Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?

[danschumann]

So I've been working on animation software for over two years. Part of me is very excited for launch so I can have money again ( I've been freelancing a minimum amount these last two years, and went car-less, moved, cut lifestyle into a third ). I should be wholeheartedly excited, but I'm feeling tired and generally sluggish regarding the project. I still make consistent progress, but it takes a lot of will power.

Part of me thinks it might be an aversion to sales. Part of me thinks this could have been built up so much in my head that anything short of overnight millions would be a disappointment (though I would be happy with 1500 bucks a month ), part of me thinks I might be scared of success ( or scared of surpassing my parents )(media attention), part of me fears the attacks that might come with success ( having something to lose ), part of it is the un-fun-ness of mature projects where the focus is on polish and bugs rather than broad new features, and part of me is scared of commitment: if I succeed I have to stick with this (freedom value), part of me wonders what will happen when more people become involved, if I will be able to maintain my creative direction, since I'm scratching my own itch. Part of me wonders if diet and exercise isn't a factor.

A combination, likely...

[mikekchar]

When your project is finished, the dream is dead and the reality is born. The death of a dream is like the death of a friend. It's probably been with you for a long time -- longer even than the length of the project. A dream is the manifestation of what's possible. When it is over, the possible diminishes very quickly and you are left with what actually is. Will people respond well to your project -- in the dream stage it is possible; everything is possible. In the reality stage, it will only be what it is.

So while it's common to think of a release as a birth of something new, realise that you also have a significant loss. You will mourn that loss. Give yourself some emotional space to deal with the mourning.

[TheOtherHobbes]

Good comment.

Post-completion depression is a recognised syndrome in the arts. One psychological explanation is that constant pressure to complete maintains a core state of focus and emotional arousal.

When the pressure disappears so does the arousal, and sometimes a sense of purpose and direction disappears with it. You knew what you were doing and why you needed to get up in the morning, and then you don’t any more. It’s a bit like losing a job.

It’s also temporary. A good prosaic but effective antidote is a vacation and/or a change of scene. If that’s not practical just after shipping - it often isn’t - at least clear a couple of weeks later, book a break, and take at least a weekend off to do something fun in the short term.

[riantogo]

This is exactly it. Tens of my personal projects have died in this stage. It was always much easier to move on to the next dream. There is always the next big problem that could use a solution. Why not build when it is what we do best? Rinse, repeat.

I took a break from side projects for several years but recently got back to it and couple weeks back finished building. It is the same story all over again. Same feeling. I'm dreading what comes next.

[wheels]

It's interesting -- I wholeheartedly agree with the phenomenon, but I'd frame it completely differently.

There's a scary cliff there, but I feel like launching is when a project first becomes real. It's the actual start. It's when you're judged. It's usually when you learn that your assumptions were completely wrong. It means you have to start dealing with actual problems, not imagined problems.

That's usually less fun, but I think it is more exciting (in large part because it's the dive into the unknown).

[funfunfunction]

> in the dream stage it is possible; everything is possible. In the reality stage, it will only be what it is.

Best comment I've read all week.

[rajacombinator]

Nice/interesting comment although “death of a friend” seems a bit harsh. (Although in some cases it may be worse than the death of a friend!)

Not sure if this is what OP is experiencing or just some 90/10 etc rule about the last parts being the hardest parts. Starting a greenfield project you can make massive progress quickly. Polishing it is slow.

[reacweb]

Very insightful and it matches very well my experience where it is easier for me to complete a task when I have also other tasks in progress.

[ai_ia]

Being in the same stage as the OP, I highly second this comment. I have been working on something for last 19 months. It is nearly complete, but still finding it difficult to wrap up somehow. Your comment has given me some insight and some closure.

Thanks a lot !

[kchr]

This. I think the issue of "separation anxiety" can be applied here... Same thing with handing over pet projects to someone else, and losing control over it.

[m-p-3]

I guess it's kinda like when one of your kids grow up enough to fly by themselves. You're proud of them, but you're also sad to see them go.

