Indie dad's day
Happy Father's Day all you indie dads out there
As per Father’s Day tradition, a few thoughts on being indie dad for four years now:
Being indie hacker, having complete autonomy and freedom over your days and weeks, is great for being a present dad… IF you use it. I tend to like to overwork, so that kinda defeats the purpose of being a present dad. Here’s to a more mindful, less frantic year of fatherhood.
Juggling open vs closed doors. This is a tough one. To be more present around the house, I need to keep the door to my work room open, ears half-listening out for what’s happening outside. But too much interruption and I go crazy. To focus and do deep work, I need to close the door. But that would defeat the purpose of being home. Every day is a tight rope walk trying to maintain my sanity versus my focus. Setting structure and routines help. It’s a task I’ve come to accept as a daily challenge. I can’t do it perfectly every day, but I try and I’ll try again.
I used to want to make $1M per year for my products. Then I just wanted to spend time with my kid. Now I’m back to wanting $1M per year to provide for my family, my kid, so that they live securely, happily.
Being a father now also made me appreciate and respect my own father a lot more. And how tough it might have been for him back when I was little. Say thank you to your dad! A small gesture can mean a lot. Men don’t get half the praise, but desire it just as much.
Happy Father’s Day, indie dads!
I find it’s harder now, during summer, when the kids are out of school. They’ll be hanging around at home and coming to me with questions all day. (Can we take another ice cream??) The good thing about being independent is there is no one calling me into meetings or otherwise forcing me to keep to deadlines, and I just allow myself to take things a little more easy during these few months of summer.