Before you read this post, ask yourself a question: When was the last time you truly thought hard?
By “thinking hard,” I mean encountering a specific, difficult problem and spending multiple days just sitting with it to overcome it.
a) All the time. b) Never. c) Somewhere in between.
If your answer is (a) or (b), this post isn't for you. But if, like me, your response is (c), you might get something out of this, if only the feeling that you aren't alone.
First, a disclaimer: this post has no answers, not even suggestions. It is simply a way to vent something I've been feeling for the last few months.
The Builder and The Thinker
I believe my personality is built on two primary traits:
The Builder (The desire to create, ship, and be pragmatic). The Thinker (The need for deep, prolonged mental struggle).
The builder is pretty self explanatory, it’s motivated by velocity and utility. It is the part of me that craves the transition from “idea” to “reality.” It loves the dopamine hit of a successful deploy, the satisfaction of building systems to solve real problems, and the knowledge that someone, somewhere, is using my tool.
To explain the Thinker , I need to go back to my university days studying physics. Every now and then, we would get homework problems that were significantly harder than average. Even if you had a decent grasp of the subject, just coming up with an approach was difficult.
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