[peterburkimsher]

I'm notorious for having many half-finished personal side projects sitting around; some software, others hardware.

If someone else talks about a similar topic (e.g. a related article gets onto Hacker News, or someone asks "when will it be ready?") then I'm much more motivated to actually finish it.

If I need to find a job, I often try to write up the documentation and post Show HN projects. Occasionally I'll do that anyway, but it's easier when I'm in "writing" mode anyway (if I'm writing cover letters and emails).

The best motivator is to have someone else to work on a project together. Seeing the EspUSB WiFi mouse & keyboard through to production is something I wish I could witness, but I just can't get past the paperwork alone.