Change the place to refresh your mind

Ivan Klimchuk — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 13:49:51 +0000

This time I want to share some tips that I read in the book “Atomic Habits” written by James Clear. It is not about productivity itself, but it is still very useful.

Our habits often rely on the places where we used to do something. When we visit these locations, we activate certain habits. We don't even think about it. It just happens, like a pattern. It means that if we used to start working days with a cup of coffee and reading the news, changing this behavior just because we have a desire is almost impossible. We need to break the usual behavioral loop.

My example. I’ve tried to read a paper book before work many times. I used to use the same pattern. Every day I usually make a cup of coffee, sit down in my chair, and… start checking emails, Twitter, updating my code environment, and other stuff. When did I remember about the book that was right in front of me? Correct, after around 1 hour. I wasted that hour, to be honest. I did not work or read.

To solve it, I changed the place. I started reading near the sofa, sitting on the floor. It works well for me during the weekends as well, when I'm looking after my 8-month-old daughter. When she plays, I can read. At other times, I also go to the living room and read there. In the cabinet, I can only work with my laptop. Changing places clears our patterns, and it may help you concentrate on the task you would like to accomplish.

If you would like to do something that you could not start for a long time, try to change the place. It should be different from your usual working area. Try to change the room or just site in the room. It is necessary to break your usual patterns.

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My indie-making journey begun

Ivan Klimchuk — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 11:46:00 +0000

At the start of November, I started work on my English-speaking Twitter account. The goal was simple, to grow it. And during that activity, I found some interesting people. One such person was Thomas Sanlis, who created the website What is an Indie Maker? I translated it into Belarusian, as an open-source contribution, which I like to do every time. During that, I discovered, that there is a big community of interesting people — indie makers. They create their projects, make from them products, and sell them. That’s awesome! I thought.

It was impressive to see how many interesting projects people are building. I decided to jump in this boat as well. What got me hooked? People build their projects and make them profitable. And they use all their knowledge and experience that they have. It sounded too very close to my plans for the past 2022 year — to share more of my knowledge and experience. At least, after almost 18 years in software development, I have what to say.

Indie makers do a lot of activities. Not only applications or SaaS solutions. They create content, record videos, lessons, and podcasts, and create courses. Also, they write blogs and newsletters. I decided to start with something similar, but very basic — writing. Furthermore, I lack skill in writing in a foreign language, and it is a good reason to gain the skill.

I started the newsletter in the middle of November. Right after my meeting with the indie hackers community. Since that time I have learned a lot of things and examples. About how people build their projects and do marketing. How they collect customers and create their own audience to spread and sell products. It looks like startups, and it is true. With one exception. People do it from scratch alone.

To be, or even better to say to become an indie maker is interesting to me. Why? Because I already spend my free time building projects and sometimes products. It may be something for fun, other times it is open-source contributions (not only by code). I like the idea in general! One piece, which was missed, is a positive income. And indie making approach is a good way to turn products into a way of generating positive income. It should bring me closer to my main goal. I plan to reach financial independence before my 40th.

It was a natural decision, but I have 9-to-5 work, and I have a family with two kids. Seems, I can not be as fast as other makers, who left their jobs to focus on their projects only. It means that I have to learn how to use the time which I have. The skill that nobody can buy. Let’s see, how it will be going. The journey has begun.

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DEV Community: Ivan Klimchuk

Change the place to refresh your mind

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My indie-making journey begun

More from me