When it comes to making headway on important projects, there is no substitute for putting in the hours. It requires extended periods of uninterrupted time. Unfortunately, you only have a few hours a day available to you in which your mind is firing on all cylinders.<p>The answer, then, is to find a way to work on these projects in the course of your job. That&#x27;s what I do, and my best guess is that that&#x27;s what the people you&#x27;ve heard of do as well.<p>Find some project that your employer really, really needs, get permission to open source it, and spend your most productive waking hours on it.