[drdeadringer]

> the dream is dead and the reality is born

I could not say this better myself. "The Dream Is Dead, Long Live The Reality". So very true upon many things.

[petecooper]

I've been back here to re-read this comment 10+ times today, it's really resonated with me.

Thank you.

[arbitragy]

Well said.

[infamousEB]

All this may be true, but just understand that when you finish one phase of a project, another one begins. So now, comes the part where you have to promote and get word out about that project (software, whatever it happens to be) before it becomes a success. The work is not actually over, just the 'creation' aspect. And, if someone is addicted to merely creating rather than helping the creation thrive and survive, they will perpetually be stuck with a house (or computer) full of half finished projects.

[hoodoof]

Are you me?

Programming feels like productive work, and indeed it is, up until just about the point you are at. Now it is not productive work any more, in fact, once the product is finished, programming is counter productive work. Other things need to be done and you don't know how to do them and if you do, are not in the habit of doing them. IOt is easy to get up in the morning and write code, harder to do unfamiliar things.

--> self sabotage (deeply seated need to actually not succeed)

--> fear of the unknown

--> avoidance of a change in work habit - from programming to...... ? what does one do post launch

--> fear of the likely outcome which is zero feedback, zero users

Curious - how close are you to launch, what remains to be done, and what does the software actually do?

Can I suggest perhaps be really ruthless about the remaining tasks - likely many of those launch tasks just are not important, even though the completionist in you thinks they are. For example - terms and conditions document? Ditch it until users are interested. Privacy document? Same. Purchase? Drop it.

See what I mean? If people like what you have built and use it, then the world will not come to an end because you did not have those things... and user interest will motivate you to implement them.

It's incredibly hard to work on something with no user interest. Just dump what you have built out there and see what happens.

[marak830]

Christ this hits hard to home. (Note amateur programmer here), I built my software, openers to beta testers and was active in the community. (It's a good deal control software for a popular game - pretty much a copilot who would do things for you).

So many testers said they would try it out, never did and there was an insane amount of actual testers who wanted something slighty different. (Which i couldn't do, as I had spoken to the company, and doing certain automated style actions would have gotten me banned).

[bigiain]

24th of May 2018 might not be the best time to choose to launch anything while intentionally having ditched thinking about your T&Cs and Privacy Policy...

[hoodoof]

Hey wow that's great advice I think I'll learn from what you say here.

[asperous]

I have been there before and I think it's demotivating because reality is setting in. Before you release you can stay under the delusion that anything is possible. As soon as you release you are forced to deal with problems that aren't fun anymore. Marketing, advertising, people telling you your product isn't very good, people telling you they like your product but then not buying it and using alternatives instead.

The truth is people aren't going to bust down your door and give you millions. What comes after release is far harder and demotivating then before, and, if you are lucky, you can find success after a few more years of a hard, slow grind. If you aren't so lucky, you end up back at a normal job :)

Good luck!

[motohagiography]

Way to get motivated again:

I get asked a lot why I left architecture and tech to be in product, and now, bootstrapping a relatively non-technical collaboration platform. My answer is that it's solving similar problems just at a higher level of abstraction. It's moving from a perfect information game of development to an imperfect information game of alignment and persuasion. It's like a context switch from chess to poker.* Going back into learning mode with books on sales and business is really refreshing.

Shockingly, once I cobbled my demo together it didn't just start raining term sheets. My impression is that people who know what it's like to be here don't let it out as not to discourage others.

However, what I still believe is, we don't regret things we take all the way. What we live to regret is the the pulled punch, the hedged bet, the b-plan, the retreat, the fold, the concession, the job, the approval of people we don't admire, the unsaid, the declined invitation, the judgment, the things we held on to or didn't let go, and the lack of belief in ourselves - these are the things that will shake you awake at night in middle age, and I assume, forever thereafter.

When you finish something, you need to "pop," up a level of problem solving. It's analogous skills, just with new tools and variables. Oddly, it's also a way to rest. There is an old saying that translates to "a change is as good as a break," and getting my code to the point where I could not touch it for a week while I worked my pipeline and have a demo meeting where it just worked was a huge confidence and energy boost.

