[fefzero]

At first, some of these items seem to conflict (like "something every day" and "let life intrude"), but these are great rules of thumb. From what I've seen, too many developers just set out on a path without really mapping it out first.

In my own experience I have often used the excuse that my project is so small that I don't need to write anything down for it, but that always comes back to bite me when I have to "let life intrude" for a week or so - I come back and I'm totally lost as to where to go next. Having lots of little milestones makes things go much more smoothly.

[sunir]

You can do 10 minutes every day. The important thing is to feel progress every day, or else you get depressed. The same advice is given to writers for the same reasons: write something every day, even if it's terrible. It keeps you feeling like you're moving forward, and that helps you break through any mental blocks.