It seems like its really easy to lose steam. How do you keep yourself pushing code when life gets busy or you just get bored?
Ask HN: How do you stay motivated to work on side projects?
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Re: Ask HN: How do you stay motivated to work on side projects?
#2Enjoy them. A lot.
Figure out how / when / where you're going to release them, and work towards that moment.
Re: Ask HN: How do you stay motivated to work on side projects?
#3Do as little work as possible. And deploy as much as possible.
Re: Ask HN: How do you stay motivated to work on side projects?
#4I've found that it helps me when I get feedback, like I finish some major functionality or feature, I feel fantastic when I see it work and during my working time, I think about that feature and can't wait to get back to it. When I stop in the middle where there is no discernible change or a feature is not fully implemented, when it passes my mind during work or free time, I think about how broken it is, and I feel like I'm heading back to a broken bike, which is not too exciting.
It's hard, especially when a particular feature needs days/weeks of effort. For that sort of thing, you just need to persistent, I guess.
Re: Ask HN: How do you stay motivated to work on side projects?
#5One thing that works for me is to get lots of external feedback on my project. If at least one other person beside myself has some interest/investment into my project I am a lot more inclined to continue working on it. When I am the only one with interest... Well, I tend to lose motivation pretty quickly.
Re: Ask HN: How do you stay motivated to work on side projects?
#6Be consistent. Do some work every day, even if it's just 5mins of work. You will keep the idea in mind.
Re: Ask HN: How do you stay motivated to work on side projects?
#7Oh... I also find that consistency to be very important. Rather than randomly using free time... Pick a day or two of the week and block out a bit of time for the project. This gives you a reason to not just procrastinate.
Re: Ask HN: How do you stay motivated to work on side projects?
#8Find something interesting. If you find something interesting, you'll find a way to keep picking at them.
Re: Ask HN: How do you stay motivated to work on side projects?
#9Talk to people about it. Get continuous feedback. I find that by discussing it with friends or family I get re-energized
Re: Ask HN: How do you stay motivated to work on side projects?
#10Do interesting projects? If it's boring, I usually don't do it (unless it's some sort of educational project I picked to learn new tech, but those tend to be pretty short)