
Solo founders: how do you stay emotionally efficient? - dangrover
There's a great online book called "The Hacker's Diet" (http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/hackdiet.html)  which is a no-bullshit dieting/fitness book written by an engineer with the assumption that the reader is fairly smart and rational. He even has some nifty Excel charts. I lost 50 pounds with his approach. Self-help books are usually total drivel with no respect for the reader, so I wish there were tons more written like this one, but on other topics.<p>But I figure starting a discussion about a problem I have (and others here might) could be a good idea...<p>Anyway, as I've worked on my business in my spare hours, I've  gradually refined my methods for planning projects and getting work done.  I'm more productive than I was a year ago, but there's kind of a blind spot that maybe other folks here don't have.<p>I've noticed the biggest bottleneck stopping me from efficiently accomplishing the tasks I've set up for myself is just my mood. I'll have a clear definition of what needs to be done, full confidence in where I'm going with things, and I'll sit down and just think "aw, damn, I feel like shit." Then I'll generally waste time until it's 1am and I need to sleep. This happens 1-2 nights a week.<p>I'm looking for news.yc folks to try to get some rational insights on on the irrational problem of keeping your mood in check and focusing on what matters, when you're just one guy.<p>How do you guys deal with emotional problems?<p>How do you avoid ruminating on things in your day that have pissed you off? This is my biggest issue.<p>What kind of non-computer things can you readily do to get away from it? What kind of breaks do you take, and what do you do?<p>What time of day do you work on your own stuff? Do you ever forgo sleep to hack into the night if it's going well, or do you always get your eight hours? Which is better in the long run?<p>These might seem like goofy or stupid questions, but I think discussing them in a nifty forum like News.YC might yield some good insights.<p>My thinking is that while some emotional problems are complex and difficult, a good number of them can be solved simply. I've noticed, for instance, that about half of the time I feel like dying, the trifecta of a shower, a nap, and a bowl of chili reverses the feeling 100%.<p>I had a few thoughts and suggestions around things that <i>have</i> worked well for me, but this post is long enough, so I'll leave this open. Thanks!
======
pg
Writing is much like being a single founder. I find the single most important
thing is to be aware of how motivated you are, and to adjust the work
accordingly. If you try to work on hard stuff when you're low, you'll just
procrastinate. But if you start working on easy stuff, getting something done
will put you into a better mood, and you'll be able to move on to harder
stuff.

Hemingway used to leave something easy unfinished in the evenings, so he had
something to start with in the mornings. That works for me too, with both
writing and hacking.

~~~
kleevr
The Hemingway reference was a tasty infobyte, anyone else have a favorite
'inertia management tip'?

~~~
gruseom
A trick I sometimes use is to leave something broken (or unfinished) when I
quit working. It's easier to get back up to speed by picking up where I left
off than by starting something new from zero.

------
jfoutz
So, i'm by no means a master... but i have a few thoughts.

1\. I've found recently that when i don't want to code, it's because i don't
understand something. I've been picking up a pencil and paper and just working
out things i'm nervous about a lot more often lately. it's been a nice
productivity boost.

2\. avoid crap that will piss you off to no good effect. I read
reddit.politics from time to time and lose an hour just grumbling over some
comment. huge waste of time.

3\. i like running. i don't do it often enough... but a couple of miles will
really turn down the volume on the rest of the world. very nearly a reset
button for me.

4\. by all means, stay up late and hack. However, for me, more than once a
week is very detrimental. Sometimes, it's worth being a little slow the next
day.

~~~
yters
#1 is key for me. Once I have the problem and course of action in mind, I can
plug away easily. Otherwise I kind of flounder around, unless I purposefully
focus on figuring out what I need to do next.

Also, I'd say 99% of advice is useless. People don't usually need to learn
more effective ways of doing things. What they really lack is motivation and
that's usually because they're trying to force themselves to do something they
really think is pointless.

------
wheels
As often as I can, I try to work on the thing that I'm most interested in
doing at that very moment, even if it's not the most important. Experience has
taught me that an hour on the wrong task is better than an hour wasted
procrastinating the right one. Eventually my motivation will return to
whatever it was that I _should_ have been doing, and at least then there's not
a pile of stuff that's accumulated.

As for frustration ... dancing. Seriously. I tend to go out dancing once a
week and just shut off my brain, chat with my friends and forget about
everything productive for a few hours. It just helps me reset.

