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What Makes an Idea Worth Building

I’ve done a lot of side projects over the years, which will be the topic of today’s Advent of Writing post.

Friends have asked in various forms: “What makes a good side project?” and “How do you have the energy or stay motivated?”
Honestly, I don’t have a fully baked five-step framework, but I’ll share a few thoughts on what works for me.

In case you’re interested, here are a few projects that still have some decent public repos:

My ~/Documents/testing has a solid 129 more.

1. Pull is everything

Obvious, but worth stating explicitly. Don’t start a side project for internet points. Don’t chase whatever the hot new thing is. It’s just not motivating enough. Do what you actually find interesting. You’re literally not getting paid for this, and in the grand scheme of things no one really cares about your side projects. So for once, do something for your own pure, egoistic joy.

2. Momentum is the filter

Understanding something new.
Making something work.
Creating something beautiful.

These are the most addictive forces, use them.

The key is doing something that’s not trivial for you, but where you get (or rather, set yourself up for) an early win. If the task is too easy, you’ll get bored. If it’s too difficult, you risk not getting a small reward to feed the prefrontal cortex enough to do it again tomorrow.

3. Produce > Consume

Instead of reading a blog on SIMD programming, try doing it yourself. The knowledge will stick longer, you’ll learn it more intuitively, and you’ll know for the future whether you even enjoyed SIMD programming.

If the last point wasn’t enough of a cue for you to stop reading, here it is:

Close your browser.
Open your terminal.
Grab your paintbrush.
Dust off your piano.

Whatever your craft is, exercise it, and you’ll become a master.

Now go and build!