We all know what we *should* be doing...
I find it incredibly interesting that deep down inside, we all have a sense for what we need to be doing next. An inner voice from a wise, veteran founder that continuously urges you to do this, and not that. Know what I mean?
I struggle with this daily on Mortly. I have a full time job as a loan officer, and I'm busier than I've ever been. On the precious time I get to work on Mortly (solo founder, self-taught developer), I go over all the different things I need to do.
- Learn testing! Your app will break!
- Pivot to this new UI system, your old one will be deprecated one day if it's not maintained!
- Market to new customer, why aren't you selling?!
- Rebuild that landing page, it's not converting!
- Talk to your customers, don't guess what feature you think is next, TALK TO THEM.
So many things I should be doing, and guess what I pick? I go over an buy Kent Dodds React testing course and waste 2 hours yesterday trying to wrap my head around test driven development. Damnit, Steve, you did it again.
Do you guys suffer from this at all? If so, what do you find helpful to keep your mind on what's most important for your start-up?
Ah! that's the one man company syndrome. Things were worst before this community was created ( indiehackers). @MrAtiebatie has provided a valuable tip - I have 2 large dry erase whiteboards in my bedroom, another tip is to get someone to work with or at least keep you accountable - the last tip is to eat Ramen noodles for a bit and hire people like me to help
I think we can all relate ;-)
We tend to really focus and get shit done when there is no choice left (no more time or money left).
Since you are the one scheduling your own agenda, you may lack real deadlines. And since you may have a backup at the moment (a 9 to 5 job, cash in the bank, ...), you may lack the urge to deliver value where it matters.
For example, there are periods of time where things slow down on my projects. This is usually when I find it REALLY important to tweak mailmeteor.com until we reach 100/100 on pagespeed insights or when I lose myself in a purely nice to have feature. However, this would be the perfect time to take a step backward and deliver on what matters most.
We shouldn't be too hard with ourselves though. It's okay to ramble, amazing ideas can come from hours of time lost into procrastination sometimes.
There is a piece of blog that I really like on the topic: Why Procrastinators Procrastinate, by Tim Urban https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html
I recognize this so much haha. Every time I got lost of time working on my side project it's because I'm writing code, not because I'm interacting with potential customers. I made a commitment with myself that I work on https://targetaudience.app 6 days a week for at least 20 minutes without distractions and now I made the rule that coding doesn't count for this.
I printed out a sheet of 30 cells which I hang next to my mirror and every time I did 20 minutes of working at my side project I put a checkmark on a cell. So the goal is to do it for 30 days with 1 day rest each week. And who doesn't have 20 minutes?
Hey Steve. Sorry this has nothing to do with your above post, but I noticed you replied to an inquiry last year about NDAs. I am BRAND new to this site and am curious as to why one wouldn't feel the need to have and NDA with a stranger connecting through here. Just trying to gauge the process. thanks.