Miscellaneous

Are You Being Energized or Drained?

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Things That Energize Me

Eric

EricYesterday I was in the basement talking with one of my sons. I heard laughter upstairs and went to see what was up — at the top of the stairs I found my grandson quickly crawling towards me. He had heard my voice and decided being with grandpa sounded like a pretty cool thing, and took off like a shot to come find me.

How great is that!

Often when he is around, a short work break turns into an extended session crawling around on the floor until my knees hurt. When that happens, I always return to my basement lair refreshed.

Making Physical Things

It has been a little while since I have done any significant woodworking, but I do have a decent set of tools and supplies in the garage. I love starting with nothing more than a vague idea and transforming raw pieces of wood into something with my own two hands (and some power tools!).

Creating physical things that never existed before is very cool, and seeing the finished product sitting on the workbench is satisfying.

Wilderness

GlacierNPI love spending time with my family, and some of my favorite times are our trips to the mountains, woods, or canyons. Being someplace where none of my technology works frees me in a unique way. Even a short visit to the wilderness can recharge a part of my mind and soul that I didn’t even realize were hurting.

A hike in the canyons of the southwest, the great woods of the north, or one of our great National Parks in the mountains inspires me in a way nothing else can.

Helping People

When someone I have taught demonstrates by their work or life that they “got it”, that gives me a good feeling. But, when they surpass anything I taught or helped with — that is really exciting.

When someone like that excels, their success spills over and puts gas in my tank.

Writing Useful Software

As much as I like seeing something physical take shape, crafting something out of nothing but thought is a uniquely enjoyable experience. When the pieces come together and fit just like I want; when I can look at what I have written and honestly say to myself, that turned out pretty well; and when others find what I have finished to be good — I am pleased, and that pleasure provides energy for the next round.

Things That Drain Me

Breaking Commitments

One of the requirements of being a responsible adult is making commitments and keeping them. When I can see no way to keep a commitment I made because of my poor planning or lack of understanding of what I was doing — I pile up stress points like crazy. If I have to go back to someone and explain that I can see no way to keep the commitment I willingly made earlier, it is a serious emotional drain and can turn into a downward spiral if I am not careful.

Making a Mistake That Hurts Someone Else

Mistakes happen. We all know that. If I mess up on something that primarily hurts me, I kick myself for a minute then get my head on straight and figure out how to correct it and move on. I really don’t waste energy on the “if only” stuff any more. But, if my mistake causes someone else extra work or pain, I cringe and struggle with figuring out how to make amends.

Repeatedly Failing To Reach A Goal

If I set a goal, whether formal or informal, and don’t reach it — I am usually able to rationally analyze what went wrong and decide how to proceed. But, if there is a long term goal that I seem to be getting no closer to, or repeat the “set goal, fail” cycle for the same goal too many times, it gets very discouraging.

Beating Discouragement

We all could make lists like these. Some of the items will change, but the pattern is part of being human. One of the dangers of discouragement is that it starts a negative feedback loop that can ruin me emotionally if left unchecked.

To be discouraged is “to be deprived of courage or confidence : be disheartened”. When my courage or confidence is low or non-existent, it can be very hard to break out of that cycle. Here are some things I can do to break discouragement’s nasty grip.

Separate The Objective Reality From Subjective Feelings

Emotions are a vital part of being human, and it does not help if I pretend they don’t exist or that they don’t matter. Unfortunately, emotions can be misleading or just plain wrong, and often lag far behind objective reality. I need to find a way to sort out what is real.

I need to work backwards from my feelings to the reality. I do something like the “Five Whys” on my emotions to help determine the root causes. Once I have identified the root causes of my discouragement I am in a better position to address them.

For root causes that are outside my control, I have to ask myself if I can really afford to let events like that control my life so deeply. At this point, I need to force myself to change my goals or expectations. If I am unwilling to make that change, I need to realize I am facing a downward spiral with no escape.

For root causes over which I have some control, I have to ask myself which is more important: the status quo those causes represent or my goal. It may be difficult to decide, and my end decision may be a hybrid, but once again, something needs to change or nothing will be solved.

Enlist The Help Of Objective Loved Ones And Friends

If I am having trouble sorting out the truth about my discouragement, enlisting an objective loved one or friend makes a big difference. Even the geekiest, most introverted people need others, and I am no different. It can be painful to ask for this kind of help, and I need to use discretion, but it may be the only way for me to see what is true and what is false.