Take time to invest in reading some books on business in your field. It has massive returns and feels like a break.

[danschumann]

Oh yea, I forgot one of my main reasons for not "switching horses" can also be applied to this spell. In the past, when a project reached the un-fun stage, I would convince myself another idea was better, and switch horses, or in a different case I got a job instead. In both cases I regretted not continuing on, and occasionally remind myself not to do either of those mistakes this time. Good call with that.

[vshan]

“It's not that students don't "get" Kafka's humor but that we've taught them to see humor as something you get -- the same way we've taught them that a self is something you just have. No wonder they cannot appreciate the really central Kafka joke -- that the horrific struggle to establish a human self results in a self whose humanity is inseparable from that horrific struggle. That our endless and impossible journey toward home is in fact our home. It's hard to put into words up at the blackboard, believe me. You can tell them that maybe it's good they don't "get" Kafka. You can ask them to imagine his art as a kind of door. To envision us readers coming up and pounding on this door, pounding and pounding, not just wanting admission but needing it, we don't know what it is but we can feel it, this total desperation to enter, pounding and pushing and kicking, etc. That, finally, the door opens...and it opens outward: we've been inside what we wanted all along. Das ist komisch.” ― David Foster Wallace, Consider the Lobster and Other Essays

[mar77i]

In short, "One of the first signs of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die." - FK

[DarrenZ]

I’ve built a dozen apps over the past 10 years, most of them commercial, and I always encounter this dip that you describe as I approach the finish line. A number of commenters are suggesting it’s the fear of what comes next that is causing it, but I don’t agree.

For me, it’s so regular that I can see it creep up on me — all the major features completed, only the polishing and websites to complete, and it starts to hit me, trying to drag me down.

Steven Pressfield wrote a short book called The War of Art that talks about this. It’s common to any creative endeavour, whether you’re writing a novel or building a product. I’ve written a novel as well, and it hit me at the same time and in the same way — near the finish.

You need to power on through and come out the other end. All the problems and issues others have talked about will be there waiting, bit that’s a different can of worms.

[kaskavalci]

George R.R. Martin's behavior just made a lot more sense to me now.

[btilly]

You have been working for 2 years and have no customers?

I guarantee that you're thinking about your problem wrong. There are things that people want to do that you don't know yet. There are things that are obvious to you about how to do things with your software that nobody will be able to figure out. You won't be able to learn anything about that until you have real people using it.

Go out. Find a potential customer. Preferably paying. Non-paying is better than nothing. Sit down with them, offer them a demo, train them, get feedback, and try to make them happy. If you can't do that, and can't take the feedback, then you not only won't succeed, you never had a chance in the first place.

[ablanco]

I don't think this kind of reasoning applies to all projects. If you're doing something without the pressure to make money you can make something that you're proud of. Of course, this can only be a side project unless you're already rich. The one thing I know is that if you don't love what you do, it's the same wether you own some super hot startup or you write forms for some accountant firm.

[joeld42]

I have struggled with this too. For me, the thing that helped was figuring out how to turn the "ship it" moment into a mechanical process -- a list of bugs and a ship date. You stop creating a beautiful thing, and just need to fix X things before Y date.

Introspection and all the thinking you're doing is important and good and will help you overall find happiness so keep that up -- but it's not going to help you ship this. Just make a list of bugs and cross them off. Ship a V1.

If it's usable now just release it. Call it a beta, call it early access, whatever. You'll have a few weeks to just react and absorb feedback and that will help you decide what you want to do with it, learn what the market looks like, learn what the users want.

Especially with something like a creative or animation tool, you're not going to get people knocking down your door and throwing money at it overnight. But if a few people find it expressive and useful, find those users, support them and their work will bring others.

[finyeates]

I can definitely draw parallels with this feeling, in my mind its a combination of finding it harder and harder to see actual meaningful returns on your time invested on the project. When you're just starting out and delivering big features and changes you can get that feedback quickly and things seem to move quickly. But when you're now having to focus on cleanup and polish it can feel like the project stops moving and you're stuck behind a wall.

