Ask HN: How to deal with OCD/decision paralysis?
1 comments
Recognize the ones that are easy to change.
If it is easy to change, it doesn’t matter if you don’t pick right the first time.
If it is easy to change, ugly can become somewhat irrelevant. Because it is easy to un-ugly.
Make the color scheme accessible through a configuration file. Hate it? Set aside some time to play with it. Version it, because you may hate the change more.
Use one repo until you need more than one, for anything personal and not likely to be shared. If you aren’t sure what is right, wait for it to become obvious what is wrong. And again, this may take a little time to fix, but it shouldn’t be difficult to fix. So it won’t be a big deal if/when you hit that point.
If it is easy to change, it doesn’t matter if you don’t pick right the first time.
If it is easy to change, ugly can become somewhat irrelevant. Because it is easy to un-ugly.
Make the color scheme accessible through a configuration file. Hate it? Set aside some time to play with it. Version it, because you may hate the change more.
Use one repo until you need more than one, for anything personal and not likely to be shared. If you aren’t sure what is right, wait for it to become obvious what is wrong. And again, this may take a little time to fix, but it shouldn’t be difficult to fix. So it won’t be a big deal if/when you hit that point.
- Spending too much time deciding what to name my source code directory/home directory layout.
- Spending two days deciding if I should put personal scripts in my dotfiles repo or make a separate repo and agonizing over whether my dot files should assume they are bundled with my personal scripts.
- Rewriting a script/code several times because it doesn't "look" good to me (doesn't visually seem as well written or professional as other code I've read). Spending hours studying every example on the Internet to figure out the exact "right way" to code help text.
- Figuring out where to store patches, what to name git branches, how to write commit messages for small projects.
- Agonizing over color schemes/aesthetic choices.
I have always done well as a software engineer through bouts of extreme productivity, but I then sink into these moments of despair where I'm held back from working on the bigger fish projects I want to work on by my neurotic traits. I'm wondering if any of you suffer from the same issues and have found effective coping strategies. I have tried therapy, but it wasn't effective in changing any of my work behaviors.