[markus_zhang]

Yeah exactly. I have been going on like this for almost 40 years and recently I decided to take a different approach:

- Stop working on projects that I know for sure I can't finish, basically that means I'll work on zero CS projects.

- Start hobbies that are either 1) Not of same type of CS projects, or 2) Something that takes a long time to understand.

I have been collecting fossils and learning Geology for a few months and so far it goes well: - Collecting fossils is easy to start

- It's very difficult to find good places to collect and even more difficult to collect very well preserved fossils

- I don't get to collect fossils every day, not even every week if the whether is bad, so zero chance of burning out

- Geology is not something that one can "figure out". In general science is not something I can "figure out" and then apply. It's not engineering.

However I still want to work on CS projects because I need an in-door hobby for the winter, maybe some day I can figure out a way :)

Good luck on your side too!

[caymanjim]

Interesting that you chose geology, as I often think that I'd have been happier as a geologist. I imagine there's a risk of getting bored with that as well, if it's your day job and you're doing the same sort of rote work all the time. In my fantasy, the primary appeal is that it's almost the opposite of sitting at a desk, except I suspect most professional geologists spend most of their time sitting at a desk looking at data on a computer. Seems like a fun hobby though!

[markus_zhang]

I browsed through some books and websites and figured that most of the work of a "general" geologist is still indoors. Some sub-variants such as palaeontologists are exceptions, but still I figured most of time is still spent in labs, not in fields.

So yeah I agree it's a good hobby.