Choose To Do Things That Energize You

I need to find those things that energize me. I cannot expect to remove destructive emotions without finding things to take their place. When I have a choice, I need to choose activities, relationships, and projects that will be encourage me to keep trying.

I need to find ways to take incremental steps towards my goals. When I see progress on a small scale, that enables me to envision success on a grander scale.

Be Decisive

It is a myth that I can have it all. I need to make choices about what is important to me, what I want, what I should do, and what I cannot do.

One aspect of leadership that applies to all responsible adults is that decisions must be made with incomplete information. I will never have all the information I want before I have to make a decision, and if I keep waiting for it, I will end up in “analysis paralysis”.

So.

  • Make a decision.
  • Be willing to live with the consequences of that decision.
  • When necessary, make changes.

After all, that is what it means to be a grown up.


This marks the beginning of my second run on iDevBlogADay. Once again, my thanks go out to all the participants, readers, but especially to Miguel. Thanks Miguel!

We all need the support of others to do our best work. Find other like-minded developers that will provide encouragement and motivation through local user groups, conferences or meetups. A great collection of indie iOS developers have helped me stay on track through meetups, 360iDev, twitter, and iDevBlogADay.

I regularly attend Cocoa/iPhone developer meetups in Cincinnati, Ohio and Columbus, Ohio. If you are in the central or southwest Ohio area, come join me at either monthly meetup:

If you depend on iOS development for your livelihood, or would like to get to that point — you really need to attend a conference dedicated to helping you get better, and I can think of no better conference for that purpose than 360iDev — you should register today!. Much of what I am able to do professionally is due to the things I learned and the people I met there.

Finally, here is a little more information about me, Doug Sjoquist, and how I came to my current place in life. You should follow me on twitter and subscribe to my blog. Have a great day!

Sample Xcode 4 project with embedded GHUnit and OCMock frameworks

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My previous post described building an Xcode project template with GHUnit and OCMock support built-in.

Unfortunately, the project template structure for Xcode 4 is significantly different, and even though I am working almost exclusively in Xcode 4 now, I have not taken the time to create a new version of the template.

So for now, I went a little old school and created and empty base project and then just copy the directory and rename things to start a new project.

This zip file is roughly the same contents as what the project template creates in Xcode 3, and I just verified that I can open it up cleanly, build, and run both test targets in Xcode 4. I hope it helps.

https://sunetos.com/code/EmptyXcode4GHUnitOCMock.zip

Old Year, New Year, Old Stuff, New Stuff!

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Old Year, Old Stuff

I have been an independent developer for over twelve years, using a variety of tools, platforms, and languages. I really love being on my own, even through the slow periods when I wondered if I would find any new projects to work!

Breaking away from corporate life might not be for everyone, but if you are thinking about it, I encourage you to keep working towards that goal. Being independent while my kids were growing allowed us to do many things as a family that I would not otherwise have been able to do. It also put me in a position to work on some very cool projects for different clients over the years.

Old Year, New Stuff

Twelve months ago, I set a goal of having close to half my work be iOS based by the end of the year. I did not quite reach that goal, but I can definitely see it happening in the near future.

I have really matured in my iOS development by hanging out with very smart and sharing people at 360iDev conferences, local user groups and meetups, and through twitter. Thanks to all who taught, wrote, or otherwise shared great stuff!

New Year, Old Stuff

I have gone through many changes in life, both personally and professionally, but very few have been abrupt ones. I still expect to continue on in some fashion with projects I have been working this past year. As some major projects from the past year wind down this year, it will be interesting to see what comes next.

New Year, New Stuff

This coming year will be one of those gradual changes as I move into more and more mobile development, both iOS and Android, over the coming months. I anticipate being very busy for the first few months of the year, and then seeing what happens.

iDevBlogADay.com

Today’s post marks four complete months for my participation in iDevBlogADay, and with the new work I will be involved with over the next few months, this seems an appropriate time to hand over my coveted Sunday slot to the next victim. I’ve really enjoyed being a part of iDevBlogADay.com — it has been the primary support technique to get me writing regularly again, and for that I am very thankful.

Participating has taught or reminded me of several things:

  • Just like software, good writing is work;
  • Writing usually takes longer than I think and rarely turns out exactly like I planned;
  • There is nothing like a deadline to motivate me to action;
  • Writing about what I am learning helps me understand it better;
  • The developer community in general, and the iOS developer community in particular is great!

