10 ms·

I never finish anyth

334 points by 3stripe 13y ago

iterable 13y ago
It's why investors put so much weight on the team. Execution is 90%. We've all heard this endless times. But it really hits you in the face when you actually do a startup. A team that can't execute will probably f*ck up a great idea, whereas a team that can execute can do wonders with a mediocre idea
ChuckMcM 13y ago
I like to pursue ideas enough to validate if they really are "easy" or "hard." That helps me think about if they are worth pursuing. If they are "easy" I try to figure out what the other people who had this idea got hung up on, if they are "hard" I try to figure out if the hardness is intrinsic to the problem or the approach. I think of this as sort of the 'minimum work' to do on any new idea. Just having an idea and writing it into my notebook doesn't count :-)
equalarrow 13y ago
Wow, great post. Who isn't guilty or fallen prey to this? The few projects I've finished, they've always been for-pay. Either contracting or as an employee. For my own, almost none. However. A little over two years ago, I started coding an edu-based app that a friend and I designed (he's the biz side). I was gonna become a father and I thought, what better space to be in since I'm going to be dealing with it in the coming years. Typical story, coded nights, mornings, weekends. After the baby came, coded less but still the same schedule. We launched the site last fall. And then.. we started having having users saying our site was too complicated, the change log and bug list kept growing. So, this thing I had worked on for so long and pushed into existence by sheer will, just burned me out. I walked away for a few months and even though we were making almost $1k/mo, I felt it not worth my time anymore. But now, in the past week, I'm changing my tune. At my day job, we're going thru the final phases of closing on m&a suitors. At first I thought this was awesome, but then looking at the suitors jobs list and reading them, I realized none of them are interesting. Do I want to code day an night? No. Do I want to spend all my day at an office? No. Do I want to help push someone else's dream closer to IPO? No. I realized after this that I already have the dream (work-wise). We have edu partners lined up, some good potential biz deals, and it's all hinging on just spending a few weeks and fixing things. But having a family, working for something for a long time and not really seeing the reward (yet) - it's hard to keep going thru it all. But, I visualized and thought about "what would it be like to sit at my desk (anywhere I want) and keep making the thing I built better?". This is the only thing I have ever 'finished' (will it ever be) and I think looking back, I did it all for the right reasons and kept pushing forward. Regardless what anyone else said about it (almost all the responses about the site were positive). For me, in the end it is about doing what you love, channeling your passion to reach the goal(s). Goal 1 - launching it - reached, done. Goal 2 - helping people enjoy using it - restarted. Lesson learned: don't give up. Every hour makes a difference.
mathattack 13y ago
I absolutely love these, "Get off of HN and get some work done" posts that get voted to the top of HN. Are we heroin addicts that know what's bad for us? :-)
chipsy 13y ago
I only have starting problems. Right now my starting problem is the laundry. I abandon a lot of stuff, but only because I've built enough of it to see the flaws. I don't see that as a problem. It looks like a problem if you predicate the goal on external societal factors like "get attention/money," because a thing has to be finished (to some degree) to be part of society. But we already know that the external stuff is a poor motivator. So stop beating yourself up about finishing. Play in society and worry about things when you feel it's necessary, but if it's your private, creative work, that is the time to be bold and selfish. Don't try to fit in for the sake of it, do things because you want them. You shouldn't care about "finished", because you should be engrossed in the act of creation.
nathan_f77 13y ago
I finally managed to finish one! http://www.youshouldbuythese.com http://www.youshouldbuythese.com I think the secret to a successful side-project is deciding on an MVP that can be built in a single weekend. I've found that I'm also much more likely to keep iterating on a project if it's already in a 'finished' state. I seem to run out of steam or lost interest in my more ambitious side-projects, where working for a whole weekend will only get you 10% closer to a finished product.
- serge2k 13y ago
  I signed in and I got an editor I own a book I own another book I own the newer version of a phone I used to own (had s3, got s4) a mouse I am going to consider buying a keyboard that probably would have been my choice if I didn't get a kinesis nicely done.
krrishd 13y ago
I think one of the biggest things that causes is losing faith in your idea. No matter how good it is, the more you think about it without doing anything to go along with the thinking, your brain will naturally find minute flaws in the idea, making you move on.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
avighnay 13y ago
Excited, dive right in, run the tutorial, get to the first block, (optional - google try 1, google try 2) and yawnnnnn, next please... This one has a reverse interest for most entrepreneurs, how do you get your product past the initial excitement and impending boredom of the customer?
bruceb 13y ago
Reminded me of this story: http://www.leanexpertise.com/TPMONLINE/articles_on_total_productive_maintenance/management/establishingpriorioties.htm http://www.leanexpertise.com/TPMONLINE/articles_on_total_pro... One day a management consultant, Ivy Lee, called on Schwab of the Bethlehem Steel Company. Lee outlined briefly his firm's services, ending with the statement: "With our service, you'll know how to manage better." The indignant Schwab said, "I'm not managing as well now as I know how. What we need around here is not more "knowing" but more doing, not knowledge but action; if you can give us something to pep us up to do the things we ALREADY KNOW we ought to do, I'll gladly listen to you and pay you anything you ask." "Fine", said Lee. "I can give you something in twenty minutes that will step up your action and doing at least 50 percent". "O.K.", said Schwab. "I have just about that much time before I must leave to catch a train. What's your idea?" Lee pulled a bland 3x5 note sheet out of his pocket, handed it to Schwab and said: "Write on this sheet the six most important tasks you have to do tomorrow". That took about three minutes. "Now", said Lee, "number them in the order of their importance". Five more minutes passed. "Now", said Lee, "put this sheet in you pocket and the first thing tomorrow morning look at item one and start working on it. Pull the sheet out of your pocket every 15 or 20 minutes and look at item one until it is finished. Then tackle item two in the same way, then item three. Do this until quitting time. Don't be concerned if you only finished two or three, or even if you only finish one item. You'll be working on the important ones. The others can wait. If you can't finish them all by this method, you couldn't with any other method either, and without some system you'd probably not even decide which are most important". "Spend the last five minutes of every working day making out a 'must' list for the next day's tasks. After you've convinced yourself of the worth of this system have your men try it. Try it out as long as you wish and then send me a check for what YOU think it's worth". The whole interview lasted about twenty-five minutes. In two weeks Schwab sent Lee a check for $25,000 - a thousand dollars a minute. He added a note saying the lesson was the most profitable from a money standpoint he had every learned. Did it work? In five years it turned the unknown Bethlehem Steel Company into the biggest independent steel producer in the world; made Schwab a hundred million dollar fortune, and the best known steel man alive at that time.
- 3stripe 13y ago
  Great story. I'm off to find me some index cards!
elwell 13y ago
What does "anyth" mea
orblivion 13y ago
After working at a startup I started to not feel so bad about this. And/or I set my sights lower as far as putting in all required features, but putting higher stress on actually delivering what's important, and polish. For instance, I made a podcast downloader as a Haskell learning project. I haven't goften around to making it delete old files. Meh. The interface is good, it is reliable and fast. I'll just clean it out manually now and then. Or maybe get to it later if I feel like it. A few years ago this might have been hanging over my head as a failure.
marcofloriano 13y ago
Anyone can think. Few can do. Just because you can have an idea, don't mean you can have a business. But if you already have a business, maybe you can have couple good ideas. Try to start different next time: first, you create a business, then you try to have some ideas. It´s take much more than ideas to build even a small business. It´s a process, not a choice. Took me 10 years to learn how to do that. Good Luck!
JoachimS 13y ago
For me gamification works. I'm a sucker for the stats Github can display for a project. And keeping that streak going. I've started to throw all my embarrasing, childish project onto github. If someone files a comment regarding how bad something is - great, then I have something concrete to fix. And having a lot of projects open means there is always something easy to fix to keep the streak going. Suddenly projects move forward, albeit one small commit at a time. This way I have actually completed more projects in years.
- seivan 13y ago
