I've accepted that all the progress for me happens in tight bursts. I simply cannot do 'thought work' when I'm disinterested. I sometimes envy people who are interested in one particular project for years or decades at a time and make plodding, continual progress. However that's not me. I make inspired, unbelievable progress, and then nothing. I try to constrain the scope so that it at least remains useful, in between the bursts.
Claude Code has been a boon for my software projects, specifically for this reason. I might lose a full night's sleep, but I'm able to stay productive far longer and do what would have otherwise taken me weeks in any given project.
Yeah, I agree. AI helps me bust through quickly on a tedious task, where before that might have used up a lot of my motivation. The ground covered in any particular session is a lot further.
Claude Code has revolutionized my side projects — I've never accumulated half finished projects at a more impressive rate!
Can you share some things you finished using Claude?
In what way does it help you?
I feel similarly. When I'm bored by a task I tend to entertain myself by getting creative with it, its a way of tricking myself into getting it done, but its a terrible habit if what you wanted was reliable software.
Typically, models excel at tasks that are that boring, so I end up applying creativity where it's warranted instead of getting distracted by reinventing a tool that isn't quite perfect or some other diversion.
It can handle the boilerplate that is so uninspiring, it can help move the needle when you don't feel like diving in.
But you have to be intentful to keep the interesting parts and the high level choices for yourself - why by default doesn't happen, and many don't.
I’m very much the same, I wish I had the ability to chip away at projects over a long time span, usually the most I can muster is a few weeks. I continually wonder if I have ADHD. It’s too much of a pain to find out, so I guess I’ll never know and just have to deal with it.
You can be at peace with your approach to life, and also understand that others do things differently, with or without a diagnosis.
I can definitely relate - but I have noticed that the bursts have got longer and less intense as I've got older.
It could be worse. I've noticed that the bursts have got shorter and less intense as I've got older!
Haha, yeah I was going to reply with the same. I used to work 12+ hours/day for a few months at a time. Now I struggle for anything more than a few hours a day for a few weeks at a time. AI has helped me recover some ground but it's still less output overall.