Thanks Miguel!

Miguel, thanks so much for the work you put into setting up and maintaining iDevBlogADay, I appreciate it very much. For those who have read, commented on, and retweeted my posts — thank you, I hope you found some useful nuggets along the way.

I still plan on posting twice a month, though not on Sunday. You should subscribe to my blog and hold me accountable to this.

Please follow me on twitter if you are interested in what comes of all this new stuff!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Think, Think, Think…

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Think, Think, Think...

Think, Think, Think…

One of my favorite shows to watch with my young children was Winnie The Pooh — perhaps because I had good memories of watching the classic TV specials from when I was a child.

I loved the simple, happy nature of Pooh, but one downside of being stuffed with fluff is that it can be hard to think. Pooh occasionally worked very hard at it, with very limited results. I’m pretty sure my head isn’t stuffed with fluff, but some days my thinking doesn’t seem to get me any farther than Pooh’s did.

Lost in Thought — An Incredible, Productive Day

In developing software, my primary tool is my mind. Languages, frameworks, IDE’s, and editors all are important — but without the right mind to use them, and the right frame of mind, they are worthless.

My family can tell you that watching me work some days is incredibly boring. Much of those days is spent staring at the screen, at some scribbles on notepaper, or blankly into space. Those are often the days where I make the most progress.

My most productive days are when I’m so deep in thought that I don’t even remember to eat. I love those days. It’s like I can see the entire program as a single entity in my mind–I can turn it over and around, zoom in and out, pull one part out, graft something new in–it’s a incredible feeling. I wish they happened more often!

Holding it in your head

Paul Graham describes that feeling as “Holding a Program in One’s Head“. He writes:

They do more in their heads: they try to understand a problem space well enough that they can walk around it the way you can walk around the memory of the house you grew up in. At its best programming is the same. You hold the whole program in your head, and you can manipulate it at will.

He goes on to list ways to help load the entire program into your head. I may quibble about some items, but the point is valid. In order to get to that incredible, lost in the world of my program point more often, I need to figure out deliberate steps that move me away from Pooh-thinking and into that magical place.

From Pooh to TRON

There are a number of tactics I use to de-fluff my mind and achieve TRON-ness with my program, but none of them work every time, and each of them are subject to exceptions.

Working at a consistent level

  • I try to stay at a consistent level of abstraction as long as possible, switching costs between working on high-level designs and low-level implementation details can be high.
  • Rather than switching back and forth between competing projects throughout the day, I try very hard to spend most of the day on a single project — even if it is not the exact same task.

Managing distractions

  • Some interruptions are predictable, so preempt them and deal with them before they attack. (If you work at home, this may mean keeping up properly with your share of household duties before you begin.)
  • Have a notebook or software tool that allows you to quickly record any unrelated items demanding attention. Do not do any real thinking about it, simply record it. Once recorded, dismiss the thought and go back to work, those items are attacks on your concentration — do not give ground. (This only works if you have a reliable system for addressing those items, otherwise your mind will not let go.)
  • After you finish a session, deal with the items you recorded appropriately if necessary. That way you train yourself to trust that you really will “deal with that later”.
  • Schedule times or days where coworkers or family know you need to be left alone, in cooperation with them of course! On-going communication is key.
  • If twitter, facebook, news readers, or email keep pulling you away — just STOP IT.

Achieving Flow quickly

  • When you finish a session, or are interrupted, record what you are thinking or doing so that you don’t lose all your context. (See the excellent advice in the post “the interruptible programmer“.)
  • Use music, headphones if necessary. I listen to a lot of different kinds of music, but my “flow” music tends to fade into the background quickly and support my thinking, rather than require me to pay attention to it directly. For me, that usually means minimal or no lyrics, but everyone is different in that regard.
  • If you are actively working on code, then leave it in a mildly broken state. Put some notes directly in the source file where you left off so it won’t compile, add a failing unit test, something to draw your attention back to the point you left.

Manage your expectations

I don’t believe it is possible to be so consistent at your work, that you never suffer from Pooh-thinking days. So don’t set your expectations so high that your disappointment becomes a serious distraction all by itself.

You goal should be improvement, and perhaps even that “perfect” day — but don’t let the fluffy-head days get you down. There’s a good chance tomorrow will be a better day.


