
I never finish anyth - 3stripe
http://greig.cc/journal/2014/1/i-never-finish-anyth
======
visakanv
I relate to this, too. Here's some stuff that I read recently that helped me a
little:

"When you are young, beginning new projects is easy and finishing them is
hard. As you grow older, beginnings get harder, but finishing gets easier. At
least, that has been my experience. I think it is true of anyone of at least
average intelligence, creativity and emotional resilience. The reason is
simple.

When you are young, the possibilities ahead of you, and the time available to
explore them, seem nearly infinite. When you try to start something, the
energizing creative phase, (which comes with internal brain-chemistry rewards
on a fast feedback-loop), gives way to exhausting detail-oriented work,
maintenance work, and unsatisfying overhead work. You need to get through
these to bank distant external rewards (money and such) that only come with
completion. It is then that you are most vulnerable to the allure of exciting
new beginnings. So you abandon things halfway. You bank the internal rewards
of beginning, but not the external rewards of finishing.

But with age, this changes.

As you grow older, the history of a few completed projects and many abandoned
ones in your past starts to loom oppressively in your memory. The early
internal rewards of many beginnings are now a distant memory that offer no
pleasure in the present. The external rewards of completed projects, which
tend to continue to yield dividends (such as completed degrees, financial
rewards) loom larger all around you: wealth, strong relationships and perhaps
most importantly, an earned ability to see the world differently as the result
of having been through many completions.

When a new opportunity opens up at 35, you evaluate it differently than you
did at 25. You are able to estimate how long it will take, what the journey
will feel like, what the early pleasure and distant pain will feel like, and
what getting it done will feel like. You are able to react psychologically to
the whole prospect in the form of a narrative that extends beyond the finish
line, as a systematic leveling-up of your life. You see the transient
pleasures of beginnings diminish to nothing in the far future and the enduring
rewards of finishing as a steady source of dividends extending out beyond the
horizon."

\- [http://www.tempobook.com/2014/01/13/when-finishing-is-
easier...](http://www.tempobook.com/2014/01/13/when-finishing-is-easier-than-
starting)

~~~
tsunamifury
When I compared people that take on big goals later in life with those who
simply simulate them in their mind, then decide their projected end results
are 'predictable and uninteresting', I saw something interesting.

Those who take on big goals are seen as naive and almost childlike, because
the 'experienced' believe they already know the end results.

Those who don't take on big goals get to be in the audience and throw stones,
but never really amount to anything other than gloating at a possible failure.

I think the experience works against you at a certain age. The projections are
a lie, or possibly inaccurate at best. I've come to believe you don't know
what will happen until you do it -- what your mind simulates is often only
correct in the broadest sense, but way way off when it comes to the important
details and compound ramifications.

In otherwords, keep taking on big goals and press on to finish them, while
ignoring that pesky voice which thinks it already knows how this will all turn
out. And ignore the people who do the same, their words are rarely helpful.

~~~
huherto
Your comment is very interesting. But let me argue against it.

May be when you are older, you can see the end result with more clarity, and
decide that is not worth the effort and the sacrifices that you have to make.

Is it better becoming a millionaire when you are 30 or when you are 50? If you
do it at 30, you will enjoy the fruits for 45 years. If you do it at 50, you
will enjoy them for 25. (Assuming expectancy_of_life=75) Also if you sacrifice
a number of years it is a larger sacrifice over the rest of your life.

~~~
tsunamifury
I'd say a sufficiently large goal is well beyond that of only self-fulfillment
or making a lot of money. It would be an attempt to change a field, advance a
given topic in that field, or create a system which a group of people could
benefit from.

------
kadabra9
You wanna know the saddest part of my day?

When I'm moving around my laptop, and pop into the "projects" folder and see
what a graveyard it has become. Dozens of half baked projects that seemed
brilliant at the time, that I either lost interest in, decided the concept was
too difficult, or (and this is the worst one) let my self doubt convince me
that it would never work. The really sad part is, every now and then I'll go
back in and check out these projects and a lot of the code and design is
actually pretty good. I ask myself, "Why did I think this sucked again?"

The best analogy I can make to this scenario is the self doubt that cripples
many writers setting out to finish a book, screenplay, or novel. It's almost
as if you tell yourself that the script sucks, to give you a reason not to
finish it and move on to something cooler next week. As a writer, what's the
best way to overcome this? Just FINISH the god damned first draft. Roll up
your sleeves, commit an hour (or two or three) every day to working on this
project, and slog through it until you type "FADE OUT" (or "The End") or (if
you're coding) make that glorious commit to polish off your project.

No matter how much the project, script or book sucks, there are few feelings
of satisfaction that match that.

