| For me, it comes down to a couple things: 1. If it feels like drudgery, don't force yourself.
2. Be patient , and look for inspiration. A couple years ago, I had lost interest in learning new languages or side projects. I picked up woodworking and have pursued it actively since. Being away from the computer has helped me recharge my batteries. Through woodworking, I got motivated to build a blog aggregator for all the woodworking blogs I followed. I picked up ruby, node, and redis to build the site that's now being used by other woodworkers. Recently I finished some sci-fi novels, which I rarely read. Some technology and themes in the book inspired me to get back into learning about AI, something else I had gotten burnt out about since grad school. Now I'm learning Clojure to implement some ideas. I leave you with one of my favorite quotes from a well known woodworker: “We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our lives” - James Krenov Good luck! |
“Working alone poses problems of discipline and aims, and you have to get on lifelong terms with your work and yourself. For most of us, in the beginning stages and perhaps always, it’s a condition of struggle and discovery and secret satisfactions. Sometimes you are not making as much money as the plumber…, but you are alive with your work, and I think that one of the important points to keep you going is that you enjoy it-not hobby enjoyment or periodic enjoyment, but the enjoyment of being with it.
That, of course, means that you must save your energy, you must develop methods of working with wood that lead to a sort of harmony, a satsifaction that you are, with a minimum of effort, achieving the maximum of sensitivity. You are saying what you want to say, finally, and you’re doing it in a way that, despite all the sweat and hard work, gives you satisfaction.
This is the way you want to live.”
— James Krenov, A Cabinetmaker’s Notebook