Good article. Couple of things I've found really useful whilst building a video game in my spare time:
1. If you like to listen to music whilst you code/work, check out focusatwill.com. It's basically the right kind of background music, ie: not engaging enough to distract you. I used to waste time trying to select music to play for my work sessions, now it's simple.
2. When you finish a work session, write a note to yourself saying where you're at. that way, when you come back to start work again, you can pick up where you left off without spending time trying to remember stuff. It's past you being nice to future you! (I got this from a writing tip that said you should always leave a sentence unfinished when taking a break, because then you can hop back in really easily because it's mid flow).
Really agree with the OP about exercise/well being. It's not a waste of time. For most (if not all) of these kinds of side projects, it's a marathon, not a sprint.
Ya. As someone trying to make a multiplatform phone app because one the idea seems useful scaled to many people, and unique, on the side, it seemed easy enough but it takes alot of habit changes and habits form over the course of 21 days until they become second nature around 3months where you can integrate more and changes to optimize your everyday life around your project.
Instant gratification is a subconscious mindset many people have and overcoming it day in and day out and forcibly changing your perspective when you get frutsrated with how little your accomplishing to "taking a break" or "going out for a drink with friends to blow off some steam" to what can I do starting today to fix this or avoid it next time or implement a solution or make this apart if my everyday life? And then following through instead of just giving into frustration with a self soothing action like procrastination in the form of going out, checking your phone etc. Is the hardest part.
There will be many times youre not motivated but dedication and habits will help you overcome that. I go to work from 6am to 2pm. I'm home by 3pm coding and on the on the weekends. I was wasting time going to the gym and in crowded gyms so I invested in weights and yoga at home that I do around 4:30am before showering and going to work and "binge" on some more luxurious types of working out like a hike or a lung run outside on the weekends.
When time is of the essence you'll find that
1. Not automating your bills
2. Not having lastpass or some other organized platform for passwords to logins
3. Driving to gym
4. Grocery shopping
5. Friends who do not contribute to your lifestyle
6. Dysfunctional romantic relationships
7. As a girl, spending money on random stuff like clothing and makeup and martinis with girls who only want to talk about their boyfriends
Are time suckers.
Get sleep.
Get up early and have "you" time whether it's yoga, reading your favorite blog, taking the dog for a walk, cooking breakfast having you time before the day starts makes you happier and more focused
Make a to-do list the night before with every little phonecall, extra stop you have to make on the way home and email you have to do. Have 15things on your list? Turns out it took an hour to compile all of it that night before but 25minutes to execute the day of. You can send that phone call while they are checking out your groceries, make that phone call during your lunch break etc so you can FOCUS and not feel like you're forgetting to call time Warner cable about that address change or call your mom back. Get it done and move on. Do it everyday for a couple of months until it wittles down into a routine.
Get a minimalist high class wardrobe. DONT spend time especially as a girl trying to figure out what to wear. If you're getting sleep. Working out regularly and bribging home healthy groceries and not drinking all the time having a minimalist nice well tailored wardrobe with some signature you pieces to brand your personal spin to it is all you need to look great. Less is more and alot more money to spend on that new thing you needed for your project that you didn't know you needed.
If you do these things above it will take up alot of your time for the first couple of months but your life will forever be in better order and it will be more habit and take up less time.
Very few people show up to their goals tasks or job each day with a workout done, a healthy breakfast, having taken them time, dressed well without much thought, and have a detailed todolist so when they need to focus on a task they can do it without the subconscious burden of trying not to forget random things that can turn into big things later.
Wow. Shower, clothing, breakfast. Workout, you time = productivity and focus
Mabipulative people. Negative people, on and off gray area relationships, anything or anyone emotionally exhausting besides your work: ain't nobody got time for that.
At the very least. Trying out a challenging but doable project is great for getting your life in order and seeing who and what serves you and lifts you up when it's crunch time and who wants the best for you and who can contribute to your life in a positive way. If you make a genuine effort at making room in your life for a project and even if the project is a failure or you decide to move onto another one, this few months of life cleansing and getting your s$&* togerher time will not be something you regret.
Thanks, many good tips! I'm also doing Yoga daily. Helps me especially, because my work as developer involves lots of sitting. Still I have almost no backache by doing simple, time effective exercises. And you can look everything up on Youtube.
1. If you like to listen to music whilst you code/work, check out focusatwill.com. It's basically the right kind of background music, ie: not engaging enough to distract you. I used to waste time trying to select music to play for my work sessions, now it's simple.
2. When you finish a work session, write a note to yourself saying where you're at. that way, when you come back to start work again, you can pick up where you left off without spending time trying to remember stuff. It's past you being nice to future you! (I got this from a writing tip that said you should always leave a sentence unfinished when taking a break, because then you can hop back in really easily because it's mid flow).
Really agree with the OP about exercise/well being. It's not a waste of time. For most (if not all) of these kinds of side projects, it's a marathon, not a sprint.