~~~
csbrooks
The thing that helps me work through this is to be very aggressive about a
small list of features for "version 1". Focus on getting version 1 online and
working, and put all your shiny ideas on the TODO list for version 2. Once
version 1 is out the door, the momentum of people using it will carry you
forward.

I've learned the hard way that for me, by far the biggest risk in a side
project is me losing interest before I have something up and working. So now I
just keep that in mind as I'm planning and pruning features for the initial
version. The risk isn't "what if I don't have feature X and people get mad?",
it's "what if this gets too complex and messy to implement and I get bored and
quit before finishing?"

~~~
agilebyte
I find that working even on version 1 stops me from doing the actual work,
which is to find users and actually verify I am solving a useful problem.

Maybe it is good that we cannot finish all these projects, since they have no
use anyway...

------
agentultra
Look at my github and know that I have more repositories on other services and
thrice as many on my hard-drive that are unfinished, incomplete duds. I
recently reached a milestone: I went from an idea for a book to a self-
published, printed title in 3 months. I went to a festival that was mostly
focused on comics and video games and sold six copies of my book. It was
awesome. Here's the rub: _I 'm not finished yet._

You're never finished until you stop what you're doing. A writer may "finish"
a book but ei has to start another or they've "finished" writing. However for
every book they finish how many incomplete, half-baked ideas do you think
they've run through? Is every idea they have golden and worth pouring months
and years of effort into? No.

Some ideas deserve to die.

But once you've found that one worth pursuing there's nothing to do but roll
up your sleeves and put in the time. You will vacillate between euphoria and
despair. You may come to regret ever starting and hate yourself. But if it
means anything you will force yourself to press on through those darkest
moments. And before you know it you'll be done... and ready for the next
project. Creativity isn't the rush you feel when you have a good idea and
dream about conquering the world: it's process and discipline. It's writing
1500, 2000 words a day _no matter what_.

I find it helps to have someone to nudge you onward. An editor, a mentor...
someone you can discuss the project with who has an objective opinion. They
will help you in that moment when you're thinking of giving up.

------
whizzkid
It was the same for me for several ideas/projects that i started with.

Then i realised what was the reason makes me not touching the project after a
while...

The first steps are always known and can be done by almost everyone.

\- Buy the domain

\- Construct the idea

\- Even, start coding the project

And here comes the reasons why you slowly starting not to touch the project
anymore;

\- You realise that you are not sure how to deploy this on production.

\- You realise that you will need a business model and you are just a
developer/designer and have no idea about those.

\- Then comes the tax issues, and realisation that you need a company.

\- You don't know how to licence your idea/project

I can list some more but these are just enough to make you feel that you need
to find some people to help you which is not free but expensive unless you
have friends that are expert in those areas.

Yep, you give up the project...

~~~
__david__
> \- You realise that you are not sure how to deploy this on production.

My advice for this is don't worry about it. Just hand install on a cheap
shared web hosting place and manually copy stuff across to get it up and
running.

When that gets too annoying, start automating. When your home grown automation
scripts get long and unwieldy, look into Capistrano or Puppet (or Chef, or
Ansible). The important thing is: make it work first, then make it beautiful.

> \- You realise that you will need a business model and you are just a
> developer/designer and have no idea about those.

I feel you there! :-) Having an idea and trying to think of how to get someone
to pay for it is daunting to me. I feel like a blank canvas and I have no idea
where to start.

> \- Then comes the tax issues, and realisation that you need a company.

Again, don't worry about it. If you make so much money that it matters—well,
that is a good problem to have. You can always incorporate (or whatever)
later. And if you're pulling in a lot of money you can afford a lawyer to just
handle it all for you.

\- You don't know how to licence your idea/project

If you're making a web site or a app store app (binary distribution) then
again, it doesn't really matter. If it becomes so wildly popular that people
start abusing it somehow, and in quantities that matter—again, that's a nice
problem to have (compared to no one using your site or app).

If you're releasing source, then pick MIT, BSD, or GPL (just choose randomly
if you have no opinion). If the one you picked turns out to have side effects
that you didn't foresee, then feel free to change it–it's your code after all,
so you can do what you want (though if you get a whole bunch of external
contributors, it gets hairier).

