The question I would ask you, dave, is why aren't you motivated? Why is motivation something that has to be done to you? Why don't you wake up jazzed to do your startup thing, at least a couple days a week?
I had a real awakening when I started to take the guilt load off myself, and started viewing all my actions (or inaction) not as indicative of my worth as a person, but simply choices, which had logical consequences, which I had to either accept or change. Consequences doesn't seem like a neutral term, but I do look at them fairly neutrally, not as punishments for being dillatory.
Not judging yourself is really hard -- from childhood on up we are told "No!" all the time, guided mainly by negative feedback or the carrot (which is attached to the stick), and it is insinuated that our being "lazy" or "unproductive" or "not fulfilling our promise" or "not being where we ought to be by now" is not just a choice, but a sin.
But boy does it feel better when you can achieve a more objective look at the situation.
I surely don't hyperventilate (literally, or psychically) over decisions or screw-ups any more.
When the mood strikes, I blog about these topics here:
Thanks for the great feedback - and great blog entries. I see where you're coming from especially if the guilt makes you avoid working on your startup.
For me, it's not so much as guilt. It's more about a question of focus. How does one consider an open-ended task done? Is it when it is at a quality we are satisfied with?
If my startup has 100 bugs, can I say it is finished? I guess it'll depend on the bugs, priority, importance of these bugs and what type of product it is. Early adopters are probably also more forgiving of using a buggy system, so it's probably ok to ship with known bugs.
The problem with time boxing is we allocate fixed amount of time to work on something, but if the time elapses and the task isn't finished, we're likely to schedule more time at it. The problem is without proper focus (maybe being conscious of some reward or penalty) if we're late, we might continue the blow out.
You're right though, as everyone around us is on our back, we don't need us to get on our own backs too! So perhaps, it isn't a black/white situation, but case-by-case instead.
dave, I think you "just" need to look at the consequences of being late, and what those mean to you, and make the decision on a case-by-case basis. That's more realistic than the punishment anyway. All of life is a trade-off, if you think about it. "If I do it with x bugs, then..." "If we ship before y is done, then..." Then you are prepared for those consequences (or not). That tells you whether to keep going.
But I'm in the corner for shipping earlier. For our app, Freckle Time Tracking, we got the time entry interactions really, really done well, but the rest was very beta/alpha. We decided that we wanted to focus on the single biggest, most important interaction. We're still polishing the rest.
It is, of course, an unending task, but you have to use logic & foresight to decide where the intermittent goal posts are.
Creating a punishment for yourself for going over a timebox is not gonna do that hard, human thinking for you :)
The question I would ask you, dave, is why aren't you motivated? Why is motivation something that has to be done to you? Why don't you wake up jazzed to do your startup thing, at least a couple days a week?
I had a real awakening when I started to take the guilt load off myself, and started viewing all my actions (or inaction) not as indicative of my worth as a person, but simply choices, which had logical consequences, which I had to either accept or change. Consequences doesn't seem like a neutral term, but I do look at them fairly neutrally, not as punishments for being dillatory.
Not judging yourself is really hard -- from childhood on up we are told "No!" all the time, guided mainly by negative feedback or the carrot (which is attached to the stick), and it is insinuated that our being "lazy" or "unproductive" or "not fulfilling our promise" or "not being where we ought to be by now" is not just a choice, but a sin.
But boy does it feel better when you can achieve a more objective look at the situation.
I surely don't hyperventilate (literally, or psychically) over decisions or screw-ups any more.
When the mood strikes, I blog about these topics here:
http://www.justfuckingship.com/2008/08/letting-go-of-unfinis...
http://www.justfuckingship.com/2008/11/youre-a-terrible-mana...