In my element
jasonleow • 30 Mar 2024 •
So I made UVIndex.SG in a day this week.
I felt great shipping it.
It felt nice helping others.
It’s in a simple stack that I love.
Every time I launch a social good product, I come alive. And here’s the weird thing - I feel more alive than when launching a for-profit product.
I feel more in my element when I’m doing work in the social good space (that’s what I’ve been doing all along for the past decade actually). I can sense ‘market’ opportunities aka social gaps quickly and accurately. I can build and ship fast in a weekend. And I thoroughly enjoy every part of the process – building, launching, sharing. I’m totally in the zone.
Everything I aspire to be as an indie hacker, I can do it when building a social good app. But that light is switched off somewhat when I build a for-profit product.
WHYyyyyy…
I don’t know if it’s something wired wrongly inside me or what.
Is it because money taints it?
Or is it because social good industry is my niche (has been since more than a decade) that’s why it comes together so well?
I wished I knew.
Comments
That’s a good way to describe it ! I want more serotonin-driven work
I heard a doctor describe dopamine as the molecule of more, and serotonin is the molecule of enough. Dopamine pushes you to want more cake, more power, more money. With serotonin you might be relaxing with a cat in your lap, and it feels like enough. You don’t want more cats.
The social good app sounds like an enough situation. You might add features later, but for now it can just be what it is. But for-profit products are usually more situations. You always want more attention, more users, more money.
In other words, enough > more.