One thing I've found that really really helps—get a partner. Having another
person around (and not necessarily physically) is a great way to help keep you
from getting distracted. This is why companies get stuff done—there's always
someone around working and you can't just slack off without losing face to
everyone around you. It's _really_ hard to sit around and read reddit all day
when the 3 people in the room with you are all working hard…

~~~
whizzkid
Except the first one, thanks a lot for looking at the bright side of things
and the advises! but..

How can i not worry about deployment?

What happens after people trusting and starts using my 'lets say' web app and
after 2 weeks i get my database hacked? Companies have TechOps department just
for deploying the applications correctly. I am not trying to argue but trying
to explain how i think of this :)

Maybe i am being little bit too much paranoid... Should i just set
Apache/Passenger with some basic configuration and wish that everything is
safe enough ?

~~~
__david__
Again, I wouldn't worry too much about getting hacked. Don't use bad or
obvious passwords on your db or ssh account. Besides I would say much of the
hacking surface is going to be in your site's code, if it's in any way
dynamic.

You'll probably make mistakes. The biggest actual devops advice I can give is
backup. Everything. Often enough so that if you lose everything since your
last backup you can live with it. And again, it doesn't even have to be
automated. Run mysqldump by hand and save the results away somewhere. Rsync
your home directory away. If you have a dedicated server, rsync /etc, too.

Having a backup is the solution to almost any catastrophic event in the devops
world. Disk crash? Get a new disk, restore from backup, continue on. Hacked?
Figure out how, fix security hole in code (or wherever), wipe server, change
passwords, restore from backup, continue. I'm sure there are more.

Having done devops work, most of the hard part is getting it to all run
smoothly and automatically (big web sites have many many servers and slave
dbs, and deploying to them all becomes complicated). But as a single person
working on a small project, that's not the most important thing to optimize
for, in my opinion. It's more important to get it done.

------
Arjuna
Just some encouragement here for you good people...

You have to do the work. There is no one else that can do it for you. It is
entirely up to you; actually, it has only ever been you, because it is you
that rolls out of bed early to bring it. No one is going to do that for you.
If you want to do it, then you will figure out a way to make it happen.

Like some of you, I have a family. That makes things a bit challenging at
times, and you will likely have to work even harder to find the time, to make
the space, so that you can bring it. And, I will add, those that are parents,
this is a great example to set for your children. You want to be, "The Daddy
that brings it." You want to be, "The Mommy that brings it." Because, you want
to instill in them that they can, too. It's a valuable life-lesson. In turn,
it is psychologically healthy for you as well, to know that you are a parent
that is firing on all cylinders. In addition, it is incredibly gratifying when
your child sees your work. "Wow... that's the new game that you're working on!
Let me try!" It will fuel you like a Saturn V launching to the moon.

You may look at your project and think, "I'm never going to make it. I'll
never finish." Please, I urge you to set these thoughts aside and push
through. Think about the analogy of building a wall. A wall is built one brick
at a time. Watch a mason build a wall one day. You will observe that he or she
lays one brick at a time.

This is how you have to view your project. Sure, it would be amazing to have
an entire day, every day to devote to your project. However, the reality is
that most of us simply do not have that luxury. So, strive to think of it as a
mason: lay one brick at a time, and eventually the wall will be built. Every
character that you type into Xcode, Visual Studio, etc. turns into a keyword,
a variable name, etc... that subsequently turns into a line. Those lines build
up, day by day, and before you know it, you have a program, and you look back
and think, "Wow, why did I ever think I could not finish?"

Also, let go of "Internet Time." That is to say, we all read HN and see these
impressive "Show HN" posts, and submitted stories about the Next Big Thing...
and it seems like things are happening so fast, and we think, "Why even try?"
Well, the reality is nothing is happening fast. It is an illusion. Most all of
these stories have an incredible amount of time and work behind them, so let
go of that illusion, get started, and stay focused.

 _" There's only this moment and the next moment. Every one of those moments
is a test that you get to take one time and only one time."_ [1]

Strive to drive through each moment. Make it count.

You have to fight. This is paramount. I will say it again... you have to
fight! What I mean here is fighting by engaging your Will. Engage your will to
get up, to get moving. Engage your will to eat right, to exercise and go to
bed on time so that you have the energy to get up and bring it.

What you are going through is what we are all going through; that is to say,
we are all grinding, whether it be in a start-up business, or washing the
dishes by day as we bootstrap a start-up at night; we are all struggling,
fighting to drive our dreams into existence. We are all struggling in some
way, whether it be through failure, health issues, personal issues, family
issues, etc. No one is immune from the grip of suffering through his or her
struggles.

You are not alone.

Embrace the grind. Vince Lombardi said it best:

 _" And in truth, I've never known a man worth his salt who, in the long run,
deep down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. The
difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength,
not a lack of knowledge, but rather... a lack of will."_

You have to use the will to fight those thoughts that say, "I'm getting older.
I'm failing. I'm not motivated. I can't finish."

