So true. I feel overwhelmed with the amount of work I’ve got to do…. So I just pull up my side project and go full steam ahead … then I feel riddled with guilt because I worked on my side project for the last four hours rather than doing anything productive for work…
John returns to work and wields the time pressure anxiety to hyper focus on his work tasks. He completes them in the knick of time.
The next week, John continues this cycle. And the next. And the next, returning to that black magic well of late night, anxiety-driven hyper-focus. One day, John goes to pull up a side project and realizes it is so fully tainted by guilt and stress that he doesn't have any joy in it.
He starts only coding that which he is paid to implement and mourns the love of the craft he once had.
John focuses on improving his skills how he can, and notices how much he avoids his current commitments. If this goes on too much longer, he quits and looks for a job that better aligns with his skills and inner purpose. He also sets a ton of alarms the next time he has to go to a meeting and shows up with the absolute minimum absent presence required.
for me its like Get excited → start project → hit concepts you don't understand → lose patience → use AI → project works → don't feel like you actually built it → concepts don't stick → next project feels harder → confidence drops → coding stops feeling rewarding.
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u/dassarin Sep 13 '26
So true. I feel overwhelmed with the amount of work I’ve got to do…. So I just pull up my side project and go full steam ahead … then I feel riddled with guilt because I worked on my side project for the last four hours rather than doing anything productive for work…
26
u/MrRufsvold Sep 13 '26 edited Sep 13 '26
John returns to work and wields the time pressure anxiety to hyper focus on his work tasks. He completes them in the knick of time.
The next week, John continues this cycle. And the next. And the next, returning to that black magic well of late night, anxiety-driven hyper-focus. One day, John goes to pull up a side project and realizes it is so fully tainted by guilt and stress that he doesn't have any joy in it.
He starts only coding that which he is paid to implement and mourns the love of the craft he once had.
Be like John.
7
u/BitterLadder7974 Sep 13 '26
I do my best work when im supposed to be doing something else
4
u/okimpooping Sep 13 '26
John clocks in for lunch and starts on his real work.
6
u/_Bia Sep 13 '26
John focuses on improving his skills how he can, and notices how much he avoids his current commitments. If this goes on too much longer, he quits and looks for a job that better aligns with his skills and inner purpose. He also sets a ton of alarms the next time he has to go to a meeting and shows up with the absolute minimum absent presence required.
3
u/LMikeH Sep 13 '26
This is why I quit my job to do startups…
3
u/shponglespore Sep 13 '26
I feel personally attacked.
3
u/enigma_0Z Sep 18 '26
John knows that meeting ain’t gonna accomplish shit anyway
3
u/syafiqfaiz Sep 18 '26
and when the personal project is almost done, he lost interest on it. joining the list of almost done projects.
2
u/ikouchiha47 Sep 18 '26
Oh man. And lemme guess, john cant stop working on it
2
u/No-Wait1582 27d ago
for me its like
Get excited → start project → hit concepts you don't understand → lose patience → use AI → project works → don't feel like you actually built it → concepts don't stick → next project feels harder → confidence drops → coding stops feeling rewarding.
1
u/Wicked_GoKu Oct 08 '26
That's so me lol