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Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?

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Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?

#21

Post by akavel »

hoodoof wrote: post #16
hoodoof wrote: post #4

Are you me? Programming feels like productive work, and indeed it is, up until just about the point you are at. Now it is not productive work any more, in fact, once the product is finished, programming is counter productive work. Other things need to be done and you don't know how to do them and if you do, are not in the habit of doing them. IOt is easy to get up in the morning and write code, harder to do unfamilia…

Hey wow that's great advice I think I'll learn from what you say here.

Uh? A user replying to himself with congratulations? What's just happened here? :/

Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?

#22

Post by mikekchar »

When your project is finished, the dream is dead and the reality is born. The death of a dream is like the death of a friend. It's probably been with you for a long time -- longer even than the length of the project. A dream is the manifestation of what's possible. When it is over, the possible diminishes very quickly and you are left with what actually is. Will people respond well to your project -- in the dream stage it is possible; everything is possible. In the reality stage, it will only be what it is.

So while it's common to think of a release as a birth of something new, realise that you also have a significant loss. You will mourn that loss. Give yourself some emotional space to deal with the mourning.

Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?

#23

Post by hoodoof »

akavel wrote: post #21
hoodoof wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey wow that's great advice I think I'll learn from what you say here.

Uh? A user replying to himself with congratulations? What's just happened here? :/

I'm just saying heck I wish I could take my own advice.

I am empathizing with the OP about how hard this point of a project is.

Perhaps I'm being too dry.

Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?

#24

Post by vjeux »

> part of me thinks I might be scared of success ( or scared of surpassing my parents )(media attention), part of me fears the attacks that might come with success ( having something to lose )

Beware of those expectations, after the initial press fades out (a week or two in), you're going to have close to 0 users and 0 revenue. Launching is just the first step, you'll be successful when you can grow your user base.

You're likely not going to feel successful at that point, probably the opposite: "I spent 2 years working on this and no one is using it".

Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?

#25

Post by nartz »

There is a required shift in mentality that you are due.

Its like when you're in love, at first you can survive on romance, but to survive a marriage, there is a necessary shift into the long term mentality.

You've romanced your way to a product, but haven't considered the long term of it yet. In the future, it would help to have some long term thinking earlier on, so you can plan for various things and not have a step-function-like inflection point in your expectations.

Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?

#26

Post by exelius »

hoodoof wrote: post #23
akavel wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh? A user replying to himself with congratulations? What's just happened here? :/

I'm just saying heck I wish I could take my own advice. I am empathizing with the OP about how hard this point of a project is. Perhaps I'm being too dry.

Maybe a bit meta for HN.

Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?

#27

Post by dgreensp »

Your brain may be telling you that you need to shift your point of view and focus your energy on different activities, but you may not be clear on what those activities are, or feel like doing them.

Have you launched a product before? Do you have any pre-launch users/customers? Have you done customer development on this product, or just built a thing?

Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?

#28

Post by manibatra »

I could be very wrong but the reasons you gave were all scenarios where you end up successful. That probably makes me think that you are just scared of the failure and judgement that comes from putting yourself out there.

For me the solution has been to know that whatever I create is out of the need that it has to be created or it will bother me to no end. So even if it is criticised the other option would have been to not create it which would be much worse.

Also if you are not on point when it comes to your diet and exercise there is a lot of room left for you to feel better than you are at the moment just by doing that. The difference can be night and day.

Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?

#30

Post by wsinks »

danschumann wrote: post #10
CryoLogic wrote: post #2

What type of animation software? It sounds to me like you need to find co-founders or partners. Part of surviving in the long run is really just emotional support from people who believe in your product and share similar interests. It is unnatural in my opinion for a human to spend years working on something with no immediate reward (doesn't mean you shouldn't do it).

It exports to html, with a 3d scene and svg filters, which are stackable. There is a path system (for 2d cartoons), but that'll likely be v2(so much to polish). Then there are a few ways to integrate it in the page, options for pop out and fixed position play(based on scrolling), in page play(based on scroll[like parallax but better]), auto play(with some options based on scrolling). I'll make a video when I get some…

That's pretty cool - can you share the video with me as well when you're done? I'm a potential buyer for a content creation portion of an enterprise.
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