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Ask HN: How do you keep up the energy to work on side-projects after work?
Curious about what other people do to maintain the energy (and money) to work on side projects after work. What's your side project working schedule like?
- onion2k 8y agoRegarding energy, I do what I can when I can, and I don't stress about things taking a long time. Regarding money, I don't spend any. Between free services, free/promotional tiers of paid services, and open source tools, there's rarely a need to spend anything until your project is generating cold hard cash.
- hanselot 8y agoI don't, I would also like to know. I get home, feel like satan drained my soul all day and sedate myself to continue the vicious cycle the next day.
- kwhitefoot 8y agoSounds like you are in the wrong job or the wrong company. If the day is that bad every day you need to consider moving.
- anon8794578 8y agoEither that, or it's just mentally exhausting to be productive for a full day. It might not be that the job is bad, but rather that the amount of energy for certain kinds focus and tasks is limited. In that case, if the desire to do side projects is great enough, I suppose the correct solution would be to try going for a somewhat shorter work week.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- hanselot 8y agoI think I have reached a critical point in my career where I have to choose whether I work to live or live to work. I prefer the prior, so I will be going that route. I'll be resigning on Wednesday.
- musgravepeter 8y agoI'm lucky since I am by nature an early bird. I work on my side project for an hour or so before work. Also a few hours in the morning on the weekend. IIRC this was how Scott Adams found time to draw Dilbert when he had a full-time job.
- billconan 8y agoI'm also a morning person, sometimes I devote my morning time to side projects first. And I leave my actual work to the later part of the day. But if I need to work on my sides during the evening, one trick I found is making my room extremely bright, making me think that it was still daytime. I also force myself to be away from my bed. As soon as I lay down, there is no way I can get up and be productive.
- nicksalt 8y agoI've always found huge success in the mornings and huge flops in the evenings.
- eddieschod 8y agoAn interesting aside: https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-4-a-m-is-the-most-productive-hour-1471971861 https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-4-a-m-is-the-most-productiv...
- hackermailman 8y agoMorning side-project hacking here too, even though I'm not a morning person. 5am your brain is fresh from sleep, there is no social obligations, no phone calls to answer, and you have a time limit for motivation so often plan your projects better.
- jcahill84 8y agoI have an hour commute to my real job, so I use that to hack on my side project before and after work. Setting small goals has always helped me keep up the energy to move it forward. When you're working in really small time chunks, it's important to make sure you have something achievable to accomplish. You're not going to be able to do things like "finish the sign up flow" in one night, but you can do things like "finish the authByPassword() method" and still be moving forward. As for the money aspect of it, that's simple, just don't spend any. Bootstrapping is all about doing more with less, so don't spend anything until you absolutely have to. When you do finally start writing checks, make sure you're spending on things that will have the highest impact.
- SenHeng 8y agoI tried that last year when I had a 2 hour commute. It doesn't work well if you have to get off every half an hour to switch trains. Or if you can't get a seat.
- imhoguy 8y agoSometimes I do mornings, but then I don't have enough focus capacity left for work. Best so far is 4 day work week - Friday is exclusive for me, weekends for family. Pay-cut is 20% but I gain 50% more time off, time is money too.
- maxxxxx 8y agoI have asked for a 4 day week at my company but they wouldn't do it. This would be my dream.
- itamarst 8y agoLike I said elsewhere, it's possible (though not easy). This guy has done it multiple times over past 15 years: https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/01/08/part-time-programmer/ https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/01/08/part-time-programmer... (I also wrote a book with more stories and advice, with a whole chapter on negotiating part time work based on my experience and that of others: https://codewithoutrules.com/saneworkweek/ https://codewithoutrules.com/saneworkweek/)
- mjmj 8y agoI work from home which gives me about 30-60 mins extra compared to those that commute. Often I’ll work a bit in the morning. Then at night once my 7mo old goes to bed I work for another 1-2 hours before sleeping. I leave all my editor and terminal windows open so I can quickly switch back to my side project as needed during lunch or while other software is building or off the clock. I always make sure to workout, sleep plenty and eat right which tremendously helps my mental fatigue. Also I quit my high stress job and work for a company with much more relaxed work environment so my daytime work is fun and doesn’t burn me out. But I agree, it’s not easy balancing life, family, passions, future aspirations. It’s like a wheel you’re trying to keep balanced and round and things will always give and take.
