Motivational Crises
Some people are just serious pains in the ass. I get daily emails telling me that I’m an idiot, that my apps suck, that this is all a waste of their precious time. The same stuff shows up here on the blog at times (as everyone who reads it can attest). Every time I read something like that, it kills my motivation a little bit - even if I don’t reply. I think I start to believe it a little bit. It’s a human flaw, IMO. As time goes on it is becoming harder and harder to complete apps on time. Some of it is due to actual time crunches - but a decent percentage of the slow down is motivational. Whenever I build a simple app to try to buy myself some time, people jump all over me. They are relentless with their abuse.
The thing is, it’s usually the same handful people (or people types) that cause the stress day after day. I’m pretty much a nobody here - but I can imagine the stress faced by a truly public figure like a movie star or a government office holder.
Want to know why government officials are so easily influenced by special interests? Want to know why it feels as if you’re being ignored by the “powerful?” This is exactly why: A percentage of people are selfish morons who find pleasure in pointing out the flaws of others. They tell themselves that they’re the smartest in the room. They tell themselves that they are really providing “constructive criticism” and the world should be thankful for their wisdom. The truth is they are soul-suckers. They are the societal equivalent of friction - and friction slows everything down, wears things out, burns things up, and wastes energy. To get away from the madness, the public figures retreat into a smaller, more closed world - a world designed to keep the public soul-suckers out of day to day life as much as possible.
I’ve now been distracted from working on tomorrow’s app for at least an hour by wasting time arguing with idiots, sitting here with a headache, and writing this post complaining about it all. Even so, the soul-sucker-type will refuse to comprehend how this situation could possibly have anything to do with them - after all, they’re so much smarter than I am!
November 13th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Don’t worry. You are doing a wondefull job. haters are everywhere.
do it for those who apriciate
do it for the free software community
do it for the iphone hackers
do it for you (programming practice)
and ignore the haters.
look at me. iam in germany, drinking a beer (0:18h) and write my first comment here to give you probs.
the thing is: those who loe your work are not as motivated to post comments as teh haters are. just ignore them. meassure your apps by the download stats.
if every app , since day one, would have been a bad one. nobody would download anymore apps.
greetings from (west) berlin
grimmet
November 13th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
The people insulting you probably aren’t even smart enough to figure out what you just said. They just want to feel special by making other people feel crappy. I am amazed by what you are doing and I hope that other programmers will start their own iApps of the day for every month after you finish, and that you can spread your unparalleled experience with completing apps to the whole community to kick start new development.
Remember, no one has published more iphone/ipod touch apps than you. I am proud just be watching history be made.
November 13th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Thanks you two. Your kindness is much appreciated. I didn’t even consider that I probably have the most published apps of anyone. (And if I don’t, I have to be getting terribly close!) Interesting factoid.
November 13th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Sean, forget those hating mofo’s and keep it up.
Have you seen the Bush impersonation on Metacafe?
haha you should update Poke to have Bush say “Gobble Gobble!”
haha
November 13th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
If I could, I’d call you to tell you that you’re doing a great job. I think this iappaday program is actually a very good learning experience for you as well.
Being able to experience the stress and pressure, you’d know how to handle it the next time you come across such things. Being able to keep yourself going even when people are telling you to stop wasting your time, that’s a life lesson that really can’t be learnt anywhere else. 
I look forward to each day of november partially thanks to you. Thank you for bringing a little mystery and surprise in my life everyday. You’re a great guy. (and your wife must be a lucky woman :))
November 13th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
hi sean. im terribly sorry for all those ppl who are emailing you and bashing you on this blog. those ppl just dont understand.
i really appreciate what you do! i love the new suprise everyday. tc - n best of luck the rest of the month - pls hang in there!
November 13th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Sean!
Please try and ignore those in our community that lack the respect, tact, and general human decency that is much needed in situations like this.
Although I am only one user, I want to thank you for all of the hard work you have put into these apps. Yes, not every one is highly useful or functional, but people forget that in no way was that the goal. Personally, I look forward to waking up each morning and refreshing the sources on my installer.app to see what you have cooked up.
Once again, thank you for your work, and please keep it up - you really are doing quite an amazing thing and there is more than a handful of people that are extremely satisfied with what your doing for each one of those naysayers.
If you ever need any help, please do not hesitate to contact me.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Well, if nothing else this post finally got me to get around to telling you how much I enjoy your work. I have loved owning the iPhone, but I think the most exciting part about it lately has been the work you put out. At the very least, I am greeted with a stylish fun or pretty app in the morning. You should definitely be commended for some awesome apps. No way could they all possibly shake up the app-world. Still, they are all very cool. Each one has had something new and clever in it, that obviously took a lot of work and know-how to produce. So… keep it up! I am so excited to see what the rest of the month has in store. And hopefully, the month of coding (and web trolls) don’t burn you out, and we get to see more of your work in the future.
Thank you!
November 14th, 2007 at 12:02 am
Hey Sean,
Dude, you rock. This iApp-A-Day idea is really amazing. I’m very impressed with your creativity and iPhone Cocoa-Fu (especially considering there’s no official SDK, yet!).
Also…thank you for sharing the code base for these apps. You do some really really cool stuff in these applications. A lot of other aspiring iPhone developers are going to love digging through your code to see the magic!
Thanks for your hard work, and good luck with the remaining couple of weeks.