~~~
pauek
> Eventually my motivation will return to whatever it was that I should have
> been doing

How do you do to keep a coherent direction, then? My problem is precisely
this, and I am so driven by motivation that I end up doing a kind of Brownian
motion, in retrospect... ;)

------
hollerith
To state the obvious, the lack of motivation, feeling like shit and the
ruminating you mention are common "symptoms" of depression or dysthymia or
chronic sadness. Pessimism about one's future is another "symptom".

I struggled with chronic sadness most of my adult life, and tried many things
to get rid of it. For example, I tried about 9 different prescription
antidepressant drugs. The best cure for me is to have face-to-face interaction
with someone early in the day. 2 hours of f2f interaction in day seems to
energize me more than 1 hour, but 1 hour is enough to keep most of the sadness
away. The energizing effect seems to manifest the day _after_ the "face time".
This works very well for me: much better for example than any of the
prescription drugs. I got this idea from
<http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/facedepress>.

(That page and the others I read about this "face cure" say that watching
video of faces works just as well as f2f interaction: I have not tried that
yet.)

By the way, this antidepressant effect of face-to-face interaction is one
reason I want a cofounder or two.

Good luck, and feel free to contact me privately if you have a followup
question.

------
dangrover
One last thought: Just about every night when I'm about to fall asleep, I'll
notice the logical inconsistency of my own thoughts and think something to the
effect of "Wait, what exactly do kangaroos have to do with zeppelin pilots
anyway? Oh, awesome, I must be about to fall asleep. Freakin' finally.
ZZZZZ..."

I'd love to be able to do this more when fully awake. Sometimes I can -- I'll
realize the influence of my emotions on my thoughts when considering them. But
not as often as I'd like.

I liken it to a kind of metacognitive exception-throwing. Have you guys found
ways to put a few more asserts() in your thought process?

~~~
aswanson
_what exactly do kangaroos have to do with zeppelin pilots anyway_

Hilarious. The strange thing to me is, _while_ you are in this state, the
connection makes perfect sense. It's only when you snap out does it become
inconsistent. Maybe it has to do with certain portions of the brain relaxing
before others.

~~~
midnightmonster
What you describe is more like my experience when half-awoken in the middle of
the night. That's when I'll hold adamantly to some complete bit of nonsense
("Really, this does make sense!") while my wife smiles and nods and tries to
get me to turn over and go back to sleep. I often remember the event afterward
and can't think why I thought I was making sense.

In contrast, when I'm falling asleep (and I assumed this was more what the
parent was talking about) I'll suddenly realize that there have been one or
several strands of nonsense running in my head for what seems like some time.
Sometimes the strands seemed like reasonable trains of thought until I
attended to them, sometimes they're just imagined dialog of other people
(experienced as mentally overheard instead of consciously imagined) or
something else.

But to become aware of them (and to be aware of them as nonsense) in the
falling asleep case isn't to snap out of the state. The state continues often
until I'm asleep, and a kind of metacognition appears over it with the
realization that my thoughts don't make any sense and drawing the conclusion
that I'm in the process of falling asleep. Except the original state is
probably better described as semi- or sub-cognition.

It's nice to know a couple other people have similar experiences.

I'm not aware of any connection in myself between throwing an exception when
almost asleep and being mindful of my emotional state and its effects while
awake. (Except perhaps the correlation that I'm more mindful generally now
than a few years ago, and the going-to-sleep thing _might_ be a last-couple-
years phenomenon. I don't remember it for sure before then.)