- itamarst 8y agoWhy do you want to work on a side-project? 1. If it's to learn more, I would instead suggest focusing on learning on the job. It's more realistic, you can get more resources, etc.. E.g. I've found learning new programming languages much easier at work than in my spare time: https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/09/09/learn-a-new-programming-language/ https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/09/09/learn-a-new-programm... 2. If you want to create a side business, I've done some combination of working half an hour each morning and increasing my personal time by negotiating a part-time job. An interview with someone who has negotiated shorter workweek at many companies: https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/01/08/part-time-programmer/ https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/01/08/part-time-programmer...
- mrdependable 8y agoSheer force of will. After working at a computer all day, sitting at a computer and working late into the night is the last thing I want to do. Thinking of the alternative, which is spending my life working for someone else, is my main motivator. I can't see myself doing that forever, and I know things won't change unless I put in the work. So I do my day job from 9 - 5, hang out with the family from 6 - 9, then work until 2am.
- itamarst 8y agoAs I mentioned in another comment, you can negotiate a shorter workweek. I've done it, others have as well - see link in my other comment.
- potta_coffee 8y agoMy strategy is just to push myself to get _something_ done, even when I don't want to. So, the other night I wrote an SQL query. It was probably 20 mins of work, but it brought me closer to finishing the project. Other days, I'll end up "feeling it" and putting in several hours on a project. So, small increments plus the occasional big push.
- mpfundstein 8y agotrue. my whole side project output yesterday was a shell script that monitors if another process is running and lights an led on the raspi if yes :P 40 min work. But one step closer to the goal
- schappim 8y agoWhat is the goal?
- mpfundstein 8y agoSelf riding rc car :-) i thought it would be a ‘simple’ side project... 2 months ago
- maerF0x0 8y agoFunny, I find this more or less works with everything. Getting out of bed early. Getting something done on a side job. Getting to the gym.
- riku_iki 8y agoDo something you are really excited about. Excitement and inspiration bring you energy.
- tytytytytytytyt 8y ago> Curious about what other people do to maintain the energy I work on something that's actually fun.
- jadeydi 8y agoWant to learn more things and earn money
- jrudisill 8y agoSome things have made a difference for me: - Working on side projects that have less overlap with work and scratch technical and creative itches that aren't a part of my day job. - Getting in the habit of sitting down to do some small task every day. Some days that turns into a multi-hour super-productive hack fest, sometimes it's writing a piece of copy and that's it. Now that I'm in that habit, I put in a really productive session about 2x per week on average, but I try to not care about that statistic. - Setting easily achievable goals every week, and trying to consistently surpass them (examples: add an 'about' section, write a query) - Getting serious about working out and eating mostly right fixed the afternoon doldrums for me. I normally do weights and cardio in the morning before work and a jog/yoga/swimming after.
- rajsa4u 8y agoI still confused about SEO. my link https://www.seejodhpur.com/ https://www.seejodhpur.com/
- parallel_item 8y agoAn omnipresent underlying sense of anxiety and rage caused by something or other in my past that is useful for work but not useful for building relationships!
- kenny87 8y agoMichael Jordan was great at doing this. His hall of fame speech is filled w/ anecdotes about him turning slights into motivation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLzBMGXfK4c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLzBMGXfK4c
- troycarlson 8y agoThis is my life.
- epiddy 8y agoI find that NOT turning on the TV and NOT cracking open a beer helps me to focus on the side project. ymmv
- Sileni 8y agoIf I can hold my willpower together for the first 30 minutes after I get home, I usually do alright. If I open absolutely any distraction within the first 15 minutes after I get home, my night is shot. It's funny how much of my time is dictated by momentum alone. In a sad, "Do I actually have free will?" kind of way.
- Bulbasaur2015 8y agolearn to recharge whenever you want and you can. take powernaps, or go for a walk or a shower
- djinnandtonic 8y agoDon't try to do anything meaningful if you have less than 2 hours in a sitting to devote to your project. Block off a 4-hour window every weekend, and take a day off once per month where you put in a full day. I find trying to work on projects after work just leads to a bunch of time wasted context switching, and 'not unwinding' can be seriously bad for your mental health.
