Since the pandemic, I’ve been spending 1-2 hours every evening and then 4 hours every weekend on my side project.

I resonate with some of the things mentioned in this article.

Having a non draining main job is an absolute must. The job should also be non stressful. My current job is very easy to do so I can have a second life on my project.

I do worry that I’m stagnating at work because I’m devoting time to my project and not undertaking more challenging work at work. The pandemic helped in this regard because it’s not that easy to switch jobs, so I have kicked this can down the road. However it does make me anxious.

Doing a project with great significant personal meaning to me helps a lot. What software would you be build if you are a millionaire? Build that. That way you are not tied to it’s commercial success and can be much happier doing what you are doing without pressure.

Like many, my attention span is short sometimes and I keep jumping from side project to side project. I started off in Swift; moved to Web Apps because I wanted the greatest Audience; moved to Common Lisp because I freaking love it; now pivoting some of the front end to PHP.

When doing something new I get very excited and motivated. However equally important is the boring stuff that feels like “work” — it’s those tasks that when I complete, I know I’m making progress in my project - it’s the boring unsexy things that push a project forward.

What I do is balance the both - after making some gains, I may experiment with some new exciting things and then revert back.

Time is of an essence when you only have a few hours a week, so the Donald Knuth quote “Premature optimization is the root of all failure” (or something like that) is a banner on my site and super valuable. I avoid the temptation of spending hours to optimize loops or make my front end more sexy. Not always, but I try.

We have to play the long game. I have no issues now in taking extended breaks from my project - if I’m tired at work or it looks like it’s going to be a bad week, then I don’t program and just relax. I try and plan my goals for my project each week. When I have bad weeks at work, I use my spare time reading interesting new technologies; when I’m quiet at work, I try to do a lot of the boring parts of my project and push it forward.

Recently I try building all the logic in my head when walking or lying down; helps save my eyes from sitting in front of a screen always.

Although not possible for all, I try to convert some of my work stuff to what’s related in my project; eg learning php at work to upgrade the company website.

Finally, I realize I’m at a big disadvantage in terms of available time vs others, but a few things:

- I don’t have pressures of money or monetization. I can do the project HOW I want

- if I don’t do my project then I’m just giving up on life and resigned to the lame career I have. We only live once - I don’t want to look back on my life and feel like I just punched papers and worked for others.

- I’m already in my mid-30s and also not particularly successful in my career. This motivated me to some degree

Avoiding burnout is key; remove all unnecessary activities (such as commenting on HN :) as much as possible.

Finally I don’t have kids and I realize working on my side project make become more difficult soon as the pandemic ends; but I’m glad I didn’t waste 2020!

Hope the above helps