begin just by something silly. Things like tweaking the layout, or rewording or spot checking parts I'd already written, helped me get in the flow again.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

peachananr 14y ago

scumbag brains and its automated risk aversion..

drivingmenuts 14y ago

That pretty much sums up my whole life right now on every front. I have a good-paying job (a major change from two years ago) that I'm absolutely frozen in figuring out how to get things done. More than once, I've considered leaving for a lower-paying job where there's less decision-making. As for my personal life, fuck it. Not important.

ryanwaggoner 14y ago
Congrats on the job. If it helps, from what I've seen at a lot of higher levels of companies and organizations, no one really knows what they're doing. You're probably also suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect [1] and are doing better than you think you are. 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect
- bluepaper 14y ago
  Forgive me, after a brief look over the Wikipedia article surely it's the opposite of that? "unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability much higher than average" - so they think they're better than they are, whereas you're suggesting they're doing better than they think they are.
  - ryanwaggoner 14y ago
    I'm talking about this part of the Wikipedia article: Actual competence may weaken self-confidence, as competent individuals may falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding.

kiba 14y ago

My solution to this problem is to cultivate habits. For example, I write or edit 500 words a day. That's enough to output more than 3.65 the size of a 50K words novel every year if one only write new words. However, with editing, it's more like a well crafted 50K words novel. (I don't write novels, just non-fiction essays, on a variety of subjects) Another habit I built is to self quantify myself in various dimension such as sleep/awake time, weight, steps, blood pressure, pulse rate, and blood sugar everyday. The result is almost 70 days worth of data. Every 21 days, I add new data points to measure. Next will probably involves sleep quality rating. I used the self quantification habit to keep tab on my health and conduct scientific experiment. I also learn using anki, a spaced repetition software, helping me remembering anything from programming facts to the multiplication table to spelling errors I made. I used khanacademy to review my mathematical knowledge, because it have a spaced repetition system built into it. I also used khanacademy to learn math(73% complete already!), but that's a medium-long term project that will get finished eventually. Reviewing math, on the other hand, is what you do for life, at least until the math becomes so deeply ingrained into your mind that you don't need to study them anymore. My rule for adding habits is to wait every 21 days before adding new ones. It's also important to make sure you don't have too many habits to maintain, as they impose a cognitive burden. If you can reduce them to code or programs, do it. Another thing to remember is that habit formation really depend on the habits and the person. Some people forms habits better than others, while some habits are easier to do. The rule of thumb is that the easier the task, the easier to form habit. For example, doing situps doing commercial breaks on television is much harder than drinking a glass of milk everyday. So, 21 days isn't a magical day when your effort to do something everyday becomes a habit. It's just a nice round number to use so that you won't be overwhelmed trying to add several new habits in a really short period of time.

ryanwaggoner 14y ago
Are you me? I do, or have done, almost everything on this list. My rule for adding habits is to wait every 21 days before adding new ones. It's also important to make sure you don't have too many habits to maintain, as they impose a cognitive burden. If you can reduce them to code or programs, do it. Couldn't agree more. I have a very hard time maintaining more than 10 total daily habits or about 90-120 mins of daily habits. What do you use for your quantified self measurements, in terms of devices, apps, etc?

scott_s 14y ago

Joel Spolsky has a similarly themed essay from back in the day, "Fire and Motion": http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000339.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000339.html

jamessun 14y ago

"Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good." - Voltaire

spindritf 14y ago

> The moral of the story of Narcissus, told as a warning for the very people who refuse to hear it as such, is that how Narcissus came to be is irrelevant. What was important was what he did, and what he did---- was nothing. from http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2012/10/the_story_of_narcissus.html http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2012/10/the_story_of_narcissu... and the whole thing is just great.

stephengillie 14y ago

Do something. Even if it’s the wrong thing, just do something. It might not be as wrong as you think, and if it is, you can adjust and do better next time. Hiring workers first as paid interns, with an option to convert to FTE later, allows the worker and the people in the organization to feel each other out and ensure a good fit of both personality and skillsets. If the worker doesn't fit in, then it saves both the group and the individual from a stressful work environment, and you can keep trying until you find the right person. Even doing the wrong thing works out, and sometimes better than doing the right thing. More importantly, you're making space in your life, schedule, and mind, for what it is you want to do. This allows people to try something out, play with the ideas, and understand the important factors in making the decision later. Many people share a similar philosophy when buying durable goods[1] - buy a cheaper/low-end model, and when it breaks you buy a higher-quality model. Or, if the higher-quality model isn't actually higher quality, but is simply more expensive, you know to buy the cheap one. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durable_good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durable_good

mattmanser 14y ago
This only works for unskilled workers in a bad job climate as they're desperate. You're not going to be hiring a skilled programmer with that. People don't quit their job for a paid internship. Anyway, what's the point? You can just fire them if it's not working out.

fitandfunction 14y ago

I've always thought that the "trough of sorrow" should really be re-cast as the "personal trough[s] of sorrow," i.e. every day, every decision is confronted by doubt, and you have to continually overcome the fear of failure. This is exacerbated by the fact that you're constantly confronted with stories about other people / teams / companies that are "crushing it." The good news is that it really does get easier with practice and repetition. Kind of like jumping into a freezing cold pool for swim practice. After the first couple of times you realize, "hey, I didn't drown," which makes the next few times easier. It never gets easy, just easier than when you started.