  I did that for my Open Source stuff, I stopped at 164 days streaking. Maybe I should take that up for private projects.
cusx 13y ago
great timely post! thank you !
geolisto 13y ago
I know exactly where you're coming from. In my studies I've found this behavior common amongst people that are INTJs (including myself). I would comically refer to myself as a serial project starter. I finally realized the pattern of getting all excited, pushing out a lot of code, and then abandoning the project a month in long before it's done. Launching my site yesterday was a relief to finish a project and push it out for the world to see. Even if nobody uses it I'm glad that I finished something.
popasmurf 13y ago
This article inspired me to complete a project I started halfway through last year. Very good read!
swatkat7 13y ago
Something REALLY has to pique my interest for me to get into the flow state and once I'm there I have a go at it like no one will; and once I'm out of that state, its really hard to go back into it unless something picks me back up. What I discovered is: 1) Break down your project into bits that excite you all the way through and imagine being excited while you're planning it. Have someone else be there with you with to plan this with you while you do it - helps with the planning. This chunking of the project itself is the battle. You beat this and you've conquered most of the problem. 2) Work on two - three manageable projects at the same time. This usually has worked for me my entire life. Alternate between them. When you get bored with one, pick the other one up and plan all of them out so you have interesting bits chunked out throughout. 3) Always work with high-energy individuals who would keep the energy up throughout the project. When you feel tired or bored, they will find a way to pick you back up again. 4) Always find projects that YOU can find some value in YOUR life.
taproot 13y ago
You an me b
ipetepete 13y ago
I read somewhere recently that if you fantasize/talk about your ideas/goals it triggers your brain to let you feel a similar satisfaction for actually accomplishing the said idea/goal. Of course now I can't find the article so take it with a grain of salt. I did find this article which is related… http://blog.bufferapp.com/how-our-brains-stop-us-achieving-our-goals-and-how-to-fight-back http://blog.bufferapp.com/how-our-brains-stop-us-achieving-o...
- chocolate_ 13y ago
  This is probably what you're recalling: http://sivers.org/zipit http://sivers.org/zipit The article argues that the satisfaction prevents us from actually reaching our goals.
Kiro 13y ago
> check the availability of urls and social media accounts Are people really checking the availability on social media? I know that if I get the .com I want nothing else matters and the social media handles can be anything. I know the feeling anyway! The initial excitement and the downfall.
neerajsohal 13y ago
this is exactly what happens with me. though I was expecting a solution too. but how can I. He is on the same road as I am
tlarkworthy 13y ago
I like the building things. I finish building them too. Unfortunately, that isn't the job done. You then have to promote it and get users. That is harder than the building stage. Christ you are in for a shock if you think the immediate step after reserving social media handles is the hard bit...
- 3stripe 13y ago
  I think that's just the bit I run through often. My main project (CycleLive) is approaching two years old now, and I've got a small but loyal audience which I'm nurturing. Actually I think CycleLove has a different problem — the "a blog is not a business" one. Although it was never intended to be a business in the first place, I want to angle it in that direction, and that's the part I'm struggling with now.
  - tlarkworthy 13y ago
    oh yeah, cool site. yeah perhaps what you and I consider products are in different categories, so perhaps my words are not so relevant to you. I enjoy making geeky technical things, but fail to find any users. :( One day I will sort it out (maybe).
    - 3stripe 13y ago
      Are you building something that other people actually want? Or something that you think they want? If the former, how do you know that?
eddieroger 13y ago
I immediately commiserated with this article when I saw the headline, because I have the same problem. I wish the resolution of the blog post was something other than "break the big thing in to little bits and do those" - something that I've known for a long time. For me, the most successful thing I've come across, and coincidentally the hardest part to change, was not being a perfectionist and just getting to MVP. Sometimes you have to say no, and just finish.
- visakanv 13y ago
  The biggest game-changer for me has been peer pressure, if that helps. I left a talkshop group of friends and started working with people who were getting things done. Changed my life dramatically.
  - 3stripe 13y ago
    Accountability can be a great thing, agreed. I used a kind of accountability hack to get a lot of writing done last year — basically by setting a £100 penalty for any day that I didn't write 1,000 words.
  - eddieroger 13y ago
    Yeah, I'm working on that. I've got a few friends who are in similar situations, so we schedule Hangouts or the like to do show-and-tells and keep each other accountable. It helps, but hasn't fully fixed me of bad habits.
whizzkid 13y ago
It was the same for me for several ideas/projects that i started with. Then i realised what was the reason makes me not touching the project after a while... The first steps are always known and can be done by almost everyone. - Buy the domain - Construct the idea - Even, start coding the project And here comes the reasons why you slowly starting not to touch the project anymore; - You realise that you are not sure how to deploy this on production. - You realise that you will need a business model and you are just a developer/designer and have no idea about those. - Then comes the tax issues, and realisation that you need a company. - You don't know how to licence your idea/project I can list some more but these are just enough to make you feel that you need to find some people to help you which is not free but expensive unless you have friends that are expert in those areas. Yep, you give up the project...
- devonkim 13y ago
  As someone that wears far too many hats to the point of daily paralysis, these don't sound too intimdating... until I need to figure out what to do first. This is what iterative anything / MVP / lean startup thinking is for and also determines what I think the biggest difference between effective and ineffective people are - prioritization during execution. - Deploying? I do integrations and devops-like stuff at work, and online discussions tend to overblow this topic given this probably matters among the least. The "correct" way is the fastest that will get the job done now so you can keep your momentum going. Until you go full hog hot-deploying to keep your uptime high, expect to destroy everything eventually, who cares if it's sloppy if it went into the trash? Just git receive hooks are good enough for toy projects like O(n^3) algorithms are probably fine for starting some random webapp. -Business models are in abundant supply out given the number of times "ideas people" that "just need someone to make an app/site of it" have approached me. Unless you're undertaking significant costs or are on the edge of financial ruin, you shouldn't worry though given starting a tech company is the cheapest it's ever been and only getting cheaper (per Mark Cuban). However, you may want to do some quick market research so you don't waste too much time building something that nobody wants - your time is actually going up in cost at a rate faster than Moore's Law gives you savings! On the other hand, don't be like me and think that focus groups and all the stuff that big companies do for thousands typically for a waste of money applies for you. It seems common sense but we all do dumb things in hindsight and it can be hard to step outside your box. People with good prioritization skills do less dumb things wrt execution, that much I can assure you. - Taxes are pretty simple for tiny companies in the US (this IS still a cheap place to run a business comparatively), you can probably hire an accountant to do it for a couple hundred bucks without paying a lawyer for even more. Everyone gets moved to Delaware or something later, just get that done hastily to check it off. It's the FUNDING that will make your head spin, taxes are trivial in comparison. Beyond that it's all good problems to have from everything I've read. For me, I honestly think the hardest part is coming up with a coding project that keeps me motivated long enough without encountering some real hard blocks that just can't scale even though I know they're stupid easy for others. I get a small aneurysm having to deal with frontend design decisions & execution as a systems & backend stack guy primarily. Font choices, picking color palettes for an audience, ... am I making a business or planning my wedding again? I've only shipped maybe a couple personal projects for the public to see though, so perhaps I'm full of crap and I wasted everyone's time. But if anything, I know how my own habits lead to ineffective output even with what seems like a lot of effort, so I think by telling people the opposite of what I do, it would give better results for others than saying what I actually do.
brennanm 13y ago
Same way. I'm a 30%'er. I'll do the name, branding, front end mockups... but then I'll lose it. I wont want to dive into the back and write any backend or server code. That's why you need a team. Everyone has optimistic days and pessimistic days. On a good team you all wont have them at exactly the same time. You're team will push you through and help you finish.
- JshWright 13y ago
