This reminded me of an interview with a tennis player years ago who had had a losing streak and the coach set up a series of matches against players at a lower level to get her back into the habit of winning.
I guess it's a similar principle. Incompletes or losses erode confidence, so manufacturing a few easy wins gets you back on track.
For me, I have been writing for a living for twenty-ahem years but had a couple of years out working for a company as communications director. I stepped away from that but hadn't gotten back into anything until a couple of months ago my mum asked me if I had written anything lately, and that prompted me to just start again. But I got a bit in the weeds with worldbuilding for a while, until I eventually decided to do the worldbuilding publicly and publish the artifacts as well as the stories. Sometime we have to work with our procrastinating, shiny-objects-chasing selves instead of trying to fight them.
I've been dragging a project (sound post production for my friend's short film) for more than a year. Every time I sit to work on it, I get frustrated because I can't reach the quality level that I'd be satisfied with.
I'm going to lower the bar and finish it by August 1st.
It's a play. I have some major life changes in the next two months so I might sidestep it just because I have little time to work on it. But the idea you've given me is to build momentum by tracking every scene that is 'finished', as well as other 'finished' tasks (books read, appointments booked, routines accomplished). Because of a move and a new job, I'll hold off on the deadline for today, but I WILL come up with one!
I think unfinished projects damage something deeper than momentum. They quietly erode self-trust. Every abandoned promise becomes evidence your brain uses to predict your future behavior. That's why finishing a deliberately small project can be more transformational than endlessly planning a big one. You're not proving to the world that you can execute. You're proving it to the only person whose opinion determines tomorrow's actions: your future self.
Thank you for the text, it is really encouraging to do, not to only plan. I'm convinced that actually pursuing a "perfection" is a form of self-defence against the criticizing or just being unnoticed by others.
And what if I have a lot of things I want to talk, write and make videos about? Is it better to find one concrete niche or do different things and raise different topics?
I have been procrastinating starting my own substack for months. I have so many ideas but I am putting too much pressure on myself, I need to just start and figure shit out as I go along.
Well, my goal this year is to close as many open loops as reasonably possible. I have about 14? projects that could theoretically be finished in 14 weeks (one a week). So I guess I'm going to just set that deadline and work on them one by one, meaning in 14 weeks I should have 14 projects (articles, poems, and short stories) finished.
This reminded me of an interview with a tennis player years ago who had had a losing streak and the coach set up a series of matches against players at a lower level to get her back into the habit of winning.
I guess it's a similar principle. Incompletes or losses erode confidence, so manufacturing a few easy wins gets you back on track.
For me, I have been writing for a living for twenty-ahem years but had a couple of years out working for a company as communications director. I stepped away from that but hadn't gotten back into anything until a couple of months ago my mum asked me if I had written anything lately, and that prompted me to just start again. But I got a bit in the weeds with worldbuilding for a while, until I eventually decided to do the worldbuilding publicly and publish the artifacts as well as the stories. Sometime we have to work with our procrastinating, shiny-objects-chasing selves instead of trying to fight them.
well written mate.
Thank you my man, I appreciate it
Great post, thank you.
I've been dragging a project (sound post production for my friend's short film) for more than a year. Every time I sit to work on it, I get frustrated because I can't reach the quality level that I'd be satisfied with.
I'm going to lower the bar and finish it by August 1st.
Scary. Thought-provoking. I am up for it but I've run over all my past deadlines.
It's a play. I have some major life changes in the next two months so I might sidestep it just because I have little time to work on it. But the idea you've given me is to build momentum by tracking every scene that is 'finished', as well as other 'finished' tasks (books read, appointments booked, routines accomplished). Because of a move and a new job, I'll hold off on the deadline for today, but I WILL come up with one!
fuck you i got this
I may have heard this idea before, but it's only now that I really understand it
I think unfinished projects damage something deeper than momentum. They quietly erode self-trust. Every abandoned promise becomes evidence your brain uses to predict your future behavior. That's why finishing a deliberately small project can be more transformational than endlessly planning a big one. You're not proving to the world that you can execute. You're proving it to the only person whose opinion determines tomorrow's actions: your future self.
I didn’t wait to finish reading this article (ironic) before went back and finished a project that was inches from the finish line.
Thank you for the text, it is really encouraging to do, not to only plan. I'm convinced that actually pursuing a "perfection" is a form of self-defence against the criticizing or just being unnoticed by others.
And what if I have a lot of things I want to talk, write and make videos about? Is it better to find one concrete niche or do different things and raise different topics?
I have been procrastinating starting my own substack for months. I have so many ideas but I am putting too much pressure on myself, I need to just start and figure shit out as I go along.
Well, my goal this year is to close as many open loops as reasonably possible. I have about 14? projects that could theoretically be finished in 14 weeks (one a week). So I guess I'm going to just set that deadline and work on them one by one, meaning in 14 weeks I should have 14 projects (articles, poems, and short stories) finished.