
Ask HN: How do I see something through to completion? - Damnednation
I&#x27;m a serial procrastinator.<p>I have a ~&#x2F;code folder with about 70 projects, none of which could be classed as finished. I pay for GitHub private repos, of which I have about 30 - again, none finished.<p>I have a SaaS half-built, with a friend using it (it&#x27;s a form backend as-a-Service thing) along with a monitoring tool and other bits. I&#x27;m unfit, can&#x27;t stop smoking and getting lazier. I feel like I need a big reset, but every time I try that I fail quickly, and each time it&#x27;s harder to get back up.<p>I know if I could dedicate all my being in to focusing on getting fit and buckling down for the remainder of 2018, I could come out in great shape with a published online business - I&#x27;m capable of both and I&#x27;ve been very fit before, and made money from side-projects with others (I tend to finish more with someone else working on it) - but I just can&#x27;t make myself do it. Exercise, meditating, stoicism, good routines, healthy eating - I constantly try one or the other and quickly forget about it.<p>I&#x27;m almost 30 and it&#x27;s really messing with my head, as I remember being 17 in a bedroom writing Visual Basic apps for money, running PHP and Photoshop tutorial blogs and lots of other stuff - now I can&#x27;t even get a super simple SaaS out there, despite paying for the VPS and domain for a year now.<p>I can&#x27;t go on like this.
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DoreenMichele
_I 'm unfit, can't stop smoking and getting lazier._

Smoking has brain chemistry implications. Some people do it to self medicate
for depression.

There's research out there. You can also talk to a professional.

You need to fix you first. Work on your health.

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oldmancoyote
I have ADHD and it certainly sounds like you might as well. I have struggled
with what I call the "sustained effort" issue for some time and believe that
the only thing that will work is seeing a coach several times a week.

Here I run into another problem associated with ADHD: procrastination. There
are multiple popular approaches to beating procrastination. There is a fellow
at Stanford that advocates defining the _very_ first action necessary and
setting some event as a trigger for initiating it. Once you are started
continuing is much easier. It sort of works for me.

I do hope this helps.

Good luck

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Witeshadow
Can you share more on the Stanford fellow and adhd?

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vonseel
Hey, we sound really similar. Do you have a history of ADHD?

