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1) Clean your office. Do a very thorough job (like "spring cleaning"). Stick to non-toxic cleaners.
2) Take extra vitamins and/or improve your diet.
3) Start taking a daily walk for exercise.
4) Clean wherever you sleep. Again, think "spring cleaning" type cleaning.
In short, look to your health.
Let me suggest this: 1) Clean your office. Do a very thorough job (like "spring cleaning"). Stick to non-toxic cleaners. 2) Take extra vitamins and/or improve your diet. 3) Start taking a daily walk for exercise. 4) Clean wherever you sleep. Again, think "spring cleaning" type cleaning. In short, look to your health.
I also find that if I write down little check boxes with the task broken down into smaller steps, it makes it easier for me to start and stay focused.
Good luck!
Maybe you need a vacation if you haven't taken one. Guilt vacations where you don't get anything done for a while aren't as good as deliberate ones where you post up 'no support for two weeks, snoozing on beach/gone fishing/Vegas Baby.' But if you're still into the niche, then maybe the answer is to stop writing code and and focus on business development & QA. You don't need to be always working at the coal face your…
Vacation would be difficult at this point. I have made promises to my wife and myself that I would make progress on certain things. I am supposed to be working right now. I don't feel I have the freedom to take a vacation. It wouldn't impact the bottom line, but I'd take a hit in other ways. I'd have to know it would break the block I'm having. I do have other projects and aspects of the business that I can work on,…
Most importantly, during that week, TURN OFF YOUR PHONE. Don't read the news. It will all be there when you get back.
Can't do that, because your the only one in your solo app business? Then it's a sure sign that you need to. Find a friend to take over for a week, or hire someone (maybe permanently, if the workload can justify it).
Maybe you need a vacation if you haven't taken one. Guilt vacations where you don't get anything done for a while aren't as good as deliberate ones where you post up 'no support for two weeks, snoozing on beach/gone fishing/Vegas Baby.' But if you're still into the niche, then maybe the answer is to stop writing code and and focus on business development & QA. You don't need to be always working at the coal face your…
Vacation would be difficult at this point. I have made promises to my wife and myself that I would make progress on certain things. I am supposed to be working right now. I don't feel I have the freedom to take a vacation. It wouldn't impact the bottom line, but I'd take a hit in other ways. I'd have to know it would break the block I'm having. I do have other projects and aspects of the business that I can work on,…
This is a sure sign that you need to.
In addition to the other suggestions posted here, go see a doctor, have your blood levels checked to exclude the possibility of some deficiency or illness (it's easy to ruin your body without noticing by working hard for many years).
I don't mean taking a vacation or sleeping more. I mean setting as a goal that you'll accomplish less every day, and with zero expectation about what to do with the free hours that open up. Just as you pressure yourself to do more, pressure yourself to do less.
Hypothesis: even if you tried to do nothing you wouldn't be able to. Your mind would start wandering to topics you haven't let it. Like that new challenge in a related niche that you'd love to get off the ground. Try doing nothing and suddenly your subconscious takes over. You discover thoughts you didn't even know were brewing.
The principle at work here is that constraint is no less important than freedom. Constraint is key in creativity. Limit yourself to less, and you start overflowing to a new direction.
Make sure you give it enough time. You need at least 1.5-2hr blocks of time where you can shut off the world and play uninterrupted, and you also need to schedule such unstructured play lots of times. Don't worry about feeling unproductive in the meantime. Worry more about noticing the pattern to your thoughts, and do that at the end of each block of time so you don't feel pressured to be noticing.
I'd love to hear what you discover.
Have you tried constraining yourself to doing less? I don't mean taking a vacation or sleeping more. I mean setting as a goal that you'll accomplish less every day, and with zero expectation about what to do with the free hours that open up. Just as you pressure yourself to do more, pressure yourself to do less. Hypothesis: even if you tried to do nothing you wouldn't be able to. Your mind would start wandering to to…
But this... I read it 5 to 6 times. I have no idea if it will work, but it can't hurt. My next scheduled workday is Saturday and I'll absolutely put this into practice.
Other suggestions to take time off, get outside, etc are great and I will do them (as the Boston deep freeze allows), but I will try this ASAP and see if it helps. Even if it produces a day or two of output, it will be extremely useful. I will respond with results after saturday.