Stop putting off your homelab projects—they’re easier then you think

If you’re like me, you’ve probably put off certain projects in your homelab because they seemed too difficult at first. Recently, I discovered that the homelab projects I’ve been putting off aren’t as difficult as I thought they would be when I did them, and it’s completely changed the way I view projects in my homelab and in other areas of my life.

I have found that most homelab projects are not as difficult as I make them out to be.

I finish almost all of my homelab projects faster than I originally planned…almost all of them

Credit: Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek

I’m a procrastinator – always have been, although I hope I won’t always be. But I’m known for procrastinating projects, especially in my homelab.

I recently moved all my homelab services. I deployed three mini PCs in the homelab to manage my Proxmox VMs and Docker containers, and I started by moving a handful of containers from my old Docker server to the new one, and that’s how the servers sat for a few weeks – half-finished.

I kept putting off the move because I thought it would be difficult, involve a lot of downtime, and be quite boring, to be honest. So I was just living with services scattered across servers, VMs, and IP addresses because I wasn’t consolidating them properly.

Then, one morning before work, I decided to complete the migration. I still had several containers to move, and I wasn’t looking forward to moving some of them because there were a lot of files or setups associated with the move. It took me less than an hour.

Another example is Tailscale: I had heard about it for years, but put off deploying it in my setup because I imagined it would take a lot of configuration and testing to work properly, as that was my experience with other VPN systems. I was completely wrong. I had Tailscale up and running within minutes, and I sat there wondering why I waited so long to do it.

I had been putting these projects off for weeks, and they took less than an hour to complete. But that’s the story of my life: I put off projects because I make them bigger than they are in my head, and then they don’t live up to the hype I built them for. Most people seem to be like that too, at least the ones I’ve asked.

Some homelab projects become more difficult the longer they are delayed

So save yourself a future headache and do it now

Some projects, like needing to move Docker containers, don’t really become more difficult if they’re postponed. However, there are certainly some projects that become much more difficult if procrastinated.

Take backups, for example. If you have backups set up from the start, they are simple, easy, and fairly quick to run. If you run into a problem, you can simply restore from a backup or snapshot and you’re back up and running.

On the other hand, if you’re like me and put off setting up backups, it can be devastating when something stops working and you have no way to restore it. I’ve been in this position more times than I can say, but have I ever set up proper backups of everything in my homelab? No, I didn’t, and I know it’s going to come back to bite me.

I really need to stop putting off setting up backups and just do it – and I’m sure you need to do the same. Backups are just one example of a homelab project that becomes more difficult if postponed. Don’t be like me, stop putting off setting up backups (I’ll do mine next weekend).

I’ve gotten better at smaller projects, but bigger ones still appeal to me

Progress on procrastination isn’t all or nothing

Here’s the thing: I’m still definitely a procrastinator. I try to procrastinate less, but I still procrastinate. The best way I’ve found to combat procrastination is to start with the little things. I tell myself it would be better to do the little project now, and then I do it. This gives me the motivation to start working on bigger projects.

The good thing is that I use my homelab as a way to truly improve my life, not just my homelab. By using homelab to stop procrastination, it benefits other areas of my life, and that’s something I didn’t realize I would get from running a homelab.

I’m not perfect at this, as evidenced by the fact that my homelab still hasn’t backed up properly, either internally or externally, but it’s all a work in progress. Once I realized that procrastination could be worked on in stages, instead of all or nothing, it was a complete game changer for me, and I don’t think I would have achieved it without my homelab.

Brand

ACEMAGIQUE

Processor

i7-14650HX

The ACEMAGIC M5 Mini PC is perfect for setups that require a high-performance desktop with a small footprint. It features the 16-core, 24-thread Intel i7-14650HX processor and 32GB of DDR4 RAM (expandable to 64GB). The pre-installed 1TB NVMe drive can be replaced with a larger drive, however, and there is a second NVMe slot for additional storage if needed.

The urge to procrastinate is, however, still very real.

For some larger projects, like backups, I’m still working on figuring out how to stop procrastinating and actually get them done. However, smaller projects, like moving Docker containers, trying new hardware, setting up high availability, and doing other things, I almost stopped procrastinating in the homelab.

It’s slow progress, but slow progress is better than no progress, and I’m fine with that.