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Motivation to get started

I can't get myself to start any project. I just feel so lethargic and I end my day everyday after work consuming some online video stream or Reddit. Any tips to break out of this rut?

  1. 3

    I've struggled with this in the past. In my experience it's all about having a purpose, you need a burning desire and meaning behind doing something. Learning a skill (e.g. programming) can be difficult when you have no real purpose or way of implementing those learnings into a meaningful project/idea.

    It's clear that you are interested in starting a business or learning a skill. I'd recommend you start with a simple daily habit (15-30min), which I call "The Problem/Solution Exercise". Every day (for me it works best if I do this in the morning with a coffee), recap everything you did the previous day, from start to finish, and I mean everything (brush teeth, went on Reddit, went for a walk, wanted to go to the gym but didn't go). The aim is to go through everything you did the previous day and identify any problems, frustrations, or inefficiencies you encountered. You can then think creatively about these problems and how you could solve them using a business.

    An example of one I had the other day:

    Problem/Frustration = I'm currently building a website and I wanted to use a picture of a computer with a transparent background so that I could put a picture of my software UI (user interface) on top of the computer screen and then place in on my website to showcase the service I am offering in a visually appealing way. However, I could not find any images online that met my criteria.

    Solution = What if there were a website that had a large catalogue of these images ready to download for people to use when designing their own website.

    Then think about the next steps to get this idea off the ground:

    1. I'd need a website - ok to maybe I'll build the design in Figma(Design Tool) and then learn Webflow(Website Builder) as I'm building the website
    2. I'll need to find and edit the images - ok I'll source the images and learn Photoshop to edit and remove backgrounds
    3. Learn marketing/advertising methods such as Google ads, or find other ways of promoting my idea, such as Product Hunt.

    Of course, you'll also need to validate the idea to see if it's even financially viable, something you're interested in, or even legal. The aim here is to find a purpose through an idea and then use that idea to help develop your skills as well. In the example above I'd be learning Webflow and Photoshop, whilst using the end goal of a business to motivate me through the process.

    Going through this process has really helped me in the past, and it all starts with a very simple daily habit (15-30min).

    Hope this helps and let me know how you get on!

    1. 1

      Thank you for such a detailed answer.

  2. 2

    Break down what you need to do as much as possible! Start with just one thing, the easiest and smallest thing you can think of :-)

    1. 1

      What she said ☝️

  3. 2

    If you don’t have a problem to solve and work is comfortable you’ll have a hard time starting something.

    First find a problem and then validate it. No need to start coding until you have some sort of validation

  4. 1

    I would add - maybe you find yourself better as a team player. If so, then you could connect with some other person that already has a vision for a product and give him support. You will empower each other and be accountable, so there's much higher chance it will be moving forward.
    Or if you are sure about your vision - share it with society (like Indie hackers) so you will be obligated to deliver updates.

  5. 1

    Do something towards your goal for as long as you can muster. 5 mins every day. Take it from there.

  6. 1

    This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

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