There is lots of awesome in this article, but something that really hit home for me is this bit:
So, if you want continual feelings of happiness, then break your time into highly contrasting chunks. The duration of the chunks is up to each of us, as we experience things subjectively. Coding for months on end and launching a product creates a contrast that is blow-your-mind enjoyable.
I’m being honest when there are some days I simply lack the inspiration to rip through code and get things done. I sometimes forget just how exhilarating it feels to cross the finish line, to ship. I’ve often wondered why that is, because once that happens my job is “done” (at least this phase) after all, and based on that the fun should be over too.
I took the comparison to a soccer game for example. It’s the playing that’s the fun part, not the final whistle. Why is it that the launching of projects is so addicting? This article helped illustrate that for me. It’s the contrast that plays a big part in it. You spend months working on a project and the release is what makes it fully real, and it’s awesome.