An great article on exactly this issue: https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2010/12/14/persist-without-...
Gonna read that, thank you!
Ask HN: How do you keep motivated if nobody supports you?
101–110 of 192 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep motivated if nobody supports you?
#102OP maybe suffering from manic depression (note:not depression).
The post, like the one linked here and apathy towards family/dad's business, shows a case of depression but the kind of skill OP has demonstrated through projects posted on OPs website shows that OP must have Bursts of mania. Mania is also demonstrated through OPs wish to get placed at companies like Facebook,etc due to heightened self worth.
Due to unstable mood, OP maybe having difficulty taking decisions and maybe subject to environmental factors dictating life decisions.
I would advice OP to take a break , not cause he needs to get away from a computer. I'm sure OP will do great things on a computer. But to evaluate mental health n well being. To try out things to keep a stable mood.
All the best Mr.Cabada . Hope this helps you :)
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep motivated if nobody supports you?
#103Learning to lead yourself and doing what you know is right and understanding how you add value and what your value is the most important skills I have worked to learn. Motivation is the wrong thing to go after. Discipline is the key. Building discipline to do the things that are needed will beat motivation every time. It's always nice to have external support, but the best support you can build and keep is from the r…
> Motivation is the wrong thing to go after. Discipline is the key. Please provide either some sources or argumentation for such a significant claim.
There's tons out there if you will look.
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep motivated if nobody supports you?
#104You don't have to generate immediate revenue to be successful. In fact, unlike what a lot of people are saying here, a lot of successful startups started out without charging anyone anything. See Facebook, Google, Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat, etc. (actually most internet related startups). So don't worry, your "not being able to make money directly from you creation" is not the main reason here. Of course this is not saying making money is bad. I'm making a point that there are tons of people who are in the same position as you are and end up becoming successful.
That said, I looked at your site and it's impressive. No doubt you can build stuff.
The only problem I guess based on this is that you can't commit to a single project. I mentioned above that a lot of Internet related startups started without charging anyone any money, but you should remember that the founders of ALL of the above companies focused 100% of their effort into their single project to get to success.
Again, this is not to say quantity is bad. Actually printing out all kinds of apps like you is 1000 times better than people who never ship because you probably have learned much more than those guys. Plus if you keep going without giving up, you will probably hit a jackpot someday.
But I think quality is also important. At least try to focus on a single project for a while. I have a couple of friends who are like you, they are all creative and competent developers. But they don't like to feel the failure so they end up spreading out their energy on multiple projects simultaneously, just so that they can say "ah that project? It was just for fun, I could have succeeded if I put my full effort into it". Of course they don't say that and probably won't acknowledge it if asked, but I know that's what's going on in their mind, because I feel like doing the same thing all the time, I try to push myself to really go all out on something, so that I can later say I at least tried my best.
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep motivated if nobody supports you?
#105Stop living in the past and suck it up cupcake. You've been though interviews that went poorly. Reflect, learn, grow, try again. You're not that good. It's more then just some raw amount of code or random projects that you spew out while interested and then abandon when you're bored. As for the complaining about lack of support. I'm sorry, but you're being supported! You have a roof over your head and food in your be…
It's not a matter of sucking it up. OP clearly has emotional difficulties. It would be nice if OP could share a lil about his relation with his father.
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep motivated if nobody supports you?
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're an engineer looking to try bootstrapping a business (as opposed to going the venture capital route), try the “Startups For the Rest of Us” podcast. Start from the beginning. Or startupbook.net for mostly the same content in book form. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. Traction by Gabriel Weinberg.
I found the Art Of Charm podcast to be really more to the point. And of better quality, business-wise and voice-wise. Tried the "Startups for the rest of us", couldn't keep listening to their random chit-chat, the informational value per minute is really too low.
Interesting, thanks for the pointer! Doesn't look like it's a business podcast at all (but a “how to pick up chicks” podcast?), but maybe I'll check an episode or two.
Back when Startups For the Rest of Us was new, I found it to be a pretty good value/minute compared to other podcasts I could find at the time (2010). The episodes start with a useless 5 minutes of chit-chat, but the other 15 minutes was pretty solid.
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep motivated if nobody supports you?
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm mexican, is not that easy to get a working Visa. Is a bit easier to get working Visas in big companies, that's the main reason why.
How many companies did you apply for? To get my current job, I applied for about 120 positions, interviewed with four of them. It's a competitive market, which means it's a numbers game. Don't give up after applying to a small handful of companies. Also, if you're near Mexico City, try spending some time at a well-connected coworking space like Centraal. If not, check out workfrom.co for coworking spaces near you and…
> To get my current job, I applied for about 120 positions...
WOw! And I applied to 14 and thought I had it tough! I'm motivated by you.
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep motivated if nobody supports you?
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've come to realize the same thing. Like the author, I've been programming since I was an early teen and that was pretty much all I did for years. I would love to break into the software market but realized that I only think like an engineer and not so much like a business man. I've been mainly interested in the design, implementation, and theory of software rather than thinking of what software that people would an…
"The E-myth" by Michael Gerber is the single most helpful book I've ever read on transitioning your thinking from engineering-focused to business-minded. Specifically, the difference between the Technician, the Manager, and the Entrepreneur. I read it on the recommendation of an ex-Google engineer turned failed-entrepreneur, here on HN. He said that a The E-myth described all the failures he had encountered trying to…
There are about 20 e-myth books. Is there a specific title?
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep motivated if nobody supports you?
#109I don't have a lot to add to the general question, but it sounds like you need to find a job. You clearly have enough experience to get a job at a decent high-paying tech firm even if it's not Google.
If I could recommend a practical measure; consider revising your portfolio. No one cares or has time to visit every one of the projects you've listed. And yet your most important ones are given the same weight as your lesser ones. Even worse, the design of the portfolio is not only unflattering visually, but exposes poor implementation choices. I'm on a university network and it took 30 seconds to load the portfolio. Even if you're on a slow ISP, the effect is exacerbated by how slowly the small thumbnails (which are hundreds of kilobytes each) progressively load.
Those all lead to a bad first impression. Edit your portfolio down to your best 5-6 projects. You don't need more than that to show the depth of your experience.
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep motivated if nobody supports you?
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
"The E-myth" by Michael Gerber is the single most helpful book I've ever read on transitioning your thinking from engineering-focused to business-minded. Specifically, the difference between the Technician, the Manager, and the Entrepreneur. I read it on the recommendation of an ex-Google engineer turned failed-entrepreneur, here on HN. He said that a The E-myth described all the failures he had encountered trying to…
There are about 20 e-myth books. Is there a specific title?
The author's name is right there in the comment.