Similar comments from a University of Texas, Austin commencement speech by Adm. McRaven [1]:<p>"Every morning in basic SEAL training, my instructors, who at the time were all Vietnam veterans, would show up in my barracks room and the first thing they would inspect was your bed.<p>If you did it right, the corners would be square, the covers pulled tight, the pillow centered just under the headboard and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the rack—rack—that’s Navy talk for bed.<p>It was a simple task—mundane at best. But every morning we were required to make our bed to perfection. It seemed a little ridiculous at the time, particularly in light of the fact that were aspiring to be real warriors, tough battle hardened SEALs—but the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to me many times over.<p>If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another.<p>By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter.<p>If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.<p>And, if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made—that you made—and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.<p>If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed."<p>[1]: <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/news/2014/05/16/admiral-mcraven-commencement-speech/" rel="nofollow">http://www.utexas.edu/news/2014/05/16/admiral-mcraven-commen...</a>
Welp, I finished one thing today..<p>My first paid-for application commissioned by a client. I even drummed up a small manual for them, before sending out the "It's ready." email with the manual attached and a link to the installer download.<p>Not bad for a Monday morning!<p>It wasn't a big application, and did one specific thing. But it'll improve their (business) life dramatically. Bonus: I get to send them a juicy invoice. Bonus II: I just discovered I /love/ developing for paying clients B)
Am I in therapy?<p>We're evolving, not finishing.<p>Obsessing over finishing something every day can't be useful or necessary. Could be distracting.<p>The haiku-styled self-help thingy here is lacking depth.. it's generic motivational cliche central. It's corny stuff.<p>Sounds like a form of OCD. The same people couldn't bare to leave the dirty dishes til the next morning.<p>Relax. You don't need to finish something today for the sake of "finishing".<p>You can subscribe to the journey or the destination, choose one, but don't push what you choose onto others and call it "Hacker News".<p>"Ship one thing today".<p>Ah... nope. And I don't ship. Never understood the obsession with "shipping". It suggests a commercial operation, a red-button launch, manufacturing and selling washing machines.
My significant other really struggles with feeling over whelmed. If she feels overwhelmed she doesn't do anything. If we end up doing one thing together to finish it she just eats up the rest. She isn't lazy and she isn't unmotivated. This idea really could work for some people.<p>This should actually help a lot of people.
I lived with my girlfriend's parents many years ago and at the time her father was building a Morris Minor 1000 and a Triumph Bonneville bike (in his spare time). The final results were showroom condition vehicles; absolute works of art. I was fortunate enough to be there for most of the duration of the projects.<p>I learnt _a lot_ about how vehicles work from those days. It was fascinating working on machines like that from first principals. Every single thing was stripped down and rebuilt from several dead vehicles. Even every last washer was cleaned up and reused.<p>One of my main take aways was actually his approach to working on the projects. Every day he would complete at least one thing on each project. Sometimes it was as small making a phone call, or as large as fitting the engine into the chassis.<p>It might have taken a couple of years but he got there in the end.
> SHIP ONE THING TODAY.<p>> RELEASE IT TO THE WORLD.<p>> If you don’t have an idea, imitate something else.<p>> You will think it’s not important enough.<p>> You will think nobody will care.<p>> You will overestimate its importance.<p>> You will sometimes fail.<p>Counterpoint: Instead of focusing on quantity ("hack it together and ship it", "ship it today", "finish it and release it to the world", etc.), let's take a step back and think about quality. I have personally been bitten from having to maintain side projects that I shipped prematurely just to "finish them".<p>I'm not saying you shouldn't finish things, however I do think there's value in raising standards for what you consider "finished", and that finishing something every day is a goal that is likely to be at odds with those standards.<p>Two articles that I recommend reading:<p>1. Generation Javascript by Manuel Bernhardt (<a href="http://manuel.bernhardt.io/2014/12/30/generation-javascript/" rel="nofollow">http://manuel.bernhardt.io/2014/12/30/generation-javascript/</a>)<p>2. A Generation Lost in the Bazaar by Poul-Henning Kamp (<a href="https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2349257" rel="nofollow">https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2349257</a>)
Reminds me of a popular /r/bestof "No Zero Days" comment on reddit.<p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/getdisciplined/comments/1q96b5/i_just_dont_care_about_myself/cdah4af" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/getdisciplined/comments/1q96b5/i_ju...</a>
This really sums up the idea of what I've been trying to express to myself the past few months on my stagnated side-project. I know if I work iteratively, the small pieces start to add up quickly.<p>However for me the trick is to get that initial push to <i>start</i> the work, even if the effort itself is small and manageable. It's hard for me to get motivated.
I've been using Don't Break The Chain on and off for maybe a year and it has really helped me battle my procrastination. I now have a clean home and have finished a lot of side-projects. The challenge is to pick it up again after you (inevitably) break the chain now and then.
Similar to this, at Google they do "snippets". Every week they write a short e-mail blurb about what they accomplished last week and what they plan to complete this week.<p>I gave this method a try and it's been great. It helps me stay on task, have goals, and feel good about what I've accomplished. It helps me minimize the "swamped" feeling because I'm actively prioritizing and then knocking those things off the list.<p>I'm currently trying to do a weekly snippet e-mail to myself, and additionally every morning I make a mini, unofficial snippets of what I'd like to accomplish for the day (generally taking items from the weekly snippets).
A few weeks ago my girlfriend almost chewed my head off because my insistence on finishing <i>something</i> that day almost made us late to a dinner. We didn't end up being late. But she didn't understand why I cared more about finishing at least something in an otherwise crappy day than I did about inconveniencing two people. (her and her friend)<p>Life's funny that way.
Genuine question: Is this a good excercise to help built the Grit characteristic?<p><a href="http://rrhs.schoolwires.net/cms/lib7/WI01001304/Centricity/Domain/187/Grit%20JPSP.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://rrhs.schoolwires.net/cms/lib7/WI01001304/Centricity/D...</a>
This reminds me of Ze Frank's An Invocation for Beginnings [1] which is all about starting something and the fear and anxiety that comes along with that. Definitely worth a watch.<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYlCVwxoL_g" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYlCVwxoL_g</a>
I finished at least 3 things today. 4 if you count making the bed...<p>why is this site trying to make me lazy?<p>and if I don't want to finish something, then I won't. I'm not a machine, I want to have some days off, usually not enough.<p>but when I can, I enjoy spending a whole day on the sofa doing nothing. you should try it, it's nice
I think this is a great motivational site for procrastinators (not only those involved in software development). Doing One Thing Today can be the beginning of a new habit, the habit of not procrastinating.
"Write Code Every Day", John Resig:<p><a href="http://ejohn.org/blog/write-code-every-day/" rel="nofollow">http://ejohn.org/blog/write-code-every-day/</a><p>He set himself similar rules.
After reading this, it helped me write a blog post I had just been thinking about. Nothing big, it was just a blog post but I feel so much better about getting it off my chest!