There are a few things that I've found that help me in these situations:

- Get a good project management software, personally i use https://monday.com/ for small project task management, you can list all the things you need to do - and seeing the tasks slowly disappearing can help get that feeling of momentum back

- Get a cofounder/help finding someone else to be passionate about your project or help with the work often will help spark more of that early stage excitement again. I'm currently working with some contractors on my own project and their excitement helps motivate me to push though these 'work stitches'.

- Take a small break, not too long, any longer than a week or two and you can distance yourself too much.

What you need to remember is that you're attempting to pull something off that very few people actually do, building and launching a company from scratch. It _is_ a-lot of effort, but as a founder and as it gets traction you can start to hire into roles which you don't like/don't care for.

Good luck with your software!

[ahussain]

I feel like this quote[0] from David Foster Wallace is relevant here:

"perfectionism is very dangerous because, of course, if your fidelity to perfection is too high you never do anything, because doing anything results in... it's actually kind of tragic because it means you sacrifice how gorgeous and perfect it is in your head for what it really is, and umm, there were a couple years where I really struggled with that."

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5R8gduPZw4

[kodablah]

Because the first 90% was enjoyable and the second 90% is no fun. The places a mind can wander when provided a blank canvas are infinitely more vast than an already painted one.

[rkangel]

There's a more practical side too: earlier in the project a day's work can produce a large increment in functionality. Later in the project you get less and less obvious result for your effort. Those smaller and smaller increments are important for your product to be polished and reliable, but they don't feel as satisfying to the implementer.

[dspillett]

I usually find this. The interesting stuff is done: you've nurtured the idea, you've proven the concept, you've refined the design, you've made it work. Now what is left is dotting the is and crossing the ts (the boring nitty-gritty finishing details) and dealing with people (release, marketing, support, ...).

If you are a creative at heart this finishing stage can feel soul destroying: you've already got your next big idea, probably several of them, just waiting for you to complete this one so you've got time to properly get started...

[dansanuf]

Procrastination is most often a self-defense mechanism for coping with your fear of your work not being good enough. The procrastination creates an “out,” allowing you to excuse yourself if your work isn’t excellent. This podcast with two psychologists who have studied procrastination heavily is quite illuminating https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/beat-procrastination...

[ollerac]

In general, I find that the mind doesn't lie when you're stressed out, it just exaggerates a bit. If I had to guess, all of your fears are valid fears and you should sit with each one and address it. However, now is not the time.

You just reached a major milestone, whether it feels like it or not. You are getting near completion on a major project, you are starting to think longer term, you are considering the impact of your work on the world.

Take a week off. Or even a few months. Take a step back and let what you've done really sink in. Give yourself a treat, like playing a video game or binge watching tv or walking in nature. Whatever floats your boat.

Come back to the project in a month or two and you'll have a clearer head about where you're really at and what's left for you to do. Be kind to yourself. This kind of project is a heavy emotional and mental burden. Do not underestimate how much emotional weight it has. Give yourself permission to get back to a balanced, healthy mindset before taking the next steps.

Be well friend. Good luck! And be kind to yourself.

[danschumann]

I do like video games, but when I play video games my house gets messier and messier. Lately I've been making more deals with myself, rewarding myself in various ways. Thinking about life through more of a lens of "is this behavior a reward, or an activity which will warrant a reward?" If it is neither, why would I do something so unfruitful? It's been a bit better on my psyche. Been going to bed earlier, as well.

[manibatra]

I could be very wrong but the reasons you gave were all scenarios where you end up successful. That probably makes me think that you are just scared of the failure and judgement that comes from putting yourself out there.

For me the solution has been to know that whatever I create is out of the need that it has to be created or it will bother me to no end. So even if it is criticised the other option would have been to not create it which would be much worse.

Also if you are not on point when it comes to your diet and exercise there is a lot of room left for you to feel better than you are at the moment just by doing that. The difference can be night and day.

