Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?
I would second a therapist&#x2F;counselor&#x2F;etc. Did that during college (thanks to the couseling services my Uni provided), and it helped me just not feel <i>too</i> crazy.<p>I spent a long while, and still do, thinking about what am I heading towards. I know a lot of people don&#x27;t know this and there is no way I will ever know all the details to make a decision, but I prefer the &#x27;fail to plan, plan to fail&#x27; montra. Thus I plan, but am willing to scrap my planes in the wink of an eye, contingent on new infromation.<p>This is what I did and maybe you&#x27;ll find something helpful in this method. Find what makes you tick. Make a list of things you enjoy doing. Try to be specific as you can. (You like novelty. Okay then maybe something like &#x27;I like to learn a new trade skill (wood carving, stained glass, etc.) every 6 months.&#x27;) Try to begin to boil it down to a long list. Keep adding things to the list, and take a break from the list every now and again (just to bring a fresh pair of eyes to it). If an idea seems broad, try to break it down (when I did&#x2F;do this, I try to be able to tell someone the idea and they would be able to go out and do it exactly how it is in my head).<p>Then next to the list make columns like &#x27;Financially sound ideas&#x27; (buying 32 Raspberry PIs to make a large cluster computer is not as financailly sound as Learning how apache2 works), &#x27;Speed of doing&#x27; (you can learn how to write C at a basic level in an afternoon, but learning how to weld may take you longer), &#x27;Practical for you to do&#x27; (if you weigh 400lbs and wanting to go backpacking through the Rockies is not as practical as learning how to write better on a whiteboard), &#x27;It would bring me immediate gratitude&#x27;, &#x27;it would bring me long term gratitude&#x27;, etc.<p>After you make a large list rank each column with 1-5 or some other ranking system (I liked the 1-5 because I could say I really hate, sort of hate, neutral, like, love an idea). Then you can hopefully start to see things that rank high in each category you made. (e.x. I really want to take a trip around South America (drive for two weeks or so through the Andes). It isn&#x27;t practicle, it isn&#x27;t quick to do, it isn&#x27;t finacially sound, but it would be one hell of a memory. It is something I want to strive towards and go one day.)