Lately I have found that I have not been enjoying my work as much as I used to and as much as I would like to for that matter. I find it more of a chore an inconvenience than something which is fun and challenging. Whilst pondering about this for a while I realised that just working on stuff all day that I don’t find that interesting has basically chipped away at me over time. It is true that life is too short to do something that you don’t enjoy – and it really is. I need a project that I find really interesting and that I can work on happily, something which is not about just making money to pay the bills, something which is about enjoyment. Basically an exciting hobby project.

One of my biggest problems is that I have too many ideas. Yes some of you might be thinking how can having plenty of ideas be a bad thing. Well, I actually come up with new ideas everyday and change my mind about what to do. I find that I have one of those minds that are constantly in overdrive and I cant slow down to concentrate on something. To be honest it is driving me mad because it feels like I am constantly going around in circles. I have that many ideas that I could create a website about sharing ideas so that at least other people could use them. There are so many ideas that I have had in the past that have since been done (and I am talking a year or two later) so it proves that some of my ideas must be credible. I am guessing that many people have the same problem that I do. Which idea should I actually pick out of a list of many? Or how do I find something to work on? This could indeed be the million dollar question.

What Makes an Idea Viable?

So what are the crucial and important parts about any idea that make it viable to spend months or most likely years working on it? I would say that the most important thing that will ensure that the project gets finished is to actually be passionate about the idea. This is simply the crucial part missing for me from my list of ideas. I have absolutely no passion for doing most of the things on my long list, but I am sure that many people would love to work on them. Damn, I seriously should think about doing some idea sharing site, I could fill it with hundreds of ideas instantly . Anyway, it would seem to most people that enjoying what your working on is obvious, but I find that this gets forgotten these days. It’s always about making money (well it was for me anyway) instead of doing it purely for passion. When you think about it, most of the best products out there were done probably because they enjoyed doing it rather than specifically to make money. Monetising seems to be something of a by product for doing something that turns out great. Great products are done by people who are passionate about the problem and solution. Markus Frindus wrote plentyoffish.com because he wanted to learn the .Net framework and created a dating site in order to do this. Now he makes gazillions of dollars but that was not his purpose from the start, it was a by product.

Should Money Be A Deciding Factor?

Well the answer to this is it is obviously a factor and in some cases it should be. It would be nice to be able to make money working for yourself and it is most people’s dream but, should making money be the main deciding factor in choosing an idea to work on when it’s going to dominate your time, perhaps for years to come? Do you think that you have what it takes to continue working on something for that long if your heart is not really in it? When I am honest with myself I know that I couldn’t do it but I am pretty sure that there are some focused people out there that could. It really depends on the kind of person that you are. That is part of the reason for the line of non existant projects that lie in my wake. I drive my family crazy because they know me well and it annoys them that I am capable of completing my ideas but can never focus on doing them. I am sure that there are many people who fall into this spot for many different reasons.

So What is Worth it Then?

If I knew this for sure I would have multitude of successful products under my belt and probably a bank full of money, but I dont. I have been thinking about this for the last couple of days which is what triggered me to write this article in the first place. I have found that you really need to be happy with your current life, whether this is your job or your life in general. If either of these things among others are not making you happy the chances are that your project will never start or fail. If you find that your getting nothing but stress in your day to day life this will stop you from doing anything in your own time. Trust me, this is the case. Doing some side project is not going to get rid of your problems so the best thing to spend your time on in my opinion would be to sort these things out first. These life problems are most likely the reasons why most people want to work on something in the first place so they can just shut away their problems. Been there and done that and trust me when I say that it does not work. If you enjoy working for someone else but are not enjoying what you are doing simply look for another job. I know that it may not sound easy to do but it amazes me just how many people will stay in a job for the completely wrong reasons, when really it is one of the most easy things that you can do and sometimes the most effective in making you happy. Your job takes up most of your life so you really should be happy doing it and have a good balance. Employers that don’t get this do not deserve you anyway. Remember that.

Other Things That Could Be Worth A Look

If like me, you enjoy learning and being challenged it might make sense to take some college or university course that can stimulate those brain cells. I am sure that there is some subject that everybody would like to learn but never gets around to. This is a mistake as not only will you enjoy doing the course but it will provide you with qualifications that will help you in the long term. Most people are just looking for a tap on the back for doing something well and need that recognition. Working on your own project may never bring that to you as the chances are it is just yourself working on it and there is nobody to recognise your talents. If you are this kind of person, changing jobs, more team work or doing a course could be what you are looking for. Personally I find that I enjoy helping people to do things that they didn’t know they could do. I enjoy teaching and solving problems for people. I find that I work harder trying to solve something for someone else than I do for myself. Considering I know this about myself I still cant work out what I want to do so I definitely understand that it is a hard task to do and will require some careful consideration. But this is the crucial stage as you may find that changing a few things in your life could have the desired effect that you are after. The hassle that your own project will bring is not neccesarily something that people should take lightly, although for some people it will be highly enjoyable.

