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I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains

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Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains

#231

Post by danudey »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #117
danudey wrote: post #92

> I buy a domain name → I code for 3 all-nighters → I lose interest → I start again. That's ADHD for you. A former coworker of mine lamented this - "I start so many projects or hobbies, but just when I feel like I've learned a lot I lose interest". I had to point out to him that his hobby isn't - whatever, sheep shearing or book bindery or underwater basket weaving - but rather his hobby is learning things . That's a…

This is not really ADHD but simply the fun part of new projects. The exciting start vs. the grind. Is the difference between 17 abandoned side projects and an overnight success ten years (or more) in the making.

You've just described ADHD perfectly, I'm sorry to say.

People who don't have this sort of ADHD level of executive dysfunction are capable of completing projects. The "exciting start" vs "abandoning them as soon as they're not exciting" thing is a core criteria for ADHD in my experience.

Neurotypical people don't have this same experience; they don't start something new because they're excited about it and then bail out halfway through and never go back. I can't understand what that kind of life would be like, but they do it. Meanwhile, people with ADHD, especially undiagnosed, are constantly starting projects because they're excited, hyperfocussing on them for some length of time, and then bailing out never to return.

In my experience, comments like yours usually tend to come from people who have undiagnosed ADHD. Maybe that's not the case, but from what I've seen it often is.

Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains

#232

Post by danudey »

dalemhurley wrote: post #137
danudey wrote: post #92

> I buy a domain name → I code for 3 all-nighters → I lose interest → I start again. That's ADHD for you. A former coworker of mine lamented this - "I start so many projects or hobbies, but just when I feel like I've learned a lot I lose interest". I had to point out to him that his hobby isn't - whatever, sheep shearing or book bindery or underwater basket weaving - but rather his hobby is learning things . That's a…

Is that why my wife keeps telling me I need to get a diagnosis?

It could be one of many!

I was diagnosed ages ago, relatively speaking, but my wife didn't get diagnosed until after our first child was born. We'd go for walks with him and he'd try to talk to her or ask her something and she wouldn't have any idea. I'd have to get her attention, let her know he was talking to her, and she'd ask him to repeat. Thirty seconds later, she's off in her own world again. After a diagnosis and a pretty low dose of medication, she's far better at being present in the moment, and she gets more out of life as a result.

When she was on her way to the doctor to discuss things, she asked me for a list of the things that made me suspect she had ADHD; I sent her a small list of my suspicions and she said afterwards that it was a really difficult thing to read about herself - strange to me, because, at least from my perspective, those are all 'normal' things for someone with ADHD to have and obviously not her fault.

It's worth mentioning that medication doesn't make you not have ADHD, though; she's still the same person with the same thought processes and habits, starting new projects all the time, and leaving stuff until the last minute unless she's put it in her calendar immediately. The difference is that it's easier to be conscious about how and why those behaviors affect your life differently than other people might expect, and to compensate for them if they're affecting you or others negatively.

I honestly think that this sort of diagnosis should just be a normal thing that they evaluate kids for in school. Let the parents do with it what they will, ignore it or look further, but I think a lot of people would be a lot better off if they understood from childhood why the gulf between society's expectations of behavior and their own were so different, rather than finding out after feeling like a failure or a screw-up for 10-20 years.

Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains

#233

Post by msephton »

corentin88 wrote: post #93
msephton wrote: post #78

I'm similar but my ratio of prototypes to launching is higher. I find it helps to pace yourself, it increases the chance of finishing exponentially. But the most important things is good scoping and resisting gesture creep. After 35+ years I'm now really good at both. My list of projects is at https://www.gingerbeardman.com and details of my 2023, the year one of my projects got Game Of The Year, are at https://news.…

You built emojipedia? I’m impressed. By the way the link is broken on your website.

No, I built a standardised macOS Dictionary of emoji affiliated with Emojipedia, with permission. Link (to majorly outdated GitHub repo) fixed, thanks for reporting :)

Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains

#234

Post by al_borland »

danudey wrote: post #226
al_borland wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pulling up my results, these are some of the named tests that were administered, with a short summary of what it's for (after asking Chat-GPT what they're all for. - WAIS-IV (full scale IQ) - WRAML-3 (memory) - CPT-3 (ADHD - selective attention, impulsivity, and vigilance) - BDEFS-SR (ADHD - executive functioning deficits in daily life activities, including self-management to time, self-organization, self-restraint,…

> During the test when I asked what various things were for, they wouldn't tell me, so I don't know which test was for what. In a lot of cases they can't tell you because, either consciously or subconsciously, you will adjust your behavior and skew the test results. If you're told "this test is to evaluate your capacity for empathy" then your brain is going to start skewing your answers towards more empathetic ones b…

Yeah, I understood why she wouldn't tell me, but I couldn't help myself from asking. I'm also glad she didn't tell me, as that was one of my big fears with the testing, that I wouldn't be able to trust it due to my own skewing of the results. When I first thought this might be my issue, I went deep down the rabbit hole, but once I scheduled testing I purposefully stopped reading and watching content about it, because I wanted to make sure I was answering for myself and not related to stuff I watched/saw.

This may be why I haven't done much since the diagnosis. It was initially all I wanted to do, but once several months passed while waiting, my interests shifted to other things, and going back to that topic has a lot less novelty to it, so I already did the early deep dive.

Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains

#235

Post by al_borland »

danudey wrote: post #227
al_borland wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I talk about the testing a bit here[0]. YouTube was actually the most helpful thing in getting me to the point where I felt testing for a diagnosis would be a good idea. There are a lot of channels out there from people who have this stuff who talk about their experiences. I found this much more helpful than reading the diagnostic criteria. While I did read the section of the DSM on ASD, I had to pair that with ChatG…

> I haven't tried any meds for the ADHD, I'd have to talk to doctors about that. I'm on the fence on the whole idea. I've made it this far without them. One of the nice things about medication for ADHD, and I've mentioned this to a few people who are new to having (or supporting people who have) ADHD, is that the medication is very straightforward and you get roughly instant feedback. That is to say that, if you comp…

Thanks for the insights on the meds. I heard from some people that they can also just be taken as needed. So I could potentially go without them most days, but if I need/want to get something done, or am having a particularly hard time getting moving on something, that can be a tool in my tool belt.

The biggest hurdle to trying right now is the act of finding and setting up an appointment with someone. I've been putting it off until "later" for probably 8 months.

> I don't really care that much about masking

I don't even know who I am. I had to mask just to be in my family growing up, so when people talk about unmasking... I have no idea how to do that. It's so engrained into me. I'm typically pretty quiet when I meet new people, around people I don't know well, or don't see often. I thought this was just me, but have come to realize it's me putting on a blank mask until I can figure out how to act around these new or less familiar people. When I've tried to rush this process in the past it's been awkward.

Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains

#236

Post by al_borland »

danudey wrote: post #230
al_borland wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a good way to look at it. My issue is that I hate acquiring all the stuff to learn something when I know there is a high likelihood of losing interest after a few days or weeks. I’ve done this far too many times and got really sick of it. It feels so wasteful. Maybe this is where a lot of my stress comes from. I need that outlet, but I suppress it to avoid collecting future trash or losing money selling a bun…

That's definitely a real thing. It's beneficial to try to steer the ship rather than stop it - instead of buying like-new stuff, restrict yourself to getting second-hand stuff from FB marketplace or Craigslist, or to sales. This can serve the dual purposes of saving you money on your initial investment and also reining in your overall collection of more gunk to clutter up your home over time. Living in the city I som…

Maybe I need to get more comfortable with that. I tend to subscribe to the buy-once, cry-once way of buying things. There have been various times in the past when I wanted thing X, but bought thing Y to save a few bucks. I didn't like it and ultimately ended up with thing X. This costs be more money, time, and frustration than just buying the good thing from the start. But when dealing hobbies I may or may not like, it's a problem.

> Maybe there's benefit in some kind of "temporary hobbyist" FB group or similar

Many libraries have a bunch of stuff like this now. They call it the Library of Things. Looking at my local library, they have things like a record player, gardening tools, a ukulele, steel drum, knitting stuff, some electronics kits, etc. That could be a good "free" resource for things like this. I looked at it before, but should probably actually give it a try.

Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains

#237

Post by jll29 »

lbhdc wrote: post #219
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #29

> I buy a domain name → I code for 3 all-nighters → I lose interest → I start again. At least you're actually doing the "I code for 3 all-nighters" step! I've stopped too many projects at the "I buy a domain name" stage, and added an intermediate "I create a Trello board" step between that and starting to write code. No need to pull all-nighters, which are hard to do with family and a full-time job, if all I need to…

This is me. After I hit ~70 domains, I realized I needed to stop. Now, I have since pared that down considerably, and instead add all of the domains I like to a "wishlist" so I can come back to them (I never do). Then for my project ideas, I find writing them out to really be what scatches most of the itch for me. I get to think through the problem, think about how I could implement it, maybe even do a little explori…

Do you just start to code once you have an idea, or do you carry out a market analysis?

Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains

#238

Post by jll29 »

andoando wrote: post #82
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #29

> I buy a domain name → I code for 3 all-nighters → I lose interest → I start again. At least you're actually doing the "I code for 3 all-nighters" step! I've stopped too many projects at the "I buy a domain name" stage, and added an intermediate "I create a Trello board" step between that and starting to write code. No need to pull all-nighters, which are hard to do with family and a full-time job, if all I need to…

Im the same way. I wish I was rich enough to hire like 10 developers and assign them to all the different projects I have in mind.

I had that thought once, but immediately realized it is better to build stuff sequentially, so you can put more of your energy per calendar month into each, which makes it more likely that it can take off.

Re: I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains

#239

Post by heathrow83829 »

mr_mitm wrote: post #191
heathrow83829 wrote: post #71

is anyone else here tired of building products for which there is little to no demand? What if we started with a product idea for which we know there is demand for: things people are already paying money for. For example: apples, or tires, or etc. something you know people are paying money for. and then try and either build that product or another product that makes building the product easier.

I just build things for myself, so I know the demand. I call it me-ware. Works for me, and once or twice it also worked for others, but if it doesn't, that's fine, too. Of course I don't charge anything, I just release it as FOSS. The thing is that figuring out how to realize an idea is the fun part. Making it into a polished product that others can easily use with proper documentation is as important as it is tediou…

i love the term "me-ware". I've done that many times too! my interests are too weird so no one's interested in the projs i'd do.
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