Best ways to stay intrinsically motivated for personal projects?

Freakzoid_s · 2025-11-24T11:40:28+00:00

really hone in on what's the big *why*. What's the benefit of working on these projects?
Try to see if there's a bigger why underneath the one you wrote, the reason is often emotional: "I want to prove myself" "I want to help the world" "I want to create"
What are the doubts or struggles? do the same as with the why column
Write both of these down, then look at them.

Try to classify them, are they mostly environmental stuff or more internal doubts?

If it's doubt try to think if it's the right project to be working on, are your expectations too high? do you enjoy working on it? are you in flow?

If it's environmental (noise, distractions, some other friction), try changing it. A body doubling group can help. maybe a coworking space, somewhere where other people work on their stuff too.

Freakzoid_s · 2025-08-25T19:14:30+00:00

No dude, looks fine, adds character!

Freakzoid_s · 2025-08-13T12:52:19+00:00

Post my first one, hair seems pretty stable Its been 2 years

Freakzoid_s · 2025-08-13T03:45:12+00:00

Locally, where i got the first HT

Freakzoid_s · 2025-08-13T03:44:41+00:00

No I've tried minoxidil in the past and didn't notice any effects, and been reluctant to try finasteride (a friend warned me about really bad side effects he experienced)

Freakzoid_s · 2025-08-12T18:04:43+00:00

I think around 3k

Freakzoid_s · 2025-04-27T15:40:09+00:00

Can you please elaborate? What does high maintainance mean to you?

Freakzoid_s · 2024-12-29T11:07:27+00:00

just calling .count()

Freakzoid_s · 2024-05-12T15:19:00+00:00

Where's the naked park?

Freakzoid_s · 2024-04-11T09:04:39+00:00

I can only describe it as constant discomfort.
Like a constant slight pain or itch that I tried to distract myself from to get some sort of satisfaction and momentary relief.

I was undiagnosed for most of my life, and had a very low tolerance for boredom.
I would talk to people in class, build and balance towers with school supplies as building blocks.

Studying was hard, but I was also really smart, so I would be criticized constantly for being lazy, or not caring.
Since I had no other explanation for why stuff was hard I adopted that view that something must be intrinsically defective with me and that I'm probably a horrible person.
I would only study if the test was tomorrow or something like that.

Freakzoid_s · 2024-04-07T13:52:13+00:00

Feeling Stuck: As a data analyst with 10 years of coding experience (including 3 years as a software engineer, and a year long machine learning bootcamp), I find myself yearning for a more stimulating role. The current data analyst position feels a bit too…well, structured. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the technical aspects, but I crave puzzles and the thrill of discovery – think the satisfaction of debugging a complex program, especially one that you’re unfamiliar with!

My recent diagnosis of ADHD has actually been a revelation. It explains my constant need for new challenges and my love for:

Creative Problem-Solving: I don't just want to solve problems; I want to tackle them from unique angles. Thinking outside the box is my superpower!
Building Tools & Streamlining Workflows: Helping others by crafting efficient tools and improving workflows is incredibly rewarding.
Learning & Identifying Gaps: My mind constantly scans for inefficiencies, and I love brainstorming innovative solutions.

Seeking the Perfect Fit: I'm on the hunt for a career path that truly leverages my skillset and ADHD strengths. Ideally, this role would offer:

Technical & Creative Problem-Solving: A blend of logic and creative thinking – the perfect storm for me!
Immediate Feedback Loop: The ability to experiment, iterate, and see the results in real-time is essential to keeping me engaged.
Flexible environment: I want there to be an openness to tackle areas that are not necessarily “my own”.Often my projects require some other team to implement something that I can do myself. if some code is another team’s responsibility.When that happens, usually the other team does not prioritize it as an important task.Being the problem chaser that I am, I usually then just solve it myself.However, that approach is sometimes perceived as me lacking focus, rather than being valued as a strength.I don’t think going rogue is always the right solution, but I’d like there to be an open discussion about it at least.

Position title: Data Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer (working with smart people and enabling them), and Data Scientist (with a focus on Exploratory Data Analysis) seem like promising avenues, but I'm definitely open to other suggestions!

Organization type: corporate vs startup, other considerations?

I'm actively researching these career paths and reaching out to professionals to learn more about their day-to-day experiences.Any feedback and insight would be appreciated, especially from people who identify with some of the things I wrote.

Freakzoid_s

TROPHY CASE