Ask HN: Solo developer, what's your recipe to start working?

- Make a pretty fine-grained list of tasks that are likely 10-30 minutes

- Put my task list on an index card or whiteboard

- Maybe use a Pomodoro timer

- Change my physical environment - take a laptop outside, kitchen table, bed (or in olden times, McDonalds, library, mall food court, etc.)

- Overload on caffeine and sugary snacks

- Crank up some loud, angry-ish music

- Dangle a reward for myself (If I ship this app today, I can order another keyboard)

- Grind out a code kata on Codewars or somewhere else

- Before I quit for the day, lay out the first task or two for the morning

- Take a shower

- Take a walk

To me, this is the difference between being able to work 3 hours a day vs being able to work 16 hours a day. To quote Steve Jobs:

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."

If you're anything like the average person, you've probably filled it with _something_. Take a moment to assess if this "something" is worth the time you are spending on it or if you're just using it to pass the hours in the hope you'll get a change of heart.

If you're just using it to pass the hours - aggressively cut those activities out of your life. You'll be surprised how motivating being bored out of your skull can be when it comes to getting work done.

1) Start with ancillary or related tasks. Basically any task that will be needed for the project but maybe not now, and that won't mentally task you a lot. E.g. pick a color scheme, register a domain, come up with your Call to Action/tagline. Draw up a list and check them off as you do them. Checking them off gets the motivation to work flowing

2) Put your design down on paper, essentially write down your pseudo-code/process flow. It's easier on the brain and actually is a good help when you finally start coding (lots of people start coding without having fleshed out the design)

3) Assign yourself a daily time quota to work. Start small e.g. I must do at least 1 hour on this project everyday. Starting small means you're able to meet your target. As time goes on, you'll find yourself blowing past that time and doing more work.

4) Focus on getting something out (very very rough but call it V1). Don't focus on a polished output. Having a first version no matter how rough tends to get the juices flowing so you can refine

5) Be willing to accept that you will not be productive on all the days and don't beat yourself up on those days. I think that feeling guilty on the days we don't 'accomplish' stuff makes us wallow in self-pity which even makes us less motivated to work.

What you're going through is usually my experience towards the end of a project i.e. my struggle is to actually push through and finish the project. I wrote about this on the blog of my most current project (see my profile)