How to Keep Focused on a Side Project?
Recommendations to break your laziness loop
How many times you started a side project and it ended up in the Github Cemetery of side projects? To answer the question, I have a couple of dozens of them.
We, as humans, specifically and animals in general, have evolved as leisure seekers. Remember the nights you came home from work, threw your keys on the coffee table, lay on the couch, and turn on the TV. This is the best way of escaping to your comfort zone in modern-day. I am not saying this is a bad thing. It becomes a bad thing when you start doing it every night. Because only after that, you also start remembering how you felt the next morning for another lost night to your leisure.
We all have crumbles of laziness in our selves. I want to stress this one more time; we are lazy creatures. And laziness, especially procrastination is what you have to overcome to produce valuable work across all of your life, including your side software projects.
Before I proceed with some advice, let’s look into what laziness is. I know you all know what it is, but I am going to keep referring to this definition, so please be patient and stick with me.
Laziness is a habit rather than a mental health issue. It may reflect a lack of self-esteem, a lack of positive recognition by others, a lack of discipline stemming from low self-confidence, or a lack of interest in the activity or belief in its efficacy.
— Wikipedia
Wikipedia defines laziness as a habit. It is a bad habit. And as with all the bad habits that you have, it can be beaten if you keep pushing.
Good news, according to Wikipedia being lazy doesn’t mean you are mentally ill. Whew!
Essentially the definition is saying, to do something outside of your comfort zone — leisure area — you want to feel good, confident and recognized. So the answer to overcoming your laziness is to find ways to make you feel this way. Let’s look into some actions you can take to achieve this with your pet software project.
Pick an Area You are Good at
Let’s make our first reference to the definition of laziness. You are lazy because you lack self-esteem and confidence. Constant failures and frustration caused by it are some of the main reasons that hinder your attachment to the project.
This is why, as a starting point, you should take it easy and stick to the familiar waters. If you are a Java developer stick with Java if you are a Go developer, stick with it. If your experience is in web application development, don’t try to build a mobile application. Try to pick an area that you have a strong opinion, on which you can evolve and create value.
I am not trying to say get stuck with what you already know and do not expand to new horizons. What I am trying to say is stick to what you know until the wheels start turning. If you are lost in the nitty-gritty details of learning a new programming language when starting a new pet project, there is a high chance of failure. And that’s the failure that will prevent you from attaching to it.
Make a Plan
Having a plan is good for keeping yourself accountable and recognizing your accomplishments. It does not matter whether you are using a pen and paper, an excel sheet or Github issues/projects. But write down your short term tasks and put dates on them. Add reminders on your calendar and do everything you can to stick to the plan.
Go over your plan regularly. Add new items, update existing ones and more importantly mark everything you have completed.
Ultimately, congratulate yourself for everything you completed.
Don’t forget, you want to feel recognized and you should start this journey by recognizing yourself. Your accomplishments are what keep you motivated and motivation keeps the wheels rolling.
Build Incrementally
If you are into developing a Death Star where would you start building it? It is an enormous project and it took decades even for Imperial forces to build it. And believe me, you are not the Imperial forces. Even before you have time to understand what you are building is feasible, you will be bored to death. There goes another pet project into the darkness of your cemetery.
Instead of aiming for the currently impossible you should go simpler. Aim for an A-wing fighter initially. This way you can taste the excitement of space travel and will also have a chance to see if what you are building is worth to build.
Starting small will also give you a chance to show off your work and find some friends who are also interested in space travel. Who knows maybe this way you can move towards your dreams of building a Death Star with the help of your new friends.
We keep talking about accomplishments, you should keep them coming constantly.
Building an A-wing might look like a small accomplishment compared to building a Death Star. But it is still a big accomplishment and will be enough to keep you on track.
Spread the Word
Try to bring in people with similar interests to your project as fellow travelers. These can be a colleague, a friend from high school, even someone you know only from their blog posts about similar topics. You can start by contacting them individually. Talk about your ideas and what you want to accomplish and why. Try to recruit at least a couple of them. Get their feedback and opinions. Work together, plan together.
They will push you and the project forward with the accountability, ideas and the extra work power they will bring.
The joy of having someone to highfive when you accomplish something is tremendous.
Last but not least, when you are ready you should spread the word about your project. Social media is a great instrument. Twit about your project. Write a blog post. Write to Quora, Facebook, LinkedIn. Bring it to the attention of as many people as you can. This will bring visibility, recognition and lots of feedback as a result. You will feel pumped if it succeeds.
Conclusion
It is hard to get out of your comfort zone and keep focusing on something that you don’t like. The way to persist is to convert it to something that you like.
In the end, it’s all up to you. If you want it, keep pushing you’ll eventually have it.
