Working on (serious) side project while having a full-time job

Many (if not most) successful side projects are a success because they solve a problem that someone has. The first someone is typically "you". So if you're not solving a problem for yourself you won't spend any time on your projects. For example, A friend of mine scores little league baseball games every night and was tired of using a pencil and papper. He was interested in learning how to write an Android app, so he wrote one to keep baseball game scores. He has no intentions of releasing it, but assuming he wanted to, a big portion of the work is done already.

I think this is the reason why you see so many task and schedule planners. No-one has "solved" the problem of keep track of your tasks and checking them off. We have a bunch of people annoyed with themselves for forgetting things and writing new apps to solve the problem, from their own perspective.

So look for something in your life that you or a family member repeatedly does, which is boring, not productive and not fun. Write an app to make it productive and fun. Then if it works for you, it might work for others. They may also find it useful.

I find it's important to have a to-do list ready before your free time arrives.

I tend to be most productive Sat eve until early Sun morn. I spend this time, building & creating. I then have a relaxing Sunday, get refreshed for the week ahead. I just do 'maintenance' work during the week, ready for the next phase at the weekend.

It's hard to get excited about an idea you don't have yet so your mind will keep pulling towards doing other stuff.

Keep a list of potential ideas, problems to solve etc and what the first step would be. When you hit on an idea exciting enough, that's when it's a great feeling to rush home and make some progress.

Here's what helps me (with a fulltime job paying the mortgage and kids to feed as well).

Make lists. Make estimates. Identify where in your free time you can do "things" but most importantly WHAT is best doing at that time - ie product development, marketing, phone calls etc etc. No point developing something during the working hours when you need to get in touch with people. Identify when you are most creative, most interrupted, most chatty and do the task that fits those gaps.

I feel the same way, although, I usually have spurts, where I will work really hard on a side project for a few days, maybe even a week, but end up burning myself out when it's combined with work. You're not alone.