How to Stay Motivated Working on an Idea From Last Year
June 27th, 2008 - Jarkko
One way to define someone insanely interested in everything is to say that he keeps getting new ideas all the time. It’s a great place to be, sitting there in the middle of a flow of new ideas, but it has a downside too: If you keep hopping from one idea to the next as ideas keep popping to your mind, you will never finish a thing.
But that’s not the final verdict. You can embrace your ideas but still be happy bringing your ideas into completion. It’s not easy, but then again - why should it be? Isn’t the best reward in completing something you thought you’d never finish?
Here are some tips that have helped me so far:
- Write down all your ideas: When you write your idea down, you make sure it’s not lost while working on the previous ones. Your idea list serves as a queue. You keep adding new ideas at the bottom and removing them from the top. Feel free to skip bad ideas and not implement them, but don’t skip good ones - especially if you are already working on them!
- Plan for continuity from one idea to the next: When you go through your list of ideas, you’ll notice that there is a development from one to another. It’s the way how your brain has worked to come up with the ideas. I have noticed that when I go through my ideas in the same order as I created them, I can see a road from one idea to the next and a way to bond them together. Then I just need to leave out the ideas and parts of ideas that don’t support this bigger plan.
- Do some quicker projects on the side: After working on a long project for a while, you start to miss the thrill of finishing. This is good as it pushes you to complete the project more quickly, but it can be frustrating too, when you can’t do much to speed up your work. I have noticed that having some quicker projects going on at the same time helps: blog posts don’t take too many hours to write, magazine articles take a bit more but still not as much as finishing a book, and so on. By finishing something, you prove to yourself that you can get things done.
- Keep moving: When the progress stops for too long, the risk of giving up grows rather quickly. That’s why it’s good to keep your momentum once you have reached it. Do something, even something as small as fixing the colors of the front page of your e-book. What matters is that you have the feeling that you are not stopping.
- Make yourself accountable: When someone expects you to finish your project, it makes you work harder on it even when you feel like giving up. Ask someone you trust to test your product and give you feedback. Or just tell your friends about the project. But be careful: if you do this too often, and then don’t finish the projects, they will not trust you to complete anything anymore.
- Keep the idea fresh: By adding new twists to the idea as you go, you make it feel like something new, even after a year from its beginning. As long as you don’t crazy with new ideas on how to change your idea, this can make it more fun, and help you stick to it.
- Just do it: Don’t think about whether it’s new or not: if the idea is good, it’s worth making. And if it’s worth making, the fact that work becomes boring after a while shouldn’t stop you. Keep fighting, and get it done. Only then, move on to the next item on your idea list.
- The power of good enough: It’s usually better to get something done than to always be looking for the perfect idea. A good idea that gets implemented is worth ten, or even a hundred times more than a perfect idea that never got done.
- Daily routines: For me, one of the most important habits that help me keep working towards my goals is the morning ritual. It reminds me of my next tasks, and the place they have in the big picture, and makes me accountable: I just can’t let my projects die when I know that the next day I’ll have to report the status to myself.
If you are like me, working on your projects as a side business, you won’t have time to work on many of your ideas at once - and things will pile up. Just pick one, and stick to it until it’s done - all the while collecting your new ideas to a queue waiting to be implemented.
That’s the only way things get done: one by one.
Very, very useful things to follow for an IIE!
And this list makes my mistakes so obvious.
My problem with writing down ideas is that most of the time I write them down in different notebooks, different pieces of paper or ‘post-it’s. And than I have problems keeping track of the progress or the current and the new goals. (Actually, a lot of times I accidentally ‘run into’ one of those lost/forgotten ideas and surprise myself that I have even come up with something like that - no matter if I thought it was funny, good or impossible).
And you have definitely a good advice for the ‘freeze’ period Jarkko.
It is the most critical time for a completition of a goal/task. And if you don’t find a way to get rid of the Sisyphus feeling by completing some short-term and less tedious task, you’re busted. And that takes down also your self-esteem and accountability all together (I simply cannot keep quiet about whatever I am doing. Actually, I think that sometimes I over-communicate things ;))
But that’s really the only way of getting things done: one thing at a time and with lot of patience and will.
Great list.
I found a big problem in my life. I have too many great ideas. I often worked on multiple ideas the same time. I also often got tired with ideas that is no longer interested me.
I believe that I have a Monkey personality. Never settle down on my thing. Monkey always grab the apple and give it one bite than throw it away. Monkey will then find another apple and give it one bite.
I would add #10 into my list.
Control your personality to concentrate on the things you want to get it down.
:-)
Terence Chang’s last blog post: Weekend Confession 11 - Where I was? Where will I be?
Good advice Jarkko. Quick side projects are a great way to feel like you’ve accomplished something. In fact, at this moment in time my side projects are bringing in more money then my main project.
Those quick projects are a good way to try out new ideas that you might not feel 100% comfortable with. You can toss a bunch of things out there, and see what sticks. What gets the most traction can be your next main project.
Nimic’s last blog post: How We’re Going Green at Home and Work
@Dren: Hmm… You know what? I think I found my second product idea from your comment: the idea container. One place where you collect all your ideas so that you don’t lose them.
Have to think about that a bit more though, because in a sense I think it already exists - it’s a notebook ;)
…and that’s exactly why I always carry one with me. Lately, I’ve been having just one problem, though: I keep losing my pen - and a notebook without a pen is rather useless, isn’t it?
@Terence: Monkey personality, huh? :) I think I have that too. But recognising it is the first step to making the most out of it, right?
And looking at all the things you have achieved so far makes me think that there’s nothing wrong with some monkey personality!
@Nimic (and others): It’s great to see that you all mention the quick side projects in your comments! Apparently, that’s something that makes a lot of sense - and probably something worth a little more attention in the future. Thanks for the affirmation!
Hi Jarkko! Boy, holding yourself accountable is huge!
mark’s last blog post: Don’t Let Anybody Tell You That You Can’t
It’s always good to write down all of your current ideas — then analyze each and decide which has the most potential. Otherwise, you just end up running in circles.
@Scrubs: Yep, that’s true. And by writing the ideas down (and storing them until they are done), you can always re-evaluate ideas you have ignored so far…
I think I’m doing that soon, bringing one of my 2 years old ideas to life.
This is amazing. Just what i needed to read. Nice blog post. :-)
I also like the “Idea jar” someone mentioned..