Motivation

[Tsar]

Anyone else here feel like they could get a lot more done if they just forced themselves to program for a hour a day, possibly in differing areas?

The problem for me is I get busy, I forget, I lack motivation sometimes, how do you guys stay motivated?

A lot of times I get stuck on the "Already have other work I should be doing" set of mind, where I won't program because I have other work to do for school(Especially programming work) or something, even though I will avoid doing that work anyways until it is near due. For example I have finals on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I haven't done any programming, but I haven't studied yet either.

I would say on average I program for about 8 or more hours a week, but it is usually all at once and school related.

One method that sort of works for me is keeping whatever I am working on up on my second monitor at all times, sometimes the hardest part of doing work is beginning, this helps a lot, because when I get bored I will look over at my code and start changing a few things and working on it, sometimes this will only last for a few minutes before I go back to something else, but other times I will get sucked in and work on my code for hours.

Anyways, anyone know a good motivation method?

I plan on eventually working on an android app to for motivation once the summer begins, but that is, if I can motivate myself to get it done.

[Huntondoom]

at this point I lack a lot of motivation to do anything about coding

[Kulverstukas]

Dude... exactly like me. Sometimes I know I should be coding something but my mind just doesn't want to. There are times when I am coding and mind just shuts down for an hour or something, then I can't think, head hurts and I write shit - that often happens after few hours of coding. Most of the time my motivator is the idea of coding something I haven't yet coded, so it if always fun and sharing it with others. Sometimes it just pops into my head and stays there, like I want to code something so bad that.....
Yes, starting it is the hardest part, but when you do you get sucked in and don't stop for hours

So, my motivator is the idea of making something new (or old in new way or not...), learning from it (sometimes on bigger projects I get to a point where I just code normally from what I already know), and sharing, knowing someone might use that tool...
if yar interested, here I host my projects http://newage.ql.lt/projects

[Tsar]

Dude... exactly like me. Sometimes I know I should be coding something but my mind just doesn't want to. There are times when I am coding and mind just shuts down for an hour or something, then I can't think, head hurts and I write shit - that often happens after few hours of coding. Most of the time my motivator is the idea of coding something I haven't yet coded, so it if always fun and sharing it with others. Sometimes it just pops into my head and stays there, like I want to code something so bad that.....
Yes, starting it is the hardest part, but when you do you get sucked in and don't stop for hours

So, my motivator is the idea of making something new (or old in new way or not...), learning from it (sometimes on bigger projects I get to a point where I just code normally from what I already know), and sharing, knowing someone might use that tool...
if yar interested, here I host my projects http://newage.ql.lt/projects

Yeah ideas motivate me too, but only so much. I have a million cool ideas of what to program, but the hard part is sticking to one and just sitting down and not losing interest in the project. Also some of my ideas are too large and would take me a while to develop (some may even take a year or more before I even had something plausible). So its hard to keep interest, especially with something that may never see the light of day.

I guess the smartest thing would be to break down each project into a bunch of mini parts that relate to a project, and go from there. If I were to just try and finish one mini-project a week or so I guess eventually I would be making some progress. Instead of working on a project as a whole I could break it down... hmm..

The problem is that when working on things abstractly it is sometimes very off putting to continue working on it... but I suppose it is much better than never starting though.

[gh0st]

I think that if we start making something together it would be more motivational than doing it alone for example why dont we start coding an AV? named EvilAV or maybe something related to security I think that ande should start fomenting those kinds of ideas

well I dont know too much about coding but I think that I may help in something

[ande]

A lot of good words have been written already, but ill still like to say I have the exact same problem(s). I have tons of projects, some more important than others, some bigger than others and some are more interesting than others. But still, just getting my ass in gear and actually start coding is the hardest.

I believe its how the human nature works, projects/ideas you already know how to do will be the least interesting projects because you wont learn anything. Thats my experience anyway, idd much rather start doing some crazy ass projects I have no clue how to do than work on some old large project I know how to code, I just have to do it..

To try to contrebute just a tiny bit to the question asked; The first suggestion about having your work on other monitor(s) seams like a very good idea, I have done it a few times(not intentionally) and it actually works, suddenly you look at the code and go all "Hmmm, thats not right" or "Why am I not coding?" and you just start coding However, if you are planning to do this, make sure the window is ON TOP. Else you wont notice it until you turn your computer off lol

My two cents

[Huntondoom]

something that I hate about coding is programming the Handling stuff, what I mean with that is the little things how the program reacts to input like, what to enable or disable, size up, down, make visible, or not, checking items, and so on, and on, and on...
usually I'm as much occupied with the Handling part as with the main process

[Zesh]

We all have the same problem

When I'm in the 'zone' programming is easy and fun but getting into the 'zone' is hard. Like others have said starting is the hardest. Too many ideas, little time or lots of time, just can't be bothered to get started

I get some motivation from the user or when someone tells me I've done a good job.

[Kulverstukas]

I get some motivation from the user or when someone tells me I've done a good job.

This.

The biggest motivator, at least for me, is the thinking that someone will use my tools someday, even if they will not, lolz. I just like to create stuff and most of my shizzle is for myself, to make my life little easier.
If the project you are working on is too big and you just leave it thinking that it was a waste of time (like me) - then try to look at it from another angle - you learned something by doing it, or repeated what you already knew thus knowing it more. Maybe you will re-use the project or the code bits for another thing...?
That is why I save every piece of what I write.
Most of the time before starting, idea always pops out that it will take much time, don't start... even if it is a very simple shit - demotivator

[iMorg]

Pick your 2 best ideas, if you get tired of one move to the other and go back to the first when your tired of the second. That way you will always have something your interested in to work on.

Set some goals, choose dates you want to have the project finished by and tell yourself you will drop over dead if it is not done by those dates for motivation.

[FuyuKitsune]

I program when I have absolutely nothing else to do (computer science class, lol). Internet filters deter time wasting, and I purposely don't have proxies on hand so that it'd be a pain to get around the filters.

[Tsar]

I program when I have absolutely nothing else to do (computer science class, lol). Internet filters deter time wasting, and I purposely don't have proxies on hand so that it'd be a pain to get around the filters.

That actually reminds me of another way to be motivated, sometimes if I switch over to Linux I get a lot more done and am a lot more productive over all. On Windows there is all these things distracting me, I feel comfortable, I have all my bookmarks set up and what not, there is people to talk to, games to play, etc. On Linux I have the bare necessities for programming and that's it, I don't go to websites I waste my time on cause I'm too lazy to log in, end up only using my browser for googling problems.

I've gotten a lot of work done on Linux that would of taken me twice as long on Windows(via distractions).

[I_Learning_I]

If you lack motivation, that's indeed a problem, I believe the only way to solve lack of motivation is to start something new.
For instance I was acting like a computer maniac when I wanted to do game hacks, when I first joined UC Forums, so I coded and studied C++ all day for days, maybe even weeks.
Then when I joined HackForums (no flame please >.< ) I was all motivated about learning about bots and all that stuff, so I spent again hours and hours, like 12 hours/day learning.
If you're not feeling motivated that only means you've adapted to your environment and you need to change, go to a forum where their kind of products (by products I mean, their work result, being programs, hacking, any shit) lets you completely crazy, when you think "Wow those guys are like the best!".
From there you'll have your motivation back.


And yes, Linux is by far more productive than Windows, of course that for those who like to play with Web Applications and nmap any internet cable or wireless would be a distraction xD