Ask HN: My brain refuses to think, what should I do?
I've come to a point where it's really hard to do even the easiest work. Each time I sit to code and I face the slightest "problem", I start looking for a distraction as soon as possible. I realized it today when I had to write one line of code to calculate the scale of an image.
It was really a trivial problem, I just need to figure out a couple of measures to put into a division, but since it requires 30 seconds of thinking, my brain guides my hand to the nearest distraction (i.e. the facebook/email/HN). I really have to struggle to do some work (as a side note this goes away a little when I manage to begin working, but the danger always lurks waiting for some more difficult task to distract me from).
It's not a lack of motivation. This is a project I want to work on and when I'm not at my computer I think about how to code it and I just wait to have some time to work on it. I feel motivated thinking how cool it will be and really want to do it. But as soon as I have time, like in weekends, I start wasting it in useless activities. When I force myself to sit and code, my mind surrenders at the smallest obstacle.
It looks like my brain is not used to think anymore. I can spend time reading a lot of things, but as soon as I try to actively do something, my mind refuses to do it. I think I have some sort of addiction/disorder and I can look for psychotherapy, but I wan to know if there are easier and cheaper remedies. Any advice?
150 comments
[ 0.22 ms ] story [ 202 ms ] threadWhen's the last time you went for a walk?
When's the last time you were in nature for a while?
When's the last time you spent a day absolutely, completely relaxing?
How's your diet?
How's your sleep?
How's your sleep schedule?
When's the last time you had a vacation?
How much inspirational media have you been through in the last week - books, movies, audio, whatever.
When's the last time you hung out around or talked on the phone with someone really inspirational?
Beyond that - changing environment can bring you out of a funk, bringing a laptop to a cafe with no internet can be a great option if you can do some work offline.
Even the best entrepreneurs have a really hard time focusing because they have so many different kinds of tasks that they can never really get into a flow state. Trying to do work as an entrepreneur while having access to the Internet is like trying to study for finals in a crack house.
I can see that given the right task though it would be beneficial, the slightly slower working pace by lack of resources could be made up by the concentration you get.
It works for me studying for exams when I can have all the course content in front of me, even then though I end up finding something interesting that I want to look up in lecture notes or something that makes no sense so I need to search for a better explanation online.
Some specific experiences from me and others:
I will check also other things.
I will check also other things.
I lacked inspirational media in the recent period and I just talk with friends, but no one is really an authority in this field.
For the environment I'm looking at the library, and the last time I visited it I managed to do something (but then I needed to look for something on the internet and I did not have a connection, so my mind switched to another mode: find an excuse to procrastinate it).
Worked wonders for me.
I edit my hosts file (Windows: /Windows/System32/drivers/etc/hosts, Mac: /etc/hosts) to look something similar to:
127.0.0.1 news.ycombinator.com
127.0.0.1 techcrunch.com www.techcrunch.com
127.0.0.1 reddit.com www.reddit.com
etc.
Alternatively you can use other tools to block traffic. RescueTime (http://www.rescuetime.com/)is an awesome tool as well.
Typically once I flip it on, I forget about it, until I actually try to check a site that's been blocked. I find that being unable to load a site or loading a local webserver hosted file injects just enough time to realize I should be doing something else.
Previously I wasn't in the "trick yourself" camp, but having used this for a while, I definitely am. Used in conjunction with the Pomodoro Technique, it's a really solid way to keep oneself on track.
Personally I learned a cheaper and less cult like variation of transcendental meditation, because it requires little training, time, or even effort.
A day without meditation for me now is worse than a day without sleeping.
http://www.mro.org/zmm/teachings/meditation.php
The course I used was this one:
http://www.naturalstressreliefusa.org/compare.php
I'm sure there are many like it, but this one was well done and taught me the basics of this type of meditation.
I couldn't get in Lotus position, but this page at Wikihow helped quite a bit: http://www.wikihow.com/Meditate
http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2010/07/were-happier...
Anything I need to do goes on a list and I reward myself with some kind of distraction only after any item on the list gets completed.
