Ask HN: How do you stay motivated on long-term, personal projects?

2 pointsgallerdude1 comment

It's too easy to watch YouTube, read HN, or check your twitter timeline. I do have siteblockers, but they feel like short term solutions.

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For me, writing tests and documenting my build / test / deploy process are critical steps. If I don't have tests in place, I have a hard time picking up a project again after a little while away from it, since I can't be sure if it's even in a working state, or if I can get it to a working state quickly.

This usually takes the form of a README with a few example command lines to run.

Additionally, I find that if I put a project aside with a failing test already written, it's easier for me to pick it back up again, since I've effectively already set up a problem for future-me to solve. A friend of mine calls this "parking facing downhill", which I think is a great turn of phrase.

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