[roudaki]

What keeps me going is the deep knowledge that at the end of the day I will be happy I did it.

Same with running. Of course I hate the idea of getting up early or going out in the evening esp in bad weather. And of course first mile is horrible, horrible experience. But what keeps me running is this certainty and knowledge that it will get better ( as oxygen high kicks in and muscles stretch and body warms up ) and that I never and I really truly mean ever regretted I went for a run. Absolutely ever.

So my only job is to remove friction, get multiple types of clothes ready and near the door, not over do it and create bad experience and show up. Even if I have to lie to myself, put on running clothes and grab MP3 player and say I am just going for a walk. I know I just have to do that first mile.

It is same with my work. Of course it is hard at first. And scary. And I end up scanning job sites during breaks. But even when I create something, even something I don't like or even when project fails, I am still proud and happy I did it. Always. So I just have to show up and survive first 30 minutes.

There are still temptations you have to map out and avoid, and there are always bad days you have to be ready for. And every job has parts you don't like.

At the end of the day I do feel better than when I work anywhere else. I am not 9 to 5 kind a person. I am too anxious for that and I always end up doing free unappreciated overtime to make sure project gets done. So it is even financially better to work for myself.

[akozak]

Running is a good analogy for another reason. Lots of amateur runners push themselves way too hard, to the limits of perceived effort, especially early in a run. It's important to have a sustainable pace during a run, which actually means not pacing based on perceived effort and using other guides like heart rate. It should feel like you could be going much harder. (Edit: setting aside runs in training schedules meant to increase vo2 max, etc etc)