3 ways I stay motivated as an Indie Hacker

I've been trying this Indi-hacking thing for a while now. At times super focused and energized. Other times feeling hopeless and overwhelmed. I go through this cycle of productivity and rest. When I look past the enormous challenge that it is to launch a successful SaaS that would provide as much or more than my Salary from a top tech company, it feels insurmountable. Here is how I have shut the door on those thought demons and push forward.

1. Small Wins

When you're first starting out it's about small wins. It can be easy to get bogged down in the details and lose sight of your overall goal. But it's one step at a time. To stay motivated, it's important to focus on small wins and keep moving forward.

This is especially important for those that are parents. My time is SOO limited. But I've found a routine that works. I plan small wins in my small windows of time throughout the day to keep me going. A lot of small steps can become big progress. It's just about consistency. My day looks like this:

• 5am wake up (small win #1)
• 15 min meditation (small win #2)
• Coffee + reading twitter + Indihackers.com little reward for for my small wins above ☕️
• Build 1.5 - 2 hours of Indi hacking
• 30 min break to snuggle the kids and eat breakfast
• Full time job from 9-5 - I take 1.5 hour break for lunch. In that time I indihack for 30 min. Typically watching a tutorial to learn something that will help me keep building (with bubble) (small win #3) Then I workout for 45min to an hour (small win) and lastly before I start work again, I take a COLD shower. The mental exercise of concurring the cold is a very nice refreshing Small win. I then get ready and pretend to start a new day with a refreshed mind.
  After work is dedicated to playing with the kids and helping my wife. Eat dinner, clean up after the day etc. Then we've worked out a routine that My wife gets the kids down and I have another 1.5-2 hours of hacking from 7pm-9:30pm.
• Most importantly -- SLEEP. No less than 7 hours of sleep. Being well rested makes it so much easier to seize and take advantage of the small windows of time that you have.

It's not perfect but everyday I'm taking little steps forward. Weekends I code from 6am -10am on both days.

In those small windows of work, I try to focus on a small win. Something specific. Design the onboarding modal or create the logic etc. Something that I can complete within the small time that I have. When I discover or get excited about something the inevitably comes up when I start, I put it in my backlog and plan it as a small win. Breaking it down into these small "wins" makes it fun and keeps the momentum

2. Routine+ Flexibility

Routine is CRITICAL but make it work for you. I make sure to find balance and be ok when I'm not on. When I start to feel a little burnt out, I just focus on being with my kids, or turning my attention to learning something new as I get excited from that. But when you look at the weeks from a high level, the routine is typically the same.

3. Staying physically active

Working out to me is hands down the most important thing I do to stay motivated. While working out, I in vision the life I want. I think about what that person looks like that would live the lifestyle that I want. They are disciplined, healthy, motivated and capable. I think of myself this way when I'm at the gym. When I start to doubt myself, I replace that narrative with the vision of who I want to be. I've found that simply thinking like who I want to be makes me more that way. It's easy to start to doubt yourself and give in to the inner demons. The mind is a magical thing. If you can control the narrative, you can control the outcome. Small wins help reinforce that positive thinking.

The last thing I do every day right before falling asleep, is my wife and I tell each other three positive moments from our day. They can be tiny things, like the way my daughter was excited to show my a painting she made, or a problem I solved, customer feedback, coffee that morning etc. But thinking about this ends the day in a positive light and helps look at the world from a positive lens.

When you Indi Hack, it's easy to get bogged down by the day-to-day and forget about the big picture. That's why it's important to celebrate small wins.

That's all I've got. Now I'm going to go celebrate the small win of finishing my first at length post on Indi-hackers.

Keep grinding 💪🏻 ⚡️