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Finishing a side project

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Re: Finishing a side project

#151

Post by jmatthews »

josefrichter wrote: post #71
peterkos wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To refame that comment a bit: almost every single resource you find on motivation will mention that motivation is not a matter of passion, it's a matter of discipline. In every hobby there is always a sense of discipline, it's just usually implicit. For myself: composing orchestral scores started off as a fun little "oh this melody would sound neat". Ever since then, there have been times when I need to sit down and…

Nope. Almost every single resource you find on motivation will mention that motivation is not a matter of passion, it's a matter of habit. Discipline and motivation is pretty much the same in this context, and wears off easily.

Respectfully, discipline and motivation are wholely unrelated. Motivation comes and goes. Discipline is the grown up in the room.

Re: Finishing a side project

#152

Post by jitendrac »

tvanantwerp wrote: post #137
jlengrand wrote: post #111

One thing I learnt in a thread on HN a long time ago and that I use a lot to just keep working on side projects : Make sure you stop half way through a sentence / line of code. Don't finish that article, or don't stop with code that compiles. The reason is stupid simple : It just removes all the blockers of starting working on the project again. It removes the initial step, which is usually the hardest. Come in, fini…

This only works if you can remember what you stopped in the middle of. I often come back to projects with no idea what I was last doing, so now I've got some half-finished bit to figure out rather than something that could be clearly understood.

Each time I find myself stopping in middle for brief time, I intentionally leave error and comment pointing out status and next step of project. Next time just come and compile/run and see last work.

Re: Finishing a side project

#153

Post by cik »

ar_lan wrote: post #145
cik wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Removing all barriers to entry is definitely key. This includes spin up / spin down time to even get into the groove. To whit I usually: 1. Keep a dedicated desktop set (I'm running Linux) plugged into my side project. 2. In my editor I maintain a "where am I" document, and update accordingly. 3. I leave things (from a code perspective) committed and pushed. 4. I leave a specific note to myself on what I think I need…

I do a similar process, but yours sounds better. I literally just Slack myself a list of TODOs at the end of the day, but I sort of want to try your process. Especially with being WFH, it's easier to keep my place in specific apps. Are there any other things you do to get yourself started in flow?

Not really. Having a documented series of next steps, combined with current thoughts is as good as I can get. The only other key difference is that I treat sides much like work. I disable all my notifs across the board and aim for dedicated time.

What do you do to get started in flow?

Re: Finishing a side project

#154

Post by blakbelt78 »

I would say, like in the article small steps, having a clear goal for each session and consistency are crucial to shipping anything. I've been moonlighting on https://bullish.email for a couple of months following pretty much the rules outlined in the article, 1.5h Monday to Thurs sometimes Friday, and I just shipped a big update on my service. Time will tell if I'll lose motivation, but this is the first time I can manage a day job and a fully functional side project.
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