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

I've had lots of ideas like that, things I'd like to do which I never get around to. The one I did go through with and still keep working on it on and off is the one that had a connection to my job.

I worked on a very concurrent system and thought maybe STM would be a nice fit for it. I found the concept of STMs very interesting. And I noticed that, although there were many implementations for .NET, all were one-off projects, not maintained, and in my opinion not very nice to use. So I ended up writing one myself.

I guess that sweet spot for me was having a problem that I dealt with on a daily basis, which gave me the drive and a clear picture of what I'm trying to achieve, and the fact that it was a fun challenge to implement and a learning experience related to a concept that intrigued me. The other ideas I had would mostly have just that second part - they're fun, challenging, but not really solving something I deal with too often.

So, I don't have much experience, I don't have many side projects, but for what it's worth, my advice is to try to find something in your day-to-day which bugs you, and for which you have some interesting idea that you'd like to experiment with.

If you weren’t that serious about making a rogue-like in the first place and what you really wanted was the rush of starting a rogue like project, then sure you got what you came for.

Much like a kid might say they want to be a footballer or musician - what they really want is the fame and recognition of being a footballer, not the 6 hours of intense training every day for years without any fame and glory. We see this much more in tech than we did 10 years ago, because now everyone wants to be a rockstar CEO hacker startup founder making a $1 billion exit at 19.

And in fact in some cases you can suck it up, major in CS, get a prestigious tech job, and then after a few years burn out because you realize you never really liked CS/programming in the first place, you just liked the social stickers that were on it. I’ve seen it happen many times in my career. Often these people will pivot to being PMs or some “tech lite” function and be much happier for it.

The fact that people suck at knowing what they really want doesn’t make the observation any less valid.

What that means is that you have to get really good at knowing what you actually like and enjoy - not what you enjoy on the surface of it not for its own sake, but for some values attached to it.

In Myers-Briggs they'd call that either the INTP or ENTP type.

Similarly, I'm more interested in research, learning. I'm in the wrong profession.

I'm a guy who got diagnosed with ADHD-PI when I was 28 and it instantly made so much of my life make sense. (I went from an unfulfilling career I hated to self-teaching CS and software dev & getting a job in the field within about three years.) And yes, I also got very strong ADHD vibes from this post. Having said that, I'm certainly not a doctor and there are a lot of things besides "can't stick with side projects" that go into a diagnosis.

But if the OP (or others reading) also experiences issues with working memory, losing items like wallets or keys, following directions (not because you dislike them but because you just can't keep them straight), sleep issues (generally, staying up significantly later than average), physical restlessness such as restless legs, forgetting appointments, lots of emotional impulsivity via outbursts, a very strong pull towards stimulating things like reckless driving, dangerous levels of drinking or drug use, etc., among others, they might benefit from discussing with a doctor.

No golden bullet for this problem I think but definitely one that is widely shared.

- Get rid of your smartphone and go to a dumb flip phone (avoid distractions).

- Dump your ideas into a system you can review later like [RoamResarch](https://roamresearch.com/),[Trello](trello.com), or a folder with Markdown Files Check out GTD method because these thoughts qualify as something you should dump in your sort bin/inbox bin to go through later. Other things like "I should check the mail", "I should build a fort" all count as distracting tasks to keep track of.

- Meditate and learn to recognize transitive thoughts. I really recommend the [Calm App](https://www.calm.com/) although you really don't need to use an app I found it's [21 Days of Calm by Tamara Levitt] program helped get me started and gave me a handful of techniques to get into a zen state.

- Use [The Pomodoro Technique](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique) to focus on one task at a time and avoid over taxing your focus muscle.

- Build and Keep Track of your Habits. Your habits are extremely important to do deep and meaningful long term work. You need to cultivate them. Check out [The Power of Habit](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0055PGUYU)

- All industries that have REALLY important critical life saving tasks use checklists. [HBR: Using a checklist to prevent Failure](https://hbr.org/2010/01/using-checklists-to-prevent-fa.html). I use app.everyday.app to do a Daily Habit Checklist but I did this using a tiny Mole skin for a month and it worked great as well. Side note you made me dig into looking up this thing called [Seinfeld Chaining](https://lifehacker.com/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret-2...) and I found out [Seinfeld has nothing to do with it](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ujvrg/jerry_seinfeld...)

Personally all of the things I listed have some type of associated tool but all can be accomplished with a timer, pen, paper ,etc. Don't let yourself get caught up trying to find the "perfect" tool. Just start doing the things so you build the habits. They are far more important.