I do find that using programming metaphors (e.g., throwing an exception) for
my mental processes is almost always misleading.

~~~
yters
I think this metacognition is starting to bleed over into my dreams:( or :)

Also, I don't think it is just nonsense. These strange thoughts seem to have
two levels to them. The more syntactic level, i.e. being part of a video game
and fighting giants doesn't make any sense. But, it is the intuitive meaning
behind these images that does make sense.

So, my theory is that I'm not necessarily thinking nonsense, but thinking on a
different level. A level switch causes that meta-cognition of "nonsense" to
occur.

This is similar to reading good literature. Often, great books make use of
complex imagery that doesn't make much literal sense. But, focussing on the
intuitive impressions that the images bring seems to convey some kind of
deeper meaning.

------
ryan
You might consider getting a co-founder. It's likely your moods will be out of
phase, so that when one is down the other can be the motivating force and vice
versa.

Also accept the fact that doing a startup is an emotional roller coaster - one
day you will believe you are about to take over the world, the next you will
wonder why you are wasting your time. Just accept these short term variations
and focus on building a great product :)

------
spencermiles
As many people have said, exercise is key. Besides just clearing my mind, I
find that going for a run or a bike ride actually helps me focus on what I
need to be working on when I get home.

My #2 problem after procrastination is prioritizing what I should be working
on. Whenever I go for a bike ride for a few hours, I have a lot of time to
think about the direction of my project, which really helps me focus and get
right to work when I'm home.

Also, a girlfriend helps, or at least set aside time for dating. Balance is
key, or you'll burn out quick.

------
ken
I'm most productive when I'm training for a marathon. Amazingly when you spend
2 hours running, you end up with more time in the day. I don't know how it
works either, but it does.

Martial arts training is good, too. Classes are at a specific time (which can
be good and bad) and it's much more social (which is almost entirely good).

~~~
jmzachary
Maybe you're running against the rotation of the Earth, thereby causing you to
go back in time. It worked for Superman.

~~~
ken
No, even if I was Super-fast it would do no good, as I run a Hamiltonian
cycle.

------
cubix
Ze Frank made an interesting comment related to this:
<http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/12/121906.html>

------
martythemaniak
I have two points to make here:

1\. Your general mood - I don't think you can control it and so you might be
better off going along with it rather than trying to fight it. I also work on
my stuff part time, and many days I sit down with the intention of doing
something and I realize that I just can't do a damned thing. Forcing yourself
to do stuff at this point is likely to make you unhappy and produce no code,
so it's kinda useless.

I don't know about you, but I don't know when exactly I am in the good/bad
mood, so I sit down and try to get some work done. Some nights I end up
working 6+hrs straight into the wee hours and other nights I close down the
editor and play CS or watch TV.

2\. When you're working on new stuff sometimes its hard to get started since
there may be several ways to do it, and they all seem equally valid. Instead
of trying to plan out too much, just start implementing one of them. Even if
you chose wrongly (you can reverse it later), it'll both motivate you to work
further and give you a much better idea of what it is that you actually
want/need to do.

I tend to do a good amount this kind of programming and it works out well in
the end (if I compare some of earlier check-ins for my current project with
the latest ones, there'll be very very little in common)

As awesome as the Hacker's Diet is (I use EMA weight chart to keep track of my
weight), I don't think you'll find something quite like that for emotions ;)

~~~
mrtron
Regarding 2:

I struggle with this all the time - I always start working on something one
way but as soon as I come to a realization that there may be a problem with
the one, I switch to the other way. It leads to a lot of thrashing.

This is never a good approach, fully implement one way and make it easy to
swap at a later point and document problems.

------
Flemlord
On dieting...

I've always had a problem with weight. After extensive research, I tried the
Hacker's Diet and lost 60 pounds over 7 months. The big problem with HD is
that it doesn't emphasize increasing your protein intake. As a result, I lost
some muscle mass as well as fat. I kept the weight off for two years but
eventually gained most of it back. Another criticism of HD is that you lose
your energy--had I been working at the time I couldn't have pulled it off.

I'm currently doing a medically supervised diet called a Modified Fast which
does emphasize increasing protein and virtually eliminating carbs. One of my
board members recommended the clinic and they claim they can do 15-20 pounds a
month with no muscle loss or decrease in energy. I'm ahead of schedule but I'm
only a couple days in so it doesn't really count. (The first 10 lbs are water
weight.) I also take an appetite suppressant called phentermine during both
diets.

