I was speculating whether or not computers make me overall less productive or not - I'm convinced they do. I need other people around to work with, then I can get "addicted" to helping and progressing the task rather than anything else.
Sadly I'm working largely autonomously despite efforts to change that.
Apologies if it is too much of a private question, feel free to ignore: At what age did you start ? Were your parents aware ?
My mates folks owned a pub, his parents definitely knew we were getting our fags there.
I think I may be guilty of this too. And it's inconsistent with, "Release early, release often."
alert("Admitting you have a problem is the first step in solving it.")
On my last startup venture I went to one-week sprints, where I delivered something each week. This helped out a lot, as it made me prioritize and triage.
But I think having an active customer base and a team to report to are just as important. I find I have a tendency to prioritize whiz-bang stuff -- stuff I'd like to code, instead of stuff the users actually need. Actually, when you get right down to it, users really need very little functionality. As programmers we end up putting it in there simply because we can. It's fun. We think everybody else is a power user because well, we're one.
Fortunately I began suspecting this early in life, so I didn't end up a coke-head or worse. Instead I've learned to balance all of my bad habits in a way that continues to optimize productivity for me. So for example after smoking for five years in my early 20s, I quit cold turkey. As for eating, I'm learning to control my blood sugar levels. I'm finding there is a blood-sugar/caffeine/alcohol feedback system that I'm dismantling. But then there are big problems that I'm still working on, like procrastination and too much web reading (which are related!) I probably lose dozens of hours a week on these. Sometimes I make progress, such as no TV (except for movies) Still others seem intractable, like enjoying coding so much I keep over-coding things.
I think as you get older you begin to realize how screwed up you are -- if you are introspective at all, that is. Some folks aren't introspective at all, or if they are they aren't able to critically see what needs fixing. These are the ones to be pitied. But introspection always has kind of a sad quality to it. I know for me it was a lot more fun when I used to think I was bullet-proof.