How do you keep up with everything?
Being an Indie Hacker has many perks, but you also need to wear many hats...
I find myself trying to do too much simultaneously and then feeling like there is no progress.
Oddly enough, what I most struggle with is communication... replying to emails fast enough, being in touch with people in social media (also IRL but oh-well), and don't even get me started with building in public!
How do you keep up?
Why do you have to keep up with things in the first place?
It is ok to be a little disorganized, replying late, updating posts late.., Show IH, a group that I moderate was displaying 200% growth, I took a screenshot to share on my Twitter, it's been a few days and it's at ~ 40% now. I'm yet to share.
I don't care posting it late, the same goes with our other activities. People will understand, people around us know we're not a company of many but a company of one.
All that said, if you find something important, set a time for it. Don't be hard on yourself if you don't complete it by then, instead try to incentivize yourself when you do it. Take a walk, play a game or just relax. Let go of the negatives and let the positives stay, sure you will catch on.
Wrt to staying in touch with people, it has to be natural. If you feel like talking, talk. Else, you can talk some other time. That's how I do social talks, when I set time for social, I can't really do it.
I like your way of framing it!
Therapy & Meditation :)
I started doing some (as in not every day, but most) meditation a short while ago, I have not seen any major improvements yet, how's your experience?
I totally agree with @Dinakar it's absolutely fine to be a bit "messy" or tackle several things at once.
To keep my things organized I use trello with 4 simple lists
Whenever an idea pops up it comes in the idea list.
If I know there is something I have to do it comes in the To Do list (an Idea can become a to do or not)
As soon as I take on the task it becomes working on.
Done is done ;)
Maybe planning tasks out in sprints, so you can see all you get done? It's possible you're getting a lot done, but it just doesn't feel like it. Having completed tasks to cross off and lack back on may help. Don't get me started with building in public though UGH
Don't laugh at my system but, I keep 2 text files open at all times: To-do, and Done{month-year}, and I move it from one to the other every time I finish something. I've been doing this since I can remember, and it's a great way to go back and see all the things that I've finished in the past.
But no, it does not help with the feeling of getting a lot done...
Yeah, I follow many people on Twitter that are building in public and it seems so natural to them and spontaneous!
Keep in mind that they are probably mostly sharing the good parts and not posting too much about the things which go wrong. ;)
Very true!
Yeah, I did something similar for my most recent app and I think it was negative for my mental health. Planning say 2 weeks of what needs to get done and then breaking that down further to planning at the beginning of each day what needs to get done is good. That way you know when you're done for the day and then you'll feel like you finished something. I've done never ending sticky note tasks and it feels like I'm not getting anywhere because it feels never ending because there isn't a well defined end.
Do you have handles of those people? I'd love examples to go off of
I like the idea, will give it a try!
Here are some, in no particular order (all twitter handles): @yenftw, @iamdinakar, @micksprojects, @BorisTane, @AnotherTimJones, @josephpalbanese, @JanelSGM, @andreasjonssonn, @AWaselnuk, @jlmartinserrano
At first, building in public was so not natural to me. I Tweeted 2 times only for the sake of exposure and couldn't do it anymore. It wasn't for me.
Later I started posting more naturally, I wouldn't call it building in public but just thoughts.
This one about DoorDash's first domain got like 10 impressions and no engagement, but who cares, just getting my thoughts across.
Just focus on doing one thing, and only that thing.
Here you see me, saying "I will", while Chrome watches me with it's 100's of tab-eyes
If you want to focus your attention get browser extensions like Improve Youtube or otto app
Guess it's not happening overnight. Doing one thing at a time and after a (longer) while you see the progress.
I have a very hard time with the concept of priorities, and even if I manage to finish all, I'm left with the feeling that it's suboptimal
I really liked Greg McKeown's book Essentialism for setting priorities.
EDIT: There's also the great Hell Yeah Or No article by Derek Sivers.
Mh I try to complete things/tasks with minimal effort, but to the extend I'm satisfied with the quality. So after it's completed I don't need to think about it again, mostly. And 'all' is probably never done, it just adds up to the ever-growing backlog...
Exactly! It's a balance between time, quality, and priorities.
Read this book https://basecamp.com/shapeup
Thanks! I've read it many times, every time I learn something new
Social pressure has always been the biggest driver for me. If you don't want a co-founder, find a fellow Indie Hacker to keep you honest.
https://www.friendclub.xyz/
Hey Jared, this sounds very interesting!
I think this is why we need a better way to get the news we need, not the news we want.
This comment was deleted 5 years ago
Hahaha! I was hoping for some secret answer that unleashed a 2021 full of productivity