Usually it's a sign that my mental batteries are running low or even past empty but some stuff still needs to get done. I find that after the third or the fourth item from the list gets completed habit takes over and I'm getting 'in to it' more and more and those molehills-turned-mountains disappear with greater ease.
Good luck combating this, it can be a real problem, especially if it persists for a longer time.
I've found that sometimes it is symptomatic of some underlying issue, something else in life that is deadlocked and needs solving first, not sure if that could be the case with you.
All it took was to start keeping a log book. Any time I get something new to do (e.g. new feature, bug fix), I write it down, prefixed with "TODO" and highlight it to make it easy to spot as I flick through the book looking for unfinished tasks. Any time I solve a problem, I write down what the problem was, why it was happening, and how I solved it.
Having the book next to my keyboard serves as a constant reminder of what I should be working on, and that really helps to focus whenever I get the temptation to open my browser and get distracted. Keeping a record of how I solve problems always has a chance of being useful in the future, but it's incredibly rewarding (and therefore motivating) to see the pages fill up each day. It's just a nice, quick visual indicator of progress.
When that happens to me, I just pick one item and forget the rest of the list.
That's why I try to limit it these days. I wouldn't have a problem writing documentation, but actually creating productive code is a chore in and of itself during those days.
Fortunately my gf forces me to take time away from work, otherwise I would be burnt out half the year.
Burn-out is not something you're going to solve with a break or a change of scene for a few weeks, but is a pretty serious state of mind that will probably affect your life for many years and will leave lasting scars for the remainder of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_%28psychology%29
Edit: Thanks for the downmod, that article has a very thorough description of what burn-out really is and goes in to a lot more detail than I ever could in a comment here. If you think that linking to a wikipedia article instead of writing an essay sized entry is bad form you're more than welcome to enlighten me as to the proper procedure.
To say 'you're burned-out' and to say that 'you need a break' combined with the statement that his gf keeps him from being burned-out half the year indicates a use of the term burn-out that does a dis-service to both those that are really burned out (because someone might read this and think that his friend that is really burned out needs a break whereas in fact what he needs is a radical change of career path or professional help to avoid worse) and to those that will pick this up and think that they are burned out, when in fact all they need is a break or a change of scene.
To me the OP does not sound burned out but has reached a phase in his work where the normal tricks of the trade aren't enough to put him back on a productive path.
Compare that with the symptoms listed for burn-out in the wp article and see if you can match them up, it's a lot less fuzzy than you imply and from what I know about the subject once you are burned out you are not going to cure it easily and permanently.
Next time I'll make sure to include elaboration, just in case someone misinterprets my brief statements with an official definition.
The best things to start with that I know and have done:
1. Make a list of things that cost you energy. Mark the three most importan. Solve them or let them go.
2. Free your brain from your todo list. It has better things to do. Apply the book "Getting things done" to give your brain peace from the things you haven't done yet.
3. Use a countdown timer to work 50 minutes on one task. Make a 10 minutes rest and then do the same thing with a completely different task. What this does to you is NOT to urge you to get something done. What it does is giving you complete freedom not to care about anything else for 50 minutes. (I know a similar method with 25 minutes. I prefer 50. It is no accident that it is exacly half the time. Do 25 or 50 but nothing between.)
Feel free to combine this methods ad lib.
Gerd, brain hacker, hypnotist, NLP master
Are you familiar with the concept of a duty cycle?
This happens to me when I don't get enough sleep for a while.
You're describing a brain problem. It might be caused by poor diet, sleep, life perspective, etc. But whatever the cause, it's a problem in your brain; and it's probably fixable with drugs.
If you feel you have an ADHD problem (which is what it sounds like), there's a variety of pills that can correct your symptoms. This quiz is fairly accurate in terms of diagnosis (really, self-answered questions are one of the few indicators available to psychs for ADHD): http://psychcentral.com/addquiz.htm
If you think you're too stressed, there's pills for that too.
