HN Books @HNBooksMonth

Agreed. His book is also highly recommended:

https://www.amazon.com/Solving-Procrastination-Puzzle-Concis...

⬐ floxy

After reading the 1 and 2 star reviews, is there any one particular point that differentiates this book from the others? (Getting Things Done, Eat the Frog, The Now Habit, etc.)

⬐ bserge

Eyeroll. Read it. I read everything. Look, my brain is broken. It would literally be easier for me to off myself than do everything I need to do every single day. It's simply hell.

A mediocre life is the best I can hope for without modern medicine. When I had access to it, I felt normal for the short but brilliant time it lasted.

⬐ Y_Y

In my experience, even having access to all the medicine you need doesn't really make things that much better. Sure you can force yourself to work or sleep or smile for a day, but you can't do it every day.

⬐ austhrow743

Of course a book isn't a substitute for medication?

⬐ zigzaggy

I feel this pain deep inside my brain. My head is like a million points moving in several directions at once, all the time. In fact, I just set up another appointment where I am going in full throttle for whatever medication I can get. I am completely exhausted trying to keep these points all lined up in a straight line.

⬐ ArcturianDeath

"pain"

⬐ zigzaggy

Psychological pain is real pain, wouldn't you agree? Isn't it all "in our heads" either way?

⬐ pmoriarty

You might want to take a serious look at your nutrition. Nutritional deficiencies or imbalances can cause all sorts of very serious issues, including mental issues.

Taking long walks in nature (as in 2 or more hours long) can help, as can unplugging from the internet and other media, and meditation.

Many of us hyper-stimulated, and are in a pavlovian loop of jumping from one source of instant gratification to another, without taking much time to reflect one's own life and the world. Quieting one's life might help.

⬐ beforeolives

The nutrition point is so difficult to evaluate - a lot of personal variation, many anecdotes, few good scientific studies, a lot of subjectivity and misattribution, people getting fired up online and turning it into ideology... it's very difficult to figure out what's true and what actually works for you.

⬐ robocat

I think it is mostly a case of scientific belief in a trial by error process: if you believe in trying a bunch of different ideas, you are likely to eventually hit on solutions that help or hinder. You do need some minimum set of ability and brain power to do this effectively. However, even prophylactic or placebo effects can be minor wins (so long as you can manage to avoid dangerous things, like too much https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radithor ).

⬐ zigzaggy

These are great tips. I do miss my days spent outdoors (took a few years off to run a flower planting crew at a landscaping company and run some long distance races).

As for nutrition, I do think I'm doing well there. Other than a sugar fix at night, I eat pretty good/healthy/whole food.

Unplugging is probably my short term answer. I'm also going through the stresses of resigning from my day job and ramping up my side work, so that's a source of intensity too.

⬐ amatecha

1000% agree about the hyper-stimulation. I see the signs of it in everyone around me. Very very few people take the time to "unplug" and ACTUALLY experience some quiet times, reflect on life and shut out the infinitely-noisy outside world.

My business advice is to get help, which it seems like you are starting by asking here. Good job. But sometimes what you really need is to heed good advice that you don't like.

I hate paperwork, but I have people who are rockstars with it, so they do that. I am primarily the innovator, sales and programmer. I like design and many things, but I realize when others can do a better job, faster and cheaper than I can, and I take advantage of that.

But when I was starting out, I only had myself, and I had to do _everything_. This included all the paperwork. It sounds like you primarily have a motivation issue, look into sources for helping with this. I listened to the audiobook version of Solving the Procrastination Puzzle [0], there are at least a few brilliant ideas in there that will help anyone. I am a workalohic in some ways, but I feel perpetually lazy and behind, yet run my own business and spend more time working that most. Go figure, yet I still hit procrastination walls on some topics, like paperwork or billing, etc...

The reality may be that you made a huge mistake, and just need to own up to it, and get as much money back out of this venture as you can. But if you want to own up to current and past failings and make a go of it, keep trying.

But, I have to say that the reason my business worked is because I simply wasn't going to do anything else. Period. You couldn't force a normal job into my hands, when I wasn't working for clients, I worked for myself. I have short, medium and long term plans and I stuck on a drive to do them all. If you simply don't have this, or if you try to create this drive and fail to do so, it's better to close up shop and find the thing you can do.

Having 50k in the bank is pretty damn cool, you have some skills at managing money to get that far. You may want to reassess your primary abilities and refocus to something you are actually good at. Right now, making software doesn't seem to be it. Or maybe it's the software you are focused (or not focused on, har) that you need to reevaluate. Maybe there's a project that isn't as financially viable, but you would actually finish it.

Last word of wisdom, decent software that is finished and working is worth more than perfect software left undone.

I hope you figure out your problem. I have a brother in Japan teaching English, I know there's not a ton of money in it, but he is happy and satisfied with his life. Being happy/satisfied may is perhaps more important to consider...

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Solving-Procrastination-Puzzle-Concis...

Here is information about the research group at Carleton University and a short article:

1. http://www.procrastination.ca/

2. http://newsroom.carleton.ca/2012/09/20/what-are-you-waiting-...

Also, Dr. Pychyl's book on procrastination: Solving the Procrastination Puzzle: A Concise Guide to Strategies for Change if you're interested in a read:

https://www.amazon.com/Solving-Procrastination-Puzzle-Concis...

(Just throwing up links for more info.)