I have restarted a side project that has been dormant for years. I'm taking a different approach this time. A lot of that is just plain knowing more than I did then. That means using better tools and techniques. It also means I'm taking a more deliberate approach. Partly for that reason, it's going to be longer before I have something to show, but it'll be of much higher quality if/when I get there. I've also had a few years to mull over what I want it to be, so I've come up with an idea or two that take it from a neat concept to something that might actually be useful.
The other reason it will take longer is that I don't have as much time as I used to. Really, though, the lack of time doesn't matter that much. The first time around, I had nothing but time, but I have nothing to show for it today. For most of us, it's not about finding time to do something. Just start doing it, and you'll find the time. There's a lot of slack in your daily schedule that you can squeeze out. Even an hour a day can go far. Constraints can make you more productive because you want to have something to show for the time. They can also make you more creative.
I don't know that it will amount to anything, either in terms of being either a finished or valuable product. That doesn't matter so much because at least part of the goal is just to do something. The sort of success that I want in the long term is not likely to come on the first try. Nor the second. If it was that easy, someone else would have gotten there first. It's not about any specific thing, but about making steady progress on something that is real and my own. I read an apropos Chinese proverb today: "Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes."