| There's one key point to everyone's comments thus far, I'll just reiterate it: This is a marathon, not a sprint. Work too hard, too fast, or too long, you'll burn out and get discouraged, quit and say that it doesn't work. I have a full time job and work on my two WordPress plugins on the side. I make sure that every day I accomplish at least one thing relevant to them or something I'm starting. Just one thing. It seems so easy, and yet, there have been days I got distracted, bored, busy, or just plain uninspired and didn't do it. Those days are the ones that I wish I had back. If you make progress on something every day, even a teensy tiny bit, you will head toward your goal. Progress does NOT mean: - Reading HN - Tweeting about your business - Looking at Facebook - Reading business books These are distractions (for the most part). And they're GREAT sometimes. But we tend to overindulge and think we're making progress because we read 5 new articles about X on HN today and feel "invigorated". That feeling will fade. You need to do something sustainable. Action is sustainable. Visible progress can be tracked on a daily basis. After 30 days, you can look back and see a LONG list of things YOU DID. That's inspiring. And it makes you want to do MORE. And MORE. Once you have momentum, the other key thing you need IMO, is a trusted person to bounce ideas off of. Someone who won't listen to your bullshit, only someone who will listen and call it like it is, not how you want to see it. Most friends are bad for this--they will be an echo chamber. You need honesty. Not ego stroking. This is HARD. It is VALUABLE as hell, too. Those two things will make a huge difference in getting you moving forward. That's what I rely on daily. |
-To stay focused, I set and obey time limits on researching startup advice and studying the domain of my startup.
-Everyday I write in a journal, among other things, about one great decision I made the previous day. This has helped me to consciously make better decisions. Therefore, more often than not, I decide to act/build rather than just think about something relative to my startup.
-Fortunately I'm not a single founder this time, but I have been on multiple past projects. A great friend of mine from college has agreed to co-found my current startup with me. One of the most important advantages I've gained is having someone that I trust and respect who can discuss ideas with candor. Try to find someone like this, even if they're not your co-founder.