Solo founders code: How do you manage your time working on your side-project?
Hi Indiehackers,
I would like to learn from you guys how to manage your time develop your product. Especially when you still have your full time job and family. If you are doing or done all the things by yourself from beginning, then we are very alike.
I decided to build doneday.xyz to develop my habit and building blocks in prepare for the next bigger one. I set working on this is my only goal and ruthlessly eliminate all the other.
In summary after amonth, I am working below my time budget, and have to find the way to use it the best.
How about your planed/actual routine and your time budget?
I set my routine as the following:
- Walk up every day at 4:30, take a shower and make a coffee.
- 1st session: Start working from 5:00 to 7:00 at my home office.
- Drive to coffee shop nearby my full-time job office.
- 2nd session: from 7:30 to 8:45.
- Work for full time job from 9:00 to 18:00.
- 3rd session: from 18:00 to 19:30 at the coffee shop.
- Done for the day.
- some extra from 13:00 to 16:00 during weekend.
After one month try to follow this routine:
- Some days walk up late, some days hard to start. Usually I can keep up with only one session.
- The 3rd session sometimes skipped because of workload or family events. But it appears to my most productive hour.
- I am not having any day that I can follow exactly the planned routine.
This is very real. most routines look perfect on paper but fall apart once real life kicks in
from what i’ve seen working with a lot of solo founders, the problem usually isn’t discipline, it’s energy and clarity. you can block 3–4 sessions a day, but if you’re not 100% clear on what you’re building in each session, it turns into slow progress
the ones who stick with it long term usually simplify it a lot. like 1 solid focused session a day where they know exactly what needs to get done, instead of trying to force multiple sessions
also that evening slot you mentioned being most productive is interesting, a lot of people underestimate how much momentum carries from the day
i’ve seen some founders also start working with setups like foundersbar, where they act more like a partner helping with what to build next, tech decisions, and cutting noise. makes a big difference when you’re solo and don’t have someone to bounce things off
but yeah, your routine isn’t broken. it’s just real life interfering. tightening focus per session usually works better than adding more hours
This sounds like a crazy tough schedule. Don’t burn yourself out and don’t forget to spend time with the family.
I wake at 5 and work until 06:45. I then shower and head off to the day job.
I work the day job to about 17 and then spend the rest of the evenings with the family.
Yes @Mipmop, this is a crazy tough routine and I couldn't keep up with. Thank for your reminder, I should not forget to spend the quality time with my family.
TLDR;
Everyones schedule and life is different. You will have to develop a way that works for you, but at the end of the day everyone has 24 hours, so in a simple, stupid answer, you have to just find hours within those 24 hours.
I'd say the most important thing when it comes to living a double work life is that you've got to make sure the goal you've set yourself is achievable in a relatively short timespan. This is because it will help you to get used to working full days. If the goal is too big (in my opinion, takes more than 10 days to accomplish, and by 10 days I mean whatever time you can find in 10 days), then you will only become unmotivated and life will inevitably get in the way, postponing your deadline further away.
If your goal is articulated clearly and achievable in that timespan, then you need to find and take every available hour and utilise that to work towards your goal. For me, this is normally the time that family commitments don't tend to occur, so basically between 9PM and 2AM. This is obviously not the case for everyone, especially if you're not a night owl. But it also does depend on how bad you want to achieve that goal. If you're really adamant on it, you'll go to bed at 12 and wake up at 5 every day for 10 days but at the end of those 10 days you will have met your goal. It's not a permanent lifestyle, and it's definitely not healthy, but it does help you get to where you want to go.
Best of luck!
And feel free to debate this comment, I'm also interested in some other suggestions
Hi @mattfreire, nothing to debate, I couldn't agree with you more. Setup a heavy routine without an archivable goal is going nowhere. Instead, set the archivable goal then seize every opportunity to work towards your goal. This is a more natural way to get the thing done and self-motivated. Thank for your great advice.
I am planning my adjustment, and I am happy to giving you an update after some circles:
Wow, that's a crazy schedule. Watch out for the burnout.
Here's mine:
I work remotely so this can change a bit from day to day if I have a bigger/smaller workload at my full-time job. Some days I have stuff in the afternoon so I have a shorter lunch break and I can finish work earlier. And Fridays are usually more relaxed, if I've done all of the work for the week I take the afternoon off and work on side-projects instead.
For the past month I've been very low on energy (had the flu) so I skipped a few weeks working on side-projects and focused more on my full-time job as it's currently my main source of income. I'd rather focus on one thing and do that properly than feel guilty because I couldn't do everything.
Hi @f13th, thank for sharing your schedule, it looks healthy and enjoyable. What I could learn from you:
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By the way, I checked out and following Castee.fm. Your idea is great and congrats that you did make a progress.
That sounds much better I'm glad I could help.
Also if you really feel like working in the morning you should totally do it, and sometimes it's good to force yourself a little to get it going. Just don't stretch too thin and know your limits.
And when you're closer to launch or after launch you can still put in more hours.
I realized that once I managed to go full Pareto (do work that has 80% of the impact but takes up 20% of the time) I actually had a lot of time. I don't have a family, but I try to spend a lot of the free time that I do have with others. Ultimately, that would be my biggest advice to you: make sure you are actually spending the time you have with people who matter instead of spending it wasting time isolated, playing games and watching YouTube/Netflix like I used to.
Thank @borzi, you spot on the true thing. Some days I do the unplaned YouTube/Netflix alone mixed in my family time. It should not be a problem if I plan the time for it and spending time on these things isolated.
Time management is my biggest challenge. I have a great paying full time job, but it involves regular travel to remote locations (lots of airport time, away 50% of the time) and long hours. Additionally, I am now married and have other life commitments that pull me in various directions. In short, I feel your pain.
My greatest advice is to always have one's thoughts and goals organized. Setting daily lists with immediate next actionables, and reorganizing these on the daily so that I am always using my free time effectively. That way, when I have time to spare, I am pursuing the most useful task.
Burn out can be a real thing, and can ultimately have a detriment on net productivity. It can be a fine edge to walk, but, as long as I am getting my thoughts and actionables out of my head and down onto paper, I am able to take a macro look at my work and avoid spreading myself too thin.
Best of luck with the juggle act.
Leveraging my chronotype has made all the difference in effectiveness for me.
I'm an early bird so I'll get up at 4:00, make a pot of coffee and start working until 8:00 in which I'll head to the gym, then work.
I don't work on side projects after work, instead choosing to read if anything. Not a large enough chunk of time available as well as other responsibilities getting in the way.
I've tried the opposite for a while, working late until 1:00 after work, up at 7:30a the next day and it just wasn't for me. There was always a low level of tension, similar to anxiety and I didn't feel right during the day.