-Alex
November 14th, 2007 at 12:33 am
Hi!
I also want to let you know that I really enjoy your apps. We keep track of them everyday on our site (appleiphoneschool.com). I get up every morning and say, huh, I wonder what the app of the day is today! It adds a little bit of excitement to my mornings…I know, that sounds totally nerdy…but that is what happens when you write about the iPhone all day…you look forward to the new apps!! I can see how people being jerky would totally ruin the motivation but, I think you are doing great…keep up the good work. And like every morning for the last 14 days…I will wake up again tomorrow wondering what the iApp-a-Day will be.
November 14th, 2007 at 5:09 am
Hey Sean,
I just wanna tell you Hungary is with you! (At least the hungarian iphone owners :D)
Ignore the bastards!
Bests,
Santa
November 14th, 2007 at 7:04 am
hungary and germany! we love your apps.
November 14th, 2007 at 7:14 am
Keep going man, you’re half-way there.
November 14th, 2007 at 7:39 am
November 14th, 2007 at 8:00 am
Noli nothis permittere te terere.
(dont let the bastards wear you down)
November 14th, 2007 at 8:45 am
Ignorelos. Son unos maricones.
No les des importancia. iappaday
ha sido lo mejor. Sean el mejor!
November 14th, 2007 at 9:37 am
Keep it up! I love what you are doing! Ignore the haters!
November 14th, 2007 at 11:48 am
I look forward to all you do. Big ones, little ones. Keep up the good work!
November 14th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Sean, you wanna know what the first thing i do when i wake up in the morning is? i turn on my ipod touch, load up installer.app, and go to the New Releases tab to see what new app you have for me
dont let ehem get to you man, no matter how many idiots you have emailing you telling you how much they hate you, theres always the rest of us who ARENT emailing you who love you 
keep the apps coming!
November 14th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
[…] app for November 13th is “Panic”. Due to some controversy over at iApp-a-Day, the designer/founder of the iApp-a-Day Project put out an app expressing his […]
November 14th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
An application per day, everyday! Some of these losers cant make one application in a month… They are just what we call haters, it’s in there blood, there’s no cure. Just tell them, “hello world” low lifes!
November 14th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
You are the reason I check the installer every morning. Keep up the good work. Thank you.
November 15th, 2007 at 12:14 am
From one Sean to another….
Just like Xander, I wake up everymorning a litle bit more early before im off to work, just because of you. You are one of those guys that will be remembered, and thats for what u are doin for the “free” iPhone community. And making a name for your self! Imagine people all around the world as my self over here at cold Sweden talk about u and your apps everyday. Friends calling eachother up just to say that your new app is released and even if it is an awsome app or a simple one just for laughs, it brings joy to people. You should be proud of yourself, and we.. the not-soul sucking people love you and respect you for what you are doing for us (FOR FREE!)
Keep your head up and feel proud for what you have accomplished.
One app every single day is not an easy job, and when all this madness is over. I will be happy to wait atleast a month just to see what you are capable of if you had more time on your hands.
Thank you for what you are doin for all of us, thousands and thousand people all around the world. Thank you!
/Sean J
November 15th, 2007 at 1:23 am
i am reminded of a wiseman that once said “Don’t believe in me, that believes in you. Believe in yourself that believes in you!”
November 15th, 2007 at 9:33 am
Just so you know sean, i wake up every morning excited to see what you have ready for all of us
November 15th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Look, I don’t use your apps. Installed the fuel economy calculator app, and haven’t yet used it. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a good app… I just haven’t had the need for it, since I run biodiesel, and I could care less about my fuel economy.
Don’t listen to all the idiots who expect something for nothing, and when the something doesn’t work on their phones (likely because of their stupidity), they barrage you with negative emails. The world is full of them. Letting them get to you would be a real shame, IMHO.
November 15th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
ignore those ppl. What your doing is a great accomplishment and a real motivation for everyone to get into iphone development.
The ppl that are bitching are the morons that think app development is done in 5 min regardless of what it is. they’re too ignorant to realize whats involved in just launching the app and recongnizing a tap.
So ignore those ppl and keep the apps coming simple or not, more power to you!
November 15th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
they only hate cause your doing something. what apps do they put out? f em, f em all man. keep providing your apps, they are my favorites right now
November 16th, 2007 at 9:55 am
dont give up.
i check this everyday.
and i, like most people.
havent posted anything until now.
dont give up sean, youre almost there..
and a year from now,
ill probably still be giggling at porn pictures in burp.
November 17th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
yo man, don’t worry about the haters. No matter WHAT you do, there’s always people who are gonna hate… Your apps are awesome
November 19th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
sean, what you done is great. And there is a lot of love on this page from people who think so too. The community aspects of your apps for the iPhone are really cool, something that I have been wanting since I got the iPhone. Keep making them we’ll keep downloading. Best regards
November 21st, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Love the apps!!! Keep up the good work brah!
November 25th, 2007 at 3:21 am
Creators must accept adversity.
you have against you the people who disagree + the people who agree but would do it differently + the huge majority who does not care.
November 29th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
brotha, thank you for sharing your gifts! The weak ones like panic, i have a chuckle then erase. The problem is my home screen is 4 pages long because all the cool ones i want to keep! I’m no idiot and you astound me, your ability and your ethic seem without peer. I’ll have look more into your career because I would hire you!