How To Find Something To Work On

So if you don’t have an idea or are looking for better ones are there any ways to find them? I remember when I was a student on my placement I knew that I wanted to do something great one day but just didnt know how to come up with any ideas. My boss at the time could seem to pull ideas out of his hat in an instance. A lot were crap (this is good) but some were amazing. I remember talking to him and asking how hard it was to find ideas to work on. I wondered how he managed to come up with them quite so easily. Baically his answer was to start looking at things and think how you can improve them. I thought that was a cop out answer – isn’t that obvious. He told me to start doing it even if it took me days to think of something. If you keep this up over time you will begin to see things and find improvements all the time. I stuck to it and remember thinking of some really crap ideas at first but gradually without even realising I began to constantly come up with ideas. You just have to learn to separate the wheat from the chaff which will also come with time. My Even though I work in the software industry my ideas are not just within software but in everything. Food, Recruitment, Retail and many more. I see something and just get annoyed at why things are done better sometimes. Follow this advice and you will begin to find problems that need solving.

So hopefully by now you have now found a bunch of ideas and are wondering which ones to work on. Here are a few things that I would use to filter those down to one that you should do.

• Are any of the ideas within a niche market? These are always good ideas to work on as there are usually always better ways to solve the problem. The market is normally domninated by a couple of products and the end customer is probably waiting for someone to come up with something new and willing to take a chance. After all they are after a competitive edge over their competitives and your software may provide just that. Companies who dominate this area tend not to innovate as much because the competition is so low and they are making money from not doing that much. Niches are usually not that easy to find unless you work in this area or have stumbled across it by accident. Take a look at Building A Software Company to find out about the benefits and disadvantages of targeting a niche.
• Are there any that just shine out and make you excited about working? These are the best ones to start with. This entire article is pretty much telling you to pick something that you enjoy over anything else so this is important.
• Within these ideas that you would really like to work on is there anything that might have a chance of making you some money in the future. I am not talking about just advertising revenue but about being able to charge for your product in some way or at least create value so that the money will come later. I believe that advertising revenue is going to get more and more scarce and hard to come by so you should not let this be the primary revenue stream. Remember that money is not the most important factor but if you have found something you like and hope to work on it full time one day thenyou can think about it.
• Are any of your ideas actually going to scrratch someones itch? If you plan on this being your chance to work for yourself this needs to scratch someones itch or else you are wasting your time. If you dont care about this and are just looking for something that you want to work on then this does not matter at all. I find a good way is to talk to a few people within the area and try to gleam some information from them. This may open your eyes to even better problems that need solving. You will be amazed at the amount of people who will happily do something complicated and accept it as the norm when there could be an easier way which you could provide for them.

Factors That Might Help

So at this point you have decided that everything about your life is fine and just want to work on the project part-time or start a business full-time. This is great news for you and I am officially envious. So at this point what can you do to make sure that the project succeeds?

1. Ensure that you set aside time for working on it. The moment you miss that evening you are more likely to slip more and more until you give up completely. If you easily find other things to do this will help more than anything.
2. Create some alone time. This means ensuring that your friends and family know that you are working during this time so that you get minimal disruptions. We all know about how bad distractions are. It can take you hours to get productive again so it is basically wasting your alloted time the more distractions that you have.
3. Because of number 2 I would recommend getting out of the house if you can. It doesnt have to be an office or cost you anything. You can even get down to the library where it is nice and quiet. Not only does it help getting out of the way of your family but it also gets you out of the house for a little fresh air which is always good. Remember to try walking or cycling as it also doubles up as time for a little exercise.
4. I recommend that you bring someone on board to do the project with. There are issues that will definitely come up but the benefits definitely outweigh the downsides in my opinion. Remember that a problem shared is a problem halfed. You also don’t get much feedback when working by yourself so you will have a tendancy to add features or do things that don’t make any sense because there is no one to tell you its stupid. Debate is always a good thing.
5. Finally plan, plan and plan some more.  Create a detailed project plan of when things should ideally be done and stick to it. Milestones are your best friend. This should not be created and then put at the bottom of the drawer never to see day light again but should be a dynamic thing that getsupdated as you progress. Having an up-to-date plan provides you with some measure of progress. You need this when you are working on a difficult problem it might seem that you are getting no where when in fact you are progressing well.

Finally

I hope that anything that I have wrote here can help you as I hope it can help me. It has all been learned the hard way so make sure that you dont fall into the same traps. Remember its not how you fail but how quickly you pick yourself back up and start again. That is the key thing. Most projects will fail due to many factors but as long as you do it for the right reason there should be no reason for disappointment and once you have completed one you have the knowledge and experience to do something else, probably even better than the last.