I've found that you have to work on something that you're passionate about, something you want to use. I don't have the magic formula for finding these things, but after trying several side projects and having them fizzle out, I've finally found something that I want to spend almost all of my free time on, and I do. I do hope to sell the product, but what keeps me working on it 40 hrs a week, in addition to my full time job, is the promise of actually using the device.

The closest I can get to making the process formulaic is to find a hobby that requires gear of some kind. Before you ever build something to improve that hobby, you need to enjoy the hobby. Then, find some aspect of that hobby that could be improved, most likely through some sort of automation.

I've come up with a pretty cool project with obvious business model this exact way. I started with a new hobby last year, quickly saw some inefficiencies and ways it could be made easier with technology/computing and have started building it out. Although I don't have as much time as I'd like to spend on it (newborn twins!), I'm definitely motivated and excited every time I crack open Sublime Text :)

If only I could figure out how to make $ working on my car or playing with my kids.

I realize that you're being somewhat facetious, but don't think of the hobby itself as the income generator. Think of something that is difficult or expensive, or time intensive about working on your car, and try to make it easier, cheaper and or faster to accomplish. Think of it from the perspective of people that work on cars for a living. Anything that saves them time/labor/equipment costs will be of interest to these people.

The bare essence is this: find a problem that a large group of people experience, and find a way that allows people to solve that problem.

Mechanics are people who enjoy working on cars; and beyond that, cars provide lots of space to tinker --- I remember being inspired by old Mother Earth News articles on converting your pickup to be wood-burning, or vegetable-oil-burning, or any sort of alternative fuel. Farming/gardening is a great way to play with your kids, and make a little money on the side too; the money is likely to not be significant, but the pleasure at making money from the work of your hands is personally palpable, since I normally am a knowledge-worker.

It has taken me months to build up will power to the point where I can work on coding projects in my spare time consistently. Fail. And not care and keep carrying on.

Some ideas that may help:

1. Enter a hackathon. Group up with people and you will be compelled to code.

2. Train for a half marathon. Increase your endurance and your ability of will to keep to the training schedule.

3. Have children. Ironically the ridiculous overhaul this has has on my life has increased my resilience. Last night I got woken up 3 or 4 times. That's normal. I feel OK. Also the children will motivate you to the long term goal of having more time with them and not being stuck at work for so many hours.

4. Do the equivalent of having children - maybe take a second job for a while to get used to the extra hours.

5. Give up TV.

6. Give up Caffeine.

7. Give up Alcohol

8. Give up Socializing

9. Learn to get an itchy feeling on any day you haven't taken action. It's a horrible feeling that keeps me glued to the laptop.

10. Therapy. This should be for everyone not for just the very depressed etc.

I seriously hope that "8) Give up Socializing" was a bit of a joke. I think that once this becomes the norm in your life, your life will suck big time.

Getting out there to engage and to talk other folk is great. A side bonus from this activity is that it is a great source of new ideas, just keep an open mind.

If they're not normal humans, it's only because they have more willpower than you. That's the best news ever, because it's been proven in studies time and time again that willpower can be built up just like muscles through exercise. Conquer your will, and you'll be able to use it to build what you want. Start with meditation if you're not doing it already. Regular physical exercise and meditation are excellent ways to build your willpower, and I guarantee that an inordinately large percentage of HN users meditate compared to the general public.

I agree that some people just have very little ambition and determination. However, I think the statement "If they're not normal humans, it's only because they have more willpower than you." is way too overgeneralized given the limited information you have regarding jmnicolas' life (unless you know more than can be gleaned from his post here).

There are any number of completely valid reasons why a person would be too exhausted to work on a side project after work hours. People do have limitations. Some people have very difficult lives. People do burn out -- and everything does not boil down to having the willpower or not. I'm not saying willpower is irrelevant -- it is relevant. It just isn't the only variable in the equation.

Actually in studies I saw posted on HN it's been proven willpower is not a muscle but a resource. However you can use more of that precious resource for things that matter by building up habits and avoiding unnecessary situations which drain your willpower. That said, physical state affects willpower level, so exercises and meditation do help a lot.

How do you get the willpower to start meditating and doing regular exercise? :P

I'll answer you as if you were serious, haha.

For me, it was a serious medical issue that was partly psychosomatic. Exercise and meditation were just parts of the recovery, and afterwards they stuck around as valuable tools.

For others? I recommend you stare death in the face and use that as motivation. One day you will be dead. Accept that. Then decide whether you want to idle through life letting your mind control you and drive you to do whatever is easiest and most comfortable for it because evolution taught it to seek comforts out, or if you want to accomplish your dreams.

If you want to accomplish your dreams, and know you don't have the willpower, the first obvious step is to build that willpower.

Every day you falter, stare death in the face again and get back to daily meditation and exercise until you've got the willpower to take on your dreams.

I'm half-serious :) I agree that the first step is to build that willpower. But you need willpower to take that first step. How do you get that? If I was the kind of person to persist day after day doing meditation and exercise, I'm not sure I'd need to build willpower :)

The first step is the hardest. Typically people need some type of life/environment change in order to prod them into additional changes. Moving, getting a new job, throwing away your TV :) might be just the things to facilitate a change.

Unfortunately, friends often get in the way of that change. Few people do it on purpose, but if you suddenly find willpower your friends may feel bad about themselves and then try to pull you back down. You don't need to dump all your friends, but there is certainly value in evaluating each relationship and making sure it is positive and healthy. Some people you may decide not to see again (hopefully not), and others you simply decide to spend less time with. The saying I like to use is you are the average of the 5 people closest to you.

In my experience, once you get something out there and see even a small number of people enjoying it, it's pretty hard not to be motivated by it!