[ajankovic]

I hate gambling but observing some recent changes in my behaviour this sentence strike a chord:

> The high is in expecting an outcome, desiring it, imagining it, not in its fulfillment.

I am staring at unfinished side projects of mine and they are staring back at me.

[MichaelApproved]

Jared Tendler[1] is a poker coach and has a great line that stuck with me, beyond my poker playing. It goes something like this

Visualizing your win is important to help you stay focused on a goal but equality important is not to get carried away with the visualization. If you imagine yourself winning too often, you'll feel like you already achieved that goal and won't be as motivated to follow through. After-all, what's the point in doing the extra work, if you already think you've won?

He's got a lot of other really good insights. If you're a poker player, I highly recommend his audio books which are available on audible.

[1] http://jaredtendlerpoker.com/tmgp1and2/

[kaffeemitsahne]

Reminds me of that bit about people being less likely to actually follow through with their plans if they've already told people about what they're going to do, versus keeping it silent.

[nzjrs]

Wait what?! I've heard literally the opposite advice - the idea being people don't like to be made a liar of, so publicly promising you will do something makes you more inclined to do it

[throwanem]

There's a difference between making someone a promise, and just talking about something you intend to do.

[markdown]

Relevant 3min TED Talk by Sivers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHopJHSlVo4

[tdkl]

Both mind hacks work or fail, depending on the person and their habits.

[abysmallyideal]

Visualizing _the win_ versus _imagining winning_ are two completely different things. That's good solid advice.

[manaskarekar]

"After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but is often true.”

-- Spock

https://youtu.be/-wtYGZt7aI4

[encoderer]

> Expectation is the purest, most reliable form of pleasure - Flaubert

(From memory, paraphrasing)

[Jun8]

Your memory is good but I think that was the form given in a Dawson's Creek episode (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0555133/quotes).

The one that Goodreads and other sites attribute to Flaubert is: "Pleasure is found first in anticipation, later in memory." I couldn't find a source for this but I think rather than Flaubert this is from Julian Barnes's book Flaubert's Parrot, which has:

“Remember the botched brothel-visit in L’Education sentimentale and remember its lesson. Do not participate: happiness lies in the imagination, not the act. Pleasure is found first in anticipation, later in memory.” (https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1414912-flaubert-s-par...).

This quote does not appear in the full text of that book, though (https://archive.org/stream/sentimentaleduca00flauiala/sentim...).

I totally agree with the sentiment expressed, of course. The real lover not being as beautiful or desirable as the imagined version is a common motif esp. in Middle Eastern literature.

[encoderer]

bahaha. I don't remember the show well but I was a teenager in the 90s and definitely watched it.

I do, however, remember selectively reading the book later in school so I must have mis-appropriated that memory.

[iregina]

I am staring at Facebook and it is staring back at me.

[throwanem]

Facebook is always staring at you.

[turc1656]

Yes, exactly! I am experiencing the same issue. But, I am happy to say I've made significant headway on one project recently. Didn't get the result I wanted, so it's back to the drawing board (sigh).

[mike_ivanov]

I think that's actually. Let them sit there for a while and wait for their turn.

I am yet to have a single unfinished side project that I wouldn't be recycling a few years later into something related to my day job.

And yes - it starts with high expectations and dreaming about the outcome, sketching the thing, engineering parts of it - and when it's almost there, then I lose interest. But by that time the hardest part - figuring out how - is done. And it's absolutely addictive.

[amelius]

Running a startup is also somewhat like being a gambling addict. And the house is run by VCs (who wisely spread their money).

[idrios]

A lot like being a gambling addict. It really is gambling your time and energy.

The difference is that at a Casino, all games are rigged so that your expected value over large number of iterations in any game is that you'll lose money. In a startup, the expected value over investing a lot of time and energy is that you'll gain money in the end. VCs are giving you money to keep gambling, and asking you to give them a cut of your winnings. The house is run by the market.

[M_Grey]

It also explains everyone you've met who binge eats and then regrets it, and a lot of other behaviors.

[rogerdpack]

Unfortunately I'm the same way, side projects really addict me, and in a bad way. I'm quite happy while doing them (LOL) but then a few days afterward I'm a grumpy terrible human being while withdrawing. Any advice out there for me? :)

[failrate]

Are you completing any of them? If not, delete all of them. This will prevent cognitive load.

[elmigranto]

I'll let you work on mine :)

Jokes aside, though, did I read it right that you're saying you don't have enough side projects? Start a bigger one then.

[rogerdpack]

No too many, and if I work on any on of them I get grumpy and addicted :|

[voidz]

Indeed; for me this applies to tobacco!