Here's the Wikipedia link (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet>) for
something similar to my current diet. They call it the Ketogenic Diet. (The
whole point is to kick your body into a state of ketosis where it rapidly
burns off all your fat. The protein is to make sure it doesn't also burn off
muscle.)

~~~
nazgulnarsil
there is no healthy way to lose weight fast. period. it is stressful on your
body. the way to lose weight is to change your habits so that over time your
body can accustom itself to new conditions.

------
seregine
I rarely get pissed off at other people; for me that's usually a sign that I'm
insecure about something and unwilling to admit it. But I do get tired and
unmotivated now and then.

When I catch myself procrastinating, I just say "OK, I'm going to
procrastinate for the next 30-60 minutes". Then I set the timer and goof off
without guilt. When the timer rings, I go back to work.

Minimal exercise is really important: some stretches/calisthenics in the
morning, occasionally pushups or pull-ups as 5-minute breaks.

My social life is limited, but I see my girlfriend every day and that helps a
lot.

------
neilcauldwell
Not working on the same problem for all hours of the day usually helps. For
example, instead of spending all day coding, break up the day by swapping your
focus to an entirely different aspect of your startup, like finding potential
customers or planning your pitch to a top blogger. Coding in the morning,
strategy in the afternoon...and both should be done while drinking as much
water as possible.

If you can't bring yourself to focus on a different part of your startup,
write down exactly what is causing you to be angry (let's be honest - it's
usually something to do with the code you've written) and list the possible
solutions underneath it. Choose the best solution on gut instinct, and move on
asap. Too much thinking is bad.

p.s. I'm really, really glad to have come across this post; I now know other
people are experiencing the same ridiculous mental state!

------
hendler
This is very nice, sensitive post. I've got lots of coping mechanisms, and
I've worked alone a long time. Don't be alone unless you want to be.

If you are looking for a sustainable solution to competing and coping in the
world, it is to find a good team. It might be some one just like you, or some
one who seems opposite.

Low hanging fruit so there is measurable progress, a clear plan so there are
attainable goals, and a team to share the journey.

------
abijlani
Motivation is tricky so here's what works for me:

1\. I have a short paragraph that I wrote telling myself why certain things
are important to me and my eventual goal.I read it whenever I'm feeling down.

2\. I always have a 4 item to do list. Why 4? It just works for me. It's short
enough to accomplish and long enough to feel I actually got something done.
Doesn't mean once you accomplished all 4 you have to stop, anything extra
would just be bonus.

3\. Turn into a morning person. It has dramatically improved my productivity.
Rising early gives me plenty of energy and keeps me mentally fit.

------
enki
having an online audience that gives feedback is motivating. even better if
your friends (cheerleaders!) are your first users and constantly give you
reallife feedback.

if you don't have cheerleaders, try to find some. even better, find projects
you can cheerlead for too. starting stuff without an audience gets depressing
real fast. if someone takes notice of what you're doing it's a lot harder to
bury yourself if things get tough.

it's all about building structures that force you to succeed. put yourself on
rails, and make sure it's really hard not to stay on course.

------
alex_c
Exercise helps.

Music I like can also help me focus when I'm procrastinating too much.

There are times when I'm at an energy/focus low, and can't get anything done,
which just lowers my energy/focus more, which can lead to a downward spiral.
If I can push through it and get something done, that might pick me up, but
more often it's a signal that I need to take a break and get off the computer
(things like reddit or stumbleupon don't count as a break, they just turn my
brain into mush).

------
lee
Several years ago, I discovered a way to manage my emotional state as a
byproduct of something else I was trying to do - relearn Russian for an
overseas project. I had read in several places that you can 'replasticize'
your brain for learning by doing neurofeedback and sought out a local
practitioner.

He stuck tiny gold sensors on my head with a conductive paste and hooked me up
to his PC and told me to 'make the beeps come'. I laid back and tried to clear
my head and think of nothing. Every once in a while I'd hear a beep and then
I'd _try_ to do the same thing and no beeps would come. After a few times, my
mind would wander and one day I thought about when I was playing with a puppy
earlier and I smiled to myself and suddenly there were lots of beeps.

Between weekly sessions, I'd practice for 20 minutes daily. Did it help my
Russian? Maybe, I really don't have a way of getting the data for it. I think
it might have, but also being in daily email correspondence with a real live
Russian and having my livelihood dependent on writing in Russian contributed
as well.

One of the things I noticed was that on days that I 'meditated', things
magically got done with a lot less resistance and internal drama and that I
was far more productive. How much more? Well, in true Hacker's diet tradition,
I made a spreadsheet and tracked it. While I didn't have a numeric scale, and
therefore couldn't apply a weighted moving average, I was able to look at the
todo lists and see what kinds of things got crossed off and what didn't and
make a qualitative evaluation that I got about twice as much done on days
where I laid down and connected with my inner puppy in the morning. This is
after tracking for three months. It was obvious that it was beneficial before
I started tracking, but I was very curious as to how beneficial and the three
months tracked over two different kinds of projects - one creative and one
analytical. I think the meditation also helped the transition between the two
- which usually takes some time if I'm changing disciplines.

I explored several other forms of meditation and eventually had success with
