[ChicagoDave]

There are a lot of factors in being a developer relating to stress, income, talent, vision, responsibility, maturity, and emotional intelligence.

I think most of us go through cycles of high productivity inter-mixed with moderate productivity, and some small moments of being useless. The best developers are the ones that seem to be slightly higher than moderately productive all the time. Those people are rare in my mind. Then there are a handful of rockstars that can code at a high level all the time. I've only met a couple people like that in 31 years.

As for crippling doubt, well, I think those are signals to listen to, but learn to review your ideas pragmatically. I'm on my second start-up and this second concept is no sure thing. I've had doubts many times, but I also see the merits in building it. So I persevere. It's not at all easy. You have to forget about the future and focus on the here and now. Focus on the things you _can_ do, not the things that you have no control over.

But yes, we all have unfinished projects that were stopped because of doubts.