Loss of appetite

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Lately I’ve been experiencing a loss of appetite for coding and development. Even personal projects; ya know the ones that are supposed to keep you excited about what you do for a living.

My main job is a .net developer where my counter-part is practically a savant and creates all these awesome things and I can’t keep up. My personal projects get no where because of lack of enthusiasm.

When I’m done with work I want to be at home with my wife and kids; not starting at my computer.

Just want to know has anyone else felt like this (do feel like this) and if so what did you do or did it pass?

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Yeah it comes and goes, I am just getting out of a funk myself. For me I always think about the life I want to live and so I don’t feel bad taking the time to prioritise my family.

I report directly to the CTO of my day job company and he is the co-founder of a startup with me, so we have a good working relationship, I find it is best to just communicate talk through why I feel like that and maybe just “phone it in” at work for a few days.

I love to code and go hard at it, but sometimes I think we all just need to step back for a bit, if you have some leave saved up, take a week, spend time with your family but also clearing your mind, go for walks and relax don’t just do odd jobs around the house. Hopefully at the end you will feel better and be ready to code or have a perspective change.

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Thanks for the reply @Ben_Lincoln.

I am taking a small get-away trip with my wife here soon to Disney (no kids!) and meeting up with my sister and brother-in-law who are also not going to bring their kids. So, hopefully that will be enough to push the reset button for me.

Cheers.

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Creativity can’t be done to order, or at least it can’t be done well.

I find I get inspiration from all sorts of places - mostly people. Try to find some from wherever you get it.

I also find working on spontaneous pet projects helps get me going. But then I have enormous latitude to take that approach.

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Me too! The only problem is that when I do find that inspiration for a quick side project, that’s all I can think about. I don’t do what I need to be doing and end up forcing my own had to work on work at the end of the day instead. So, there’s a matter of willpower there that I need to get under control.

I couldn’t agree more. That is part of the reason I’m getting burnt out. Trying to find that balance and not feel like I’m stuck cutting lines of code for the rest of my life.

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Sorry to read this. You’ve been encouraging to me. Enjoy Disney! Are you going to Orlando or Anaheim? I live near Orlando for six months of the year and can give you some tips on free, grown up things to do around Disney.