Hacker News Reader

Comment by robotnikman | Hacker News Reader

I've always admired the tenacity of people who reverse engineer stuff. To be able to spend multiple months figuring out barely documented technologies with no promise of success takes a lot a willpower and discipline. It's something I wish I could improve more in myself.

View on HN

I think you could. In some sense "easily". It may be about finding that thing you're naturally so interested in or otherwise drawn to, that the months figuring out become a type of driven joy, and so the willpower kinda automatic.

And if you find it, don't judge what it is or worry what others might think - or even necessarily tell anyone. Sometimes the most motivating things are highly personal, as with the OP; a significant part of their childhood.

You definitely have a point there, looking at some of my previous work I was able to stick to projects for many months if I found the work interesting. I'll have to admit in the past 5 or so years any time I've tried to start a project there was always the thought in the back of my mind of 'will this benefit my career' or 'how can I make money on this in the future'. It seems having such thoughts adds additional anxiety to whenever I try and start to work on something for fun.

Looks like that is what I need to start looking for again, projects which I find interesting or fun to do in my spare time, without thinking about how it would affect my career or trying to find ways to monetize it.

I totally get this. Something I'm learning - slowly - as it is so counter to sound ethic, is that making some work into pure fun helps the other work by preventing burn-out, which for me at least is an ongoing risk. Certainly feels better!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com