Work worthy of the name

I believe for the average person naming something before getting started or in the early stages is very very very dangerous.

I've been burned by this a lot before. 

There is some minimum amount of work required before I think you should name something. In the meantime I think vapor-names or placeholder-names are good. They just are there because you want to be able to refer to them easily. Like in my fiction writing I used a placeholder name for my fictitious city Westcity but I eventually ended up falling in love with it after using the name over and over again in my stories.

Tribes is also a placeholder name for a user interaction on Adagia which is also a placeholdern ame. Lol I've already figured out a better placeholder name for Tribes but I'm waiting to switch to it after reaching out to people in Tribes and letting them know so that they don't show up confused.

What are the examples where you've been burned if you don't mind sharing? 

I'm with you on the idea of vapor names - verbal representations of the work and nothing more (at least at the outset) 

I'm finding that flip flop a lot on certain concepts. I wrote a post about naming in December titled 'What's in a name?' that basically posited that names mean nothing until the work does. 

I imagine this will be normal as I age, experience more, and engage in different contexts. 

Re: contexts, I noticed I've been a little bit less patient & more aggressive with work - to the point where I didn't recognize myself for a moment. The context here for this post was motivated by my thoughts saround character - identifying the type of qualities I respect and admire and endeavoring to embody them in how I act/work. 

I have so many short-stories where I obsessed over details from the perspective of the reader. The title/name being one example detail. For me obsessing over naming initially proved too much frontloaded dopamine. I get high on the imagined presentation of the work and then actually working on it feels like a less enjoyable alternative since the dopamine dosage on that would be smaller and more extended than it did imagining my story's title plastered on some journal's website, or me imagining my friend sending the story to their friend and saying that it was written by a cool friend they knew.

I don't do this anymore and that's mainly why I can admit it, because if I still did do this I don't think I'd be able to lol. But I'm now imagining you wondering how I got over this -- at least with writing -- and the answer is just being burned enough. Spending years never writing anything to completion. And then comparing that outcome to everything high achievers in all domains ( not just writing ) espouse. 

I actually didn't catch that this post could be inspired by qualities you admire in other people lol. In what ways have you observed your patience waning and your aggression waxing when it comes to work? 

You would love The Molecule of More by Daniel Lieberman and Michael Long - it's dedicated to all the fascinating facets of dopamine including what you're talking about which I believe the book would describe as a case of 'reward-prediction error'. 

The patience waning and aggression has multiple parts to it. I think I have a tendency to bottle up emotions, so when several challenges arise at once there's an accumulation of tension. Another part of it is a need for me to be more realistic about the work load I can manage, communicating that honestly to my team, and learning to delegate - I realize I have a tendency to sign up for too much. All lessons to be worked on / learned :). 

Ha yeah I know what you mean. I feel like this is a thing that you've gotten better at though since your last job going by things you tell me. Like now at least you odn't sacrifice sleep.

I'll check that book out. Endocrinology and its link to our human experience fascinates me.

therealbrandonwilson

might be into that kind of stuff too. Let's see if he gets the book on his Kindle before I get it from the library lol

Oh yeah definitely better haha; a regular sleep schedule has been a positive game changer in every way.