For me its based on progress; if a project is going well and I am constantly being presented with new challenges it does not get boring. If that is not the case then (e.g.: not growing and no progress) then i quit. Quitting is not always a bad thing. I highly recommend a book called "The dip". It may help you understand when its time to call it quits on a particular project.
Ask HN: Why do I lose interest in every project after 6 months?
21–30 of 105 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why do I lose interest in every project after 6 months?
#22I jokingly called it 'tass' (toddlers attention span syndrome), and I've had it since I was three. Buying toys for me was according to my family the stuff of nightmares. I'd play with something for 3 minutes really excited, then see if it could be taken apart and if not toss it aside and never look at it again. And the ones that I could take apart suffered the same lot, only in bits and pieces. It took me a long long…
Interesting. I really like the point about building things to be maintenance free. Good call.
The motivating factor for me is more in the 'change the world' idea, and I think that learning is definitely a key motivator for me. If I'm not learning, and I'm just "executing" what I've learned, I get stuck.
Can you give an example of how you've made things (preferably software!) maintenance-free?
Re: Ask HN: Why do I lose interest in every project after 6 months?
#23Conciously replicate the feelings you had when you started. Your seemingly unlimited drive is not something providential, it is something you can 'conjure' up, by consciously shaping your every thoughts: Try and go a day focused only on the most awesome outcome of your goals. Actually imagine and feel that outcome as if it already happened. Do this constantly and before you know it, you will suddenly have the same 'H…
Thanks Edo, I will try this. I completely understand and agree with the idea that I can 'conjure' or manifest this feeling in myself. I just need to figure out how to channel it :)
I'll give the 'awesome outcome' of the goals a shot.
Re: Ask HN: Why do I lose interest in every project after 6 months?
#24That, grasshopper, is something you have to figure out for yourself.
Re: Ask HN: Why do I lose interest in every project after 6 months?
#25I jokingly called it 'tass' (toddlers attention span syndrome), and I've had it since I was three. Buying toys for me was according to my family the stuff of nightmares. I'd play with something for 3 minutes really excited, then see if it could be taken apart and if not toss it aside and never look at it again. And the ones that I could take apart suffered the same lot, only in bits and pieces. It took me a long long…
Interesting. I really like the point about building things to be maintenance free. Good call. The motivating factor for me is more in the 'change the world' idea, and I think that learning is definitely a key motivator for me. If I'm not learning, and I'm just "executing" what I've learned, I get stuck. Can you give an example of how you've made things (preferably software!) maintenance-free?
I try to keep an eye out for a pattern: that I'm doing the same thing twice.
As soon as that happens I stop and I analyze the problem, if I can automate it completely I'll do it, if I can only automate a part of it I'll do that and then try to find a way to either get rid of the remainder completely, offload it to my users in some guise or other and failing that I'll pay someone some money to do it for me.
Concrete examples are for instance the system administration tasks involved in keeping 20 servers up and running without additional staff, scanning email in my inbox for recurring questions (people not reading the FAQ), which get handled by an auto-responder pointing them to the relevant page with a friendly, personalized letter and so on.
Support is inevitable, I put myself forward to handle the 'problem' cases because those tend to drive development, but if I can get away from boring work I'll do it.
Someone joked that I'd rather spend a day at automating something that costs maybe 5 minutes to do by hand, and in a way that's very true but it's gotten to a point now where I can run a huge website pretty much by myself with occasional help from a few users with 'elevated' status.
Re: Ask HN: Why do I lose interest in every project after 6 months?
#26There are many possibilities:
* After a few months, the hardest parts of the problem have been solved. Since your skill level exceeds the challenge, boredom results. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
* Perhaps you are not motivated by the actual task, but by the sense of mastery. Once you've mastered a challenge, you are satisfied because you've learned something about yourself: I can do that! The project still requires work to be done, but you're interested in pursuing some other new challenge that validates your sense of self-mastery.
* If you're cycling, perhaps you have a touch of bipolar.
* Perhaps "How can I stay enthusiastic?" is the wrong question. Maybe "How can I persevere when my enthusiasm inevitably wanes?" Expecting to always be enthusiastic is unrealistic.
Re: Ask HN: Why do I lose interest in every project after 6 months?
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting. I really like the point about building things to be maintenance free. Good call. The motivating factor for me is more in the 'change the world' idea, and I think that learning is definitely a key motivator for me. If I'm not learning, and I'm just "executing" what I've learned, I get stuck. Can you give an example of how you've made things (preferably software!) maintenance-free?
I try to keep an eye out for a pattern: that I'm doing the same thing twice. As soon as that happens I stop and I analyze the problem, if I can automate it completely I'll do it, if I can only automate a part of it I'll do that and then try to find a way to either get rid of the remainder completely, offload it to my users in some guise or other and failing that I'll pay someone some money to do it for me. Concrete e…
As one of my previous colleagues put it : "I'm a lazy developer. I will write a tool for anything that I must do manually more than once."
I think the hard part is to decide that it's better to spend several hours automating a 5 minutes manual task.
I'm often faced with repetitive tasks and I realize that it's wrong to do them, but it's not easy to say : "Ok, let's put my important work aside and automate this."
Re: Ask HN: Why do I lose interest in every project after 6 months?
#28For me, it's that I simply lose momentum as the project drags on. To build up momentum if it's a software project, for example, release it to the public, get feedback, bring some other collaborators in.
Re: Ask HN: Why do I lose interest in every project after 6 months?
#29That, grasshopper, is something you have to figure out for yourself.
There is something condescending about your comment but I can't put my finger on it.
Re: Ask HN: Why do I lose interest in every project after 6 months?
#30I was having the same issue for a while.
Here's how I resolved it :
Stop working 18hrs a day on project (even if it's a startup), find other hobbies, meet people enjoy your life but be very productive in your 6-8hrs dayjob.
The thing when you're too much involve in a project is that any deception, even something taht looks ridiculous will lead you to a lost of interest and motivation.
Take a breath, take your time. A project need to mature in your head it's not a rush, it's a marathon (I know it's already have been told thousand of times).