the thinking of nothing for twenty minutes. There was one with counting to ten
over and over that felt like training wheels and I didn't like. I kept coming
back to that puppy and found that it was the most effective.

This is a fascinating question and one that I'll follow. I'm very glad you
asked it.

------
mrtron
I have, like everyone else in here, experienced the same thing. I certainly go
through periods of lesser motivation.

Things that I find help me get through it: A) Momentum. Once I get started I
don't stop for as long as possible, including working late into the night.
Sometimes momentum can carry through to the next day if you maintain focus.

B) Deadlines and dependancies. I just wrote a project for my brother in about
a week of my spare time. If that was a personal project, it would have taken a
month of time. I had someone else relying on me, and had a ridiculously tight
deadline, and it pushed me to ignore all problems and just do it.

C) Mental health. It is an issue we ignore - almost everyone has discussed
physical activity, and I believe this is certainly important in mental health
- but not many people suggest focusing on the mind. There are many things you
can do to temporarily improve mental health, like travel, meet new people,
exercise, etc; improving mental health fundamentally is very difficult. I
won't go into too many details, but essentially you need to understand
yourself, your passions and desires, your faults to really know why you act in
certain ways.

All that being said, I suffer the same issues on a regular basis.

------
kshepard
I highly recommend meditation. I have a steady practice of sitting for 20-30
minutes every day at around the same time, and find that it helps a lot with
the various problems you've discussed. It feels great to have small period of
time each day to work on steadying the mind and all its incessant thought
loops.

Meditation is obviously not a panacea, and doesn't give much in the way of
immediate results -- which unfortunately makes it easy to abandon. But after
sticking with it for a while, I think you'll find that you'll have fewer
emotional peaks and valleys, and will therefore be a bit more productive
(amongst other things).

I'm glad you had some good luck with the Hacker's Diet. I too have been
following the methods in that book for a couple years now, and have steadily
lost a good amount of weight. I think the main thing that I took away from it
was how important awareness is. Just recording my weight each day and plotting
a moving average gave some insight that I never previously would have
considered. And I think the same is true for meditation. You'd be surprised
what new kinds of awareness about your own emotional state arises when you are
just sitting with nothing but your mind.

------
troystribling
I have started waking a few hours earlier to work before going to my full time
job and putting in less time in the evenings. A day at my full time job seems
to drain my motivation sometimes. Also, often a problem that has me stuck in
the evening is solved the following morning on waking. I changed my work
pattern after noticing this.

------
murrayh
I find I work more consistently on a day if I have exercised on that day; a
jog, or maybe a session of pilates or something. Often I will work quite well
in the morning when I know I am going to go for a run at lunch time, so it
seems to benefit me both before and after strangely enough.

------
noodle
take up some form of martial art as a hobby. i suggest this because it
involves a lot of important aspects that you won't get as a full-time solo
hacker: gets you physically fit, helps to relieve stress, gets you to clear
your mind and focus on something different for a while, and puts you in a
social environment away from a computer.

------
quimax
Somehow surprised, it seems a lot of us are solo founders. Nice bunch of good
solutions, I see.

Max

------
randomhack
I clean my desk and make it clutter free. I tend to accumulate everything from
printouts to coffee cups over time.

------
paul9290
I have worked on my startup for over a year. I hired someone in India as my
developer as I did/do the web design and business stuff....

Through my experience and something I recommend all startuppers have is a
thick skin and a crazy, insane drive! If little things piss you off now, how
would you handle negative comments made about the work you have slaved over?
The negative actually should be viewed as constructive criticism, though also
learn to decipher the vicious with the constructive!

When I want to get away from my work I will go and hang out with friends.

------
OpenWebU
In my experience, emotional pain is as much a signal as physical pain - great
you are paying attention. Research shows that sleep is an important factor in
mood and overall productivity - so don't skimp on that. It also shows that
friendship and social interaction is important to mood - in fact, talking
about issues/being heard prevents ruminating. And, taking breaks is very
important for creativity. Your emotions may be messaging a need to be a bit
nicer to yourself. We all relate - hope that helps.

------
bkj123
If i had to pick one thing, I'd say to keep promises to yourself. Being aware
of the fact that you might, say, procrastinate is huge. So, make a promise to
yourself that you will follow your clear defn, etc and code for 10 minutes or
whatever you can to get yourself going. Then, once you get going you're 90% of
the way there. But again, keep those promises and you'll build momentum and
self esteem which will drive you forward.

------
Hexayurt
"The Calm Technique" by Paul Wilson is an excellent beginner's guide to
meditation.

Meditation, for programmers, is like circuit training for athletes. It's the
time you put in to train and build strength in you mind itself - not knowledge
of the game, not skills in the craft - but actually building and maintaining
the structure of the mind itself. For whatever reason, it tends to help
stabilize emotions too.

------
vikas5678
I have the same problem, but what gets me through is, when I am in a good
flow, i try and not break focus for many hours, PG mentions in one of his
essays how long hacking sessions work really well. So I try to get up early
and work non stop for as many hours as I can, I find I am most fresh and
productive before I get in contact with the "outside world".

