Comment by dlisboa | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dlisboa | Hacker News Reader

I went through a lot of what you’re going through and I realized something: I just really like what I do. To the point that reading technical articles in my spare time is not work to me. Learning new things is mentally very gratifying, even if that may never go into my resume.

I wouldn’t call myself a workaholic at all. Work can be stressful even if challenging. But if I had a billion dollars and didn’t have to work at all I’d still do the exact same things I do today.

I don’t think that’s really a problem. Does a surgeon not read technical articles on her free time? Does an NBA player not work on his game in the off-season? All of that is unpaid labor, but they just really want to get better at what they do because they feel good getting better.

If you feel that’s stressful then just check if you’re doing it for the right reasons. Personally I do it because I like it, not because it’ll pay off career-wise in the future. It never crossed my mind that one day I’d get paid more because of all the things I learned years ago: I just learned them at the time because I wanted to.

This. Doing things you want to do just because you enjoy learning it.

I didn't realize that I liked making irrelevant things (out of date tech, some idiosyncratic language etc.), until I started making one!

It may seem like I am working or not taking a rest. But making such petty things, tinkering with configs, wasting time just doing something useless helps my brain get occupied. I think that is the most important thing for me at the moment.

If I let my brain astray, then I know I am doomed. So if you are enjoying it, just keep on doing it! It's completely okay AS LONG AS you are enjoying!

Fun fact: Doing meaningless things makes my brain more active!

I agree with this partly.

I think the missing part is that there's different kinds of enjoyment/fun. Some are shallow and restorative but not terribly fulfilling (e.g., playing a game). Some are deeper and taxing but fulfilling (e.g., coding). The restorative/taxing difference is key.

I have to make a conscious effort to "do nothing" (have shallow kinds of fun) so I don't overtax myself. A "varied fun diet" is important. (This even extends to games; too much of something like Factorio without enough of something like Red Dead Redemption isn't good for you.)

Orthogonal to this, as you point out well, motivation matters a lot: am I doing this thing out of FOMO, strategically hoping it'll pay off or like I'm supposed to be doing it even if I don't want to? Or am I doing this actually because I find it fun? The things I tend to work on are really stupid and useless and have nearly zero strategic value for future employability, which is how I know I'm doing them for fun. ;p

Hmm yeah sure, but doing something implies you don't do something else. I doubt these aspects are as ideal as your work situation:

- dating

- sports

- family life

- exciting hobbies & hanging out with friends

That’s a lot to assume about someone you don’t know. It’s quite possible to think and read about “work” while also doing all of those.

I’m married, have a son, and we’re all currently at the beach waiting for our friends to join us. I’m doing pretty well on the personal side. Just because I might learn something technical later today doesn’t ruin that.

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