from Hacker News

Ask HN: Skills that give you joy/flow

by viginti_tres on 1/18/22, 2:22 PM with 16 comments

I have some skills/hobbies like music and boxing, and these things give me joy/flow. What are the skills that give you joy/flow? (flow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology))
  • by smk_ on 1/18/22, 2:52 PM

    I love this question. First and foremost, meditation. It definitely helps me be more present. Another skill that gives me joy is reading. I can concentratedly read for 2 hours, but after 2 hours I need to take a break. I can't think of any other activity that I can concentrate so long on. Ideally, I would become a scholar but I'm going into software engineering for now:)
  • by drakonka on 1/18/22, 3:31 PM

    Reading, writing, coding (usually debugging, once I have a consistent and smooth repro process), lifting.
  • by dokem on 1/18/22, 4:05 PM

    I've been painting some walls in my house recently. After getting over the short learning curve of making a mess everywhere I find it pretty therapeutic and meditative.
  • by starwind on 1/18/22, 7:04 PM

    Listening to music. Flying an airplane. Doing a hard workout. Building a Lego set. Fixing something with my hands. Cooking (trying not to cut off any more finger tips).
  • by amerkhalid on 1/18/22, 3:59 PM

    Coding, video games, listening to music, painting.

    And long time ago when I used to run, running.

  • by floppy-disk on 1/18/22, 4:14 PM

    Refactoring legacy code.
  • by tekichan on 1/18/22, 4:20 PM

    Coding, solving math problems on paper (equations and stuff)
  • by billconan on 1/18/22, 3:58 PM

    drawing.

    Thank you for sharing the wiki link, I learned something. I like drawing, it let me forget about other things for hours. I use it as a therapy for anxiety.

  • by AnimalMuppet on 1/18/22, 5:28 PM

    Ultimate frisbee is a "flow" kind of game.
  • by ambivalents on 1/18/22, 3:04 PM

    Bouldering, meditating, ping pong
  • by mikewarot on 1/18/22, 5:05 PM

    Machining, making gears.
  • by dominotw on 1/18/22, 4:21 PM

    coding, skiing.
  • by navyad on 1/19/22, 6:20 AM

    running