Hacker News Reader

Comment by ken | Hacker News Reader

Having done this myself recently, I'd say it's more like:

"I have an extremely clear idea of what I really want to do, but I haven't even built a prototype yet, so what I'm working on 2 weeks from now might well be one of the dozen other completely different ideas I've got. And I don't really want to be forever remembered as The Guy Who Left To Start Dumb Project XYZ."

There's value to oneself in declaring publicly that you are mentally unencumbered.

View on HN

But there's negative value in telling people what you're really up to. I first heard it from Derek Sivers who said that Repeated psychology tests have proven that telling someone your goal makes it less likely to happen [1]. And it actually makes sense...

So it might be better to engage in some little public self-embarassment than go around telling what you're up to...

[1] http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_you...

interesting, thanks. Hemingway said the same about writing: he'd work until he knew where he would pick up the next day. Then he could stop. In between, he'd not want to talk about what he'd worked on or planned to next sessions as that would get in the way of actually doing it.

I've had success writing code this way. If there's a wall, talking about it helps; if there's a flow, shutting up and letting your subconscious at it helps more.

I couldn't have phrased this better. Thanks ken!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com