Re:Ask HN: How do you stay motivated when the project gets s...
by kaitnieks on Friday July 23, 2010 @03:51PM
(#1542226)
The act of finishing should be enjoyable but what if it's not? Are there any tricks to make yourself be happy about the finish?
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Re:Ask HN: How do you stay motivated when the project gets s...
by photon_off on Saturday July 24, 2010 @04:32AM
(#1543341)
Yes. Sit down and imagine how you're going to feel when you are finished. Really try to make yourself believe that you're done. If these are features, imagine using the product with those features in place, and how much it adds to it. If it's design, think about how much better it's going to look when your through with it. If it's performance, think of how your product is now more capable of handling more requests or is faster and lighter-weight feeling. Whatever it is on the todo list, I'm sure there's a good reason it's there.
Now that you've imagined how much these things on your todo list are going to improve whatever it is you're working on, and how awesome it's going to be when those things are in place, why not get to work?
Re:Ask HN: How do you stay motivated when the project gets s...
by nudge on Friday July 23, 2010 @05:27PM
(#1542455)
I think exline's comment about todo lists is helpful - I find it psychologically satisfying to strike off the last item on a list.
There's extrinsic rewards of the finish, like getting paid, having something to show on your portfolio (depends on the work, obviously), not getting fired, etc.
I quite like getting things I don't enjoy finished because then they're gone, the mental energy devoted to them can be reallocated.