The clock is ticking for all of us... fight! You never know where your work
will take you. Do not forget that, you have to dream it first in your mind
before you can see it in your life. And to see it in your life, you must work.
You may not be able to see things clearly now, but you never know what doors
could open for you that you did not even know existed.

Ang Lee, the Taiwanese film director and screenwriter that directed Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Life of Pi, discusses his struggles to break into
film. I urge you to read it:

[http://whatshihsaid.com/2013/02/26/ang-lee-a-never-ending-
dr...](http://whatshihsaid.com/2013/02/26/ang-lee-a-never-ending-dream)

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBLV6RG4TwY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBLV6RG4TwY)

~~~
throwaway3301
Personally I think _realizing_ you need to engage your will and discipline
yourself into working hard when you don't want to is the easy part. The really
_really_ hard part is actually _doing_ it. How do you find will where there is
none? How do you motivate yourself when you feel unmotivated about everything?
When you feel stuck in the rat race, stuck in the routine of monotony? How can
I restore the drive and motivation in myself that I never remember having in
the first place? Is it even possible?

These are the things I am struggling with and they make fighting it a non-
starter.

~~~
nrivadeneira
I once read something that Tim Ferriss had said in response to a similar
question. I'm heavily paraphrasing, but he was basically asked how he had so
much more discipline than most others.

He responded by saying that he doesn't have more discipline - he just creates
environments that decrease his opportunities to fail (ie. get distracted) and
increase his likelihood to succeed (ie. finish the work).

The idea is to not trust yourself and not give yourself the opportunity to
fail. A concrete example of how I've personally put this to great use in my
life is how I made it a habit to go to the gym:

When I was in college, I wanted to go to the gym regularly. Unfortunately I
found that when I was in my dorm room and needed to get ready for the gym, I
lacked the motivation to get out of a comfortable situation. What I began
doing was taking my gym clothes to class and going straight to the gym after
class. This required significantly less motivation on my part because I was
already walking around campus, sometimes even passing the gym by on the way
back to my dorm. The step leading up to that also required very little
motivation - putting clothes in your backpack. The result was that I created a
sequence of events that each had a small likelihood of failure. 10 years
later, going to the gym is my favorite hobby.

Another example related to getting work done came about when I was trying to
work on my side projects from home. It never worked. I'd always want to browse
the internet, watch tv, play video games, or spend time with my girlfriend.
Starting work when my Xbox was in the next room meant summoning a monumental
amount of motivation. Instead what I started doing was going to a local coffee
shop or coworking space. It doesn't take that much effort to just go to a
public space with wifi (and if it does, you can use the advice above). Once
there, you have put yourself in an environment where everyone else is working.
Aside from noise, there are fewer distractions. In addition, you'll look like
an asshole if you're sitting in front of your laptop playing on Reddit for 4
hours while everyone around you is getting shit done.

If you can make a habit of completing those small triggers that lead to bigger
outcomes, you'll eventually have gained a much more significant habit.

~~~
enen
That actually is a very simple approach but makes a lot of sense, I'll
definitely think about it, thanks for writing it down.

------
JelteF
This is very recognizable. I have had this a lot, but accidentily I had an
idea 2 days ago that I have put more time in already than any other of my fun
plans or cool projects.

It's called PyLaTeX [1], it's a Python interface for LaTeX that supports
creating documents and snippets. One of the coolest features I think is the
conversion of NumPy matrices to LaTeX ones.

The HN new page [2] is just a bit rough on someone posting that doesn't know a
lot of people that can upvote it, reddit [3] was a lot more forgiving.

[1] [https://github.com/JelteF/PyLaTeX](https://github.com/JelteF/PyLaTeX)

[2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7075212](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7075212)

[3]
[http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1vcqxw/pylatex_...](http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1vcqxw/pylatex_easily_create_latex_documents_with_python/)

------
eddieroger
I immediately commiserated with this article when I saw the headline, because
I have the same problem. I wish the resolution of the blog post was something
other than "break the big thing in to little bits and do those" \- something
that I've known for a long time. For me, the most successful thing I've come
across, and coincidentally the hardest part to change, was not being a
perfectionist and just getting to MVP. Sometimes you have to say no, and just
finish.

