

Ask HN: How do I get motivated again - n008

I am currently working as a contractor in vertical advertising, sports betting specifically. Initially, the job was exciting, but now its gotten to a boring point, and on top of that I am the only developer, hence there is zero time to chill-out. Occasionally, I get to respond to support issues on my days off.<p>My client is a start up with little to no organisation, they want me in the office, and want me to get things done by verbally asking me, constantly changing their minds and, and most times I&#x27;d have to switch context constantly.<p>While the pay is relatively aright, and I have bills to pay, I have lost all motivation to keep on working. I stare at the computer but can&#x27;t think. I really want to get my motivation back, but don&#x27;t know how.<p>Can you share your experiences on how to keep on how to rapidly re-boot?
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ma2rten
Sounds like the advise is obvious: Change jobs! "Vertical advertising for
sports betting" sounds like the definition of useless to society. The
management issues don't make things better. No pay is worth working at a job
like that.

That being said, if changing jobs is not an option in the near future, here
are some tips:

1\. Take pride in what you do. Try to write the most beautiful code. Learn new
technologies. Make Easter eggs.

2\. Remove friction and sources of frustration. For example if you write
tests, you don't have that felling that you might have broken something after
you made a change.

3\. Communicate. Explain people how you fell. Probably, people don't realize
they are disturbing your concentration. Maybe they can send an email or make
an appointment.

4\. Plan a vacation.

5\. Accept things the way they are. If some days you are not as productive
that's okay and ultimately not your fault.

6\. See the positive.

~~~
Leander_B
>> "Vertical advertising for sports betting" sounds like the definition of
useless to society.

I work in the same 'industry' and equally dislike it as a whole and also
completely lost my motivation.

>> No pay is worth working at a job like that.

Not when you have a family to raise or bills to pay, the thing with this
betting industry is that it pays as said relatively to very good. There is
also an overload of jobs, and if you are anywhere smart and in this stuff for
a bit you can get a pretty good salary. I made a salary jump of about 80% in 3
years working in this industry.

What I hate the most about this industry is that there are some very talented
people working in here, which could do much better things then programming
systems to make people loose more money then they already do. Makes me sad.

What I do? I am working on some side projects, and just 'grind it out' during
the office hours and do what I have to do, time goes by faster. Hoping to get
one of my projects off in the next months/years and leave this industry behind
for once and all.

Where are you based?

~~~
n008
On side projects, the problem is, I have always been passionate about whatever
I am work on and have no energy left for side projects. I guess I should just
'grind things out' as you mentioned, and perhaps focus energy on things I care
most about, but won't this hamper on productivity?

I am based in London.

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sherm8n
Man, I've been in your exact position before. It sucks. That's just an
understatement. I hated it. When all you're holding on to is the comfort of
money then I'd say it's over. My suggestion is to be open and honest with your
client. Maybe they know you feel that way too. Since you're the only developer
they know they need you. But I think if you both enter a conversation on how
to improve the situation, you'll both be happier in the long term.

The best thing that has worked for me when I'm just spinning my wheels is to
travel. Enjoy life and appreciate what it has to offer. Changing up your
routine will allow your mind to do that. Think hard about what you want to do
and live your life now. It's short.

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TheSmoke
Unfortunately there is no recipe for rapidly re-booting yourself, your
motivation or anything about you.

There are some red flags here. The request of your presence in the office, not
having a roadmap, missing features / bugs list, etc. What I'd do is to get rid
of them asap.

But.. There is zero time to chill-out? There is always time and it is flowing.
At this point, it doesn't matter if you sit in front of your computer for 12
hours; it's what you've done on your time. Stop. Take 2-3 days off and tell
them to organise in the meanwhile. Tell them about how they are consuming you
and when you get back at working you want to do things better.

Go out to the nature on your off time. Go to a swimming pool or swim in the
sea if you can, ride bicycle, run, read something you've enjoyed in your
childhood. Take the computer out of your sight. Spend time with your family,
the ones those make you just happy. The idea here is remembering how it's to
be happy and productive. Also some thoughts will occur such as are you doing
everything as you should? are you alright with the outcome of the work you've
completed so far? etc.

