I code for a living, albeit not as an app developer, but in academia.

A gamechanger for me in terms of fighting procrastination has been a combination of:

As a side note, I've been tinkering with the idea of building a nostr client which does a similar thing as focusmate.com, but with the additional advantage of using LN micropayments to pressure yourself into working (you lose the bounty if you didn't do what you committed to).

pomodoro technique is cliche for a reason.

get yourself a cheap timer. make a check-list of tasks you want to get done pick the first task, set the timer for 25 minutes, and do nothing but that task. Close other windows, turn on DND, etc. when the timer goes off, take a 5 minute break (check your email/slack, go on stackernews, use the restroom, whatever). Set the timer for 25 minutes and do it all over again. Every 4 cycles, take a 20 minute break. At the end of the day you'll be shocked at how much you got done.

Some years ago I started and built a decent sized community around a FOSS project. I spend 5 years working on it almost every day. The project still exists and is still used by many, but I have since left and handed the reigns over to someone else.

Reflecting on that experience I can say a few things...

However, there are some downsides, which is ultimately why I quit...

Here's the thing. I still work on side projects regularly and I occasionally contribute to other FOSS projects. For me, it's just about the enjoyment of coding and solving problems.

Although, I must say I do get more distracted nowadays than I used too. Staying focused and managing your time is a skill that needs to be practiced and I'm out of practice. I got through phases when I can get really deep into something and then other times I waste time watching YouTube. It's a real problem.

Make all distractions be more expensive. E.g. when you want to check Stacker News you have to go to another room and check your phone there.

schedule your routine, look back and notice the things you usually do.. just acknowledge them as part of your starting routine. With time of practicing the same routine day after day, you'll will change the routine as you pleasure.. 8h FOSS work a day? Nah, 4h? 4h a week?... you decide. The important is that you stick to it!

DON'T CHANGE IT TO OFTEN!

My best guess is that you're not procrastinating on doing the FOSS, but that doing the FOSS would be procrastination, even if you did it successfully. People who work on FOSS full time seem to me to know why they're doing it and how they got there, and why they're running out of steam. Things like, I did it adjacent to being in school, or for my job, or to fix a bug for some game I like playing that wouldn't work anymore.

The way you've formed it is more like "I'm an athlete in a position to devote myself to full time to sport." than the slightly more plausible forest gump "I just felt like running." It's ok to have big almost irrational dreams or hobbies, but you have to at least be very specific at whats being attempted before going to the time management well. If I'm a doctor I'm not giving a kid an adderall prescription because he and his mom say he's having a hard time with his yoyo practice, I don't care if he's some yoyo social media star or not.

As others have mentioned, managing distractions is huge for me. Putting the phone on Do Not Disturb, not checking email/messages as often, etc. Really allowing me to get into the zone and crank out some work.

Instead of FocusMate, try Flow.Club. I like it tons better, and it's been insanely motivating for me. Basically in Flow.Club, you sign up for zoom-type calls, in which everybody writes up their tasks for the hour (you can be private by just using acronyms or abbreviations for your tasks). You spend 5 minutes with the host going around, asking people what their tasks are, then 50 minutes muted, then 5 minutes where the host asks everyone how they did. It really works for me. $40 a month, $20 if you do some hosting.

Do you have a clear view on your distractions? What's getting your attention? Look like don't the problem you're short on time but on attention. https://world.hey.com/jason/the-difference-between-time-and-attention-bdd955eb

I'm also a developer who's self-employed and I have learned to schedule my work with a weekly review (doing this with a template set up in Notion/AnyType) which forces me to reflect, learn and plan my week which are aligned with my goals. I love to freewheel a lot (I have that freedom) so it's easy to avoid the things which are URGENT & IMPORTANT to do. If I'm not doing those things, I will pay a price on the long term (like a client which is unhappy because it takes long to get my output for what he's paying for).

I would also like to mention I started a experiment with a other self-employed developer who struggles to manage his time to get the things done which costs much focus and attention. These talks we call encouragement sessions where we share our struggles + goals and encourage each other how to get it done / get rid of those struggles (saying NO to certain things is a strong tool for that). We also share every (little) success we achieve while working with just a simple message to each other.

I'm able to work on my job all day and still do some FOSS or personal projects coding in my free time, but I don't code all day, my main priorities are to perfect my skills so that when I do write code I write it faster and more efficiently to get things done quicker and in a way I don't have to keep coming back to fix past mistakes or errors.

Another thing is always having a low time preference i.e. everything will get done with time so if I work on something for at least 1 hour a day I know that would add up to 10 hours in 10 days, I focus on my long term health and ability to maintain habits consistently which helps getting everything I want done and enjoying every moment while doing it, working out in between, etc. I started this in 2020 during the pandemic and haven't stopped since, but I do take breaks as well