~~~
dangrover
I've found this too. Lately this week, I've been getting up several hours
before I have to go to work and spend some time hacking on my own stuff. I
think this is a more reliable way to keep that time free.

------
yason
Maybe the emotions come for a purpose. I think they try to wake you up into
realizing that you're not a 100% efficient coding/working machine and if you
expect yourself to go to work and then work on your business (as I understood
by your reference to "your spare hours" and to "(emotional) problems"), you're
trapped by your own expectations. Maybe doing the emotion track for at least a
couple of days a week would be a good thing.

I sometimes don't get anything done, sometimes I get so much done. I've myself
just learned to not expect much when I'm not in the flow and lacking the
motivation and gut feeling to actually do the work I want to do. Things come,
things go -- maybe I'll learn the following day that what I tried to do was
eventually not needed. Or the following day might bring me the energy to start
working on it, if it's the right thing to do at the time. If I tried to just
execute through every single day, I'd be saturated with frustration by now.

------
thingsilearned
To get myself into my code I usually have to remove all distractions,
including the internet. Either unplug, block specific sites with your hosts
file or use 8aweek.

When I have your problem I usually wish I were coding, but its easier (and
seems quick) to check facebook, twitter etc.

Remove all of those distractions and a computer actually feels really
productive.

------
nazgulnarsil
"so I wish there were tons more written like this one"

i've been thinking about this. the best thing about engineers is that we have
very low tolerance for bullshit. every time I've seen an engineer apply
himself to a problem outside of engineering you wind up with a very nice, no
bullshit, stripped down explanation of said problem.

------
monkkbfr
You don't. Seriously, I strongly recommend against it. I tried. After about 18
mo. I finally broke down and brought in someone I really liked as the CEO and
it's a world of difference.

I would never again try to do a startup the sole founder.

------
shawndrost
Fundamentally: be conscious of your mood and the things that affect it, and
work with your mood rather than against it.

