Ask HN: How to find something to work on for myself?
3 comments
What you are feeling right now is a lack of inspiration, actually extremely common in jobs that require extensive problem-solving, like engineering. Your job sucks so much out of you that there's nothing left for yourself.
You fix this by balancing the output with input: consuming content. Not just digital content, but anything from reading books, listening to other people's ideas and actually even stuff like going out in nature helps. Slowly, you will start noticing ideas you can improve on, or things you would have done better. Your mind starts to wander, you start thinking "what if he used something different there?" or "I bet I can make that more performant". The trick is to stay focused when consuming said content, and be open to improvement, try understanding what you hear or see, not just mindlessly consume. It's a slow process but you will get the hang of it.
One more trick I can give you that worked wonders for me: write down an idea each day. Have something like your phone Notes app, and force yourself to write an idea for an app or something every single day. It can be stupid, it can be something already done 100 times or something no one would ever use. But it's your idea. At some point, you will realize one of those is actually something that you would like to work on and be even potentially profitable.
You're gonna find something, don't focus on the money, focus on the journey. It's gonna work out. Good luck!
You fix this by balancing the output with input: consuming content. Not just digital content, but anything from reading books, listening to other people's ideas and actually even stuff like going out in nature helps. Slowly, you will start noticing ideas you can improve on, or things you would have done better. Your mind starts to wander, you start thinking "what if he used something different there?" or "I bet I can make that more performant". The trick is to stay focused when consuming said content, and be open to improvement, try understanding what you hear or see, not just mindlessly consume. It's a slow process but you will get the hang of it.
One more trick I can give you that worked wonders for me: write down an idea each day. Have something like your phone Notes app, and force yourself to write an idea for an app or something every single day. It can be stupid, it can be something already done 100 times or something no one would ever use. But it's your idea. At some point, you will realize one of those is actually something that you would like to work on and be even potentially profitable.
You're gonna find something, don't focus on the money, focus on the journey. It's gonna work out. Good luck!
Join the demoscene and write cool art for C64's, or 64K's.
Okay, maybe 64K's are a bit competitive these days, try 4K's to start with.
Okay, maybe 64K's are a bit competitive these days, try 4K's to start with.
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LeadGrids is a powerful, AI lead generation platform that scans thousands of online conversations to find customers who are actively looking for your product or service.
How it works: Tell LeadGrids about your business and we find reddit users who are ready to pay. You can contact them on our platform.
No more cold outreach or spamming your product in launch platforms!
This is the most crazy part:
We launched recently and already have 140 paying customers!
LeadGrids is perfect for: SaaS Founders Agencies Consultants App Builders Freelancers
Yet I can't think of anything to work on myself, or where to apply my efforts for my own thing. I read of people saying 'target what you know' but I don't find it helpful. I don't really have much friction in my day job. I don't want to create a super-spread sheet or yet another dev tool.
I don't want to try to monetize my interests outside of work (reading, art).
I look for ideas off of what is posted on Acquire.com but inspiration doesn't strike. I'm scared of dedicating a lot of time to an idea I don't feel great about only for it to not make money. What would motivate me is a clear path towards making money. If I was confident that whatever I build could be sold to customers, then I could figure out the in-between steps.
I just feel like I'm stuck at step 0 on trying to find something to build and I'm stuck working a job, that while it pays well, will never give me financial freedom.
Just wondering if anyone has felt this way and has any advice..