~~~
visakanv
The biggest game-changer for me has been peer pressure, if that helps. I left
a talkshop group of friends and started working with people who were getting
things done. Changed my life dramatically.

~~~
eddieroger
Yeah, I'm working on that. I've got a few friends who are in similar
situations, so we schedule Hangouts or the like to do show-and-tells and keep
each other accountable. It helps, but hasn't fully fixed me of bad habits.

------
delinka
I have a similar process to the author, but I get further. Must have a name!
Is it available everywhere? Once I've settled some of that detail, it's on to
the code with the basic features.

I'll need a database (and thus a schema), and a REST API, and security
considerations ... that's all fine. Start actually writing and testing and OH
BOY another feature idea! Write it down for later, continue back where I was.
But that new feature will require this change to the current design. And to do
that now I have to change this other part and ... repeat until I give up.

tl;dr: feature creep kills me, even with my own ideas. I cannot just Let It Be
and produce a 1.0 with minimal features.

------
ipetepete
I read somewhere recently that if you fantasize/talk about your ideas/goals it
triggers your brain to let you feel a similar satisfaction for actually
accomplishing the said idea/goal. Of course now I can't find the article so
take it with a grain of salt.

I did find this article which is related…

[http://blog.bufferapp.com/how-our-brains-stop-us-
achieving-o...](http://blog.bufferapp.com/how-our-brains-stop-us-achieving-
our-goals-and-how-to-fight-back)

~~~
chocolate_
This is probably what you're recalling:
[http://sivers.org/zipit](http://sivers.org/zipit)

The article argues that the satisfaction prevents us from actually reaching
our goals.

------
tlarkworthy
I like the building things. I finish building them too. Unfortunately, that
isn't the job done. You then have to promote it and get users. That is harder
than the building stage.

Christ you are in for a shock if you think the immediate step after reserving
social media handles is the hard bit...

~~~
3stripe
I think that's just the bit I run through often.

My main project (CycleLive) is approaching two years old now, and I've got a
small but loyal audience which I'm nurturing.

Actually I think CycleLove has a different problem — the "a blog is not a
business" one.

Although it was never intended to be a business in the first place, I want to
angle it in that direction, and that's the part I'm struggling with now.

~~~
tlarkworthy
oh yeah, cool site.

yeah perhaps what you and I consider products are in different categories, so
perhaps my words are not so relevant to you.

I enjoy making geeky technical things, but fail to find any users. :(

One day I will sort it out (maybe).

~~~
3stripe
Are you building something that other people actually want? Or something that
you _think_ they want?

If the former, how do you know that?

------
tunesmith
This might be a bit cogsci, but one thing that has really helped me over the
years is to switch my mental language away from statements like "I never
finish anything", to statements like "I have had trouble finishing things in
the past."

The first is a static judgment I am applying to myself, and it's a
definitional straitjacket. The second is simply an observation, and it leaves
room and opportunity for positive change.

When we tell ourselves we "are" certain things or "always/never do" certain
things, we are defining ourselves in a way that makes it harder to change, due
to the reinforcement.

At this point, I pretty much automatically recognize negative "judgments" and
do the translation... I think it helps a lot.

~~~
marcosscriven
I really like that idea - how something is phrased can and does have a
profound impact.

------
ChuckMcM
I like to pursue ideas enough to validate if they really are "easy" or "hard."
That helps me think about if they are worth pursuing. If they are "easy" I try
to figure out what the other people who had this idea got hung up on, if they
are "hard" I try to figure out if the hardness is intrinsic to the problem or
the approach. I think of this as sort of the 'minimum work' to do on any new
idea. Just having an idea and writing it into my notebook doesn't count :-)

------
mathattack
I absolutely love these, "Get off of HN and get some work done" posts that get
voted to the top of HN. Are we heroin addicts that know what's bad for us? :-)

------
equalarrow
Wow, great post. Who isn't guilty or fallen prey to this?

The few projects I've finished, they've always been for-pay. Either
contracting or as an employee. For my own, almost none.

However. A little over two years ago, I started coding an edu-based app that a
friend and I designed (he's the biz side). I was gonna become a father and I
thought, what better space to be in since I'm going to be dealing with it in
the coming years.

Typical story, coded nights, mornings, weekends. After the baby came, coded
less but still the same schedule. We launched the site last fall. And then..
we started having having users saying our site was too complicated, the change
log and bug list kept growing. So, this thing I had worked on for so long and
pushed into existence by sheer will, just burned me out.

I walked away for a few months and even though we were making almost $1k/mo, I
felt it not worth my time anymore. But now, in the past week, I'm changing my
tune.

At my day job, we're going thru the final phases of closing on m&a suitors. At
first I thought this was awesome, but then looking at the suitors jobs list
and reading them, I realized none of them are interesting. Do I want to code
day an night? No. Do I want to spend all my day at an office? No. Do I want to
help push someone else's dream closer to IPO? No.

