Paralysis problem with multiple goals.

[sebzzz]

Hi,

I'll sty to make this short; I'm a 20 years old student (in Advertising) with certain goals in mind but having problems advancing some of them and often succumbing to a type of procrastination.

Here are my main goals:

1- Run a marathon in may 2008 (this one causes no problems as I don't have procrastination problems with my training.)

2- Learn some new technical stuff (PHP, python, Apache, Linux, MySQL, Javascript, ...) (Planning to do this mostly with reading books which I acquired lately.) This is because I'm passionate about computer science and I think my purpose in life is to help promote open source software and Linux in the world, so learning the technologies is a part of that, and I enjoy it also.

3- Start a small business to promote Linux in my region (you can see my work in progress website at Solutions Linux - Services Linux à domicile en Outaouais - accueil ). I also want to have an other small business with a friend producing creative websites.

4- Going somewhere in Europe (maybe France) after I graduate in about a year from now and offer my services there. The friend who is with me for the website thing is also interest but not sure about him yet (we could complete ourselves as I'm good and getting better to build websites and he's good in graphics design so we could offer site creation services.)

(5)*- Find a girlfriend and be in love (This is not really in my goals as I think it's one of those things I should let come by itself, not really working directly towards that, maybe I should not think like that.)

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Now the problem is not #1, I train without problem and I'm seeing good results, it's not #4 since this goal should arrive by itself and should be fueled by the accomplishment of goal 2 and 3.

The problems are goals 2 and 3:

A little explanation. With all my activities, I have a hard time working on my business website and reading my technical books. I also always question myself as to whether I should be working on my site and reading to learn new stuff. The result of this questioning is often that I end up loosing my time on the Web reading random news stories. The problem is that when I work on my site I often hit points where I don't know how to do this or that so I tell myself that if I had read the book before I would of know how to do it. But, when I read books it gives me the impression that I'm really unproductive (eats a lot of my time for results that are not quantifiable and not evident). I'm also the kind of reader who reads very slow to grasp everything the first time, so often ending up reading the same paragraph 2-3 times. Maybe I shouldn't.

There must be a problem with the reading thing because I sometimes have some time to read and do a lot of other random stuff instead, so big procrastination here. My thinking is that maybe I'm not liking it enough, maybe I like to learn sutff, but not the process of learning it. Also, maybe try to be too perfect (I'm the kind as the reflex to read from cover to cover instead of interesting sections in case I miss something.)

For my business and website, it's almost the same problem, but when I finally start to work on it, at least I feel that things gets done so I feel a little better.

I would really appreciate if someone could help with that. Thanks

[finandom]

Hi Sebzzz, I also have the same problem with you. I want to make a CRM system for my service business and I just a beginner in programming. So I need to spend time in both learning a new programming VS building the CRM system. I understand that sometime it really make me confusing too.

So at this moment, I'm using 1 solution to solve this problem. I made 2 decision.

First I make decision that building a CRM system is more important than being a super programmer.

Second, actually I learn programming because of the CRM system and not taking any tests or becoming a programmer. So I don't have to be perfect on this.

So now I know CRM is more important. Then I just concentrate on building it. Everytime I want to make a new feature for it, then only I will refer to a book or searching over the internet and just learn how to get the results I want. I'm building my CRM system in a "Lego" Style and so far I quite enjoy this style and the progress is quite good too.

Hope my experience can help you

[Minsc]

When you're writing code and you don't know how to do something, you should just look it up and keep writing once you're done. Preferably via the computer since it'd be faster. Don't read about anything you don't need to use at the moment. You'll start remembering things after looking them up several times.

Also, if you're beginning programming, you should do some basic projects first before you write something more advanced. If you're learning a new language but you've been programming for over a few years, you can do whatever you want, though.

You're doing fine with the second bit, I guess, since I don't see any javascript or php on your site. (you can't really start a project you're not able to finish in HTML)

[Max Power]

You know not that long ago, we were living in tribes and doing very little except hunting/gathering and being part of a very basic community. Look were we are now! Knee deep in tech, work, relationships, constant demands on our time and senses.

Most people make this huge list of things they want to achieve and then spend their time freaking out trying to get everything done. You need to simplify.............pick the most important task, the one important thing that you really must do and focus on that. When we spread ourselves to thin, we just create a big mess everywhere and then we look for answers.

Simplify, get rid of the clutter and clarify.

Max

[Ilya]

My advice would be to look up only the things that help you to solve the most immediate programming problem.
There is no use to read textbook as if it is a novel. Try learning different styles of reading, including scanning. This should help with information gathering.