I'm fortunate enough to have someone to talk to, discuss ideas and show the latest and greatest to. It's my wife. She's technical and can do some programming, but most importantly she's interested in helping me and knows how positive and energized I become by working on my side projects.
Why Do Side Projects Die?
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Re: Why Do Side Projects Die?
#12Hi! First of all, I'm new here :) My name is Juan Carlos, but everybody knows me as Derrick Roccka. I'm 25. I've visited hacker news a lot of times, but I never signed up. So, let's get down to business. I'm a person who has an anxiety disorder. One of my biggest "problems" is that I'm always trying to create. I force myself to come up with new ideas that make me feel motivated. Unafortunately, this has a really bad…
Welcome Derrick!
> when I can't acomplish the "eternal to-do lists" that I have in my head, I feel extremely frustrated.
You are not alone in this. There are several things you can do - in my experience - to manage this.
First: scope. Drastically limit every idea to its absolute core, implement that, and then if you're still motivated (it's OK to not be) built outward from that. What really helped me personally is Ludum Dare, it's a game-making jam, and it lasts only 48 hours. If you can't get it done in that time, lay it to rest. This is immensely liberating.
Second: expectation. I already ranted about that in this thread, no need to repeat it here.
> Obviously, I have a lot of technical limitations, like everyone, and this world spins so fast.
It may seem that way if, say, you're trying to keep up with every single new JavaScript framework that comes out. But it's not the right way to look at it. We live in a world that's keeping legacy software alive indefinitely. When something new comes out, eye it critically, and acknowledge that the menu you can choose from has expanded. There is no need to consume the entire menu or even a large part of it. If you choose to perceive it as a rich, ever-expanding world that gives you more possibilities from day to day, you stop seeing it as a pressure-cooker you have to keep up with in order to stay relevant.
To keep with the game-programming examples, one of the most successful game development stories in recent history was built in Java, as a software renderer if I recall (Minecraft).
Re: Why Do Side Projects Die?
#13I think this is getting at one of the root absurdities of human existence in general: the desire to be understood, to socially connect, and the overwhelming truth that real understanding is impossible. We are born, we live, and we die alone. It reminds me of what Sartre wrote, "Man can will nothing unless he has first understood that he must count on no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the mid…
Your outlook on this really depends on subjective definitions of "truth", "understanding", and "alone". I realize it's one of the central hypotheses of the article that side projects need to have a social component - but whether that's true is entirely dependent on someone's personality. The overwhelming majority of side projects will never get shared with anyone, and I differ with the article in saying that's not a failure which needs to be corrected. On the other hand, there are side projects that happen with many people collaborating from the get-go; however, I would be hesitant to declare this a globally ideal format for all programmers doing hobby hacking.
Re: Why Do Side Projects Die?
#14Hi! First of all, I'm new here :) My name is Juan Carlos, but everybody knows me as Derrick Roccka. I'm 25. I've visited hacker news a lot of times, but I never signed up. So, let's get down to business. I'm a person who has an anxiety disorder. One of my biggest "problems" is that I'm always trying to create. I force myself to come up with new ideas that make me feel motivated. Unafortunately, this has a really bad…
Welcome Derrick! > when I can't acomplish the "eternal to-do lists" that I have in my head, I feel extremely frustrated. You are not alone in this. There are several things you can do - in my experience - to manage this. First: scope. Drastically limit every idea to its absolute core, implement that, and then if you're still motivated (it's OK to not be) built outward from that. What really helped me personally is Lu…
Wow! Thank you Udo for answering so fast! Nice to meet you.
You're definetely right. I completely agree with you. I know that I have a problem with the scope and the "pressure-cooker" haha. Jokes aside, it's true that I should eliminate from my list those things that, after a short period of time, are no motivating me, at least the way they are supposed to. I'll try to move in that direction ;)
About the second part... DEFINETELY TRUE. I know it's my fault, but the only thing I can do is trying to focus my mind in what I'm doing, "eat my own food" and when I'm done, then I'll be able to ask for a big dessert if I want. It's a pretty simple concept, but I liked it!
Thank you so much!
Re: Why Do Side Projects Die?
#15There's probably an element of "creative destruction" in this. Time is a precious resource, and side-projects like anything else compete for your attention and time. I don't look at dead or dying side-projects as a bad thing, you have to make the best of this time given your goal.