How do you have conviction on what you want to build?

It depends on what type of business you want to build. Do you want a life style business or do you want a startup. These are very different businesses apples and oranges different. After you picked the type of business you want to build then you have narrow down your ideas. Ones that can be startups (if that's the type u want )and ones that can't. Then you should look at which one interests u the most. Like ur super excited about cause it a long ass journey and u reeeaally gotta care about this or ull get bored and be like fuck it I'm out.

Then you take those ideas and figure out if there really is a market for that idea. It should be something u like but at the same time there should be customers for it!!

This is why doing what some other company is already doing is not actually a bad idea. They have pretty much validated the market and ur just trying to get market share.
You have to look at this video. It's extremely important that you watch it if you decide u want to do a start up

https://youtu.be/DOtCl5PU8F0

If you look at all ur ideas and they don't meet it. I would say take ur time and look for a problem to solve. Businesses takes long time to make and the one thing you won't get back is time so don't take it too lightly. But also make a decision lol.

Hope that helps u out :)

For me personally it's mostly about having a need for something to be done, and people telling me it is not possible. I thrive on naysayers.

Edit: I forgot lazyness or not wanting to do certain task is also a big part of me spending > 1000 hours to get something done which would have had taken <1 hour otherwise.

Keep asking “why?” until you’ve gotten to where you can’t go any further, or you’ve found some interesting “hidden” thinking!

For example:

I’m procrastinating…

Q Why do I procrastinate?

Because I’m stuck on using the tools I have here (on the computer).

Q Why am I stuck, when there are people available to help me?

Because I haven’t asked for help.

Q Why haven’t I asked for help?

Because they will think I’m stupid, I should be able to figure it out.

Now at this point, we can go a few ways… We can ask:

Q Why am I worried what they think? or

Q Why would they think I’m stupid? or

Q Why should I be able to figure this out? (I’ll use this one to continue the example.)

Q Why should I be able to figure this out?

Because I expect that I can figure out any computer application. If I can’t figure it out, maybe I’m not as smart as I think I am.

Q Why would it be bad if I’m not as smart as I think I am?

Because it’s part of my identity to be smart. I would judge myself harshly if I thought I was stupid.

Q Why would I judge myself harshly for being stupid?

The 7 whys is a technique that I believe was developed as part of the Toyota factory quality push, back in the mists of time. It’s since been taken from the manufacturing paradigm and used in IT quality theories. It’s a great method for getting to the root cause or at least one of the root causes of any problem.

Hope this helps!

Source: https://www.eftuniverse.com/refinements-to-eft/the-7-whys-method-for-getting-to-core-issues

If you find some ideas are already built, you should try to see if u can differentiate. Low hanging fruits must be taken by someone before. You can only bring something more valuable (a.k.a secret weapon) to solve the same problem.

Regarding wasting time, one have to ask himself "Which way is wasting more time?" Sitting here and wait for a miracle to appear, or you work on something and found out the path is not viable, a pivot is needed. For latter case, at least you'll learn something.

Build a complete product can take months. However, building a simple MVP to validate an idea often take weeks. Along the way, you'll probably discover more gems for your future projects.

I only build and grow things that I actually plan to use myself.

I ditched my last product after I realized I no longer have desire / need to use it.

I have the same problem. Now I have decided to test my best ideas with only a leadpage....I Will take one idea at a time and present the leadpage for my target audience...

On the leadpage I Will write something like

'I am working on product A. Do you want to know more about product A. Please sign Up. Maybe give 50 discount. Then I would write one thank you email and ask people to tell me what their biggest Challenge is with problem A. And give Them product A for free, if they would respond...a co-operation. I would still need somehow to validate that people would actually pay Money for product A. I have not troede the idea yet, but I think I Will.

There is no lack of problems to solve. You need to involve yourself in an area of your interest and explore what problems, frustrations, or inefficiencies others have. You don't have to come up with problems to solve yourself unless you are creating something you desperately already need and know there is no appropriate solution. Instead, talk to others and learn about what problems they have that they have not been able to solve. Ideas of solutions should preferably come later.

It's hard, I've started and worked quite a bit of projects, and many of them didn't actually get launched or produced something and it's a struggle that comes right after the first few exciting weeks of working on something.

What's helped me more recently is working on something small that real users start enjoying and helps in some practical way for them, the project I worked on for example is Google Old Results (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-old-results/mncmlbggmdcmddddanjcgabpajadljhm?hl=en) I'm not monetizing it or anything but I kind of wanted to see if I could build something useful for people.

I actually haven't built something that generates money or that more than a hundred people use but at least it gave me the validation that I need that something I build can/will be used by people if it solves a problem and helps them in any way.

Hope this helps!