Does being different make you feel better?

Question

Imagine a person who loves doing the following:- Change keyboard layout to Dvorak- Use Vim keybindings everywhere, including the browser- Learn unpopular languages such as Racket, SmallTalk- Create numerous aliases for zsh (or Bash, but zsh because it's "better")- Make plenty of automation scripts e.g., by AppleScript, Ruby, JS- Use automation apps (on macOS) e.g., Keyboard Maestro, Alfred, Karabiner-Elements, Hammerspoon, etc.- Assign custom shortcuts to favorite commands in each app- Read/Write emails right in terminal- Spend hours writing scripts that replace a boring task that would've taken minutes to finish- Theme and rice the OS- Spend hours fixing the OS/application problems that shouldn't have existed in the first place- Finally, get to work, thinking that he's now super productive...Are you like this? Is there a way to fix this behavior? Why trying to be different (as much as possible) is enjoyable for some people (me included)?

simonblack · Accepted Answer

Sounds like you need a challenging personal project that will soak up that unused itch. Something that needs lots of research into hard-to-find resources. And then the mental challenge to fit all of those resources together.
Mine is writing emulators for 40-year-old 'home computers' of the pre-16bit-PC era that can take the few surviving boot-rom images and floppy-images of software of the day and run that software just as the 'real' home-computers did. And of course, I have to make it a GUI program, even though it would be simpler to just run it in a terminal.
Your project is out there. Find it.

gregjor · Answer

In my experience people do this to avoid doing their actual job. Maybe they can&rsquo;t, maybe they don&rsquo;t want to.Spending their time instead &ldquo;optimizing&rdquo; their environment communicates they have an optimum. Most of the time it&rsquo;s just avoidance.

kosasbest · Answer

I would rather get to work, than thinking about getting to work, or building environments to help me work. So much time wasted on bike shedding instead of just doing what needs to be done.

h2odragon · Answer

Trying to be different, or just very fond of your own sense of how things should be?Perhaps there's something else you'd really rather be doing and all this is displacement nest grooming behavior.

togaen · Answer

You might do well to get some perspective on how valuable your time is. Go volunteer at a soup kitchen or a boys & girls club or something. You might be less inclined to write pointless automation scripts if you see you can spend that same time and make a real impact in someone&rsquo;s life.

yuppie_scum · Answer

Differences are often what make people interesting. I wouldn&rsquo;t do a lot of this stuff but I wouldn&rsquo;t necessarily describe it as antisocial behavior or anything like that. You do you. Doesn&rsquo;t make you better or worse than anybody as long as it isn&rsquo;t impacting other people.

asimjalis · Answer

Instead of fixing this behavior I would propose going further with it. Take it to an extreme. Turn the knob to eleven.

Does being different make you feel better?

In my experience people do this to avoid doing their actual job. Maybe they can’t, maybe they don’t want to.
Spending their time instead “optimizing” their environment communicates they have an optimum. Most of the time it’s just avoidance.

I would rather get to work, than thinking about getting to work, or building environments to help me work. So much time wasted on bike shedding instead of just doing what needs to be done.

Trying to be different, or just very fond of your own sense of how things should be?
Perhaps there's something else you'd really rather be doing and all this is displacement nest grooming behavior.

You might do well to get some perspective on how valuable your time is. Go volunteer at a soup kitchen or a boys & girls club or something. You might be less inclined to write pointless automation scripts if you see you can spend that same time and make a real impact in someone’s life.

Differences are often what make people interesting. I wouldn’t do a lot of this stuff but I wouldn’t necessarily describe it as antisocial behavior or anything like that. You do you. Doesn’t make you better or worse than anybody as long as it isn’t impacting other people.

Instead of fixing this behavior I would propose going further with it. Take it to an extreme. Turn the knob to eleven.