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How do you go forward with a project you're stuck on and you can't find the motivation to keep going?

I'm working on a relatively small and simple project for a friend. It's not that complicated overall, I've completed most of it already, and there are no stringent deadlines, so I can take my time.

But the last part has turned out to be a bit more complex to implement properly than I expected, and due to the fact that I can't seem to find a solution that satisfies me I'm completely put off from continuing.

Which is completely stupid of course, I want to finish this (and get paid), but my motivation to even open the project files is nowhere to be found.

The whole coronavirus lockdown situation isn't helping either for that matter, I feel like I'm going crazy stayin locked inside these four walls all day every day.

Sigh

Comments
  • 3
    You want motivation? Ok. You're not allowed to poop until you finish the project.
  • 0
    What’s so complex about it?
  • 0
    @hash-table any tips on how to do that when you're completely alone?
    Pretty much none of my friends know anything about programming, and the few that do I doubt they could (or would be interested in) hold a lengthy conversation about what I'm doing, how I'm doing ot, or why. Or maybe I'm just being too arrogant and they would gladly help me.

    This my first freelance project, so I have no boss (other than my client/friend) to talk to, or anyone that could review my code or at least discuss the architecture.

    In the month and a half since I wrote this rant I did actually come up with a fairly straightforward solution to my problem, but my motivation is still nowhere to be found. I still haven't touched it.

    I guess what I'm really scared of is the fact that I'm still trying to grasp how to properly juggle multiple things with concurrency in python (see my most recent rant why), and that fear is blocking me.

    My poor mental state due to two months of lockdown isn't helping either.
  • 0
    I find I'm the most motivated when I have a clear global picture of what I'm trying to do, with a good [enough] grasp of the finer details of each step, or at least how to get there.

    But this whole concurrency thing has been throwing me in a loop - lots of things not working the way I would expect them to, and no way to figure out if it's just an accidental mistake that slipped under my radar or a serious misunderstanding of some concept in my mental model of the problem.

    So now all I have is an incomplete picture: I know where I begin, and I know where I want to end, but I have no idea how to actually get there in code, so my vision is fuzzy and I feel completely lost.
  • 0
    @gruff oh, sorry, I must have missed the notification of your reply.
    If you're still interested in a response: I'm basically trying to figure out how to perform some background tasks in a small python program, but concurrency is a bitch and I'm still fairly new to it - so every time I think I figured out how a certain construct works, I try to apply it again and everything breaks.
    Rinse and repeat untill the will to smash your head against the wall grows beyond a comfortable threshold.
  • 0
    @hash-table oh wow, that's a very generous offer! Don't worry though, at this point I've more or less figured out what I want to do with my program, I just need to figure out how to translate that idea into python code specifically. So unless you're familiar with python and curio specifically, I don't think there's much you can do 😅
    I just have to suck it up and learn some more about curio.

    But I really appreciate the offer! It definitely made my day (well, night) better! Thank you for that :)
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