As I move CubCrossing.com from SquareSpace to Tumblr, I’ll be archiving my old posts here. Don’t get excited. This place is still dead. Visit CubCrossing.com or Twitter for new stuff.

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It’s 1am. I’m paper prototyping and programming almost simultaneously. I’m not ready to call it a victory just yet, but evidence suggests that I’m steadily overcoming the dirty hump I described a few weeks ago.

It’s hard to get started on a solo side project. It’s even harder to maintain that initial momentum. Fear is one factor, but my friend Ken gave me insight into an equally relevant element – our day jobs.

Intuitively, I believed that having an unsatisfying day job would motivate me to work on side projects in my spare time. But that’s not true at all.

The opposite is true.

Having a satisfying day job creates an abundance of motivational energy that can then be channeled into side projects. I feel energized after a productive day at work. Stress, blockers, political drama, low momentum, and a general lack of productivity during the day sucks that energy up.

Sometimes the negative forces at play in our day jobs are beyond our control. But simply being aware of this relationship was enough to get me going.

Indie superstar Jake Birkett tweeted some other tips you may find helpful:

Dev Motivation Tip: Set your desktop wallpaper to a screenshot from your current game. (link)

Dev Motivation Tip: Print out an optimistic projection of your 1st year sales on all platforms and stick it on your noticeboard. (link)