I've also read that marijuana is helpful (counter-intuitive as it may seem) for reducing both ADHD and anxiety symptoms; so depending on your local laws, you might want to consider that.
My point is that lifestyle improvements are good, and I'd certainly advocate them, but don't rule out the possibility of using chemicals to your advantage. It's 2010 and we have that technology now.
Drugs never fix problems. The only hide them. if your body is telling you something, you should fix the root of the problem, not remove the symptoms.
Whatever a drug does(stimulant, depressant...)the body will balance it giving the opposite effect over time(the roller coaster effect).This means instability of everything from mood to chemicals on your blood. Not to mention the body getting used to it, needing each time more and more to cause the same effect and getting addicted.
For the last 3 years (since a long relationship ended) I was in a bad funk, getting very little done and having a baseline that was a bit depressed, with occasional moments of manic happiness/productiveness.
A few months ago, a new friend told me that I just had to try mushrooms. It was a spiritual, life-changing event. I have since done them 3 more times, and LSD once.
Good drugs (and I guess I basically mean psychedelics when I say that) can teach you a different way of thinking, one which you continue long after your use of the drugs. My life is orders of magnitude better than it was six months ago. I'm enjoying the little things, and figuring out how what I'm doing fits into the big picture of how I'd like to live my life.
I really cannot get onboard with the advice to not use drugs "EVER". Even from an anti-drug standpoint, it's very hard to argue against using pain-killing drugs for the week following a surgery. Drugs have their purposes, and as long as you don't let them take over your life, they can be quite positive.
Pain killing versus drugs in the street sense of the word is a bad comparison, 'drugs' are a tool to be used when needed and appropriate, self medication of hallucinogens or depressants can cause all kinds of problems down the road, especially if your personality is not too disciplined.
Indeed, drugs have their purpose, and to tell a person whose life circumstances are otherwise unknown to start using them is in general as bad an advise as you could possibly give.
(1) Drugs which are used to control a certain set of behavior or cultivate a certain desirable state of mind (caffeine, nicotine). - This group can be addictive not only because of the psychoactive properties of the drug but because the necessary state of mind for some necessary activity (i.e. certain forms of work) is amplified or facilitated by the drug
(2) Drugs which are used to open the mind to various forms of sensation that the mind is not normally able to perceive and/or process. -- Here we are on difficult epistemological ground because, although various religions and practioners attest various common experiences as the result of ingesting various substances (e.g. the merging of consciousness and "mind reading" via peyote) there is little collaborating scientific evidence, in my mind indicating the 'epimaterial' properties of the experience.
(3) Drugs which are used to induce "good feelings" -- this category is esp. prone to serious forms of addiction including absorption in the state of mind cultivated by the drug.
With these categories in mind (albeit suggestive and not definite) can one categorically dismiss drugs? My own answer is no, at the moment I make fairly extensive use of (1) and at various points have branched into (2). That said, I view (1) as undesirable since you are developing dependencies and, ideally, stimulants should be replaced with self-cultivation of the appropriate state of mind. The extent to which this is possible I am not sure, but I recognize that at various points in my life I have been much more productive than I am currently without the use of (1). As for (2) the substances can also be extraordinarily dangerous and in many related religious traditions practice with a more experienced person (usually a shaman of some sort) is mandated because of the potentially live changing nature of the experience (negative or positive, see the Datura stories on Erowid for a poignant example, most of them prompted by Castneda's highlight of Dature in his Don Juan chronicles).
So, as with most other areas of life, the answer is not yes or no, but know yourself and know exactly what you are dealing with.
Seriously.
I was having exactly the same issues recently, mostly the result of burning out in a giant flame from my last gig. MJ and getting off my mildly chubby ass were huge boons to productivity.
YMMV, but it's worth a shot. I'd go for something a long the lines of Sour Diesel or BC Blueberry are strains I've found to really increase concentration and focus without making one lazy or sleepy.
Usually, when encountering such a problem, I will pace around the house exploring the line of thought.
