How do you deal with entrepreneurial obsession?

Here's what worked for me: stop fantasizing and actually go try to start another business around one of your ideas. In my case (and for most people) it failed and cured me of this mindset. Ideas are easy and problems are infinite. Execution is hard and unless you're really in love with the problem, it's usually not worth it.

I've 4 exits and ~25 failures under my belt, and I'm dealing with the exact same problem; However, over the years I've come to enjoy every single project that didn't work out more and more because failure is the default, and valuable information for the next attempt. And as long as you keep the surface area for luck to strike wide enough at any time, you're gonna make it through somehow.

Can't agree that loving the problem is a prerequisite, but more of personal trait. If you work on something that's boring AF and still can deliver best-in-class because the result ($/fame) is what you're ultimately after, there's no need to get high on your own supply.

You are asking in the wrong place. HN is filled with the idea that every moment of waking time should be dedicated to hustling, doing startups, being productive... in short, work.

Unsurprisingly people here are telling to double down on following your ideas.

Such attitude is very effective at creating burnout.

For me : stop living in fantasy and start taking actions, getting other people excited about the idea and asking them to join me. It’s too comfortable to never let fantasy get in touch with reality. And once you do let it get out there I know what needs to be worked more on.

I don't think you're the only one who's experienced this, but I think you're in the minority in realizing that you're experiencing this.

This thread has a lot of gold nuggets, but most seem to be focused on how to successfully start a company/follow through with an idea. While the more critical question seems to be your first question, whether you still want to be an entrepreneur.

For myself, I think it was important to realize that at the end of the day we are just all a bunch of monkeys who gained the ability to experience things, along with the illusion that we can alter this experience. That's all this is. We are just all trying to tickle our brains to feel better in one way or another.

Everything we are doing is for our own "experience". Some of us wants to make the world better because it makes us feel better that others are living a better life. Others might want to create impact because it feels good to be someone who've created impact. There is no absolute truth/reality. We are all just trying to make our experiences better.

All of this might sound obvious and even a little cynical. But it's given me a strange sense of comfort and helped me find "myself".

Also curious to konw if you've found the answer to your question since the time of this post!

I like to think about my long pursuits as achieving a kind of purpose at a certain point in my life. What is the purpose of me needing to be working on my own thing? If I execute against the idea with that in mind, I usually go further. Once I’m done with a given purpose layer, a new purpose emerges (not always right away).

I’ve been working on my current company for almost 8 years. At first mine (and my co-founders’) purpose was to just give it a go. We expected it to fail and for us to have to go back to our jobs. None of us actually cared about the idea we were initially working on (thank god it shifted and pivoted to something more personally fulfilling). We cared about trying it for real with our best friends (quitting work, working long hours, etc.).

When we hit our first real wave of traction, the purpose changed to “let’s take this thing as far as possible from a scale perspective”.

Basically, I’ve never thought about doing something because the idea itself is what’s carrying me especially for a company where pivots are necessary to increase my chance of success (almost all software companies). Not prescribing this way of thinking to anyone else. Putting it out there in case it resonates.

I have a lot of ideas for things I think I want to build, that might make a useful amount of money, however when I examine my thoughts more closely I realize that in nearly every case I merely want the things to exist. That forces me to come to terms with facts like:

- I only have so much time and skill

- Most ventures fail and I need to be cautious about using others' success as inspiration

- I place a really high value on free time (extension of the first point)

Since I started thinking this way, I've stopped feeling (as) guilty that I'm "wasting" time on things like being social or reading or playing video games instead of chasing dreams.

I haven't had entrepreneurial success yet, like as a founder, so I guess that probably taints my view here a bit.

> My goal is to understand if I still really want to be an entrepreneur

I do not have a solution for you but it seems you currently identify as an entrepreneur. I think if you want to stop this "obsession" you will need to stop identifying with it.

I would give it a defined time to obsess about it. During that time you can do something specific about an idea (not just daydreaming). The rest of the time you let the thought pass without feeling guilty, since you have a time slot later.

My recommendation is to do something physical too: swimming, pottery, walking the dog, weights...

I tend to obsess over ideas too. Ideas are so much fun!

Don't feel ashamed over dreaming about Changing the World or Becoming a Billionaire. Dreams are delightful.

But you have to keep your dreams at arms-length. I wrote the following essay as a playful reminder to myself to stop taking my ideas so seriously:

[1] https://taylor.town/brilliant-app-idea

I highly recommend Derek Sivers's book on entrepreneurship, Anything You Want.

As I'm on my own business journey, this tiny book keeps me grounded to a mission of truly helping people and enjoying the process.

[2] https://sive.rs/a

You might also need to change how you interact with people. How to Win Friends and Influence People is the magic guide on talking to people:

[3] https://www.amazon.com/How-win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/8...

Another possibility is that you need to find fewer people to talk about your "ideas" with. Not everybody is interested in this stuff. But I am!

Feel free to schedule a chat with me anytime:

[4] https://calendly.com/taylor-town/30min

If you're coming up with ideas to avoiding doing work, remember that "Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder, but don't nobody wanna lift no heavy-ass weights".

Everybody wants to be an entrepreneur too.

[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UlgXIL0-3g

Above all else, you are not your success. If you're 30 years old right now, you've only got ~2,500 weekends left. Spend that time intentionally.

I've read it on here, but the act of thinking about doing things and fantasizing about all these potential accomplishments is a dopamine trap. Create a list of things you're "constantly think about", and start one. Then at least you have the ideas written down, and you're not constantly spinning that ideas plate in your mind. And just like others say here, actually implement something. Even if you don't get very far you'll learn something for the next idea, and you can always come back.

Shoot for low hanging fruit first. Build up a passive income stream. Once this is in place you have the freedom to explore, or if free time is as valuable as you say it is, just enjoy that.

I dealt with entrepreneurial obsession by failing enough times that reality communicated to me that I don't have what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

I learned long ago that if the focus of my obsessing is on some future state or accomplishment then I will be anxious, miserable and not at all creative or productive. But if I can direct the obsessing to actual activities I enjoy in the here and now, I find my sweet spot.

I forget this constantly, and have to bring myself back to it repeatedly. But whenever I do, I find I’m home again.

It's about building something, so I just allow myself to obsessively build things. Starting something may result in what is built being marketable, but it may also be a market "failure" or not stand up to innovation in the market over time. It's a good way to channel obsessively learning how to do new things!

This is for you: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33072083

"After a high flying 20+ year career in tech, Philip Su burned out. He found solace in an unexpected place: a retail Amazon job."

> Two years ago we me and my partners got an acquisition from a startup we created in the previous 2 years, while having a full time job, my background is software engineering.

What did your employer think of that? Wondering about your experience in balancing day job/startup.

Try imagining you’ve just a few moments left to live.

What one thing do you regret not doing?

Do that.

I once had a sheet of paper completely filled with new ideas to work on.

I didn’t even know where to begin.

I went through this death bed exercise eliminating all but one of them.

I’ve since completed it, and continued to judge potential projects against that criteria.

I cured mine by replacing it with a music creation obsession.

Talk to a therapist

  one of my reference on the topic is Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective"

  I recently started meditating with Sam Harris's Waking up, which is really helping on bringing more awareness in my life

Rolls up newspaper.. thawack

Stop that. You don't need that shit.

Listen to Ze Frank about Brain Crack (he is a very nice man from a long ago interwebs where people didn't try to sell you self help bullshit):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sHCQWjTrJ8

Communism