Ask HN: How can you achieve the mental energy and stamina to do great things?
I believe that the distinguishing factor between a lazy mindset and a proactive mindset is simply mental energy. If you're tired or lazy you're not going to get stuff done. So far Adderall has been successful at consistently inducing this proactive mindset, but I don't want to rely on it because it is not sustainable for a number of reasons.
Seeing as I have a mathematical mind, I view the solution to this problem as a game of in and out. If I alter a routine in my life, then my mental energy will increase/decrease. What are your examples, big picture or specific, of how you maintain a proactive mindset?
I assume most people will say eat well, sleep well, and exercise regularly, so unless you have specific insight or past examples of these, please try to give other answers.
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We're all humans. Some days we feel really motivated, other days we want to sit around and do anything but work - both of those are fine. Just try to get the most out of your good days, and enjoy the "slow" days. Your work will get done regardless, and taking some time off here and there for mental health is a-okay.
For software, having your code in a public repository like GitHub provides some socially-based motivation to keep your projects active. Just the simple act of regularly committing small changes can provide you with a sense of momentum -- and bonus points for raising (and fixing) issues, etc.
For days that you aren't on your A-game, it's also helpful to have made a TODO list from a day when you were thinking more clearly, so you can work on a relatively simple task just to maintain momentum.
Another key is to have a "big picture" goal that your projects are helping you towards. There's no reason you can't start now putting together the basic structural code (say, some core machine learning algorithms) for a later startup -- or even try your hand at writing an end-to-end web app and hosting it for free on Amazon. Whatever your end goals are, you'll be more motivated if you are writing code that helps you get there, not just code for learning's sake.
I wish I started earlier. Way earlier.
Always push yourself to do more and better work. Wherever reasonable, do the right thing the first time. I know this is hard, especially in a startup, but there are micro-opportunities everywhere.
I find that some people have this ability to stay laser-focused on a project. And some can't. I belong to the latter camp and what I do is whenever I slow down or procrastinate a project, I'd switch to doing something else. Maybe the context-switch isn't that efficient for productivity, but I'd find that over time, I feel more positive (having done work, real work), and even if I end up with a dozens of uncompleted projects, I learn things along the way and they usually help somehow, somewhere, later. But of course finish the core project.
And while I'm at it, here's something I wish someone else helped me realised much earlier: learn good presentation, writing and documentation skills. (Perhaps you already do them very well, in that case, make it even better. Challenge yourself).
There's a few visible folks on HN who are very young and seems to have achieved amazing things, perhaps drop them a note and see if they have any advice?
The only way to gain it is by working hard at anything. Preferably in a skill that you want to develop.
Practice practice practice. Going to the gym and staying healthy is important but have a closer look at Reid Hoffman, Mark Zuckerburg and Rex Ryan --- you wouldnt introduce them to someone who you'd like to impress with the benefits of gym-going.
Practice, practice, practice & dont give up.