Bootstrapping: How I Doubled My Workweek Productivity
Published in 2011, this chronicle by @danmaz74 details the mechanics of building a profitable, self-funded business without venture backing.
The community focused on B2B customer acquisition channels, cold email vs SEO distribution, and balancing full-time employment with side-project development.
I commented on your original post, but there's one more thing to add:
I do not contend that the early morning is the most productive hours of the day. I usually take an hours or so to really warm up, get some coffee in me and start working well. Another common mistake I'll make is spending the hour+ time on checking emails, reading up on news, checking fantasy football & stock prices... all things that I'd normally do in my "personal time," yet do not have anything to do with my projects.
This idea definitely works, but requires discipline :)
Thank you for posting this. I find myself in a similar boat; I find it very difficult to focus after work, and projects get done at a glacial pace.
I have tried what the OP suggests; set the alarm for a couple hours earlier. But getting up at 6am (need to be in the office at 8am) is also hard - it is too easy to turn off the alarm when nothing "bad" will happen (i.e. nobody will get fired) and get a little bit more sleep.
Does anyone have any particular techniques ("hacks" in HN parlance) for making an early wake-up+coding session a habit?
I've started to do this also. However I have a hard time tearing myself away to go to my 9-5 contract job.
It does set your priorities in order though, my side project deserves my most awake hours & my most productive hours too.
Sending your e-mails first thing means responses come back by the time you're home. It speeds things up so much it results in more than double productivity!
Hey, your link to hastagifypro in the article links to another article (about Twitter marketing). Intended?
In other words, push those two unproductive hours onto your 9-5 job ;)
Update: The original comment that inspired me is this one http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3110632 Thanks to raju for finding it for me. And thanks to malux85 for posting it!