
Ask HN: How do you manage all your interests, hopes, dreams? - ambivalents
I am interested in so many things, and feel a sickening dread that I won&#x27;t have the time to explore them all. I&#x27;m actively resentful of my job for taking me away from the things I want to learn and get good at. When I get home, I&#x27;m overwhelmed with possibility, so I always question whether I&#x27;m spending time on the right thing. I often don&#x27;t end up doing anything due to this analysis paralysis.<p>If you&#x27;re like me, what do you do? Do you try to whittle down your interests and commit only to a few, accepting that one cannot do everything they want to in life? Do you try to cram them all in somehow? Do you focus on one at a time and trust that, eventually, you will be able to get to them all? Do you quit your job and take a sabbatical year to do a deep dive on all these things, provided you have the means (I don&#x27;t, necessarily, but could eventually).<p>This has been causing me quite a lot of stress lately. Thanks HN, for any wisdom you might have.
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malux85
Why do you feel a sickening dread that you won’t have time to explore them
all?

You won’t. That’s a fact.

We are all limited beings. You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.

Bill gates didn’t choose polio eradication because it was the most
intellectually interesting, or the most profitable, or the most trendy - he
chose it because he assessed all the options and found a goal that was
challenging but achievable.

You need to do the same. It’s ok to be interested and open minded about other
areas, and it’s ok to spend time on them, but don’t let analysis paralyse you,
pick a few challenging stretch goals and go for it

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dukeflukem
One thing I regret is not taking a year off before kids to explore such things
or one thing in depth. Without kids its quite affordable you can move anywhere
in the world and live frugally. Have all day and all mental energy to explore
with time to balance this with fitness/socializing/ meditation etc.

Hardest thing is the social taboo. You'd be spending a year working away for
no income and no recognition. Or at least nothing guaranteed. That would be
seen as madness (or baaaaa-d) by the masses.

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ambivalents
I considered taking six months off and renting a cheap apartment somewhere in
Spain. It's still a possibility, but the social taboo is definitely a strong
force. Met with questions like, 'but what about your career?', 'what will you
do for income?', 'health insurance?', etc., all seem to have the effect of
putting me back in my dutiful, rule-abiding place. Sigh.

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ProfessorLayton
What I have found helpful when feeling paralyzed by options is to create more
easily digestible goals. Sure you may be not be able to do everything, but
what can you do _now_? Even if you don't have much free time, if you're able
to hit your bite-sized goals, the feeling of progress is what can help you
feel motivated.

Let's say you're a developer interested in design, and you have a goal of
creating the best-in-class application for whatever, but you're not too
knowledgable about the design process. Instead of diving into the deep end of
UX patterns, usability studies, tests, validation, platform-specific do's and
don'ts etc. — start by picking apart your favorite app, and really dig into
what makes the UX great, or what doesn't, think really deeply about the
problems they're trying to solve and why. Take lots of notes.

Don't have time for that? Let's break the goal down further, and start by
thinking about what your top 5 best-in-class apps are and why you think
they're great. This can be as high-level or as deep as you want, so long as
you're hitting an achievable self-made goal on a regular basis to keep you
going.

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krrishd
There's a few broad interests/hopes/dreams that I tend to juggle, as is the
case for most people.

I also have this note in my phone called "pipe dreams", in which, whenever I
fantasize or think about something that's plausible while simultaneously kinda
crazy/life-changing, I write it down. I occasionally visit it when I'm feeling
uninspired or bored, and this usually results in me working on something that
incrementally reaches towards one of those "pipe dreams".

~~~
ambivalents
Reminds me of this practice of Derek Sivers - creating a "Possible Futures"
folder on his desktop [0]. I have started to do the same, I think just the
practice of writing them down helps with the anxieties of never being able to
tend to them all.

[https://sivers.org/futures](https://sivers.org/futures)

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myaso
I went through something similar. I started keeping a journal. Also start a
personal wiki, I use vimwiki and it's the best habit I ever developed -- it
really helps to organize your thinking, you will also understand yourself
better. Don't take a sabbatical unless you have an interest that consumes you,
given the state your in you won't get anything done -- at best it will let you
wander into something you decide on and at worst it will be a temporary
escape.

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ambivalents
I've journaled off and on but haven't been able to keep up the habit. I am
going to give the personal wiki a shot, I think it's a great idea. I feel
overwhelmed with input, like I have no way to control or systematize it, this
may be a solution. Thank you!

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myaso
You use a wiki in a different way than a journal -- journal entries you write
once and maybe read again. You can iteratively prune and refine a wiki over
time.