  To further illustrate the benefit of a team... I'm exactly the opposite. I dive right into the backend stuff... APIs, database schema, etc, and tack just enough UI on the front end to make it usable (Name? Branding? That can all come later...(and never does))
Gaurav322 13y ago
It is really motivating article and today, I am going to generate a best marketing strategy for tumblr and try to execute that. (only one as you say)...
visakanv 13y ago
I relate to this, too. Here's some stuff that I read recently that helped me a little: "When you are young, beginning new projects is easy and finishing them is hard. As you grow older, beginnings get harder, but finishing gets easier. At least, that has been my experience. I think it is true of anyone of at least average intelligence, creativity and emotional resilience. The reason is simple. When you are young, the possibilities ahead of you, and the time available to explore them, seem nearly infinite. When you try to start something, the energizing creative phase, (which comes with internal brain-chemistry rewards on a fast feedback-loop), gives way to exhausting detail-oriented work, maintenance work, and unsatisfying overhead work. You need to get through these to bank distant external rewards (money and such) that only come with completion. It is then that you are most vulnerable to the allure of exciting new beginnings. So you abandon things halfway. You bank the internal rewards of beginning, but not the external rewards of finishing. But with age, this changes. As you grow older, the history of a few completed projects and many abandoned ones in your past starts to loom oppressively in your memory. The early internal rewards of many beginnings are now a distant memory that offer no pleasure in the present. The external rewards of completed projects, which tend to continue to yield dividends (such as completed degrees, financial rewards) loom larger all around you: wealth, strong relationships and perhaps most importantly, an earned ability to see the world differently as the result of having been through many completions. When a new opportunity opens up at 35, you evaluate it differently than you did at 25. You are able to estimate how long it will take, what the journey will feel like, what the early pleasure and distant pain will feel like, and what getting it done will feel like. You are able to react psychologically to the whole prospect in the form of a narrative that extends beyond the finish line, as a systematic leveling-up of your life. You see the transient pleasures of beginnings diminish to nothing in the far future and the enduring rewards of finishing as a steady source of dividends extending out beyond the horizon." - http://www.tempobook.com/2014/01/13/when-finishing-is-easier-than-starting http://www.tempobook.com/2014/01/13/when-finishing-is-easier...
- csbrooks 13y ago
  Hey, that's awesome! I've experienced this in my own life too, and I didn't realize why until you put it into words. I focus a lot more now on projects that I know I can finish, and work aggressively to keep them in scope, as hard as that can be. (There's always shiny features you want to implement, but too many of those, and your side project collapses under its own weight, in my personal experience, anyway.)
standup75 13y ago
I experienced this. I have a lot of started projects on my mac. Some i spent a few days on, other i spent a few months. In 2011 I started a game and that was the first project I finished (spiderdash.net). Although not really finished, but close enough. It took me over a year, and I really like it. What I realized, is that I do love the execution actually, but I am too unsure of the potential to focus on anything else, that is sales and marketing. So in the past 6 months I started building the ideas of my friends, I get them engaged because it's their ideas, and I get to do just the execution with the right amount of freedom. If you're like me, do things, but do it with someone else. The other good part about this is that you're going to create a unique mix of competencies. My friends are not developers, but they also are subject matter experts. So we are mixing 2 very different kind of expertise, and that's rich.
kadabra9 13y ago
You wanna know the saddest part of my day? When I'm moving around my laptop, and pop into the "projects" folder and see what a graveyard it has become. Dozens of half baked projects that seemed brilliant at the time, that I either lost interest in, decided the concept was too difficult, or (and this is the worst one) let my self doubt convince me that it would never work. The really sad part is, every now and then I'll go back in and check out these projects and a lot of the code and design is actually pretty good. I ask myself, "Why did I think this sucked again?" The best analogy I can make to this scenario is the self doubt that cripples many writers setting out to finish a book, screenplay, or novel. It's almost as if you tell yourself that the script sucks, to give you a reason not to finish it and move on to something cooler next week. As a writer, what's the best way to overcome this? Just FINISH the god damned first draft. Roll up your sleeves, commit an hour (or two or three) every day to working on this project, and slog through it until you type "FADE OUT" (or "The End") or (if you're coding) make that glorious commit to polish off your project. No matter how much the project, script or book sucks, there are few feelings of satisfaction that match that.
- csbrooks 13y ago
  The thing that helps me work through this is to be very aggressive about a small list of features for "version 1". Focus on getting version 1 online and working, and put all your shiny ideas on the TODO list for version 2. Once version 1 is out the door, the momentum of people using it will carry you forward. I've learned the hard way that for me, by far the biggest risk in a side project is me losing interest before I have something up and working. So now I just keep that in mind as I'm planning and pruning features for the initial version. The risk isn't "what if I don't have feature X and people get mad?", it's "what if this gets too complex and messy to implement and I get bored and quit before finishing?"
  - agilebyte 13y ago
    I find that working even on version 1 stops me from doing the actual work, which is to find users and actually verify I am solving a useful problem. Maybe it is good that we cannot finish all these projects, since they have no use anyway...
JelteF 13y ago
This is very recognizable. I have had this a lot, but accidentily I had an idea 2 days ago that I have put more time in already than any other of my fun plans or cool projects. It's called PyLaTeX [1], it's a Python interface for LaTeX that supports creating documents and snippets. One of the coolest features I think is the conversion of NumPy matrices to LaTeX ones. The HN new page [2] is just a bit rough on someone posting that doesn't know a lot of people that can upvote it, reddit [3] was a lot more forgiving. [1] https://github.com/JelteF/PyLaTeX https://github.com/JelteF/PyLaTeX [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7075212 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7075212 [3] http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1vcqxw/pylatex_easily_create_latex_documents_with_python/ http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1vcqxw/pylatex_...
mbrock 13y ago
Nobody ever finishes anything. Have you ever heard about a finished project? Linus Torvalds hasn't "finished" Linux yet. But it's certainly out there — it's alive! I don't think "man, I'm so far from being finished." That's just a demotivating way to see your project. The big milestone is having something that's useful enough for people to be interested in, no?
- skriticos2 13y ago
  I think the author meant to reach version 1.0 of a project or at least have a fully working prototype. Most projects die during the creation of the outer scaffolding without much of the envisioned functionality in place.
hawkharris 13y ago
Great ideas are like juggling clubs. You can keep two or three of them in flight if your coordination is good enough. Add more than that to your routine and you'll probably get smacked in the face.
agentultra 13y ago
Look at my github and know that I have more repositories on other services and thrice as many on my hard-drive that are unfinished, incomplete duds. I recently reached a milestone: I went from an idea for a book to a self-published, printed title in 3 months. I went to a festival that was mostly focused on comics and video games and sold six copies of my book. It was awesome. Here's the rub: I'm not finished yet. You're never finished until you stop what you're doing. A writer may "finish" a book but ei has to start another or they've "finished" writing. However for every book they finish how many incomplete, half-baked ideas do you think they've run through? Is every idea they have golden and worth pouring months and years of effort into? No. Some ideas deserve to die. But once you've found that one worth pursuing there's nothing to do but roll up your sleeves and put in the time. You will vacillate between euphoria and despair. You may come to regret ever starting and hate yourself. But if it means anything you will force yourself to press on through those darkest moments. And before you know it you'll be done... and ready for the next project. Creativity isn't the rush you feel when you have a good idea and dream about conquering the world: it's process and discipline. It's writing 1500, 2000 words a day no matter what. I find it helps to have someone to nudge you onward. An editor, a mentor... someone you can discuss the project with who has an objective opinion. They will help you in that moment when you're thinking of giving up.
duochrome 13y ago
