Overwhelmed by Learning
I am finding too many things that are cool and interesting to learn and it's causing so much mental debt.
— 3 min read
Table of Contents
Mental Debt
In software development, there is this idea called technical debt that describes a situation where developers solve problems using shortcuts or "hacky" solutions that all eventually accumulate leading to a daunting amount of future work.
Right now, I'm experiencing a type of debt that is accumulating primarily in my mind. This is a growing backlog of things I need to think about, decisions to make, tasks to complete, and problems that haven't been fully addressed.
It's getting pretty bad to the point that it's affecting my hobbies (and other stuff). There are so many things that I'm interested in learning that I'm getting analysis paralysis.
Worst of all, it's all self-inflicted.
So, right now, I need to take a step back and reorient myself in the grand scheme of things.
I list below all the learning that I'm currently engaged in:
- Mandarin (hobby)
- Infrastructure engineering/systems administration (work)
- Full-stack development (hobby/work)
- IoT/embedded systems (work)
- Computer graphics programming (hobby, decided today)
You know, as I write this, I've begun to realize that this isn't actually that much compared to how it felt in my head.
Writing things down is really helping with putting things into perspective. But this doesn't really solve the problem of analysis paralysis. Because of all of these things, each one has not made any substantive progress.
Except for Mandarin, that one I'm prioritizing—sometimes, I feel, a little too much.
I should be prioritizing the second one from the list because it's the one that has the nearest deadline.
*sigh*
There are so many things I want to do and learn like I want to pick up drawing and game development.
The quote below I think sums up this feeling.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
— Robert A. Heinlein
But alas, I am but a dumb stupid idiot.