[newman8r]

I think it's harder to pull the trigger and launch once you've taken so long (years) to work on a project. You're a lot more invested in the success or failure, so you take a perfectionist view of the project which is a view that often leads to procrastination.

When you're only spending ~2 months developing a bare-bones MVP, it becomes easier to just launch the thing and be less attached to the ultimate outcome.

This is just my personal experience, I've worked on both types of projects and I vastly prefer the ones that take only 1-2 months to validate.

[drenvuk]

This is somewhat on topic but people may consider it unrelated.

There is a business book that explains the disconnect between many people who say they want to start a business but only focus on the task that they're good at. One of the premise inside the book was that a baker started a bakery and ended up only baking and leaving all of the managing and appointment making to her employees. All of the employees quit and she ended up taking on all of the work herself, quickly burning out. Despite the fact that building a business was the task that she should have been trying to figure instead of just the act of baking which. She was good at baking, thought she should open a bakery, didn't realize that a baking business is only 1 part baking and 8 parts baking system building. I wish I could remember the name of the book.

The lesson that the book tries to teach is that the business is actually the product customers will give you money for, not single piece of software that you're programming right now. If you organize your thoughts around it that way then you might be able to become more motivated. You've only really built a single part of your business system. The rest of it still needs to be built and you still need inputs, cogs and outputs for it.

I'm not sure if this is helpful.

If you don't mind me asking, did you get validation for your idea and product before spending two years building it out?

[whatshisface]

Alternatively, this could be an argument for teaming up with the much-derided "business guy." If you think your product-making skills are good enough, then it might be worth specializing into early development while your partner handles the management/sales/marketing side. Just be careful to work out a fair deal - the partner is the one that specializes in arranging to get the long end of the stick after all! (That's why you want one.)

[triviatise]

the book might have been emyth

[Angostura]

One aspect that I don't has been mentioned is the old joke I and my colleagues have about 'its the last 10% that takes 90%' of the time.

You get to the end; you've done all the big-vision important stuff. The application works, you just need to tidy it up a little. You're at the annoying snagging, which provides little personal satisfaction, but has to be done.

[chatmasta]

It’s the 80/20 Pareto principle. The last 20% of the work feels like 80% of it. And honestly, maybe it is. Have you considered that maybe you aren’t as close to the end as you think? Often that last 20% doesn’t contain any major challenges, but rather a mountain of small and tedious tasks that you’ve “left til later” throughout the project. So although it feels like you’re almost finished, because you’ve eliminated all major challenges, you actually have a lot left to do because the sum of those smaller tasks is greater than you estimated.

If that’s true, it’s better to be realistic about what work remains. That way you won’t lose motivation when you’re spending so much time completing the project, because you’ve consciously recognized there is still a lot of work to do.

And TBH I’ve been in the same boat, and in fact am in that 80/20 area on my current project. We’ve all been there I think. It’s part of software. Best thing you can do is recognize it for what it is and deal with it like you would any challenge.

[peter_retief]

I have exactly the same experience, not just with projects but with technologies as well, I move from 80% completed projects because I get excited about a new thing, either a new s/w framework/language/electronics and then never come back to finish. I have a number of partially completed systems in use (One is a controller for emergency vehicles, another a tracking dashboard for shipping reefers, strangely they seem to more or less work) I keep thinking that one day I will get a really good product and make enough money to hire developers to complete and support what I have created. I have given this some introspection and have a couple of possible reasons, one is "fear of failure" I abandoned a facial recognition system I spent years developing because of one rejection. Another is loss of interest, the creative stuff is all done and now its down to plain work. Anyway, thanks for sharing

[nartz]

There is a required shift in mentality that you are due.

Its like when you're in love, at first you can survive on romance, but to survive a marriage, there is a necessary shift into the long term mentality.

You've romanced your way to a product, but haven't considered the long term of it yet. In the future, it would help to have some long term thinking earlier on, so you can plan for various things and not have a step-function-like inflection point in your expectations.