How do you cope when you have made very little progress and time races ahead of you?
There have been multiple times when I have thought the time (days and weeks) just races ahead, but mentally I feel I've made very little progress.
The side effects are motivation decreasing, doubts creeping up and self-esteem.
Have you been in similar situations before? How do you cope? Would love to hear your tips and tricks.
Thanks in advance.
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I feel exactly the same. I am a father, working full time. Side projects are something that makes me feel accomplished. I generally break my tasks into small sub-tasks. There are cases my subtasks are like "Change the colour of the sign up button". This might really sound foolish but this helps me keep motivated at times when I can't find time in a day.
I could see some real difference after joining Gym. Not sure how it's related to my day-to-day task. At least it helps me in staying mentally fit.
Physically exercise definitely makes a big difference. I used to play football everyday morning but got injured :/
Breaking the tasks into sub-tasks is a nice idea but what happens when you add it all up and still feel you have not made enough progress?
True. I accept. If you look at overall progress, it's nothing. But, this is something that makes me feel good that I am at least taking a step towards my goal.
Hey @Nakkeeran!
This really resonates with me. I'm on my 2nd round of attempting to build a subscriber messaging service (think sending newsletters). Coding smaller features is difficult enough, but brainstorming how to make it work with existing systems is even tougher. These two things often cause me massive doubt about whether I can get this done, or even if I'm providing enough value for people to start using it. I know the platform would solve some of my pain points, but is that enough for others to join me?
As you've stated, progress comes and goes. I'll implement some things, but then get stuck. Here are three things I do.
I hop on Indie Hackers. I see others making progress, and know that I can too. A movie quote from Harry Potter comes to mind, which I'm going to paraphrase. Harry was teaching his friends to learn how to become better at using magic to protect themselves and those they love; and he told them, "Think of it this way, all great wizards were once students just like us. If they can do it, then why can't we?" Swap out 'wizards' with 'entrepreneurs', 'business owners', 'indie hackers' or whatever suits your situation.
Get help/Partner up. I've reached out to another indie hacker to get his opinion on my service. He provided some great ideas that I hadn't thought of.
I have three quotes printed and taped up around my house. When I'm doubting myself, they help me to keep moving forward. Disclaimer: one of them is my own quote, although I'm sure someone has said the same thing before. Some of them are encouraging, and some are designed to kick me in the butt.
"If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse"
"If you ask Fear if something is going to work, the answer will always be no"
"Don't let the possibility of failure stop your probability of success"
Thanks for the tips Jason. Really love the quotes you have posted especially Jim Rohn.
I've had people say both sides about coming to Indie hackers, some see others progress and find motivation whereas the other half see the progress of others and get de-motivated.
Great quotes, will steal them :)
Hi Nakkeeran, I feel you there man, I also am in a similar situation, I'm bootstrapping my startup and the time pass by and I just don't see much progress if at all, not sure if I'm doing something wrong or plain and simple it is the way this is at the beginning.
At the moment I just move forward, I'm trying to get consulting work to top up my savings but everything is very slow...
Hey Octavio, this sentence " not sure if I'm doing something wrong or plain and simple it is the way this is at the beginning." is exactly the feeling I have too.
May I know at what stage of the startup are you in? The building the product or sales/marketing?
I launched the app several months ago, its an MVP that allows service providers (home cleaners at the moment) to receive bookings from their customers, process online payments and this week I will release an automatic invoicing feature.
I have 7 cleaners signed up but only one of them (the first one that I still nurture) have processed two bookings.
At the moment I'm looking for ideas on how get them customers (see this post: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/how-do-i-piggy-back-on-ebay-classifieds-86c4725630) because they are used to sign up to platforms that will get them customers but my model is more like a tool for them to manage their customers...
But well, nobody said this was easy :)
Good luck!
That's a very interesting niche product to build. Worst case, even if it doesn't work with the cleaner, you can always use the platform for another industry.
Good luck with the project mate.
Yeah, well let see :)
Thanks and all the best to you