I am a solo founder and I recently saw the post of solo founder persistence, which I am yet to read in full. Pieter is one of those that can consistently deliver. He has been doing that for years now. I admire him and what he does, yet I know I can not. I am plagued by mental, emotional issues that break my routine every few months. I started focusing on perseverance and I am happy with where I am now. There is still a long way to go for me and Pieter will stay an inspiration.
Hey :) you should see my brain and discover what I'm plagued by! I struggle with moderate anxiety and depression on and off too and esp this year has been quite hard.
Work is quite therapeutical for me because it keeps me creative, active and have goals. It keeps me on the rails really. Daily creative stuff to work on. My dad does the same as he's always renovating the house, doing woodworking, or studying film history. Just tasks to do.
Even if those tasks feeling meaningless and motivation drops (eg symptoms of sneaking up depression, especially during this crazy year), getting one task done usually helps to alleviate that and get back into it. That and a supportive girlfriend, working out a lot and trying to eat healthy.
I think it's much more common especially in entrepreneurship and ambitious pursuits than we think, so the moment I drop the word depression or anxiety people are like "omg are you okay?", but it's just a part of my and many people's existence I think.
So just so you know, while it might look like my brain has it together from afar, it's somewhat of a struggle on and off and will be the rest of my life, and I think for many people. And my work might just be a result of trying to deal with that, instead of an obstacle.
Pieter, I do not know how to thank you enough for this. Last few weeks have been a disaster, cluelessness creeping in and I hit the bottom again. Thankfully I have YC Build Sprint so I forced myself somehow to ignore everything that is not working in my life and focus on what is working.
Yes depression and anxiety are common in these circles. My work motivates me, I am 37 years old and this is my life, has always given me comfort. I have wet eyes while I write this, thanks, a million times.
Hang in there! Take life one step at a time. Everyone is dealing with their own challenges all the time. You can do the ting! And if you ever need someone to listen, send me a message on Twitter
I know this doesn't help you a single bit wrt depression, but anyway: I'm sure I'm not the only entrepreneur you're an inspiration for. I have a tendency to overengineer things, and I find that thinking "what would Pieter Levels do?" helps me get my feet back on the ground :-)
Godspeed and I hope that someday you'll grow over the worst parts of those mental issues.
Well done for persisting and releasing your projects! I have plenty of ideas too, I usually only get around to writing them up when I'm applying for jobs. My Show HN front-ends are functional but plain; I'm impressed that you made Nomadlist look so pretty!
Have you found that travel helps emotionally? Getting on a Plane is my "Plan E" - most problems don't carry long-distance. Nomadlist makes it easy to compare the things that can be measured about choosing a place to go; CouchSurfing/BeWelcome/Trustroots helped me to find people in those places so I would land on my feet. The hospex community is also just generally very supportive, in my experience. Musician fan clubs too; remote work has allowed me to see many of my favourite bands live.
Oh for sure, yes. Simply "doing stuff" helps, and the novelty of traveling and experiencing new places is very exciting. The challenge is that it's like a drug, and it stops working if you keep traveling because your dopamine receptors get usd to it and then you feel the same, so it's not really a long term fix. You see that with nomads especially:
1) go nomad
2) omg life's amazing
3) yeah
4) oh shit why am i depressed?!!!
Then again, travel can give you permanent solutions, like you might meet a new partner(s), or people that you will build something new with, etc. Those interactions can change the course of your life and many of us need to move out of our own home bubble to a new place to realize the possibilities that life has to offer, outside of your usual routine.
I do think a creative pursuit (because it's endless) and being around people you love (difficult these days) and working out (lifting weights esp and cardio) and eating healthy (organic, and lots of vegetables) are the most probable ways to feel somewhat satisfied. But it's not like I or anyone else really has it solved I think. And with corona now I'm failing on about half of those things.
P.S. Nomad List was also very very basic and barely functional and it took ~6 years to be somewhat pretty and properly functional and it still has bugs, so it's just a daily iterative process of fixing small things like a button.
Not a founder or anything like that myself, just someone with a lot of work to do who had depression in the past. I agree that consistently working out helps a lot as well as giving yourself tasks to do. You can use the good times to try to find a higher purpose for yourself, that's in my experience the best long term solution.
> I admire him and what he does, yet I know I can not.
Of course you can! I'm like you in that I haven't had a successful project yet, but it'll only happen if we keep trying!
And like Pieter said in his reply to you, pretty much everyone struggles with mental stuff, even him and people like Tim Ferriss. So don't let that hold you back. Acknowledge the hardships and then keep on going.