I've finished something before. It pays back somehow. But now I barely working on anything. I admit I don't like any work at all. Working for Google or SpaceX? No. I think we want to finish something because we are not satisfied with our current life. If you feel your current status is okay, it's not easy to get motived to put yourself into some extra work.
- zoooz_albalushi 13y ago
  Follow me
Arjuna 13y ago
Just some encouragement here for you good people... You have to do the work. There is no one else that can do it for you. It is entirely up to you; actually, it has only ever been you, because it is you that rolls out of bed early to bring it. No one is going to do that for you. If you want to do it, then you will figure out a way to make it happen. Like some of you, I have a family. That makes things a bit challenging at times, and you will likely have to work even harder to find the time, to make the space, so that you can bring it. And, I will add, those that are parents, this is a great example to set for your children. You want to be, "The Daddy that brings it." You want to be, "The Mommy that brings it." Because, you want to instill in them that they can, too. It's a valuable life-lesson. In turn, it is psychologically healthy for you as well, to know that you are a parent that is firing on all cylinders. In addition, it is incredibly gratifying when your child sees your work. "Wow... that's the new game that you're working on! Let me try!" It will fuel you like a Saturn V launching to the moon. You may look at your project and think, "I'm never going to make it. I'll never finish." Please, I urge you to set these thoughts aside and push through. Think about the analogy of building a wall. A wall is built one brick at a time. Watch a mason build a wall one day. You will observe that he or she lays one brick at a time. This is how you have to view your project. Sure, it would be amazing to have an entire day, every day to devote to your project. However, the reality is that most of us simply do not have that luxury. So, strive to think of it as a mason: lay one brick at a time, and eventually the wall will be built. Every character that you type into Xcode, Visual Studio, etc. turns into a keyword, a variable name, etc... that subsequently turns into a line. Those lines build up, day by day, and before you know it, you have a program, and you look back and think, "Wow, why did I ever think I could not finish?" Also, let go of "Internet Time." That is to say, we all read HN and see these impressive "Show HN" posts, and submitted stories about the Next Big Thing... and it seems like things are happening so fast, and we think, "Why even try?" Well, the reality is nothing is happening fast. It is an illusion. Most all of these stories have an incredible amount of time and work behind them, so let go of that illusion, get started, and stay focused. "There's only this moment and the next moment. Every one of those moments is a test that you get to take one time and only one time." [1] Strive to drive through each moment. Make it count. You have to fight. This is paramount. I will say it again... you have to fight! What I mean here is fighting by engaging your Will. Engage your will to get up, to get moving. Engage your will to eat right, to exercise and go to bed on time so that you have the energy to get up and bring it. What you are going through is what we are all going through; that is to say, we are all grinding, whether it be in a start-up business, or washing the dishes by day as we bootstrap a start-up at night; we are all struggling, fighting to drive our dreams into existence. We are all struggling in some way, whether it be through failure, health issues, personal issues, family issues, etc. No one is immune from the grip of suffering through his or her struggles. You are not alone. Embrace the grind. Vince Lombardi said it best: "And in truth, I've never known a man worth his salt who, in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather... a lack of will." You have to use the will to fight those thoughts that say, "I'm getting older. I'm failing. I'm not motivated. I can't finish." The clock is ticking for all of us... fight! You never know where your work will take you. Do not forget that, you have to dream it first in your mind before you can see it in your life. And to see it in your life, you must work. You may not be able to see things clearly now, but you never know what doors could open for you that you did not even know existed. Ang Lee, the Taiwanese film director and screenwriter that directed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Life of Pi, discusses his struggles to break into film. I urge you to read it: http://whatshihsaid.com/2013/02/26/ang-lee-a-never-ending-dream http://whatshihsaid.com/2013/02/26/ang-lee-a-never-ending-dr... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBLV6RG4TwY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBLV6RG4TwY
melling 13y ago
"Real artists ship."
smoyer 13y ago
I agree with advice that you should document your idea in your notebook, but don't put any immediate effort into implementing it. The ideas you keep coming back to are the ones that you're truly interested in ... and yet you still have to be careful that those are viable ideas. In any case, rushing after each new idea is a great way to spend time, but you need that time to be executing on the few ideas you actually choose to pursue.
delinka 13y ago
I have a similar process to the author, but I get further. Must have a name! Is it available everywhere? Once I've settled some of that detail, it's on to the code with the basic features. I'll need a database (and thus a schema), and a REST API, and security considerations ... that's all fine. Start actually writing and testing and OH BOY another feature idea! Write it down for later, continue back where I was. But that new feature will require this change to the current design. And to do that now I have to change this other part and ... repeat until I give up. tl;dr: feature creep kills me, even with my own ideas. I cannot just Let It Be and produce a 1.0 with minimal features.
rajbala 13y ago
I no longer care about what people think. I care that I may not get enough people to think anything at all.
Edmond 13y ago
It could have something to do with the reason you wanted to start a project in the first place. If you start a project just to play with some new shinny framework/tech then it is likely that once the novelty wears off nothing of interest would remain. If however you start a project because you are excited about some product vision that doesn't already exist or not in the form you've envision then the drive to bring that idea/vision to fruition can be a powerful motivator. I wrote a blog post on this matter some time back: http://colabopad.blogspot.com/2009/12/on-joys-of-creativity-as-software.html http://colabopad.blogspot.com/2009/12/on-joys-of-creativity-...
easy_rider 13y ago
I'm going to finish my beer right now.
marsay 13y ago
This article gave me idea for a new project. Yes, it's all clear in my head and I have to start working on it right now and abandon all other projects. A site where you take responsibility for finishing your project. If you don't, you will pay heavy price. Lets say we will spam your inbox with a thousands of letters that remind you of your promises.
the_cat_kittles 13y ago
I think "finishing" something means accepting its flaws (which will always be there) ...that makes it psychologically difficult.
jlwarren1 13y ago
I started to read this article, but I gave up about half way through.
- c4n4rd 13y ago
  Up until what part did
jjoe 13y ago
Sadly this is why employers and early investors give preference to Ivy League graduates. That's likely because the programs ensure graduates are most likely to push the bar higher and achieve. But those who make the exception list (achievers non-league) turn out to be even stronger achievers because their determination comes from deep within rather than from training. Disclosure: I'm not a leaguer.
alashley 13y ago
Relevant: http://simpleprogrammer.com/2014/01/09/importance-finishing-started/ http://simpleprogrammer.com/2014/01/09/importance-finishing-...
hiccup 13y ago
Is it awful that I didn't finish reading his post?
- 3stripe 13y ago
  Awful that what? I didn't even make it to the end of your c
tunesmith 13y ago
This might be a bit cogsci, but one thing that has really helped me over the years is to switch my mental language away from statements like "I never finish anything", to statements like "I have had trouble finishing things in the past." The first is a static judgment I am applying to myself, and it's a definitional straitjacket. The second is simply an observation, and it leaves room and opportunity for positive change. When we tell ourselves we "are" certain things or "always/never do" certain things, we are defining ourselves in a way that makes it harder to change, due to the reinforcement. At this point, I pretty much automatically recognize negative "judgments" and do the translation... I think it helps a lot.
- marcosscriven 13y ago
  I really like that idea - how something is phrased can and does have a profound impact.
bartl 13y ago
It's the "doing things" that I have least trouble with. It's the other things, the things that he does first, that I have trouble with.
billnguyen 13y ago
I struggle with this too, my github/bitbucket is a barren wasteland of half finished products. I believe that its fully a mindset thing and realize that success is not an accident nor some ephemeral spark of genius. Success is a a choice, every day. I find this YT video on Steph Curry to be an amazing story of how success is built by they choices we make every day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riy59ubGJiU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riy59ubGJiU 'Are the habits you have for today on par with the dreams you have for tomorrow?' Not yet... but its getting there.

334 points by 3stripe 13y ago

It's why investors put so much weight on the team. Execution is 90%. We've all heard this endless times. But it really hits you in the face when you actually do a startup. A team that can't execute will probably f*ck up a great idea, whereas a team that can execute can do wonders with a mediocre idea

ChuckMcM 13y ago

I like to pursue ideas enough to validate if they really are "easy" or "hard." That helps me think about if they are worth pursuing. If they are "easy" I try to figure out what the other people who had this idea got hung up on, if they are "hard" I try to figure out if the hardness is intrinsic to the problem or the approach. I think of this as sort of the 'minimum work' to do on any new idea. Just having an idea and writing it into my notebook doesn't count :-)

equalarrow 13y ago

Wow, great post. Who isn't guilty or fallen prey to this? The few projects I've finished, they've always been for-pay. Either contracting or as an employee. For my own, almost none. However. A little over two years ago, I started coding an edu-based app that a friend and I designed (he's the biz side). I was gonna become a father and I thought, what better space to be in since I'm going to be dealing with it in the coming years. Typical story, coded nights, mornings, weekends. After the baby came, coded less but still the same schedule. We launched the site last fall. And then.. we started having having users saying our site was too complicated, the change log and bug list kept growing. So, this thing I had worked on for so long and pushed into existence by sheer will, just burned me out. I walked away for a few months and even though we were making almost $1k/mo, I felt it not worth my time anymore. But now, in the past week, I'm changing my tune. At my day job, we're going thru the final phases of closing on m&a suitors. At first I thought this was awesome, but then looking at the suitors jobs list and reading them, I realized none of them are interesting. Do I want to code day an night? No. Do I want to spend all my day at an office? No. Do I want to help push someone else's dream closer to IPO? No. I realized after this that I already have the dream (work-wise). We have edu partners lined up, some good potential biz deals, and it's all hinging on just spending a few weeks and fixing things. But having a family, working for something for a long time and not really seeing the reward (yet) - it's hard to keep going thru it all. But, I visualized and thought about "what would it be like to sit at my desk (anywhere I want) and keep making the thing I built better?". This is the only thing I have ever 'finished' (will it ever be) and I think looking back, I did it all for the right reasons and kept pushing forward. Regardless what anyone else said about it (almost all the responses about the site were positive). For me, in the end it is about doing what you love, channeling your passion to reach the goal(s). Goal 1 - launching it - reached, done. Goal 2 - helping people enjoy using it - restarted. Lesson learned: don't give up. Every hour makes a difference.

mathattack 13y ago

I absolutely love these, "Get off of HN and get some work done" posts that get voted to the top of HN. Are we heroin addicts that know what's bad for us? :-)

chipsy 13y ago

I only have starting problems. Right now my starting problem is the laundry. I abandon a lot of stuff, but only because I've built enough of it to see the flaws. I don't see that as a problem. It looks like a problem if you predicate the goal on external societal factors like "get attention/money," because a thing has to be finished (to some degree) to be part of society. But we already know that the external stuff is a poor motivator. So stop beating yourself up about finishing. Play in society and worry about things when you feel it's necessary, but if it's your private, creative work, that is the time to be bold and selfish. Don't try to fit in for the sake of it, do things because you want them. You shouldn't care about "finished", because you should be engrossed in the act of creation.

nathan_f77 13y ago

I finally managed to finish one! http://www.youshouldbuythese.com http://www.youshouldbuythese.com I think the secret to a successful side-project is deciding on an MVP that can be built in a single weekend. I've found that I'm also much more likely to keep iterating on a project if it's already in a 'finished' state. I seem to run out of steam or lost interest in my more ambitious side-projects, where working for a whole weekend will only get you 10% closer to a finished product.

serge2k 13y ago
I signed in and I got an editor I own a book I own another book I own the newer version of a phone I used to own (had s3, got s4) a mouse I am going to consider buying a keyboard that probably would have been my choice if I didn't get a kinesis nicely done.

krrishd 13y ago

I think one of the biggest things that causes is losing faith in your idea. No matter how good it is, the more you think about it without doing anything to go along with the thinking, your brain will naturally find minute flaws in the idea, making you move on.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

avighnay 13y ago

Excited, dive right in, run the tutorial, get to the first block, (optional - google try 1, google try 2) and yawnnnnn, next please... This one has a reverse interest for most entrepreneurs, how do you get your product past the initial excitement and impending boredom of the customer?

bruceb 13y ago

Reminded me of this story: http://www.leanexpertise.com/TPMONLINE/articles_on_total_productive_maintenance/management/establishingpriorioties.htm http://www.leanexpertise.com/TPMONLINE/articles_on_total_pro... One day a management consultant, Ivy Lee, called on Schwab of the Bethlehem Steel Company. Lee outlined briefly his firm's services, ending with the statement: "With our service, you'll know how to manage better." The indignant Schwab said, "I'm not managing as well now as I know how. What we need around here is not more "knowing" but more doing, not knowledge but action; if you can give us something to pep us up to do the things we ALREADY KNOW we ought to do, I'll gladly listen to you and pay you anything you ask." "Fine", said Lee. "I can give you something in twenty minutes that will step up your action and doing at least 50 percent". "O.K.", said Schwab. "I have just about that much time before I must leave to catch a train. What's your idea?" Lee pulled a bland 3x5 note sheet out of his pocket, handed it to Schwab and said: "Write on this sheet the six most important tasks you have to do tomorrow". That took about three minutes. "Now", said Lee, "number them in the order of their importance". Five more minutes passed. "Now", said Lee, "put this sheet in you pocket and the first thing tomorrow morning look at item one and start working on it. Pull the sheet out of your pocket every 15 or 20 minutes and look at item one until it is finished. Then tackle item two in the same way, then item three. Do this until quitting time. Don't be concerned if you only finished two or three, or even if you only finish one item. You'll be working on the important ones. The others can wait. If you can't finish them all by this method, you couldn't with any other method either, and without some system you'd probably not even decide which are most important". "Spend the last five minutes of every working day making out a 'must' list for the next day's tasks. After you've convinced yourself of the worth of this system have your men try it. Try it out as long as you wish and then send me a check for what YOU think it's worth". The whole interview lasted about twenty-five minutes. In two weeks Schwab sent Lee a check for $25,000 - a thousand dollars a minute. He added a note saying the lesson was the most profitable from a money standpoint he had every learned. Did it work? In five years it turned the unknown Bethlehem Steel Company into the biggest independent steel producer in the world; made Schwab a hundred million dollar fortune, and the best known steel man alive at that time.

3stripe 13y ago
Great story. I'm off to find me some index cards!

elwell 13y ago

What does "anyth" mea

orblivion 13y ago

After working at a startup I started to not feel so bad about this. And/or I set my sights lower as far as putting in all required features, but putting higher stress on actually delivering what's important, and polish. For instance, I made a podcast downloader as a Haskell learning project. I haven't goften around to making it delete old files. Meh. The interface is good, it is reliable and fast. I'll just clean it out manually now and then. Or maybe get to it later if I feel like it. A few years ago this might have been hanging over my head as a failure.

marcofloriano 13y ago

Anyone can think. Few can do. Just because you can have an idea, don't mean you can have a business. But if you already have a business, maybe you can have couple good ideas. Try to start different next time: first, you create a business, then you try to have some ideas. It´s take much more than ideas to build even a small business. It´s a process, not a choice. Took me 10 years to learn how to do that. Good Luck!