Of course, focus can be a problem, so it's not exactly something that should be done all of the time. However, there are things that can help you to stay on task, such as having the code you are working on open.
Of course, YMMV.
You remind me of a TV program where they did a study how drinking affect driving. The test subjects would swear that they drive even better when drunk. They got them drunk, put them behind the wheel, and it was horrible. They completely suck. How do you know is not the same thing with you. We would need to do an experiment to verify your claims.
You hit the trade-off nail on the head. Thank you.
For me, this is especially true when putting in extra hours at home.
I tried to find a non-druglibrary.org link to this study, but wasn't able to find freely available .gov links for it.
http://www.ntis.gov/search/product.aspx?ABBR=PB94173630
I don't advocate driving while stoned.
Sorry, I meant it does not significantly diminish my IQ.
> How do you know is not the same thing with you.
First, I did not say I'm smarter when high. There was a study that shows that there is a small drop (~ 4 points) http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/22/text.iq/.
I also see my work when I am sober and it's fine.
The question is what needs to be optimized. At times (not all the time IMO and certainly not in the office), the benefit of exploring new options and increasing motivation of the task outweighs the slight drop in IQ.
> The test subjects would swear that they drive even better when drunk.
I did not swear I code better either. I take a different approach to solve the problem at hand, which leads to better results due to diversity in the problem solving process. I code sober much more often than when high. My code is also peer reviewed. It seems to work out just fine.
Sometimes you just have to loosen up. However you want to do that is up to you, as long as you use proper discretion if it is a controversial approach...
Unfortunately, software development productivity (and solution quality) is notoriously difficult to measure and perform experiments on. It is also expensive, time-consuming, and their conclusions tend to be shaky at best. The experiments' applicability is also heavily influenced by the uniqueness of each individual person.
Technology just moves too fast. I'm afraid anecdotal evidence is probably the best we usually can do when talking about how we work.
Sativa-dominant strains will have more THC than CBD and thus help you with your problems immediately.
Also beware that THC is a mild psychedelic so all the "set and setting" rules apply.
MJ definitely helped me get through some tough classes in college, though I treated it like dessert: I'd do focused, clear-headed studying first, then come back a day later, smoke a bowl and kind of let my mind wander all over the material. Not sure whether the altered state itself helped, or if it merely acted as the proverbial spoon full of sugar to get me to study more. Whatever the mechanism, I felt it was a boon. YMMV of course.
IANAN, but I suspect that in your case, weed is helping because of its indirect action on the opioid system, and despite, rather than because of, the characteristically "weedy" effects. Have you self-medicated with any other euphoriants?
For one it is possibly an illegal substance, second, it affects your brain in ways that would require a lot of research before you commit to it, after all, a programmers most critical resource is their brain.
Now, I know some people that function very well in spite of using significant amounts of pot, but I also know a much larger number of people that managed to turn a mediocre career in to a non-existant one because of their use of pot.
If you want to advocate the use of drugs I really don't think HN is the place to do it, if only because it is not exactly legal in most places, but most of all because you are possibly sending someone from the frying pan in to the fire and you won't be around to pick up the pieces should it go wrong.
Now they're running the DEA.
And I doubt the hippies actually run the DEA; more like the conservative kids, and the successor Reagan generation that had to be mobilized by mega-churches and shipped on buses from the suburbs, at the expense of the business establishment and old money.
As far as I'm concerned they should legalise Marijuana and every other drug simply to stop filling up prisons with people that need help (if they're addicted to the point where they can't function any longer) not jail, or who simply are not a burden at all and function quite well.
Ironically, legalising drug usage in the Netherlands has created a new kind of problem, drug tourism, where problem cases from other countries congregate in the one safe haven they can find. This in turn is now causing a backlash and may possibly result in the re-criminalisation of drug use here.
For your second point, yeah, it's probably a good idea to research anything before you ingest/inhale/inject it. High-fructose corn syrup, I'm looking at you :)
Your example doesn't bring anything new to the table. I know people who function well in spite of playing World of Warcraft and I know people who temporarily ruined their lives playing WoW. Was it WoW's fault? Should we make WoW illegal? Should we make everything illegal because it might lead to devastating consequences?
