The advice to break things down in advance is definitely helpful. The feeling of an insurmountable huge project when you're tired after a long day isn't exactly motivating.
Some other suggestions (I've a similar work style):
- Try the morning instead of evening, slowly dial back your wakeup time until you have 2 hours in the morning instead of evening (and correspondingly go to bed earlier; this is important!). Doesn't work for everyone, but perhaps try it for a week - I find the switch invigorating. Do other stuff in the evenings - chores, laundry, art, errands, cooking.
- Figure out if there's anything you want to learn or practice, instead of tackling hard problems straight away. Perhaps allot yourself 30 minutes of learning and then see how your brain feels for real work.
- Make yourself accountable for finishing stuff. Pair up with a buddy who has the same problem, enter a competition or whatever works for you. One of the accountability tricks I used was to set a deadline to make myself fluent enough in iOS development by the date of an upcoming hackathon. For those of us with ADD or ADD tendencies, deadlines can really help that "I never finish anything" feeling. A buddy who you can set up a regular chat time with is also a really awesome way of getting stuff done.
- Exercise for 20-30 minutes, even if it's a walk outside in the crisp night air. Taking an evening shower can also help - think about your project in the shower, you might get some ideas and feel inspired.
- Find what works for you to set the 'focus' mood. Different lighting, herbal tea, a clean desk, binaural music - get your favourite focus triggers ready and only use them for this period.
- Leave yourself red. Don't wrap up your project neatly every night, but leave something dangling (and small) to fix the next day. That way you know exactly what you have to do first when you open up your text editor.
Some other suggestions (I've a similar work style):
- Try the morning instead of evening, slowly dial back your wakeup time until you have 2 hours in the morning instead of evening (and correspondingly go to bed earlier; this is important!). Doesn't work for everyone, but perhaps try it for a week - I find the switch invigorating. Do other stuff in the evenings - chores, laundry, art, errands, cooking.
- Figure out if there's anything you want to learn or practice, instead of tackling hard problems straight away. Perhaps allot yourself 30 minutes of learning and then see how your brain feels for real work.
- Make yourself accountable for finishing stuff. Pair up with a buddy who has the same problem, enter a competition or whatever works for you. One of the accountability tricks I used was to set a deadline to make myself fluent enough in iOS development by the date of an upcoming hackathon. For those of us with ADD or ADD tendencies, deadlines can really help that "I never finish anything" feeling. A buddy who you can set up a regular chat time with is also a really awesome way of getting stuff done.
- Exercise for 20-30 minutes, even if it's a walk outside in the crisp night air. Taking an evening shower can also help - think about your project in the shower, you might get some ideas and feel inspired.
- Find what works for you to set the 'focus' mood. Different lighting, herbal tea, a clean desk, binaural music - get your favourite focus triggers ready and only use them for this period.
- Leave yourself red. Don't wrap up your project neatly every night, but leave something dangling (and small) to fix the next day. That way you know exactly what you have to do first when you open up your text editor.