JoachimS 13y ago

For me gamification works. I'm a sucker for the stats Github can display for a project. And keeping that streak going. I've started to throw all my embarrasing, childish project onto github. If someone files a comment regarding how bad something is - great, then I have something concrete to fix. And having a lot of projects open means there is always something easy to fix to keep the streak going. Suddenly projects move forward, albeit one small commit at a time. This way I have actually completed more projects in years.

seivan 13y ago
I did that for my Open Source stuff, I stopped at 164 days streaking. Maybe I should take that up for private projects.

cusx 13y ago

great timely post! thank you !

geolisto 13y ago

I know exactly where you're coming from. In my studies I've found this behavior common amongst people that are INTJs (including myself). I would comically refer to myself as a serial project starter. I finally realized the pattern of getting all excited, pushing out a lot of code, and then abandoning the project a month in long before it's done. Launching my site yesterday was a relief to finish a project and push it out for the world to see. Even if nobody uses it I'm glad that I finished something.

popasmurf 13y ago

This article inspired me to complete a project I started halfway through last year. Very good read!

swatkat7 13y ago

Something REALLY has to pique my interest for me to get into the flow state and once I'm there I have a go at it like no one will; and once I'm out of that state, its really hard to go back into it unless something picks me back up. What I discovered is: 1) Break down your project into bits that excite you all the way through and imagine being excited while you're planning it. Have someone else be there with you with to plan this with you while you do it - helps with the planning. This chunking of the project itself is the battle. You beat this and you've conquered most of the problem. 2) Work on two - three manageable projects at the same time. This usually has worked for me my entire life. Alternate between them. When you get bored with one, pick the other one up and plan all of them out so you have interesting bits chunked out throughout. 3) Always work with high-energy individuals who would keep the energy up throughout the project. When you feel tired or bored, they will find a way to pick you back up again. 4) Always find projects that YOU can find some value in YOUR life.

taproot 13y ago

You an me b

ipetepete 13y ago

I read somewhere recently that if you fantasize/talk about your ideas/goals it triggers your brain to let you feel a similar satisfaction for actually accomplishing the said idea/goal. Of course now I can't find the article so take it with a grain of salt. I did find this article which is related… http://blog.bufferapp.com/how-our-brains-stop-us-achieving-our-goals-and-how-to-fight-back http://blog.bufferapp.com/how-our-brains-stop-us-achieving-o...

chocolate_ 13y ago
This is probably what you're recalling: http://sivers.org/zipit http://sivers.org/zipit The article argues that the satisfaction prevents us from actually reaching our goals.

Kiro 13y ago

> check the availability of urls and social media accounts Are people really checking the availability on social media? I know that if I get the .com I want nothing else matters and the social media handles can be anything. I know the feeling anyway! The initial excitement and the downfall.

neerajsohal 13y ago

this is exactly what happens with me. though I was expecting a solution too. but how can I. He is on the same road as I am

tlarkworthy 13y ago

I like the building things. I finish building them too. Unfortunately, that isn't the job done. You then have to promote it and get users. That is harder than the building stage. Christ you are in for a shock if you think the immediate step after reserving social media handles is the hard bit...

3stripe 13y ago
I think that's just the bit I run through often. My main project (CycleLive) is approaching two years old now, and I've got a small but loyal audience which I'm nurturing. Actually I think CycleLove has a different problem — the "a blog is not a business" one. Although it was never intended to be a business in the first place, I want to angle it in that direction, and that's the part I'm struggling with now.
- tlarkworthy 13y ago
  oh yeah, cool site. yeah perhaps what you and I consider products are in different categories, so perhaps my words are not so relevant to you. I enjoy making geeky technical things, but fail to find any users. :( One day I will sort it out (maybe).
  - 3stripe 13y ago
    Are you building something that other people actually want? Or something that you think they want? If the former, how do you know that?

eddieroger 13y ago

I immediately commiserated with this article when I saw the headline, because I have the same problem. I wish the resolution of the blog post was something other than "break the big thing in to little bits and do those" - something that I've known for a long time. For me, the most successful thing I've come across, and coincidentally the hardest part to change, was not being a perfectionist and just getting to MVP. Sometimes you have to say no, and just finish.

visakanv 13y ago
The biggest game-changer for me has been peer pressure, if that helps. I left a talkshop group of friends and started working with people who were getting things done. Changed my life dramatically.
- 3stripe 13y ago
  Accountability can be a great thing, agreed. I used a kind of accountability hack to get a lot of writing done last year — basically by setting a £100 penalty for any day that I didn't write 1,000 words.
- eddieroger 13y ago
  Yeah, I'm working on that. I've got a few friends who are in similar situations, so we schedule Hangouts or the like to do show-and-tells and keep each other accountable. It helps, but hasn't fully fixed me of bad habits.

whizzkid 13y ago

It was the same for me for several ideas/projects that i started with. Then i realised what was the reason makes me not touching the project after a while... The first steps are always known and can be done by almost everyone. - Buy the domain - Construct the idea - Even, start coding the project And here comes the reasons why you slowly starting not to touch the project anymore; - You realise that you are not sure how to deploy this on production. - You realise that you will need a business model and you are just a developer/designer and have no idea about those. - Then comes the tax issues, and realisation that you need a company. - You don't know how to licence your idea/project I can list some more but these are just enough to make you feel that you need to find some people to help you which is not free but expensive unless you have friends that are expert in those areas. Yep, you give up the project...

devonkim 13y ago
As someone that wears far too many hats to the point of daily paralysis, these don't sound too intimdating... until I need to figure out what to do first. This is what iterative anything / MVP / lean startup thinking is for and also determines what I think the biggest difference between effective and ineffective people are - prioritization during execution. - Deploying? I do integrations and devops-like stuff at work, and online discussions tend to overblow this topic given this probably matters among the least. The "correct" way is the fastest that will get the job done now so you can keep your momentum going. Until you go full hog hot-deploying to keep your uptime high, expect to destroy everything eventually, who cares if it's sloppy if it went into the trash? Just git receive hooks are good enough for toy projects like O(n^3) algorithms are probably fine for starting some random webapp. -Business models are in abundant supply out given the number of times "ideas people" that "just need someone to make an app/site of it" have approached me. Unless you're undertaking significant costs or are on the edge of financial ruin, you shouldn't worry though given starting a tech company is the cheapest it's ever been and only getting cheaper (per Mark Cuban). However, you may want to do some quick market research so you don't waste too much time building something that nobody wants - your time is actually going up in cost at a rate faster than Moore's Law gives you savings! On the other hand, don't be like me and think that focus groups and all the stuff that big companies do for thousands typically for a waste of money applies for you. It seems common sense but we all do dumb things in hindsight and it can be hard to step outside your box. People with good prioritization skills do less dumb things wrt execution, that much I can assure you. - Taxes are pretty simple for tiny companies in the US (this IS still a cheap place to run a business comparatively), you can probably hire an accountant to do it for a couple hundred bucks without paying a lawyer for even more. Everyone gets moved to Delaware or something later, just get that done hastily to check it off. It's the FUNDING that will make your head spin, taxes are trivial in comparison. Beyond that it's all good problems to have from everything I've read. For me, I honestly think the hardest part is coming up with a coding project that keeps me motivated long enough without encountering some real hard blocks that just can't scale even though I know they're stupid easy for others. I get a small aneurysm having to deal with frontend design decisions & execution as a systems & backend stack guy primarily. Font choices, picking color palettes for an audience, ... am I making a business or planning my wedding again? I've only shipped maybe a couple personal projects for the public to see though, so perhaps I'm full of crap and I wasted everyone's time. But if anything, I know how my own habits lead to ineffective output even with what seems like a lot of effort, so I think by telling people the opposite of what I do, it would give better results for others than saying what I actually do.

brennanm 13y ago

Same way. I'm a 30%'er. I'll do the name, branding, front end mockups... but then I'll lose it. I wont want to dive into the back and write any backend or server code. That's why you need a team. Everyone has optimistic days and pessimistic days. On a good team you all wont have them at exactly the same time. You're team will push you through and help you finish.

