I would love to hear about any techniques you have for overcoming mental fatigue at the end of your work day when you still have business work to do.
Did you work on your business before the work day started? Or something different?
Did you work on your business before the work day started? Or something different?
I would love to read something about how your code all day for your day job and then code all night for your business. That info, coming from somebody who has done it before would be a very interesting read.
(Another interesting thing would be reading about how to keep your sanity while doing all of this for more than a few weeks)
To stay sane, set strict rules about time off. For me, Friday night and Saturday (all day and night) are family time. Sunday is totally Gridspy time. If I start to feel tired, admit it and remind yourself that you can ship one month later and take a few days off here and there.
I'd second the guy who said, "do something you really care about." I find that programming stuff that motivates me at home makes it much easier to keep writing the grind-work code at work.
Of course, there's a lot of stuff in starting a business that sucks. I'd say to try to arrange your work so that you're writing code you like when you're already feeling pretty burnt out, and doing more "normal" business tasks (write documentation, set up servers, do paperwork) when you're more energetic.
Writing code to refresh yourself isn't perfect. And starting a business is a lot more than just coding. But it's a hack that can help a fair bit, especially in the more coding-heavy sections of starting up.
I don't want to work on anything. I have just put the kids to bed. Its 9pm. Only a red-bull, or a pot of coffee, or maybe just a diet coke or tea can get me going again. That and music. I'll put on some music with headphones and its kind of like a signal to my brain that its time to start coding again.
Here's my inner monologue when I know it'd be better for me to do something but I'm too "tired" to get it done: SHUT THE &@# UP YOU (&@#ING WHINER. DO YOU WANT IT OR NOT? JUST (*@&#ING DO IT.
And then I get to work!
I'd love to take smaller chunks but it seems if I work I get kind of wired and it's harder for me to settle down. Also of course the larger chunks are more effective. The massive breakthrough for me would be improving how I maintain mental state between sessions. I actually have this issue also in my day job, house projects--you name it. Being able to sit down and instantly know what I was working on, where in the process I need to be, what the next step is--that is my biggest impediment to the side gig and I have been trying to solve this for years.