I realized after this that I already have the dream (work-wise). We have edu
partners lined up, some good potential biz deals, and it's all hinging on just
spending a few weeks and fixing things. But having a family, working for
something for a long time and not really seeing the reward (yet) - it's hard
to keep going thru it all. But, I visualized and thought about "what would it
be like to sit at my desk (anywhere I want) and keep making the thing I built
better?".

This is the only thing I have ever 'finished' (will it ever be) and I think
looking back, I did it all for the right reasons and kept pushing forward.
Regardless what anyone else said about it (almost all the responses about the
site were positive).

For me, in the end it is about doing what you love, channeling your passion to
reach the goal(s). Goal 1 - launching it - reached, done. Goal 2 - helping
people enjoy using it - restarted.

Lesson learned: don't give up. Every hour makes a difference.

------
swatkat7
Something REALLY has to pique my interest for me to get into the flow state
and once I'm there I have a go at it like no one will; and once I'm out of
that state, its really hard to go back into it unless something picks me back
up. What I discovered is:

1) Break down your project into bits that excite you all the way through and
imagine being excited while you're planning it. Have someone else be there
with you with to plan this with you while you do it - helps with the planning.
This chunking of the project itself is the battle. You beat this and you've
conquered most of the problem.

2) Work on two - three manageable projects at the same time. This usually has
worked for me my entire life. Alternate between them. When you get bored with
one, pick the other one up and plan all of them out so you have interesting
bits chunked out throughout.

3) Always work with high-energy individuals who would keep the energy up
throughout the project. When you feel tired or bored, they will find a way to
pick you back up again.

4) Always find projects that YOU can find some value in YOUR life.

------
the_cat_kittles
I think "finishing" something means accepting its flaws (which will always be
there) ...that makes it psychologically difficult.

------
standup75
I experienced this. I have a lot of started projects on my mac. Some i spent a
few days on, other i spent a few months. In 2011 I started a game and that was
the first project I finished (spiderdash.net). Although not really finished,
but close enough. It took me over a year, and I really like it. What I
realized, is that I do love the execution actually, but I am too unsure of the
potential to focus on anything else, that is sales and marketing. So in the
past 6 months I started building the ideas of my friends, I get them engaged
because it's their ideas, and I get to do just the execution with the right
amount of freedom. If you're like me, do things, but do it with someone else.
The other good part about this is that you're going to create a unique mix of
competencies. My friends are not developers, but they also are subject matter
experts. So we are mixing 2 very different kind of expertise, and that's rich.

------
easy_rider
I'm going to finish my beer right now.

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chipsy
I only have starting problems. Right now my starting problem is the laundry. I
abandon a lot of stuff, but only because I've built enough of it to see the
flaws. I don't see that as a problem. It looks like a problem if you predicate
the goal on external societal factors like "get attention/money," because a
thing has to be finished (to some degree) to be part of society. But we
already know that the external stuff is a poor motivator.

So stop beating yourself up about finishing. Play in society and worry about
things when you feel it's necessary, but if it's your private, creative work,
that is the time to be bold and selfish. Don't try to fit in for the sake of
it, do things because you want them. You shouldn't care about "finished",
because you should be engrossed in the act of creation.

------
Kiro
> check the availability of urls and social media accounts

Are people really checking the availability on social media? I know that if I
get the .com I want nothing else matters and the social media handles can be
anything.

I know the feeling anyway! The initial excitement and the downfall.

------
Edmond
It could have something to do with the reason you wanted to start a project in
the first place.

If you start a project just to play with some new shinny framework/tech then
it is likely that once the novelty wears off nothing of interest would remain.

If however you start a project because you are excited about some product
vision that doesn't already exist or not in the form you've envision then the
drive to bring that idea/vision to fruition can be a powerful motivator.

I wrote a blog post on this matter some time back:
[http://colabopad.blogspot.com/2009/12/on-joys-of-
creativity-...](http://colabopad.blogspot.com/2009/12/on-joys-of-creativity-
as-software.html)

------
billnguyen
I struggle with this too, my github/bitbucket is a barren wasteland of half
finished products. I believe that its fully a mindset thing and realize that
success is not an accident nor some ephemeral spark of genius. Success is a a
choice, every day.

I find this YT video on Steph Curry to be an amazing story of how success is
built by they choices we make every day.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riy59ubGJiU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riy59ubGJiU)

'Are the habits you have for today on par with the dreams you have for
tomorrow?' Not yet... but its getting there.

------
orblivion
After working at a startup I started to not feel so bad about this. And/or I
set my sights lower as far as putting in all required features, but putting
higher stress on actually delivering what's important, and polish.

