How do you stay motivated and focused on your side project goals?

For me, it usually boils down to: 1. Having a clear understanding of WHY I am working on something - even if it's for the sake of learning something new. If you start a project for the sake of having fun, and then 1-2 weeks later it's become a chore, it is time for me to re-evaluate how I am spending my time. 2. When I start to feel resistance in working on something, I automatically open up my project and start plugging away - this helps overcome the activation energy required to mentally invest in getting started. It really depends on the person, but I know that these are my usual suspects if I'm feeling a lack of motivation/will to continue a project. :)

1. If my side project is to learn something, I start to teach it in university. Not online course, real offline university with real students. 2. If my side project is to create something for real people, I use one of my friends (or family) as a customer. Complete the project especially for her, discuss requirements, etc. 3. I add the project in my wishlist. It helps to remember not only "I can do it", but "I want to do it". Huge difference. 4. I suggest some friends to complete the project together. It is the last point in this list, but the most useful way to achieve something.

Honestly, the _project_ is your motivation. That motivation doesn't change, it just gets reprioritized as it competes with your other daily motivators. I personally noticed that when I gave way to other priorities and skipped days, I started to forget the exciting bits about my project and it would get moved down my mental list. I identified that I needed to make enough time every day that allowed me to accomplish some minor achievable task on my project, and keep the excitement going. This led me to create my own task management / day planner app, and I have never been more successful at moving my projects forward.

Truth... I wake up, and think "What would Sam Ovens do today on this mission?" then I get into the work

For me, my biggest motivating factor is the impact it will have on the people who use my side project and how it will help them achieve their goals.

I do bilateral eye movements and mindfulness for a few minutes, it flushes the stress hormones in the body and activates the brain's Task-Positive Network (TPN). I built myself an app to help me do these 2 things. And I use Focusmate to work with a virtual partner.

Personally I do it when I have my breakfast on weekends or holidays. It's important to have some dedicated time for it. Everytime I open the code, I make sure there's some progress on the project before I close it.

I meditate every morning for about 5-10 minutes and one of the topcis in my meditation is about my goals. I just quicly go through all my goals, like - long term goals - short term goals - daily goals And this way I have a clear view on what should I accomplish. It helps me focues and also my motivation got better!

I have a routine of weekly review on my goals and what I did in order to achieve that. I also plan what I should do the next week to keep the momentum. The plan ahead and keeping yourself accountable is I think the biggest motivator. On day by day basis I have a calendar with timeline with stuff that I want to have done by what day. Seeing in calendar how those things close in every day keeps me aware of my self set deadlines.

For me, the most important thing is faith. I mean faith in significance of a project, the value of result of my work for people. Faith that I make the world a little better. If it's only about money, then there is no motivation for me. But when I imagine happy people whose quality of life improves because of my work, it helps me to achieve a better result.