The suggestions here are good examples of this philosophy. I would add: don't
try to change your mood by force of will alone.

------
nraynaud
I do 2 hours of surfing everyday (10km of running every 2 days in case of flat
days), and I don't think it helps much on the morale side. So I force myself
to work even if it's slowly and in bad mood, it's better than nothing.

------
modoc
Don't try to fight the stuff head on. Recognize when you aren't going to be
productive in front of the computer, and walk away. Figure out something else
to do, ideally something that gets you in a better mood, or feeling more
productive, or helps clean away all the things you're worrying about.
Sometimes that means cleaning the house or running some errands. Sometimes it
means playing a couple hours of Halo 3 with your friends. Often for me, a trip
to the gym will do wonders. After my post-workout shower, I feel like I'm
restarting the day.

------
whacked_new
I would also ponder the possibility of dopamine/serotonin levels and the like.
For some people, it makes a difference, whence it becomes less of something
you try to deal with, but something you live with.

------
workgold
similar to programming is martial arts.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyamoto_Musashi#First_duel> "If you try to
wield the long sword quickly you will mistake the Way. To wield the long sword
well you must wield it calmly. stage1: only when happy are you calm. Feel the
force, Luke SkyWalker. stage2: calm at all times, whether angry or drowsy
stage3: minimizing emotion; just aa game stage4: harnessing emotion; Music
Composers write when they are in love stage5: emotional and concentration
peaks bio-rhythym.

many car accidents from Americans driving drowsy, inattentive. ADD? writing
boring, routine, same old, same old code? are you driving drowsy?

Why is tennis champion champion? Because only on the 'critical match point'
shots he wins. Difference in percentage between loser and BIG winnner is very
small. 270 baseball batter and 320 batter difference is 50 points. 1/4 second
- OLympic gold medal swimmer.

a possible good way (controversial) introduce the competitor's star team of
programmers and comedy writers to 'fashion models', 'drama queens', inject an
overload of emotion.

Can you concentrate on writing critical code after have your face slapped by a
girl friend or even her friend?

------
skmurphy
"Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our
failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the past
difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. We see our past
achievements as the end result of a clean forward thrust, and our present
difficulties as signs of decline and decay." -- Eric Hoffer

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vegai
>How do you avoid ruminating on things in your day that have pissed you off?
This is my biggest issue.

Try Buddhism. Most of the things you ruminate on are probably worthless, and a
religion may help you to see that better and earlier.

On the other hand, it may develop qualities in you that are not favourable for
an entrepreneur.

~~~
radu_floricica
Zen would be a much better suggestion. More focused, and less religious. You
can be as easely zen atheist or zen christian as zen buddhist.

~~~
dhimes
Actually, Zen is simply one path to Buddhism. You have to check out the sects
so you don't get into one you consider strange, but, for instance, vipassana
is another path that (as far as I know) doesn't make claims to worshipping
deities. Steve Hagen writes well on this, as does Gunaratana.

Remember, the Buddha was agnostic. He simply gave advice. Follow it if it
works for you. Buddhism doesn't address faith, but reality.

~~~
gruseom
Both this and the parent comment strike me as very much a Western and modern
spin on Buddhism. It's one I happen to be sympathetic to. But I'm also
skeptical of what happens when such traditions are taken far out of their
historical and cultural context.

~~~
dhimes
This is a great comment. I read folks I think are grounded in both contexts--
modern and historical. Try "What the Buddha Taught" by Walpola Rahula for
background.

~~~
gruseom
Speaking of modern variants, did you ever run across "After the Absolute" by
David Gold? It's about the author's experiences with a hillbilly Zen teacher
from the back woods of West Virginia. There's no historical connection to
Buddhism (or even Zen for that matter) but it's a vivid story. The guy in
question was a volatile character who half the time would share profound
spiritual insights and the other half would pull a gun on you.

~~~
dhimes
Sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out.

------
azharcs
Go for a swim or read some story about some successful entrepreneur who had
been through this phase.

------
ob1y2k
whooooooooooo nice replies cant read them all :) ...

anyhow, as as engineer I understand what you are talking about. I have same
problems.