In process of experimentation, I created two rules for myself: a) You can't blame your fuckups on the drug, even if you were under the influence. b) You don't have to mention that drug helped you, if you created something good.
(1) You cannot blame the drug if something negative happens while you are taking the drug
(2) You can give the drug credit if something positive happens while you are taking the drug
I wonder why you come out with only positive feedback....
It's a mystery to me as well :)
I also like your formulation better. The main point is the first one anyway -- about blaming this or that on "I was drunk/high/whatever".
I'm not cool with advocating such on a public forum, and WoW is legal everywhere Marijuana is not.
What people do in the privacy of their own homes is their business entirely, but I don't think it's ok to start advocating illegal stuff just because it is either legal where you do it or because you are getting away with it.
You shouldn't advocate illegal activity even if the legality of said activity is dubious at best?
The only reason Marijuana is illegal in the United States is due to two things: Hearst Publishing and white people's fear of brown persons.
Hearst wanted to protect their paper based publishing empire, which hemp paper directly challenged. Hearst started an anti-hemp propaganda campaign focused on race to get the ill-educated white folks to jump on board.
So to be clear, it's not illegal because it's dangerous to your health, it's illegal because it was dangerous to the paper publishing empires of yore.
And for every supposed negative health consequence, mental or otherwise, I will give you ten fold citations that state the opposite. Marijuana is very well studied, it's efficacy for a variety of things are very well documented.
So I have no problem advocating it in any forum whatsoever.
When I was younger, I lived in a place that cared, and a friend of mine got busted, and was poor and didn't have a lawyer who could just get him a good deal. He didn't have to go to jail, but it remained on his record and he could not go to Canada, or quite a few European countries, it showed up on a background check, limiting his employment opportunities, and so forth.
So even if the law is wrong, the fact is that it's still a crime in many (most?) places in the US to possess and use MJ, and getting caught could have a real, negative effect on your life.
Although I am a big fan of better living through chemistry ( low dose 2c-i & aniracetam), here are some reliable non-drug suggestions for the OP:
1. Change your location. I get easily distracted and waste time at home, but am super vigilant if coding at coffee shops even though there are technically more people talking and more distractions. Physically go somewhere to work where you arent used to procrastinating and train your brain to associate that place with getting work done. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Context-dependent_memory
2. Turn your internet off. Most laptops have a physical switch to turn your wireless on and off quickly. If the internet is your primary distraction, simply turn it off when you aren't researching or deploying.
3) Organization: Here are some ideas: use timers on your computer such as WorkRave, make lists in a pocket notebook, talk to yourself or record audionotes, express the intention for your next actions in language by writing or talking somehow. Minimalize your desktop and browser home page as much as possible, so you start of by doing what you want not whats in front of you.
Psychotherapy is great for reducing the misery of the severely depressed people, but it won't help you with general 'distractability'. That's a learned behavior you can only override with practice.
A relative who's an engineer has had a great experience with it via the book The Mood Cure, which is a self-help approach that helps you figure out which of four types of amino acids you're short of. He gave us a copy and I needed all four (other members of my family needed between one and four). This is my first workday on amino acid supplements and it's going way, way better than has been the case recently (I'm on HN voluntarily instead of automatically).
The book details ways that marijuana and other drugs (both uppers and downers) work on the mental balance, and explains why and how amino acids are an improvement. Lots of specifics on that topic -- the author certainly agrees that drugs are helping people.
Diet and liver health are another level down and VERY important to get in line, but amino supplements can get you where you want to be in minutes while you work on fixing the root cause gradually.
On another front, RescueTime has a "Get Focused" mode that works great.
If you try todo lists, exercise, motivational books, etc. and still can't seem to focus on something you should be able to focus on, go talk to your doctor.
The loss of productivity from what sounds like ADD will be a lot more expensive than the cost of consultation and medication.
http://contextualpsychology.org/act_for_the_public