Good luck with it and hope you can overcome this.

~~~
cpncrunch
Well actually there is a recipe for getting your motivation back, and TheSmoke
has pointed the way.

[1] Take a week-long break from work and do something enjoyable. If you can't
take a break, go to step [2]. [2] In the long-term you need to either fix your
attitude to your job, or change your job. If it's a contract job, see if you
can last until the end of the contract, then take something else.

I suspect you will need to ditch the job. If you do that, make sure you try to
take a break before starting the next time, to give yourself time to reboot
your motivation.

If you're starting to experience any kind of serious depression or burnout,
you really need to quit the job pretty soon before it gets out of hand (I've
been there).

Just remember there are always other opportunities out there - you are never
as trapped as you think you are.

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chris_va
This sounds like depression/apathy/burnout. If it is just work related, remind
yourself that is completely within your power to fix.

Two suggestions:

1) Make sure your human interactions are actually positive. If your clients
keep pointing you in different directions and making you context switch, fix
that. Spend an hour thinking about how that interaction could be better, and
some steps towards making that happen. I've had success with writing down
requests on a shared whiteboard, and making sure the people asking understand
what you would have to de-prioritize to work on the new shiny thing they are
asking.

2) If the job was initially exciting, it can probably be exciting again. You
should take a break, or find something not-work-related to spend our time
doing (e.g. a hobby).

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brothe2000
I've worked with entrepreneurs like this and they would change their mind on
features and functionality week to week. Entrepreneurs are constantly testing
new ideas and features to understand what will work.

I compared it to walking a dog. The dog runs around side to side front to back
sniffing everything but at the end of the day, the dog is still tied to you
and you to it.

If possible get more involved in the actual business and start to build in
flexibility and anticipate future enhancements based on the business goals.

If you don't get a say in the business and have no path to equity, leave.

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dexxter
Take some time off - maybe just a week (if you cannot get more). When you get
back if you still feel the same about work, it means that its time to move on
- maybe to a different job or maybe a different industry.

It's hard to do especially if you have bills to pay. But you are going to have
to take that step and make an effort to move on. Work becomes very difficult
once you start resenting it.

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LouisSayers
It sounds like you need to step up and put some structure around this project
you're working on.

Pull out requirements, prioritise, make weekly iterations, and put yourself
somewhere where they can't come and interrupt constantly.

Most importantly, change something. If you always do what you've always
done...

Good luck!

~~~
n008
>> Most importantly, change something. If you always do what you've always
done...

I have a feeling this should reset a button somewhere :) Thanks.

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vincie
Damn! This sounds just like my situation! It is fairly chaotic here, no
specifications or documentation for work I must do, and no one understands
what I do. So I use this to my advantage by learning new skills. Because no
one asks me what tools I use (they all think I use C#, I think), I find tools
that interest me and learn them by using them in my work. So far I have
learned R and Pandas for data, although I am lucky to get a 10M file to use. I
have built a desktop app with Ada. I am trying to created LaTeX files from a
script. I want to improve my Racket/F#/GIMP/Scribus/Inkscape/Blender/Node.js
skills and knowledge, but cannot yet come up with appropriate tasks. But I
keep looking! So basically I keep motivated by learning new stuff all the time
at their expense.

~~~
n008
The difference with me is that my client has a rough knowledge of the tools I
use, and even make false assumptions about implementation detail.

Sometimes I get pseudo-code as spec requirements, or get told 'solutions'
instead of elaborating on the problems at hand. So, I don't get the chance to
learn any new stuff besides what's in the pot.

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nutela
You have two options; say what you like and what don't, get to know yourself,
what you really want, talk about it. Say you are a real engineer not a code
monkey. You want to build something great, not fool around. Tell them they're
wasting just time by not being organised.

The second option is to still find what you really really want and find it,
and quit.

Being in resistance is just wasting time sorry :-) Good luck!

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desouzt
I run a website which aims to motivate/inspire people daily by showing simple
inspiring quotes and videos each day. If you're after that type of reboot -
something that will just give you a brief lift, then check it out. I won't
post it's name as i don't want to spam - you can see it in my profile. Thanks

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phildupre
It's definitely a challenge to work with founders who are what seems to be
trying to figure things out as they go, which results into creative chaos at
best or disorganized, aimless destruction at worst. Before concluding that
this gig isn't for you, at the very least, make sure you maintain your own
standards of quality and responsibility to do the best you can do. Try to be
flexible and work with them. Sell them on your ideas as best as you can when
you disagree with their always changing ones. But if they disagree, I strongly
advise to be flexible and don't let the chaos shake you from your own high
standards of professionalism to do the best you can. I'm old school, but I
feel you still owe that much to them since this is a contract you agreed to
take on. Who knows? If you show you're working hard, your client will begin to
trust you more and more when you have a different opinion than theirs. Either
way, if things don't improve, you can walk at the end of the contract, but
with the integrity that you did your best.

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hashtree
Besides what everyone else has already mentioned, I find great computer
science presentations and story/interview based computer science-ish books to
be great motivators.

Book examples: In the Plex, Masters of Doom, Steve Jobs, Founders at Work,
Coders at Work

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iroot
Been there, done that! I eventually got so frustrated, that i just stood up
from my desk and quit the job. Its been 3 months now and loving it.

