Ask HN: Do you ritualize? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Do you ritualize?

I'm working on my next book for Portfolio on the maker's mindset and as part of the research, I'd love your thoughts on these two questions:

1. Do you ritualize or automate any part of your life, from mundane things like what you eat every day to creative things like the place or tools you use to create? And, if so, what and why?

2. Creating something from nothing, be it code or company, is a hugely uncertain endeavor with the potential for a lot of angst, do you do anything to help breath through the uncertainty or even lean into it? And, if so, what?

Thanks so much for the insights.

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RE: #2, I'd like to draw a corollary with professional combat sports, be in boxing, MMA, or whatever. You will see some fighters that have rituals to pump them up to get in the ring/cage, while some of the champions you see are very relaxed. Have you checked out Manny Pacquiao walking to the ring in his boxing fights? He's smiling, happy as can be.

And I think this is the way with many of the "difficult" things in life. You are bound to find someone who just loves it. Take public speaking - lots of people are afraid of it, a few people just love it and thrive. Same with dating. Same with programming. These are all disciplines where a majority of the population finds angst in the undertaking, but a minority of the population just plain finds it fun.

The bottom line is that these are the kinds of people who are predisposed to these disciplines. So programmers, entrepreneurs, artists - these are largely people predisposed to enjoying the hugely uncertain endeavor of large code, starting a company, painting on a blank canvas

Definitely an interesting observation, one I've been exploring a lot, too.

What I've found, though, is that there's also a whole lot of mythology behind it. There are definitely people who are "built" with both the Jones to create in a certain medium and the ability to handle the uncertainty that touches down during the process of a long-term quest. For some, it even becomes fuel organically.

But for many others, they've been given only half the equation - the Jones to create, but not the innate ability to lean into the uncertainty that comes with really pushing into a new level. Some bail on the quest, but others end up creating workarounds, often ones they're not even aware of, as a way to let them do what they're "here to do."

That's why I'm asking these questions.

O ok, I get where you're coming form now. For sure there are workarounds or rituals to augment your natural drive. I mean, peaks and troughs in motivation happen to everyone. Most people may have some practices and rituals such as going to sleep thinking about what you'll accomplish the next day (Marc Andreessen blogged about this) or keeping a running journal of what you hope to learn, accomplish (I do this), but I do think that the largest chunk of efficacy in maintaining the drive to "take it to the next level" comes via leveraging the community.

Success rarely happens in a vacuum. There is a fraternity of sorts among CEOs, there is a community among founders and any sort of craftsmen/engineers (this is why YC is awesome).

Personally I regularly schedule going to technical conferences even if it's not directly relevant to what I'm currently working on, and meetups to go to. These let me witness how awesome some people are and remind me of my desire to be like them, to learn from them. I'm sure most technical folks will agree with me that conferences are a huge motivator. As well as regularly scheduling lunch/coffee with people I really respect. These events remind me of what I'm "here to do" and I find brings me out of the troughs of low motivation.

Lastly - repetition comes into play always, in everything in life. My first startup I remember these rollercoaster rides of emotional highs and lows when we got a first customer (yay!), or found out about a competitor doing it better than us or beta users not liking the product (crap!). Now, being a bit more seasoned, I guess I'm just a bit cooler headed just by having "been there before." The same goes with coding a blank project. And with the boxing analogy I made in my previous post, even a timid person will probably become steeled once he has stepped in the ring many, many times.

Re: mundane things I do - When I sit down to start 'producing' something I will write a short list of to-do items (as few as 3-4) and try to cross off the first one as soon as possible. This first thing could be "purchase xyz domain" or "download latest version of Wordpress".

The act of crossing off something gives my mind a mental high and I then become really productive as I add more items and begin crossing them off.

Another strange thing I do is I will close down all programs and restart my computer. Once it starts up I will only open the one or two programs I need to use because it feels much 'cleaner' or perhaps 'fresh' when I do it like this. I think this may be due to my experiences in the past with windows and memory leaking programs and TSRs.

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