Ask HN: How to deal with side-project fatigue, incl. hobbies, etc.?

12 points by drabadur 3 years ago | 4 comments

Currently I am in somewhat of a predicament, in that I have so many things I want to do in a day, after work, but once I finally have the time, I'm unable to choose and just start to aimlessly surf or go to bed early. These things include gaming, learning specific things like a new language, creating a blog post, working on personal website, woodworking, more sports, list goes on and on. This has become more and more severe as time goes on for me, and leads to a form of regret that I've again wasted time.

How do you deal with this? How can I focus on one specific think after work?

caprock 3 years ago |

Here's a place to start...

In your next few sessions of free time, open up a text file or physical notepad, and proceed to just write down all the things you are interested in doing in life. Don't worry much about the structure or how it's done. Be creative. It can be lists, paragraphs, sentences, mixtures, and so on. Make side comments, draw pictures if you're feeling that. Just get it all out in brain dumps over several sessions. Don't limit yourself to "side projects". Include things like exercise, recreation, learning, social desires.

This brain dump will allow you to empty and relax your mind.

Next, begin to think about organizing with an aim toward finding the next 1-3 things that you want to prioritize. How you prioritize is up to you, and very personal. Accept that choosing to prioritize thing 1, will mean deferring things 2, 3, and 100.

Finally, in the next session, switch from organizing to doing. Just do a small task or activity related to the top priority.

Do as many implementation sessions as you like. When you start feeling scattered and anxious, go back and spend some time organizing.

----

The big picture...

As a part of this process, begin to recognize how this organization time is legitimate work. It's the prep work, the executive function time, which you do before you start implementing. It's a never ending loop of organizing and doing.

Additionally, recognize the brain dump and wherever you keep all these notes, is your external reference store. You don't have to walk around with all the ideas and goals in your head now. You can relax and focus on the top few priorities, and return to your written notes as needed.

If you want a more structured variation of this, read and try the Getting Things Done book and techniques.

metadat 3 years ago |

Be gentler with yourself; you are a human being, not a robot.

You don't have a responsibility optimize every last bit of every day. All this does over time is run you ragged and complete the recipe for burnout. Identify things and values that are most important to you and dive in.

Give yourself permission to reflect and acknowledge that being too busy all the time takes a toll, and as your daily cup of energy gets drained you need to recharge and refill it with leisure or other beneficial activities.

This is part of the secret sauce to succeeding in being your best self and ensuring you have that capacity available for the most important times when delivering your top performance is critical.

Personally, I've come to the realization that human relationships and connections in my life matter far beyond anything else.

didgetmaster 3 years ago |

This is actually a common thing with people who feel overwhelmed. They have so much on their plate, that they don't pick any one thing to work on and do nothing instead.

I have a side project that can consume all my time if I let it. There are tons of features still on my TODO list. There are also bugs to fix, UI refinements to make, documentation to write, blogs to update, etc., etc..

When I feel overwhelmed, I simply pick one thing to do. Sometimes I just roll a die and if it comes up #3 (fix a bug) then I spend some time fixing it. If I fix it and still have time, then I might fix another bug or roll the die again. I don't worry about all the other things that didn't get done. Save them for another day.

favourable 3 years ago |

When you 'pay attention' to something, you literally PAY energy to something that either excites you or makes you feel drained. Go with things that GIVE you more energy than the initial energy spent. Basic positive psychology 101. Nurture things that make you grow physically, mentally, or spiritually.

Whittle things down to essential components. The best minds of this world have all cut away the inessential. Start with a solid foundation, and then build.