Ask HN: How do I make myself finish my project once and for all?

1 points by throwaway191 14 years ago | 2 comments

I'm sure I'm not the only one suffering with this, and I'm sure others have perhaps experimented with ways to rally up that final blast of energy to "just get it done"?

Anyone have any advice to contribute? The weight of this silly project is hanging over me more and more with each passing day... can feel patience running out with everyone. help :/

plasma 14 years ago |

I've only released one (not too successful) project so far; with another in progress.

I still have my day job and realised that I need to pick my battles right now with which projects I work on.

I personally need to find the right balance between: 1) A good project idea to work on 2) Something doable in a shorter amount of time (short being a month or two?) versus longer projects that may be better, but I wouldn't expect to finish in after hours work

That may not help you too much right now though!

When this happens to me, its usually because I am not sure how to proceed, or I am distracted with what part to work on, or the part I am working on is boring.

Try taking a walk around the block, clear your head, and have a think about what you need to do to ship your product as version 1.0 (MVP / Minimum Viable Product)?

Put together a short list of steps you need to follow to get this done, then start at the first one.

Having a plan of action should give you some energy to work on your project.

mike47 14 years ago |

I found the advice from Leo Babauta of zenhabits.net helped me quite a lot - particularly his book "The Power of Less". Basically, he advocates reducing other commitments and focussing all of your energy on a small number of projects (e.g. 3) and only starting something new when they are ALL finished. Easier said that done, of course, but I do finish things more frequently now...