JshWright 13y ago
To further illustrate the benefit of a team... I'm exactly the opposite. I dive right into the backend stuff... APIs, database schema, etc, and tack just enough UI on the front end to make it usable (Name? Branding? That can all come later...(and never does))

Gaurav322 13y ago

It is really motivating article and today, I am going to generate a best marketing strategy for tumblr and try to execute that. (only one as you say)...

visakanv 13y ago

I relate to this, too. Here's some stuff that I read recently that helped me a little: "When you are young, beginning new projects is easy and finishing them is hard. As you grow older, beginnings get harder, but finishing gets easier. At least, that has been my experience. I think it is true of anyone of at least average intelligence, creativity and emotional resilience. The reason is simple. When you are young, the possibilities ahead of you, and the time available to explore them, seem nearly infinite. When you try to start something, the energizing creative phase, (which comes with internal brain-chemistry rewards on a fast feedback-loop), gives way to exhausting detail-oriented work, maintenance work, and unsatisfying overhead work. You need to get through these to bank distant external rewards (money and such) that only come with completion. It is then that you are most vulnerable to the allure of exciting new beginnings. So you abandon things halfway. You bank the internal rewards of beginning, but not the external rewards of finishing. But with age, this changes. As you grow older, the history of a few completed projects and many abandoned ones in your past starts to loom oppressively in your memory. The early internal rewards of many beginnings are now a distant memory that offer no pleasure in the present. The external rewards of completed projects, which tend to continue to yield dividends (such as completed degrees, financial rewards) loom larger all around you: wealth, strong relationships and perhaps most importantly, an earned ability to see the world differently as the result of having been through many completions. When a new opportunity opens up at 35, you evaluate it differently than you did at 25. You are able to estimate how long it will take, what the journey will feel like, what the early pleasure and distant pain will feel like, and what getting it done will feel like. You are able to react psychologically to the whole prospect in the form of a narrative that extends beyond the finish line, as a systematic leveling-up of your life. You see the transient pleasures of beginnings diminish to nothing in the far future and the enduring rewards of finishing as a steady source of dividends extending out beyond the horizon." - http://www.tempobook.com/2014/01/13/when-finishing-is-easier-than-starting http://www.tempobook.com/2014/01/13/when-finishing-is-easier...

csbrooks 13y ago
Hey, that's awesome! I've experienced this in my own life too, and I didn't realize why until you put it into words. I focus a lot more now on projects that I know I can finish, and work aggressively to keep them in scope, as hard as that can be. (There's always shiny features you want to implement, but too many of those, and your side project collapses under its own weight, in my personal experience, anyway.)

standup75 13y ago

I experienced this. I have a lot of started projects on my mac. Some i spent a few days on, other i spent a few months. In 2011 I started a game and that was the first project I finished (spiderdash.net). Although not really finished, but close enough. It took me over a year, and I really like it. What I realized, is that I do love the execution actually, but I am too unsure of the potential to focus on anything else, that is sales and marketing. So in the past 6 months I started building the ideas of my friends, I get them engaged because it's their ideas, and I get to do just the execution with the right amount of freedom. If you're like me, do things, but do it with someone else. The other good part about this is that you're going to create a unique mix of competencies. My friends are not developers, but they also are subject matter experts. So we are mixing 2 very different kind of expertise, and that's rich.

kadabra9 13y ago

You wanna know the saddest part of my day? When I'm moving around my laptop, and pop into the "projects" folder and see what a graveyard it has become. Dozens of half baked projects that seemed brilliant at the time, that I either lost interest in, decided the concept was too difficult, or (and this is the worst one) let my self doubt convince me that it would never work. The really sad part is, every now and then I'll go back in and check out these projects and a lot of the code and design is actually pretty good. I ask myself, "Why did I think this sucked again?" The best analogy I can make to this scenario is the self doubt that cripples many writers setting out to finish a book, screenplay, or novel. It's almost as if you tell yourself that the script sucks, to give you a reason not to finish it and move on to something cooler next week. As a writer, what's the best way to overcome this? Just FINISH the god damned first draft. Roll up your sleeves, commit an hour (or two or three) every day to working on this project, and slog through it until you type "FADE OUT" (or "The End") or (if you're coding) make that glorious commit to polish off your project. No matter how much the project, script or book sucks, there are few feelings of satisfaction that match that.

csbrooks 13y ago
The thing that helps me work through this is to be very aggressive about a small list of features for "version 1". Focus on getting version 1 online and working, and put all your shiny ideas on the TODO list for version 2. Once version 1 is out the door, the momentum of people using it will carry you forward. I've learned the hard way that for me, by far the biggest risk in a side project is me losing interest before I have something up and working. So now I just keep that in mind as I'm planning and pruning features for the initial version. The risk isn't "what if I don't have feature X and people get mad?", it's "what if this gets too complex and messy to implement and I get bored and quit before finishing?"
- agilebyte 13y ago
  I find that working even on version 1 stops me from doing the actual work, which is to find users and actually verify I am solving a useful problem. Maybe it is good that we cannot finish all these projects, since they have no use anyway...

JelteF 13y ago

This is very recognizable. I have had this a lot, but accidentily I had an idea 2 days ago that I have put more time in already than any other of my fun plans or cool projects. It's called PyLaTeX [1], it's a Python interface for LaTeX that supports creating documents and snippets. One of the coolest features I think is the conversion of NumPy matrices to LaTeX ones. The HN new page [2] is just a bit rough on someone posting that doesn't know a lot of people that can upvote it, reddit [3] was a lot more forgiving. [1] https://github.com/JelteF/PyLaTeX https://github.com/JelteF/PyLaTeX [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7075212 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7075212 [3] http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1vcqxw/pylatex_easily_create_latex_documents_with_python/ http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1vcqxw/pylatex_...

mbrock 13y ago

Nobody ever finishes anything. Have you ever heard about a finished project? Linus Torvalds hasn't "finished" Linux yet. But it's certainly out there — it's alive! I don't think "man, I'm so far from being finished." That's just a demotivating way to see your project. The big milestone is having something that's useful enough for people to be interested in, no?

skriticos2 13y ago
I think the author meant to reach version 1.0 of a project or at least have a fully working prototype. Most projects die during the creation of the outer scaffolding without much of the envisioned functionality in place.

hawkharris 13y ago

Great ideas are like juggling clubs. You can keep two or three of them in flight if your coordination is good enough. Add more than that to your routine and you'll probably get smacked in the face.

agentultra 13y ago

Look at my github and know that I have more repositories on other services and thrice as many on my hard-drive that are unfinished, incomplete duds. I recently reached a milestone: I went from an idea for a book to a self-published, printed title in 3 months. I went to a festival that was mostly focused on comics and video games and sold six copies of my book. It was awesome. Here's the rub: I'm not finished yet. You're never finished until you stop what you're doing. A writer may "finish" a book but ei has to start another or they've "finished" writing. However for every book they finish how many incomplete, half-baked ideas do you think they've run through? Is every idea they have golden and worth pouring months and years of effort into? No. Some ideas deserve to die. But once you've found that one worth pursuing there's nothing to do but roll up your sleeves and put in the time. You will vacillate between euphoria and despair. You may come to regret ever starting and hate yourself. But if it means anything you will force yourself to press on through those darkest moments. And before you know it you'll be done... and ready for the next project. Creativity isn't the rush you feel when you have a good idea and dream about conquering the world: it's process and discipline. It's writing 1500, 2000 words a day no matter what. I find it helps to have someone to nudge you onward. An editor, a mentor... someone you can discuss the project with who has an objective opinion. They will help you in that moment when you're thinking of giving up.

