> you have to have a very high level of motivation to follow a project through to where you have something to be proud of. Without outside guidance and clear reasons to chase a goal for a long time (like doing well in competition), it all falls apart.
Honestly that’s what every project I try feels like :-(
Yup. Playing around with something trivial for a couple of hours is easy. Throwing away failed iterations over and over "for fun" rapidly becomes "not fun." And if there's a real chance basically no one will care if you succeed, why bother?
There's unlimited things we -could- be doing, but only a limited number are worth it, so this is rational.
I have suffered the too-many-languishing-side-projects syndrome for many years. To it was extremely satisfying when I was able to stick to one side-project for a few weeks, ironing out the kinks etc. and release my "Life on One Sheet" project [1]. Even though it did not get any love from Show HN, I have zero regrets about spending time on it because I finally shipped it in an acceptable form.
I hear ya. I am only now getting a little better about working through my project directory. I am not sure if that what it was, but house projects helped. It seems I get more invested if I do fair amout of prep work. Otherwise, it is too easy to let go.
Honestly that’s what every project I try feels like :-(