#1 Solution ( that works for me ) : HAVE SOME FREE TIME for yourself. I do
this my simply getting up early ( some days around 5:00am ), then do great
training ( walk, running, martial arts, swimming, dog walk...). Then healthy
breakfast and you are ready to go, energy for all day. Good sleep, friends (
NO WAY TO DEVELOP WITHOUT FAMILY&FRIENDS ), and important thing is to RELAX
sometimes.. Daily spend min 45mins in nature and always remember to look at
the sky&stars&moon...

And don't waste time on PC. Get the work done and simply fuck off from it :)
forget the games, the movies, the web..

all you need is love ^_^

------
snagwag12
I enjoy watching a good movie to get me in the mood. Rocky or Rudy usually
does the trick.

------
ruslan
Extreme sports is very useful here. A couple of hours ride around the city on
in-line skates usually solves all my emotional problems. If that does not
help, I switch skates to my SUV and go to mountains for snowboarding :-).

------
gscott
Lately I just go through my emails and find requests and do them. I would like
to do a big project but sometimes making incremental improvements at least
moves you forward when otherwise you might not do anything.

------
cor2madera
What separates the boys from the men is:

Take a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal), Break it up into small reusable pieces
and accomplish over a long period of time making measurable progress every
day. Easier said than done.

------
siculars
do something outside

step away from the keyboard

meet girls get laid

~~~
benn
i agree. close the macbook.

meet girls.

~~~
cmer
don't forget to bring your iphone for your date though!

------
danw
Eat, drink, exercise and sleep correctly. Have a routine. These will help a
lot.

------
braindead_in
i use twitter to rant when i'm in a bad mood. cycling helps. but what helps
the most is when your users talk back to you and you figure out ways to
improve your product/service.

------
simianstyle
daft punk

------
albertcardona
1 - Keep a sporty life. Exercise releases endorphines -pleasure hormones- ,
refreshes your mind, and fine-tunes your vascular system.

2 - If you have a girlfriend/boyfriend, you not only have someone to talk to
and bounce ideas to, but also someone to synchronize with. It will help split
your day into large chunks, erasing away long hours of slipping through half
dozing over a keyboard.

3 - Make sure to get a few minutes of sunlight straight to your face every
day. Keeps your internal clocks in synch, and refreshes you.

4 - Wake up early, even if you go to sleep again at midmorning. The dawn fresh
air also resets your internal clocks.

5 - When in doubt, stand up and go for a walk/exercise/house-cleaning frenzy
etc. Remaining doubtful in front of the keyboard is not constructive.
Accomplishing small tasks will tune up your mood as well.

------
kingkongrevenge
> a great online book called "The Hacker's Diet"

It's a lot more complicated than calories in, calories out. Nutrition is a
complex topic involving the interplay between nutrients and the endocrine
system and sleep, and differing kinds of exercise. If he just said "Eat less,
exercise more" then he'd be right. But everything else he says is wrongheaded.

> I wish there were tons more written like this one, but on other topics

There are way too many books like this. Some intelligent guy blathers on about
a complex subject of which he doesn't really know much.

------
agentbleu
Your not a machine. Hacking is hard, it taxes us like not many other jobs. I
read here a long post about sleep problems, hackers get all excited whenever
the sleep topic comes up (seems many suffer). The point is hacking too late
into the night can upset my sleep, thus starting a vicious cycle. I'd suggest
stepping back, don't push too hard, if your working during the day then maybe
hack for yourself at the weekends of for only 1.30 a day.

------
kingkongrevenge
> How do you guys deal with emotional problems?

I'll smack you in the face and scream at you to "Pull it together man!" Or
would you prefer a hug?

> What kind of non-computer things can you readily do to get away from it?

Sports are important. _NOT_ going on runs, or "working out", or bike rides, or
a friendly co-ed softball league. Men need physical athletic competition.
Personally, nothing puts me on an even keel more than getting punched in the
face. Real adrenaline rushes put all stress in perspective.

~~~
yters
I agree. I always used to play fight with my friends when younger, and I've
always enjoyed combative sports like wrestling and martial arts. I like having
a fighting spirit!

