Do you think I should push through with a boring but helpful project or focus on activities that feel more enjoyable?
Hi, I had a horrible time at school with some subjects (mostly maths) because teachers were not doing their job, and a part of me feels like helping current students and trying to solve that problem. I’ve been in a cycle of working on this and quitting, repeatedly. I think the subject bores me to death, but on the other hand I feel like the problem is worthwhile. It also checks many boxes in terms of business (real problem, people willing to pay for the solution, scalable aspects...) when I try to be rational.
On the other hand, I am more of a visual / creative person and I’d be happy specializing in design and front end development of cool looking interfaces. The gut feeling is much better doing this stuff.
So do you think I should push through with the boring but helpful project or the fun one?
I've worked on many projects, and the most painful were always the ones that I didn't really care about. Even if it seems like a good business idea, starting a business is already hard enough, and you're only making it harder by working on something you don't care about.
My guess is the math startup is not for you but there is another aspect that you need to consider: some people, when something becomes their job, lose interest. You should understand if it is your case. The best way to do it is to ask yourselr if it happened the same in the past.
Good point! Thanks. I’ve always lost interest in projects that didn’t allow me to learn, or that were letting me work in an environment I dislike with people I dislike.
If it's your first release, work on something you know and enjoy. Get your processes in order. Know what it takes to release, what hardships you'll have, where you struggle.
Use your passion to build discipline and structured systems.
Once you have the discipline and structured systems, then work on a bigger, tougher project.
Makes a lot of sense, reduces the odds of quitting. Thank you.
Wow, I can relate to you on that front. I have a similar problem - sometimes I just think I should concentrate on the first one and when there is some revenue, I might be able to do the second as well. But it isn't as easy as saying that of course.
Most anything needs proper attention to achieve good traction and success and a part of me feels this way of dual thinking is short-circuiting that possibility.
Interesting.. I guess it depends what you’re trying to maximize, personal happiness, utility of the project or odds of financial success. What’s your story? What are your projects?
Excuse me for the late reply. You're right about the factors that count. Other factors that I have looked at are the amount of effort I'd have to put into it on an ongoing basis.
I am a visual / creative too. I also enjoy teaching.
I want to teach programming and computer science and have been thinking of creating courses for that. I know there are tons of courses out there on the same but some of them I've skimmed through don't explain it the way I'd have done it. If done right and priced affordably, I am sure I'll get students (if not a flood, at least a trickle). I have previous experience taking some classes (just a few of them during my senior year at school) and the feedback was good - like how easy I made it to understand etc. But I think this would take a lot of effort to create the materials, support the students etc and eventually even though I'd enjoy the teaching part, the other things could overwhelm me.
Something that excites me more is creating beautiful interfaces - I keep thinking of how a particular problem could be solved and what kind of UI would make it a joy to use. A SaaS for Project management is something I keep coming back to but there are tons of players there on that too and this one I feel would be a lot harder to get real traction.