For instance, I made a podcast downloader as a Haskell learning project. I
haven't goften around to making it delete old files. Meh. The interface is
good, it is reliable and fast. I'll just clean it out manually now and then.
Or maybe get to it later if I feel like it. A few years ago this might have
been hanging over my head as a failure.

------
geolisto
I know exactly where you're coming from. In my studies I've found this
behavior common amongst people that are INTJs (including myself). I would
comically refer to myself as a serial project starter. I finally realized the
pattern of getting all excited, pushing out a lot of code, and then abandoning
the project a month in long before it's done. Launching my site yesterday was
a relief to finish a project and push it out for the world to see. Even if
nobody uses it I'm glad that I finished something.

------
nathan_f77
I finally managed to finish one!
[http://www.youshouldbuythese.com](http://www.youshouldbuythese.com)

I think the secret to a successful side-project is deciding on an MVP that can
be built in a single weekend. I've found that I'm also much more likely to
keep iterating on a project if it's already in a 'finished' state.

I seem to run out of steam or lost interest in my more ambitious side-
projects, where working for a whole weekend will only get you 10% closer to a
finished product.

~~~
serge2k
I signed in and I got

an editor I own a book I own another book I own the newer version of a phone I
used to own (had s3, got s4)

a mouse I am going to consider buying a keyboard that probably would have been
my choice if I didn't get a kinesis

nicely done.

------
jlwarren1
I started to read this article, but I gave up about half way through.

~~~
c4n4rd
Up until what part did

------
JoachimS
For me gamification works. I'm a sucker for the stats Github can display for a
project. And keeping that streak going.

I've started to throw all my embarrasing, childish project onto github. If
someone files a comment regarding how bad something is - great, then I have
something concrete to fix.

And having a lot of projects open means there is always something easy to fix
to keep the streak going. Suddenly projects move forward, albeit one small
commit at a time.

This way I have actually completed more projects in years.

~~~
seivan
I did that for my Open Source stuff, I stopped at 164 days streaking. Maybe I
should take that up for private projects.

------
smoyer
I agree with advice that you should document your idea in your notebook, but
don't put any immediate effort into implementing it. The ideas you keep coming
back to are the ones that you're truly interested in ... and yet you still
have to be careful that those are viable ideas.

In any case, rushing after each new idea is a great way to spend time, but you
need that time to be executing on the few ideas you actually choose to pursue.

------
mbrock
Nobody ever finishes anything. Have you ever heard about a finished project?
Linus Torvalds hasn't "finished" Linux yet. But it's certainly out there —
it's alive!

I don't think "man, I'm so far from being finished." That's just a
demotivating way to see your project. The big milestone is having something
that's useful enough for people to be interested in, no?

~~~
skriticos2
I think the author meant to reach version 1.0 of a project or at least have a
fully working prototype.

Most projects die during the creation of the outer scaffolding without much of
the envisioned functionality in place.

------
jjoe
Sadly this is why employers and early investors give preference to Ivy League
graduates. That's likely because the programs ensure graduates are most likely
to push the bar higher and achieve. But those who make the exception list
(achievers non-league) turn out to be even stronger achievers because their
determination comes from deep within rather than from training.

Disclosure: I'm not a leaguer.

------
brennanm
Same way. I'm a 30%'er. I'll do the name, branding, front end mockups... but
then I'll lose it. I wont want to dive into the back and write any backend or
server code.

That's why you need a team. Everyone has optimistic days and pessimistic days.
On a good team you all wont have them at exactly the same time. You're team
will push you through and help you finish.

~~~
JshWright
To further illustrate the benefit of a team... I'm exactly the opposite. I
dive right into the backend stuff... APIs, database schema, etc, and tack just
enough UI on the front end to make it usable (Name? Branding? That can all
come later...(and never does))

------
marsay
This article gave me idea for a new project. Yes, it's all clear in my head
and I have to start working on it right now and abandon all other projects.

A site where you take responsibility for finishing your project. If you don't,
you will pay heavy price. Lets say we will spam your inbox with a thousands of
letters that remind you of your promises.

------
duochrome
I've finished something before. It pays back somehow.

But now I barely working on anything. I admit I don't like any work at all.
Working for Google or SpaceX? No.

I think we want to finish something because we are not satisfied with our
current life. If you feel your current status is okay, it's not easy to get
motived to put yourself into some extra work.

~~~
zoooz_albalushi
Follow me

------
iterable
It's why investors put so much weight on the team. Execution is 90%. We've all
heard this endless times. But it really hits you in the face when you actually
do a startup. A team that can't execute will probably f*ck up a great idea,
whereas a team that can execute can do wonders with a mediocre idea

------
rajbala
I no longer care about what people think. I care that I may not get enough
people to think anything at all.

