Nice article with interesting thoughts and I appreciate the quotes - but I respectfully disagree that 'finishing a personal project you’re doing just for yourself is impossible'
I think it's really important to first reflect on the purpose when doing something: is it to solve a problem, is it to learn something, is it to achieve a target, is it to keep yourself busy to wind down and because you like doing it, or is it to promote yourself.
The next step is to define a goal and a scope - not a deadline.
When realizing it, it is important to take a pragmatic approach. All activities should lead towards achieving the goal - do not overengineer.
This way, projects can actually get finished.
From personal experience, I have been successful in software projects, sports competitions, building objects and furniture, and doing musical projects.
Success being defined as achieving the set goal and having completed the project.
Their purpose was never to selfpromote and the activity rarely involved creating art. So maybe art is a niche that is never finished...
Mid next year, I want to pick up writing a blog. The primary purpose is to 'keep myself busy' because I have never delved into this activity and I am curious about the process. The secondary purpose is to improve my literacy: I want to be able to read and write more efficiently, because my new job will require that. And the tertiary goal is to self-promote.
Elaborating on the topic of finishing projects would make a perfect first article. Thanks to the author for your inspiration!
I sew clothes. The vast majority of projects I start get finished. Sometimes I'm happy with the result, sometimes I'm not. I wear them regardless. My kids wear them. After a while they grow out of them.
Good point about being happy with the results! I think this could be added to the definition of success.
Some results can not be improved, like sewed clothes, but there can be a review to learn something (why are you not happy with the result?) and a feedback loop, for the next project to turn out better.
Completely agree on not setting a deadline, it will likely lead to disappointment as we tend to set unrealistic deadlines anyway, even more so for personal projects which rely on having time off of work and other responsibilities. I would even skip the "define a goal and a scope" part. Just go for it and see where it will take you, it might go into a totally different direction, which is fine.
I started recording songs for a Christmas album in 2007 and just published them this month. I thought I would never release them. And every time Christmas was over, I didn't feel like working on them anymore. So I only had about a month per year to occasionally work on them. There were years when I didn't touch them.
So after 16 years, I could see the home stretch and I decided to make it to the finish line. (I recorded the final music video today, actually.) If you had pushed me to name a deadline back in 2007, I would've said 2008.
I have a whole bunch of "projects" lying around, some of them are just ideas at this point. They will get finished eventually. Or not. No pressure.
Sometimes, deadline for private projects are necessary and for some projects they could be completely irrelevant. Also, it is a matter of personal choice and character to set one.
The idea part is very interesting. Basically ideas are the raw, unstructured parts of projects. There is an exploration aspect to it and to realize them may bring a lot of joy - without calling them a project just yet.
So maybe your decision to finish all those ideas, wrap them up, put them together, create the video, is the very incarnation of the project. For that you probably set some purposes and goals and maybe even a deadline.
I feel like I've read too many blogs that were started by an author who wanted to develop writing skills, self-promote, etc. - but didn't seem to have many interesting things to say, and those few things were padded by large quantities of unnecessary text.
I greatly prefer the occasional blogger who focuses on quality over quantity.
Yeah, you need to have a clear target and aim while starting. Milestones start to show themselves once you're experienced enough.
While we're at it, experience is also a must. Everybody starts from the bottom, and needs to work their way up, and I found kaizen is a great way to do it.
Author here - thanks for the kind words. I mostly agree with your comment, the problem is less of not being able to achieve targets and more of the number of targets increasing as you get more and more ideas to add to something. Do start a blog, it's really fun!
> is it to solve a problem, is it to learn something, is it to achieve a target, is it to keep yourself busy to wind down and because you like doing it, or is it to promote yourself.
Is it because you feel the need to keep yourself busy, but too lazy to plan what you're trying to achieve.
Not sure what you mean with your comment, but 'keeping yourself busy' should not be confused with procrastinate or simply passing time. Procrastination, passing time, doing nothing, and feeling bored should also deserve time on its own.
However, I would not call them projects.
Anyway, there may be a feeling of burning on, or burning out, when private projects start to feel like a todo list...
I meant this purpose in the sense that an activity brings joy, the purpose is pleasure.
Doing something while procrastinating may be enjoyable. But along with it often comes guilt - sooner or later. I had issues with procrastination and occasionally still do. Even though some outcomes of alternate activities may be good, projects should not have the purpose of procrastination.
Passing time is when you deliberately do not work on any project. I think projects can not have and should not have the sole purpose of passing time. If a project brings you joy, good, if not, the activity should not be called project.
I think it's really important to first reflect on the purpose when doing something: is it to solve a problem, is it to learn something, is it to achieve a target, is it to keep yourself busy to wind down and because you like doing it, or is it to promote yourself.
The next step is to define a goal and a scope - not a deadline.
When realizing it, it is important to take a pragmatic approach. All activities should lead towards achieving the goal - do not overengineer.
This way, projects can actually get finished.
From personal experience, I have been successful in software projects, sports competitions, building objects and furniture, and doing musical projects.
Success being defined as achieving the set goal and having completed the project.
Their purpose was never to selfpromote and the activity rarely involved creating art. So maybe art is a niche that is never finished...
Mid next year, I want to pick up writing a blog. The primary purpose is to 'keep myself busy' because I have never delved into this activity and I am curious about the process. The secondary purpose is to improve my literacy: I want to be able to read and write more efficiently, because my new job will require that. And the tertiary goal is to self-promote.
Elaborating on the topic of finishing projects would make a perfect first article. Thanks to the author for your inspiration!