How makers stay productive

I tried similar accountability groups as you described a couple of times. I figured out in the end that it's not something that helps me that much or at all, to be honest. What helps is to physically meet people and talk with them face-to-face.

I almost left Bali because I thought there are no Indie makers here, but then I found a group and we meet weekly to work together, show what we're up to, and exchange feedback/tips. I found that this format actually helps me with my productivity. Format matters

I think we all struggle with this, present company included. I've definitely struggled to stay on task. I have friends who had a lot of success with accountability groups, and usually it just ends up being a person you're e-friends with in the end which doesn't really hurt.

What I learned about myself is that I'm more of a self directed person. External motivation such as the oversight of others through accountability has never worked for me, in work, in sport, in anything. I learned about myself that the only way I can stay motivated is if I dig it out of inside, and that takes some searching to figure out why I am actually slacking off.

I tried things like changing up my music, pomodoro timers, splitting up tasks a bit more, rewards for doing work and punishments for not (I tried a couple times sprinting up an hill during my morning jog as one type of punishment).

In the end what worked for me was a notebook. I know it sounds lame, but I just started writing things in the notebook. Something about the act of writing and turning the pages and physically holding in my hands the history and roadmap of my work made it a lot nicer for me and it clicked. In that same notebook I also make notes for all kinds of things, such as blog post ideas, observations of stuff around me, ideas for workouts, etc, so it helps when it's all mixed together in my little red book.

I'm lucky, cause I found this works for me. I'd encourage you too to think outside the box a bit on finding your solution.

What works for me is defining my week goals in advance and early each the morning, my daily tasks. This way, I keep focused and whenever I finish something I have a clear idea of what to do next so I do not lose time working on things that just pop up.

I write everything down in a journal but I keep an online version in theLIFEBOARD a web app I created specifically for that. It also encourages users to do a weekly review and planing so for me it's perfect and each Sunday evening I spend 30mins on that.

On the other hand, I started to have discussions with some friends from Twitter and I agree they are super helpful. They give a motivation boost and you get valuable opinions from a different point of view. A lot of times we focus so much on what we're doing that we're unable to see things from a different perspective.

Hello Sumit,

Here's what works for me: I just use MakerLog and find that sufficient. The green chart helps me check if I'm making progress frequent enough. I usually post the status update and more thoughts as description/comments. Once in a while when posting details/screenshots, I notice a few praises. I know someone read the status update. Probably they care (or not). But that keeps me going.

Everything that I posted above will work with any tool. The only thing that is required is to remember your FT moment and make whatever progress possible at regular intervals.

I do get stuck on a lot of days - but I pickup something to remain unblocked and move forward on - sometimes it is writing documentation. As always, life happens. So my streaks are short.