------
avighnay
Excited, dive right in, run the tutorial, get to the first block, (optional -
google try 1, google try 2) and yawnnnnn, next please...

This one has a reverse interest for most entrepreneurs, how do you get your
product past the initial excitement and impending boredom of the customer?

------
krrishd
I think one of the biggest things that causes is losing faith in your idea. No
matter how good it is, the more you think about it without doing anything to
go along with the thinking, your brain will naturally find minute flaws in the
idea, making you move on.

------
hawkharris
Great ideas are like juggling clubs. You can keep two or three of them in
flight if your coordination is good enough. Add more than that to your routine
and you'll probably get smacked in the face.

------
alashley
Relevant: [http://simpleprogrammer.com/2014/01/09/importance-
finishing-...](http://simpleprogrammer.com/2014/01/09/importance-finishing-
started/)

------
bartl
It's the "doing things" that I have least trouble with. It's the other things,
the things that he does first, that I have trouble with.

------
Gaurav322
It is really motivating article and today, I am going to generate a best
marketing strategy for tumblr and try to execute that. (only one as you
say)...

------
bruceb
Reminded me of this story:
[http://www.leanexpertise.com/TPMONLINE/articles_on_total_pro...](http://www.leanexpertise.com/TPMONLINE/articles_on_total_productive_maintenance/management/establishingpriorioties.htm)

One day a management consultant, Ivy Lee, called on Schwab of the Bethlehem
Steel Company. Lee outlined briefly his firm's services, ending with the
statement: "With our service, you'll know how to manage better."

The indignant Schwab said, "I'm not managing as well now as I know how. What
we need around here is not more "knowing" but more doing, not knowledge but
action; if you can give us something to pep us up to do the things we ALREADY
KNOW we ought to do, I'll gladly listen to you and pay you anything you ask."

"Fine", said Lee. "I can give you something in twenty minutes that will step
up your action and doing at least 50 percent".

"O.K.", said Schwab. "I have just about that much time before I must leave to
catch a train. What's your idea?"

Lee pulled a bland 3x5 note sheet out of his pocket, handed it to Schwab and
said: "Write on this sheet the six most important tasks you have to do
tomorrow". That took about three minutes. "Now", said Lee, "number them in the
order of their importance". Five more minutes passed. "Now", said Lee, "put
this sheet in you pocket and the first thing tomorrow morning look at item one
and start working on it. Pull the sheet out of your pocket every 15 or 20
minutes and look at item one until it is finished. Then tackle item two in the
same way, then item three. Do this until quitting time. Don't be concerned if
you only finished two or three, or even if you only finish one item. You'll be
working on the important ones. The others can wait. If you can't finish them
all by this method, you couldn't with any other method either, and without
some system you'd probably not even decide which are most important".

"Spend the last five minutes of every working day making out a 'must' list for
the next day's tasks. After you've convinced yourself of the worth of this
system have your men try it. Try it out as long as you wish and then send me a
check for what YOU think it's worth".

The whole interview lasted about twenty-five minutes. In two weeks Schwab sent
Lee a check for $25,000 - a thousand dollars a minute. He added a note saying
the lesson was the most profitable from a money standpoint he had every
learned. Did it work? In five years it turned the unknown Bethlehem Steel
Company into the biggest independent steel producer in the world; made Schwab
a hundred million dollar fortune, and the best known steel man alive at that
time.

~~~
ryanjshaw
I was curious about Ivy Lee [1]; some interesting tidbits:

> he was retained by John D. Rockefeller Jr to represent his family and
> Standard Oil, ("to burnish the family image"), after the coal mining
> rebellion in Colorado known as the "Ludlow Massacre". Upton Sinclair dubbed
> him "Poison Ivy" after Lee tried to send bulletins saying those that died
> were victims of an overturned stove, when in fact they were shot by the
> Colorado militia.

> Lee espoused a philosophy consistent with what has sometimes been called the
> "two-way street" approach to public relations, in which PR consists of
> helping clients listen as well as communicate messages to their publics. In
> practice, however, Lee often engaged in one-way propagandizing on behalf of
> clients despised by the public.

> Shortly before his death in 1934, the US Congress had been investigating his
> work in Nazi Germany on behalf of the controversial company IG Farben.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Lee](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Lee)

------
popasmurf
This article inspired me to complete a project I started halfway through last
year.

Very good read!

------
hiccup
Is it awful that I didn't finish reading his post?

~~~
3stripe
Awful that what? I didn't even make it to the end of your c

------
elwell
What does "anyth" mea

------
melling
"Real artists ship."

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cusx
great timely post! thank you !

------
taproot
You an me b

