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Ask HN: How to find motivation for personal projects after work?

10 points by cheb ↗ HN
I love programming and made it my trade. Nowadays I rarely find energy after to work to continue on my personal projects. How do you manage to do so?

17 comments

[ 10.3 ms ] story [ 73.6 ms ] thread
selfhoster11
I switched into hobbyist self-hosted software instead. It's not as fun, but it lets my brain rest. I guess the secret is to do the opposite of your day job as a hobby.
bitxbitxbitcoin
Sometimes it is easier to do personal projects in the morning and let that low energy feeling be the end of your work day instead :).
markus_zhang
Yeah can second this. Always spend the premium time on premium projects. A couple hours per day is good enough.
marto1
It also happens to require significant amounts of discipline to implement :-)
JudgePenitent
this 100%

1 hour each morning when your mind is the sharpest and most ready is so much more valuable to me than 3 hours late at night when i am tired from the work of the day

brudgers
Find projects that are motivating.

I mean it's ok and maybe even good if programming all day at work is enough of the thing you love before bed. You can do something else that makes artifacts like woodworking or Youtube videos or photography that's different.

It's ok and maybe even good to be multi-talented. Good luck.

k0t0n0
Start a small project and finish it.
knikes
For me, working on a project that I feel has a high potential for success gives me the 'motivation energy' to continue writing code after already having spent hours writing code at work. It just doesn't work for me if I'm not working on something motivating.
mikewarot
Long ago, before he put is writing behind a paywall, I used to read Urban Survival week.... the one piece of advice I thought had huge merit was to put your own work ahead of any work you do for others.

Work on your project BEFORE the 9 to 5 job, not after. When you get home, rest and recover.

atatatat
If none of this other great advice works, and you only have 1-2 hours anyhow, vaporized cannabis.
the__alchemist
Take local leave, depending on your job - ideally contiguous with the weekends. It's how I do it.
noud
Don't work too hard at work so that you have some energy left afterwards. (easier said than done)
DrOctagon
Put on some music you like and work for as long as it takes to drink two beers. Work with joy.
d--b
I did it in the mornings. 1 hour every day. I was surprisingly efficient
ffhhj
This. Keep a clear list of tasks to do, when you wake up earlier in zombie mode you will just see the tree in front of you and won't get lost in the unsolvable forest of the day before.
tkiolp4
Work less. Keep you brain with enough energy for the important things.
visox
not sure, i do find innner energy or desire to build something but there are also days when i am exhausted.

on the other hand when i watch something or play games something is growing in me which forces me to continue to work on my project.

i do have a lot of side projects and maybe half of them are "finished"