Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#161

Post by tomcam » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 3:30 PM UTC

When that used to happen to me I realized the reason was that I thought maybe I was making the wrong choice, no matter how carefully I had thought it out. Later I would wish I had finished the project because I understood my life would have been better if I had.

Eventually I learned to accept the possibility that my choice may be second best. It was an insidious form of perfectionism. It was better to finish a project that may not have been the “best” option than not to have done it at all.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#162

Post by badloginagain » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 3:30 PM UTC

arosier wrote: post #137

ryeguy_24 wrote: post #34

I’m just like you. I stumbled upon a book called Refuse to Choose and it’s about a personality type (that is definitely not ADHD) that happens to want to do a lot of things (sometimes in parallel or in sequence). It was very comforting to know others struggle with this and this book helps you to be ok with it. I wouldn’t say it “cured” me but I think about it differently now and use it more to my advantage. Worth a r…

"maybe you already got what you came for." As someone who frequently starts projects and doesn't finish them, I've wondered if the part I enjoy about the project is the dreaming about what could be. That little rush you get when a new idea is upon you and it's all you can think about for x days. Doing the initial research and formulating a plan. This is a dopamine rush for me. The feeling of being laser focused for t…

FWIW I've found that there is a cross section between excitement of a new project and the momentum of that project.

Most projects fizz out when the excitement wears off before the amount of work you've already done on it has enough momentum to push you to do one more task.

When I push though that motivational hurdle, I find the amount of work already done incentives to continue on with it. The next task is obvious and relatively easy, because there is something to work with.

Now, losing confidence that everything you've written is garbage and refactoring the same systems over and over again until you give up- that's the hurdle I choke on :D

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#163

Post by danans » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 3:31 PM UTC

Usually I start projects I want to start, but I tend to finish projects because I have to finish.

The necessity/drive to finish can be internally or externally driven, but there's no mistaking it, so don't sweat what you don't finish. Take it as a signal that you've reached the limit of your interest in that pursuit.

Of course, if the issue is something more fundamental (like ADHD), none of this likely applies, and seek help from a professional.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#164

Post by csallen » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 3:35 PM UTC

Throw some extrinsic motivation into the mix. Intrinsic motivation is great of course, but it's fickle. Your internal emotional state changes like the wind depending on what's going on in your life, what time of day it is, your mood, and even what you've eaten.

Extrinsic motivation is usually more fixed and reliable. It's what drives much of human productivity, and is responsible for the major miracle that is billions of people waking up and going to work every day to do things they may not even enjoy.

Some common sources of extrinsic motivation include obligation to people (a boss, a partner, an audience, customers, users), social consequences (shame, embarrassment, letting others down), and monetary consequences (getting fired, losing a bet, etc.). On a more positive note, there's also encouragement from people, social rewards, and monetary rewards.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#165

Post by jackyinger » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 3:36 PM UTC

You have to know what you want to make before you can make it. Embrace this challenge.

Allow yourself to develop your ideas before attempting to code them up. Draw diagrams, take notes, think about how to implement the systems and subsystems. Do lots of research. Make prototypes to play with ideas.

If you want to make anything that is not trivial you’re going to have to spend a bunch of time on architecture and design before you get to execution. Try to see this as a gift rather than an impediment.

Best luck!

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#166

Post by sodafountan » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 3:36 PM UTC

I understand this isn't exactly what you're asking for as it seems like you burn out on the idea before you even get to the implementation but I've found that for coding projects, keeping my code clean really helps to motivate me to stick with the project.

If I'm building something and the code gets messy I increasingly feel frustrated while working with it which turns me off from working on it - somewhat of a negative feedback loop, so when I start to feel like the code is a hassle to work with, I switch gears from writing features to refactoring the existing code-base.

This gives me a nice change of pace, lets me think a little bit differently than simply "add features", and when the refactoring is done I have a much more thorough understanding of the code I've already written and what needs still needs to be done.

It seems like a pretty simple and obvious suggestion but I can't tell you the number of times I've let a personal project become unmanageable just because I've wanted to keep adding features which at least for me leads to burnout.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#167

Post by zw123456 » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 3:36 PM UTC

Why stick with it? My view is that the main purpose of side projects (for me anyhow) is to learn and improve my skills and to open up to new ways of approaching things. But even if your goal is to work it into a side business, I still would argue that sometimes sticking to the same side project too long can be a bad choice. I have a fried who worked on the same side project for 7 years and I think it stifled his creativity because he was always focused on the same narrow set of problems associated with his project.

I am simply suggesting it is possible to go too far in sticking to the same side project. For me I usually consider a side project has run it's course if I have learned as much as I needed to on it and then I try to move on to something completely different.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#168

Post by sopooneo » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 3:37 PM UTC

relativeadv wrote: post #50

ryeguy_24 wrote: post #34

I’m just like you. I stumbled upon a book called Refuse to Choose and it’s about a personality type (that is definitely not ADHD) that happens to want to do a lot of things (sometimes in parallel or in sequence). It was very comforting to know others struggle with this and this book helps you to be ok with it. I wouldn’t say it “cured” me but I think about it differently now and use it more to my advantage. Worth a r…

Awesome thanks for the book recommendation, just picked it up. For me, this has been the defining struggle of my adult life. I've only just become truly aware of it though but when I think back to stuff like when I was a kid playing MMORPGs I would utterly struggle to make a character to level 10 before re-rolling for something more appealing. Now it is almost a pathological issue I have where I just can't seem to ch…

In my twenties, with no responsibilities and with some money, I thought to get a motorcycle and learn to ride it. I stopped when I looked at my room and saw the vast number of things I was already dabbling with and deep-diving. I knew that if I got a motorcycle it would consume my interest for something like five years as I had to understand how every single part worked down to the bolt.

That could be a great thing. But for me, then, I didn't want to go into suspended animation for half a decade and wake up with deep motorcycle knowledge. So I completely dropped it.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#169

Post by itronitron » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 3:38 PM UTC

quickthrower2 wrote: post #157

arosier wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"maybe you already got what you came for." As someone who frequently starts projects and doesn't finish them, I've wondered if the part I enjoy about the project is the dreaming about what could be. That little rush you get when a new idea is upon you and it's all you can think about for x days. Doing the initial research and formulating a plan. This is a dopamine rush for me. The feeling of being laser focused for t…

I found having an ideas sheet is good for this. You can know the idea is recorded and that removes the desire to immediately work on it. And you can later logically choose the best thing to work on from the list

Yeah, I recommend keeping a sketchbook/journal to write down and plan out the side-projects, then when you have more available time pick which one to start on given how feasible and interesting they are now. From my own experience I have found that if something still sounds interesting two months after writing it down then it's something worth spending time on.

Re: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

#170

Post by Kaze404 » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 3:38 PM UTC

marianov wrote: post #152

ryeguy_24 wrote: post #34

I’m just like you. I stumbled upon a book called Refuse to Choose and it’s about a personality type (that is definitely not ADHD) that happens to want to do a lot of things (sometimes in parallel or in sequence). It was very comforting to know others struggle with this and this book helps you to be ok with it. I wouldn’t say it “cured” me but I think about it differently now and use it more to my advantage. Worth a r…

My pshrink told me the same "maybe you just like to learn the new technique, not to finish". Like that I have welded a ton of steel into a carport, then left it unpainted. Given the fact that I always focus on the hard parts and the struggle to finishe the "details" and that throughout my career I've been inclined to do POCs, MVPs, and never finish things. That and the fact that every single day it takes me several t…

ADHD isn't an excuse, there is treatment.