Ask HN: Novelty addiction is ruining my life and career. What should I do?
I have an extreme case of neophilia. Well, most of HN readers like new things, but in my case this is really extreme. I start many projects, but never finish them because they are inevitably losing novelty (I had better luck with shorter projects). I am a fairly decent software engineer, but I never held a job longer than 1 year (for the last 12 years), and recently I realised that the only thing that motivates me in software engineering is learning new things and trying new fancy toys, not building something working and useful (this is obviously an invalid approach in engineering, and it makes me sad enough to consider leaving this career path for good). I've been fired from 2 jobs this year (having a stellar start, then quickly boring for good). Everything I do seems to be motivated by novelty, it seems like a dangerous addiction now. I am 32, jobless, and have more than $50k in debt now.
What should I do? Is there a cure from novelty-seeking behavior? Or how it can be managed to be useful, not disabling? Please help, if you have any experience coping with this...
What should I do? Is there a cure from novelty-seeking behavior? Or how it can be managed to be useful, not disabling? Please help, if you have any experience coping with this...