- silveroriole 8y agoOnly work 4 days. I put more value on my free time and learning than on money I don’t spend anyway.
- pascalxus 8y agoThe key to keeping up motivation is some sort of success or reason to think you'll be successful. In the beginning, us entrepreneurs are filled with confidence (or dillusions depending on how you look at it). It's this confidence that keeps you going. But, as reality sets in and no one uses your app, you begin to realize it's not going to work. I guess thats why they always recommend release soemthing early , so you can get some small measure of success: at least get some positive feedback to validate your idea.
- nickthemagicman 8y agoI take the opposite approach. It's NOT good to work on side projects after work. That's reserved for the weekends. Spend your after noons doing other stuff. Excercise, other hobbies, talking with ppl at a bar, etc.
- l_tonz 8y agoBuy a PS4 and put it next to your PC. At least to me, playing video games give me some energy and some escape after work. After that, I tackle small 30 minute tasks. Don't take side-projects too seriously!
- snr 8y agoI just do stuff because I believe in the idea and the stuff needs to get done for the idea to materialize.
- otakucode 8y agoThe way I see it, when I have some free time I have some choice in which ways to spend it. If I spend it doing some things, I end up with something to show for it, something I can look at later or point to and say "I did that." Other ways leave me with almost nothing. And I just get bothered by that. Now, it's important to note that I am very broad in my sense of 'something to show for it.' Being well-read, having a wide experience with cinema, etc are things that I credit as artifacts worth accumulating. So most of my time gets split between learning and building things (software, mostly, as that's where my talents lie).
- i_made_a_booboo 8y agoI tried doing it nights and weekends for 3.5 years and with a young family, I made advances in my skills but never produced anything meaningful. I'm working with someone else now to create a product and so I took a week of annual leave to try out what it was like doing my own thing full-time and vlogged about it. https://youtu.be/-VkkZOiIL10 https://youtu.be/-VkkZOiIL10 It was so good the next day back at work I handed in my notice which is what the following video is about! https://youtu.be/rrP_yHV19bA https://youtu.be/rrP_yHV19bA
- blihp 8y agoWork on things you enjoy/want/need and don't feel like you have put any more effort into it than you find rewarding (from whatever metric matters to you: fun, money, etc.) It is a side-project after all and not your main gig. If you're feeling too exhausted/no time/other is getting in your way, identify what exactly the issue is: - is it other personal stuff/hobbies? (ask yourself why your side projects rate below these... are you willing to re-prioritize?) - is it family? (unless you have buy-in/support from them, you may be screwed esp. if you have a S.O./kids... sorry) - is it the day job? (ask yourself if its really work maxing you out or pressure you're putting on yourself. If it's truly external pressure from work, devote all of your free time to getting the hell out of there ASAP: life's too short) - etc. etc. The bottom line is to figure out where your time/energy is going. Assuming that the side-project is something you want to do, it should not be too difficult to find at least some time for it or understand exactly why you're not making progress. Having covered all that, here's what I'm thinking might be going on from the way you phrased the question: do you really want to do the side-project(s) or do you just feel like you should because it seems like everyone else has theirs? If that's the case, you really shouldn't be bothering with a side-project... it's not for everyone.
- ha-shine 8y agoA hack I found that's useful for me is to keep a daily log. I list down what I have achieved in a day no matter how small they may be, e.g adding contents to company wiki, clearing a jira ticket, reading an interesting article, etc. I keep the log in a simple text file for each day, in a repo on github. I always find the urge to add something to this log whenever I get back home.
- throwsaway89 8y agoI have felt whenever i had to push myself for the side project it always failed. The drive for me came from inside because the road ahead is long. Also waking up early helped alot
- dookahku 8y agoI don't usually go home. I stay in the office and use a separate laptop or go to a coffee shop. I know if I go home I'm just going to sleep immediately. Then Ig et up in the middle of the night and get more tired. Using S.M.A.R.T. goal system (https://www.yourcoach.be/en/coaching-tools/smart-goal-setting.php https://www.yourcoach.be/en/coaching-tools/smart-goal-settin...) is helpful, too. "I will resolve this 1 bug." "I will scope out this feature" "I will wireframe this UI" "I will start and tabulate this survey with these 2 questions" These are all helpful and can be easy to finish.