We all need the support of others to do our best. Find other like-minded developers that will provide encouragement and motivation through local user groups, regular conferences or meetups. This post is part of iDevBlogADay which has really helped me stay on track with my writing and my iOS projects.

Also, here is a little more information about me, Doug Sjoquist, and how I came to my current place in life. You should follow me on twitter and subscribe to my blog. Have a great day!

Are You A Gamer, A Tinkerer, Or A Maker?

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Gamer? Me? Not So Much

I have a confession: I am not very good at playing video games. Most of my time on the family XBox 360 is playing multiplayer games with my kids, and on that machine my gamer tag is “Target”, so that should give you a good idea of my proficiency at Halo, Call of Duty, or whatever the game of the week is around here.

I don’t have any problem with folks who love to take the time to beat games. Both of my college age sons love the challenge of a good game when they have the time.

I guess I’m just not a gamer at heart.

A Tinkerer At Heart

I think I could be a lot better at video games, but that would require a lot more time playing by myself than I care to give. My main problem is I am more interested in how it was done than I am in finishing whatever task is set before me. I would rather try to figure out how to do even a small part of what I see, than to finish playing. That same all tinker, no finish, bleeds into other areas of my life at times as well.

I love to tinker. On my mac, in the garage, in the yard, wherever. Doing something for the first time, usually without instructions and just a vague idea of what I want is one of my favorite ways to waste some time.

I have other marks of a tinkerer as well. I’d rather start something new than take something that I think is “good enough” and finish and polish it. Every time a new idea crosses my path, I’m tempted to play too long with the new shiny instead of pressing forward and finishing the old.

I Want To Be A Maker

I still feel the call of the tinkerer within, but I am getting better at resisting. Both personally and professionally, my goal is to increase my finishing percentage, and I am reasonably pleased with my progress.

I do not want to be known as just a tinkerer, I want to finish things well.

I want to be known as a maker, a maker of good things.

p.s.

Now that I’ve come clean about my abysmal gamer credentials, I only hope that the geek overlords do not find out and revoke my geek card.

Winston Churchill's Keys To Success

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One of the difficulties in discussing success is that each of us may have a different definition. I believe that ultimate success in life depends on my relationship with my creator1, but I also believe there are many aspects of success that all of us can agree on.

Lessons from Winston Churchill

I would not equate building an application or creating a game with the major events surrounding Winston Churchill’s life and career, but there are lessons we can apply from what he said and wrote.

On Failure

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Learn from your failures rather than let them discourage you from continuing.

On Quitting for the Wrong Reasons

“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never–in nothing, great or small, large or petty–never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

There are times to quit and there are times to persevere.

It is difficult to tell the difference, but if you think it might be time to quit, wait until you are thinking clearly and can evaluate the situation properly before making that decision.

On Criticism

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.”

Not every bit of criticism is valid, but I have found that most criticism contains at least a kernel of truth — find that kernel and decide if you need to make corrections.

On Mediocrity

“I am easily satisfied with the very best.”

Try very hard not to settle for mediocre results. Often it is better to cut something out completely rather than include some half-baked feature.

On Difficulties

“Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them.”

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Sometimes the only reason one person succeeds where others have tried and failed is simply because they pushed on through the valley to the other side when no one else did.

On Worries

“When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.”

“Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.”

Do not focus on things that might happen. You have enough things that are happening right now that you should handle.

Final Thoughts

Winston Churchill experienced things I never will, through times that I hope to never see.

But, his perspective and wisdom, though not perfect, can be invaluable when thinking about success. I hope you found a nugget that helps you this week.


As an indie developer, one of the best things you can do is to find like-minded developers that will provide encouragement and motivation while pursuing a commitment. A great collection of indie iOS developers have helped me stay on track, many of them are either developers associated with iDevBlogADay, or those I have met through the 360iDev conferences. I also encourage you to find local NSCoder nights, developer meetup groups, or other user groups to keep your motivation on track. If there aren’t any meeting locally, try to find one other developer and start one.

Also, here is a little more information about me, Doug Sjoquist, and how I came to my current place in life. You should follow me on twitter and subscribe to my blog. Have a great day!


1. Matthew 16:25-26 “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

Reply from Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown in response to my email about TSA

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I sent emails to my senators yesterday through their websites, and to the subcommittee leadership. My points were the scanners were intrusive, most likely a waste of money better spent on other forms of security, and that the TSA pat downs were highly offensive.

