

Tell HN: want to make a movie, but got no script (metaphorically) - groundhogday

I've created an anonymous account to post this.<p>I'm kinda stuck with my life, my professional career and my entrepreneur ambitions. I was hoping that some people on HN have gone through this successfully and could give me a few practical advices.<p>My problem is that I'm only excited working for myself. No amount of money can get me excited and motivated enough to work on someone else's project, no matter how cool or challenging it is. The reason is that I see no future in it. I want to make a lot of money and be wealthy, while working for someone else always has the limit. The problem is not that I don't have the money to make a living while working on my own project - I could come up with something or I would even combine working for someone and my startup. The problem is that I don't have any idea I personally believe in. Last year I've implemented a few (didn't take off) and filtered over 50 ideas, I guess, and this has just left me really empty. What I learned is that you need to have enough motivation to get through the toughest times. I don't mind working really hard, but I couldn't come up with any idea that I loved enough to make such a commitment.<p>As a result, I'm not actually that skilled, because I don't have enough practice. I'm not excited by the code itself, I'm excited by the promise of selling the product or the project, by the promise of welfare and respect. Only when I have this promise, I become excited writing the actual code and solving difficult problems.<p>To summ this up, it feels like I want to make a movie whatever it takes and I'm trying to shoot the scenes having no script at all.<p>Additionally I live outside US which makes it harder to do something for US market (not excited with the local one). On the other hand, moving to US to work for some company also makes no sense to me, because H-1B visas are basically a temporary ticket for you and most companies won't help you settle in US and apply for a Green Card. And then again, you work for someone with no promise of getting a reward that you really want.<p>Having said all this, to me it feels like a really complicated puzzle. I'm not whining, really. I'm just slightly depressed, but still very willing to solve it. So I would love to hear your thoughts, specifically, what would you do?
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dasil003
I think you need to find something beyond the thought of "success" to drive
you. Ambition is good, but it sounds like its having a demotivational aspect
in your case because you aren't finding the right ideas and your situational
isn't ideal. But reproducible success is about execution, and you can't learn
to execute without practice, so whatever you do you need to get as many reps
in as possible. Your breakthrough may not come for years (or ever, frankly),
but by becoming really good at what you do you will increase the chances of
long-term success geometrically. And remember, you don't need to do glamorous
things to improve your skills, instead you need to learn as much as you can,
figure out where your talents lie, and then (eventually) figure out how to
apply this to a market.

Also, not wanting to work for other people may be a detriment, because you are
unlikely to be able to attract the best people to your company if you are not
already at the top of your field. The experience of working with the best
people will potentially teach you much more than trying to go it alone with a
cast of B players.

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michael_dorfman
To continue the metaphor, you've got two choices: write a script, or buy the
rights to a script that excites you.

It's good that you're excited by the prospect of selling the product/project,
and not by the code itself. Projects that are driven by a love of the
underlying technology rarely solve other people's problems effectively, and
that's what it's all about.

Don't focus too much on "the promise of welfare and respect" or wanting to
"make a lot of money and be wealthy"-- it's easy to get too self-involved that
way. The trick is to focus outwards-- to identify a problem that some group of
people are having, and find a way to solve it for them. Relieve the suffering
of others-- that's the surest way to gain welfare and respect.

You say you've filtered over 50 ideas. That's a good start. You might have to
go through 500, though. That's the way it goes, sometimes. Fortunately for
you, there's a lot of suffering out there, calling out for solutions.

From where I sit, it's not such a complicated puzzle at all, really. It's a
pretty straightforward puzzle. That doesn't make it easy, of course. But you
didn't think it would be, did you?

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Roridge
This line really said it all. "The problem is that I don't have any idea I
personally believe in."

My advice is don't even write the idea down on your list unless you completely
believe in it, then you will be tenacious and motivated enough to get you to a
milestone which motivates you further.

