Most developers can relate to having thousands of dream projects stuck in their "brain box," never seeing the light of day. During my undergrad, I started developing small projects fueled by curiosity and motivation of the unexplored dev world. But after entering the corporate world, that spark began to fade. Despite thinking of new ideas daily, I struggled to start or complete them.
As I tried to make sense of this behavior, I noticed a pattern—small things that slowly pile up and end up derailing everything, no matter how driven you are. I tried to summarize all those things and give essential tips that worked for me.
It Doesn’t Need to Be the Next “Viral” Thing
When we think about creating an app or a website, it’s easy to get caught up in the idea of making it the next big hit. But out of the 3.3 million apps on the Play Store, only about 114,000 have ratings above 4 stars. That doesn’t mean the rest are failures, though.
Your project doesn’t need to attract everyone—it just needs to spark your curiosity or solve a problem that matters to you. Ironically, your chances of making something impactful actually increase when you focus on building and improving the project, instead of stressing about whether it will go viral. Once I figured this out, the pressure of starting a new project really eased up because I knew I was doing it for me, not for anyone else.
Make Your Own “Motivation”
Like a lot of people, I kick off new projects with tons of excitement—kind of like a New Year’s resolution. But by week two or three, that energy usually fizzles out. Next thing I know, I’m abandoning the project and moving on to the next one, caught in that endless procrastination loop.
To break that cycle, I came up with a reward system. For example, I’ll treat myself to a pack of my favorite noodles if I get through a module by the end of the week. It’s a small incentive, but it really helps me push through the tough spots.
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