Sherrod Brown is the first to reply. Evidently he does not see much of an issue. Here is his email, without further comment.
—————————————-

Dear Mr. Sjoquist:

Thank you for sharing your views about the use of millimeter-wave scanners, also known as body image scanners, at airports nationwide.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is increasing the number of millimeter-wave scanners in airports around the country. This new technology is able to detect concealed plastic and ceramic weapons as well as explosives that evade traditional metal detectors.
However, passengers who feel uncomfortable being screened by the body image scanner may decline to go through and will be patted down by a TSA officer as an alternate security measure.

I support bolstering the safeguards in place to prevent terrorists from entering our country. However, it makes sense to explore whether there are strategies other than millimeter-wave scanners that could be employed to discover concealed explosives and other weapons that are not detectable by traditional methods. Should relevant legislation be considered by the Senate, I will keep your views in mind.

Thank you again for getting in touch with me.

Sincerely,

Sherrod Brown
United States Senator

Stay connected with what’s happening in Congress. Sign up here for regular updates on the issues you care about the most: http://brown.senate.gov/newsletter/landing

Advice for Indie developers with young families

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Take advantage of those serendipitous moments

Twelve years ago, I went independent full time with kids aged 11, 10, 8, and 6 (the youngest just stared college this fall.)

One of the great parts was my ability to alter the day’s schedule on very short notice. There are so many cool things you can do that cost very little but help create memories for a lifetime, especially with younger kids. I am very grateful that I was able to take advantage of my independence in many big and small ways.

Sometimes, the best things come together quickly, and as an indie, you are in a position to take advantage IF you are watching for them. A beautiful early spring day becomes an afternoon bike ride with work pushed to later in the evening. A rainy summer afternoon turns into a mudsliding event for you and the kids. When you get stuck on something, sometimes the best antidote is throwing a frisbee around or playing whiffle ball in the back yard. And the sledding hill is great fun on those snow days!

Include family events in your plans and schedule

Trips to special places can be much less crowded during the week, often cheaper as well. Museums on a weekday are wonderful, camping in the middle of the week instead of crowded weekends gives a much more relaxed time.

With a flexible schedule, you may be able to participate in more of your children’s activities. Coaching youth sports becomes easier to schedule, watching ballet practice or attending concerts, especially when you have multiple kids, can be much less stressful. Taking your kids and their friends to a matinee of the latest Pixar event can be a lot of fun (and very noisy!)

Invest time in building relationships with your kids when they are young

The single, best piece of advice I can give you to prepare yourself for adolescence is to develop a solid relationship with each of your children before they reach that stage.

Infants and very young children quickly develop a complete trust in you as parents that will last for their first few years. A key task for you between those early years and adolescence is to take that trust that is given without reservation, and develop it into a trust based on love, knowledge, and real events. Through the elementary years, work towards giving your children reasons to hold onto and build on that trust. You want them to know that even when they don’t agree with you, you always have their best interest at heart.

As they get older, they may not acknowledge that they can trust you, and may even deny it outright, but it will be an undercurrent to their thoughts, and it will certainly be an influence in their life.

Seize the day

Enjoy these days. They can be stressful, tiring, and tons of work, but enjoy the bright spots.

Remember, the best family memories are built through the drip drip drip of many simple events that occur regularly over the years.

I know it’s almost a cliche, but this time will pass incredibly fast. So, seize the day.


As an indie developer, one of the best things you can do is to find like-minded developers that will provide encouragement and motivation while pursuing a commitment. A great collection of indie iOS developers have helped me stay on track, most of them are either developers associated with iDevBlogADay, or those I have met through the 360iDev conferences. If you can make it to Austin in November, I highly recommend it for its content, the friendships you’ll develop, and the passion it will bring to your iOS development.

Also, here is a little more information about me, Doug Sjoquist, and how I came to my current place in life. You should follow me on twitter and subscribe to my blog. Have a great day!

Mini-review of Sun Scout app

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I finally gave in and upgraded my phone (iPhone 3G) and my wife’s phone (older RAZR) to iPhone 4’s this week. Since I had skipped the 3GS, this was my first extended experience with all the new cool stuff like compass and video, and now with the iPhone 4 the gyroscope and retina display. (I am definitely enjoying the upgrade, but I did find out something about my wife that I did not know: her normal method of holding her phone is the dreaded “iPhone death grip.”)

