Has anyone else faced the situation where they want to do startups on the side and they have the time to do it but unable to do anything in that time? I have the time to do so but I feel like having lots of time on the side is stopping me from getting anything done. On the other hand, if I take more freelance work, I will actually feel constrained and motivated to get a side project up in whatever time I have.

Yes yes. Here is what I did. I made actionable cards/lists on Trello or something for each project. In that free time, I pick whatever is on the top and do it. Generally, what happened in the free time is, I used to spend a lot of time on deciding what to do and I used to drift off to other things in that time. So making lists helped at least do something.

I faced somewhat similar situation and a really wise men said that “It may be because you don’t see the direct benefits from side-projects the way you see from client projects”. It was truer than I’d like to accept.

Two actionable ideas that work for me. 1. Fill some time in your calendar (focusmate maybe?) where you can work only on your side project. Leave your laptop so that you aren’t distracted. Complete as much work on pen and paper as possible. Once you’re making some progress, transition to laptop but be aware that this time is not yours to kill but to work. 2. Convince someone to be your accountability partner and share progress update once a week.

Thanks guys. @gray-bird-14941 I have been doing something similar and finding it effective. Glad to see someone else recommending it. @dry-waitress-7852 true 100%. @tall-advantage-5586 Good idea, if you can find an accountability partner dedicated to the task, it might work out. Some people do something similar by posting updates on Twitter or having monthly newsletter updates.

Yep. This thread is totally my situation as well @rough-autumn-89795 I don't have loads of time, but whatever I have, I often end up wasting just deciding what to do. Couple of things that have helped recently. Pick a super simple project that you can get something out over a weekend or a week. Just launch it and spread the news. That helps get a bit of momentum. I started reading a couple of books like: Side Hustle (https://www.amazon.in/Side-Hustle-Business-Without-Quitting/dp/1509859055/) and 100 Side Hustles (https://amzn.to/32Eo1l0) both by Chris Gullebeau - less for the tips (which are great) and more for the inspiration. If you surround yourself by stories and people who are putting out stuff easily and regularly, the motivation helps big time. Helped me with my printstoday project (https://printstoday.in)

@loud-glass-33663 I am also reading the first book. 😃 Also subscribed to Indie hackers and wip which is like a daily reminder for this. It’s just frustrating I have been thinking and working on this since 1.75 yrs and no success so far. But I believe we will reach there as long as we don’t quit.

Yes, it does happen. I would like to share what I have done recently which has helped me a lot. So I got a big whiteboard and on that I write generally things to be done for a week or two. Try to write from every domain plus travel plans. This has helped me a lot since I know it has to be ticked by the time I want it. Constantly update the status of the task also. And it's always in front of me.

I have learnt to live with an alarm clock. I set an alert for every few hours to get something done... This ensures I do not waste time and actually think of filling slots with something meaningful... A lot of the slots are very broad but thats okay and works for me coz I know that there is a timeslot thats empty and I can do something with it. And since there's already dedicated timeslots for regular tasks - family, kids, health, reading, I know i cannot reuse them for fear of becoming boring...