duochrome 13y ago

I've finished something before. It pays back somehow. But now I barely working on anything. I admit I don't like any work at all. Working for Google or SpaceX? No. I think we want to finish something because we are not satisfied with our current life. If you feel your current status is okay, it's not easy to get motived to put yourself into some extra work.

zoooz_albalushi 13y ago
Follow me

Arjuna 13y ago

Just some encouragement here for you good people... You have to do the work. There is no one else that can do it for you. It is entirely up to you; actually, it has only ever been you, because it is you that rolls out of bed early to bring it. No one is going to do that for you. If you want to do it, then you will figure out a way to make it happen. Like some of you, I have a family. That makes things a bit challenging at times, and you will likely have to work even harder to find the time, to make the space, so that you can bring it. And, I will add, those that are parents, this is a great example to set for your children. You want to be, "The Daddy that brings it." You want to be, "The Mommy that brings it." Because, you want to instill in them that they can, too. It's a valuable life-lesson. In turn, it is psychologically healthy for you as well, to know that you are a parent that is firing on all cylinders. In addition, it is incredibly gratifying when your child sees your work. "Wow... that's the new game that you're working on! Let me try!" It will fuel you like a Saturn V launching to the moon. You may look at your project and think, "I'm never going to make it. I'll never finish." Please, I urge you to set these thoughts aside and push through. Think about the analogy of building a wall. A wall is built one brick at a time. Watch a mason build a wall one day. You will observe that he or she lays one brick at a time. This is how you have to view your project. Sure, it would be amazing to have an entire day, every day to devote to your project. However, the reality is that most of us simply do not have that luxury. So, strive to think of it as a mason: lay one brick at a time, and eventually the wall will be built. Every character that you type into Xcode, Visual Studio, etc. turns into a keyword, a variable name, etc... that subsequently turns into a line. Those lines build up, day by day, and before you know it, you have a program, and you look back and think, "Wow, why did I ever think I could not finish?" Also, let go of "Internet Time." That is to say, we all read HN and see these impressive "Show HN" posts, and submitted stories about the Next Big Thing... and it seems like things are happening so fast, and we think, "Why even try?" Well, the reality is nothing is happening fast. It is an illusion. Most all of these stories have an incredible amount of time and work behind them, so let go of that illusion, get started, and stay focused. "There's only this moment and the next moment. Every one of those moments is a test that you get to take one time and only one time." [1] Strive to drive through each moment. Make it count. You have to fight. This is paramount. I will say it again... you have to fight! What I mean here is fighting by engaging your Will. Engage your will to get up, to get moving. Engage your will to eat right, to exercise and go to bed on time so that you have the energy to get up and bring it. What you are going through is what we are all going through; that is to say, we are all grinding, whether it be in a start-up business, or washing the dishes by day as we bootstrap a start-up at night; we are all struggling, fighting to drive our dreams into existence. We are all struggling in some way, whether it be through failure, health issues, personal issues, family issues, etc. No one is immune from the grip of suffering through his or her struggles. You are not alone. Embrace the grind. Vince Lombardi said it best: "And in truth, I've never known a man worth his salt who, in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather... a lack of will." You have to use the will to fight those thoughts that say, "I'm getting older. I'm failing. I'm not motivated. I can't finish." The clock is ticking for all of us... fight! You never know where your work will take you. Do not forget that, you have to dream it first in your mind before you can see it in your life. And to see it in your life, you must work. You may not be able to see things clearly now, but you never know what doors could open for you that you did not even know existed. Ang Lee, the Taiwanese film director and screenwriter that directed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Life of Pi, discusses his struggles to break into film. I urge you to read it: http://whatshihsaid.com/2013/02/26/ang-lee-a-never-ending-dream http://whatshihsaid.com/2013/02/26/ang-lee-a-never-ending-dr... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBLV6RG4TwY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBLV6RG4TwY

melling 13y ago

"Real artists ship."

smoyer 13y ago

I agree with advice that you should document your idea in your notebook, but don't put any immediate effort into implementing it. The ideas you keep coming back to are the ones that you're truly interested in ... and yet you still have to be careful that those are viable ideas. In any case, rushing after each new idea is a great way to spend time, but you need that time to be executing on the few ideas you actually choose to pursue.

delinka 13y ago

I have a similar process to the author, but I get further. Must have a name! Is it available everywhere? Once I've settled some of that detail, it's on to the code with the basic features. I'll need a database (and thus a schema), and a REST API, and security considerations ... that's all fine. Start actually writing and testing and OH BOY another feature idea! Write it down for later, continue back where I was. But that new feature will require this change to the current design. And to do that now I have to change this other part and ... repeat until I give up. tl;dr: feature creep kills me, even with my own ideas. I cannot just Let It Be and produce a 1.0 with minimal features.

rajbala 13y ago

I no longer care about what people think. I care that I may not get enough people to think anything at all.

Edmond 13y ago

It could have something to do with the reason you wanted to start a project in the first place. If you start a project just to play with some new shinny framework/tech then it is likely that once the novelty wears off nothing of interest would remain. If however you start a project because you are excited about some product vision that doesn't already exist or not in the form you've envision then the drive to bring that idea/vision to fruition can be a powerful motivator. I wrote a blog post on this matter some time back: http://colabopad.blogspot.com/2009/12/on-joys-of-creativity-as-software.html http://colabopad.blogspot.com/2009/12/on-joys-of-creativity-...

easy_rider 13y ago

I'm going to finish my beer right now.

marsay 13y ago

This article gave me idea for a new project. Yes, it's all clear in my head and I have to start working on it right now and abandon all other projects. A site where you take responsibility for finishing your project. If you don't, you will pay heavy price. Lets say we will spam your inbox with a thousands of letters that remind you of your promises.

the_cat_kittles 13y ago

I think "finishing" something means accepting its flaws (which will always be there) ...that makes it psychologically difficult.

jlwarren1 13y ago

I started to read this article, but I gave up about half way through.

c4n4rd 13y ago
Up until what part did

jjoe 13y ago

Sadly this is why employers and early investors give preference to Ivy League graduates. That's likely because the programs ensure graduates are most likely to push the bar higher and achieve. But those who make the exception list (achievers non-league) turn out to be even stronger achievers because their determination comes from deep within rather than from training. Disclosure: I'm not a leaguer.

alashley 13y ago

Relevant: http://simpleprogrammer.com/2014/01/09/importance-finishing-started/ http://simpleprogrammer.com/2014/01/09/importance-finishing-...

hiccup 13y ago

Is it awful that I didn't finish reading his post?

3stripe 13y ago
Awful that what? I didn't even make it to the end of your c

tunesmith 13y ago

This might be a bit cogsci, but one thing that has really helped me over the years is to switch my mental language away from statements like "I never finish anything", to statements like "I have had trouble finishing things in the past." The first is a static judgment I am applying to myself, and it's a definitional straitjacket. The second is simply an observation, and it leaves room and opportunity for positive change. When we tell ourselves we "are" certain things or "always/never do" certain things, we are defining ourselves in a way that makes it harder to change, due to the reinforcement. At this point, I pretty much automatically recognize negative "judgments" and do the translation... I think it helps a lot.

marcosscriven 13y ago
I really like that idea - how something is phrased can and does have a profound impact.

bartl 13y ago

It's the "doing things" that I have least trouble with. It's the other things, the things that he does first, that I have trouble with.

billnguyen 13y ago

I struggle with this too, my github/bitbucket is a barren wasteland of half finished products. I believe that its fully a mindset thing and realize that success is not an accident nor some ephemeral spark of genius. Success is a a choice, every day. I find this YT video on Steph Curry to be an amazing story of how success is built by they choices we make every day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riy59ubGJiU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riy59ubGJiU 'Are the habits you have for today on par with the dreams you have for tomorrow?' Not yet... but its getting there.