I wanted to try out an app that took advantage of some of the new features and found Sun Scout by fellow indie developer, Benjohn Barnes of Splendid Things. SunScout’s website says:

Sun Scout shows you live what your phone’s camera sees, but augments the image with where the sun will be at each hour of the day. To see everything that might cast a shadow on you, simply sweep your phone across the sky from dawn to dusk.

and Benjohn also has a video tutorial on calibrating your iPhone compass so that SunScout works best.

Track of sun across the sky at hourly intervals, large arrow points the way to current sun track
SunScout is an augmented reality app with a clear, single purpose: Show me where the sun will be based on my current position. Once I calibrated my compass, I checked the image for 18:00 (my current time) and it was within a few degrees of the actual position of the sun. So SunScout fulfills it’s basic mission just fine. The sun track is displayed for each hour which seems to be enough information to be useful without overcrowding the image.

In cases where you cannot currently see the sun because it’s night, heavily overcast, or you live in the UK like Benjohn where it only comes out once in awhile, he has added a large yellow arrow that directs you back towards the sun’s arc for the day.

Like many iPhone users, I download and try quite a few apps that I delete shortly thereafter. But, this simple app is interesting and useful enough that it stays.

Commitment: "This may sound too simple…"

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One of my favorite quotes1 is from a book by Scottish mountain climber, W.H. Murray:2

‘But when I said that nothing had been done I erred in one important matter. We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money–booked a sailing to Bombay. This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.3 Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!’

Commitment is making a decision, then making choices that support that decision.

A personal example:

I made a commitment to my wife to have a healthy marriage for the rest of our lives. That means I will choose to do some things because they bring us together, and that I will forgo some things that I might want but are likely to push us apart. That also means I am very careful to reserve physical and emotional intimacy for her alone.

A professional example:

I made a commitment to make iOS development a major component of my work. That means even though I have many interests, I choose to spend much of my creative time growing as an iOS developer, keeping up with topics that advance that goal, and avoiding too much dabbling with cool things that do not.

Make a commitment you can keep

I believe there is a purpose to my life, and I have life goals built on that purpose. By having some fairly clear life goals, I can make better decisions about which commitments to make. If you don’t have any idea what you want from life, even short-term, then you will be hard pressed to make commitments that you can keep.

When you make a new commitment, it must compete with your existing commitments for time or money. If there is not enough to do it all, you will have to decide between them. The harder you work to convince yourself that you *can* do it all, the more likely that you are only deceiving yourself. Worthwhile endeavors should stretch you, but sometimes that means making the hard decision to drop something else.

Sometimes the conflict is more basic and a new commitment is at cross purposes to your other goals. If you try to do it anyway, you will pile up stress along an underground fault in your psyche. Eventually, something will trigger a quake, and your goals or your commitment will break, leaving you disheartened.

The answer to all of these conflicts is straightforward:

You need to choose–it is that simple.

But “simple” does not imply “easy”. If you are having difficulty choosing, enlist the help of those with experience and wisdom who know you well and care about you.

Once you make a commitment that is consistent with your other goals, you must weave it into the fabric of your life.

  • You will need to be deliberate about creating new habits that reinforce that commitment and breaking habits that deter from it.
  • If you are doing this alone, find others who will hold you accountable or check on your progress fairly regularly (I use Twitter for this).
  • Devote some of your most productive and clear-thinking time towards thinking, designing, and developing your project.
  • Be willing to sacrifice short-term comfort to achieve something that will last.
  • Take concrete steps to renew your vision when your passion wanes.
  • If constant comfort or instant gratification is your life goal, then almost any commitment you might want to make will be in conflict with it.

One last piece of advice. Do not become so focused on your project that you let your personal relationships break down, for people are far more important than things.


As an Indie, one of the best things you can do to find like-minded developers that will provide encouragement and motivation while pursuing a commitment. A great collection of indie iOS developers have helped me stay on track, most of them are either developers associated with iDevBlogADay, or those I have met through the 360iDev conferences. If you can make it to Austin in November, I highly recommend it for it’s content, the friendships you’ll develop, and the passion it will bring to your iOS development.

Also, here is a little more information about me, Doug Sjoquist, and how I came to my current place in life. You should follow me on twitter and subscribe to my blog. Have a great day!


1. Over the years, this quote has incorrectly been attributed to Goethe.
2. When you consider Murray’s life and the circumstances under which he wrote his book, this passage reveals much about the man’s character.
3. Emphasis mine.