Constant interest shifting has been my kryptonite

TLDR:
As long as you rely on motivation to get you to work on a new project, you'll always have that problem.

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Yes, I know the problem.
I wasted several years working on projects only when it was new and motivating.
In the beginning you are motivated to work on a project until you find something new that seems more interesting than the current project.

It's a vicious circle until...

1. you understand that the motivation on the idea itself doesn't stay long.
2. until you turn your focus after the initial motivation to something else. Think about why else you want to work on the project? (For me it is the desire not to have to be an employee anymore).
3. you appreciate the small parts of your project. (Every project has areas you don't like working on as much and some that are pretty interesting in their own right. If you get stuck on a problem and it makes you stop, find some other work on the project that you enjoy first. )
4. you stop comparing your project with others. (During my research for my current project, I kept finding solutions that already exist. Don't make the mistake of comparing your fledgling project to the solutions that already exist. You can only lose. Rather try to be inspired by them and find problems with those products that you can solve better).

I recognise this, and I certainly can remember times where more focus on different aspects of my projects would have brought me more success for that specific project. I wouldn't call it my kryptonite though: Variable focus and burst of creativity can be a valuable asset. You'll just have to find a system that accommodates your strong points. the good news is that the Internet is making our talents more valuable.

Unpopular opinion: it's not about the challenge, but because we gradually find out how difficult it is.

My brain's talent is to always underestimate how difficult it will be to ship a project. It's exciting because initially, I think it's easy. Then it gets difficult, and I rather jump on a new project, which seems like an easier path. Until that gets difficult as well.

My antidote: as the project develops, start minimizing each challenge. When you start off, the challenge is huge, but your enthusiasm is huge as well. As it grows, the challenge gets bigger, while your enthusiasm declines. I set smaller challenges that I can solve easier. Solving them doesn't match the initial thrill, but it keeps the project moving.

Yes, I've fought against this for years. The only thing that fixes it for me is when a project gets attention early on.

Here are the rules I use to help me finish projects.

1. Only build things you can get live in under 4 days.
2. Market and share content about said thing immediately after going live.
3. If I haven't gained an audience or users after 3 weeks, move on to my next thing.

I'm sure there are projects I've given up on too early that could have been successful. But I can't help my nature. So I've embraced it.

My interest usually shifts just after launching the first version of my product. It's stupid because at this stage most of the hard work is done, which is prototyping, designing, and programming. However, I'm now able to recognise when I'm feeling like this and I'm trying to correct that.

I don't think this is that much of a bad thing, I went through the same thing since 2016 and finally got a cool, challenging product up and going. Haven't launched yet though so there's that!

I fell into this trap when I first quit my job to go full time into building my own products. After spending years working all week for other people it now felt like I had all of the time in the world and consequently started and stopped multiple projects.

Ultimately what worked for me was to identify which of the products I was building that I thought would have the best chance at success for a single developer. Something that wasn't too ambitious and had a clear and proven market.

Once I'd found that I tried to shift my goals from solving technical challenges (which are always fun as a dev) towards more product focused goals and bringing an actual product to market.

Perhaps most importantly I found a couple of co-founders that were able to compliment my skill set and really help to keep me (and us) focused on building an actual product instead of just hacking away at problems.

I feel like I can relate to you, Im still looking for the one who will catch me in 😁