Left job 3 months ago, 5k USD of debt, have no savings, to build an email client. Earning a bit by giving android classes and loaning petty cash for food and rent from my folks and friends. Pretty desperate.
Is it working? Well it's complicated.
The main problem I faced the first 4 weeks was to break out of the inertia of being given a task to perform.
The second problem I faced was the daily work routine. Took 4 weeks to get that right.
Last 4 weeks have been really productive though.
Did I have a plan of what to do from the start?
Yes. Written down in an excel sheet.
Did I follow the plan?
No. I don't why. Just woke up every morning to find myself staring at the plan, scribbling notes and writing random code snippets. On the other hand, it also gave me a lot of extra knowledge base about the problem I am solving. Too early to say whether it was good or bad.
Did I tell anyone about my plan?
No. I guess that was my mistake. Some kind of external/peer monitoring would have helped.
So what changed? How did I finally get productive?
Desperation. Spent 2 months without anything solid to show for it. One nice morning, I had this ache in my heart to get something done and things just started working out.
So does desperation drive success?
I don't know about success but desperation does improve productivity. But desperation also gives you a tunnel vision and you might miss important things that actually make you successful. That is also my greatest fear.
Takeaway: Do what this guy is doing. Get peer monitoring before you start. Send that excel sheet to someone who can spare a few minutes a day/week to keep you in line.
Is it working? Well it's complicated.
The main problem I faced the first 4 weeks was to break out of the inertia of being given a task to perform. The second problem I faced was the daily work routine. Took 4 weeks to get that right.
Last 4 weeks have been really productive though.
Did I have a plan of what to do from the start? Yes. Written down in an excel sheet.
Did I follow the plan? No. I don't why. Just woke up every morning to find myself staring at the plan, scribbling notes and writing random code snippets. On the other hand, it also gave me a lot of extra knowledge base about the problem I am solving. Too early to say whether it was good or bad.
Did I tell anyone about my plan? No. I guess that was my mistake. Some kind of external/peer monitoring would have helped.
So what changed? How did I finally get productive? Desperation. Spent 2 months without anything solid to show for it. One nice morning, I had this ache in my heart to get something done and things just started working out.
So does desperation drive success? I don't know about success but desperation does improve productivity. But desperation also gives you a tunnel vision and you might miss important things that actually make you successful. That is also my greatest fear.
Takeaway: Do what this guy is doing. Get peer monitoring before you start. Send that excel sheet to someone who can spare a few minutes a day/week to keep you in line.