{"id":1244,"date":"2009-12-04T10:52:28","date_gmt":"2009-12-04T18:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=1244"},"modified":"2013-08-21T08:15:02","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T16:15:02","slug":"do-you-have-dozens-of-unfinished-projects-heres-what-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/do-you-have-dozens-of-unfinished-projects-heres-what-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Have Dozens of Unfinished Projects? Here&#8217;s What to Do"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wishfulthinking.co.uk\/wp-content\/time-1.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Are you the sort of person who gets really fired up and excited by new ideas, who dives straight in &#8230; and who then loses enthusiasm and ends up with dozens of half-finished projects all on the go at the same time?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If so, I can sympathize! In the past, I\u2019ve had all sorts of works-in-progress \u2013 like novels, craft projects, self-study courses, ebooks \u2013 on the go. I tend to jump on new things with lots of energy, only to find that I\u2019ve taken on too much to cope with.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, you\u2019ll probably know all the drawbacks of having lots of partially-completed projects hanging around. If your projects are ones which pay (like articles, ebooks, websites), then you\u2019re not making any money because nothing\u2019s finished. If your projects are related to a hobby, particular a crafty one, you\u2019ll probably find that you\u2019re using up a lot of physical space. <strong>And in almost every cases, half-done projects take up <em>mental<\/em><\/strong><strong> space.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve learnt that there are three key options for dealing with projects that are lurking in an unfinished stage. They are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ditch That Project \u2013 Completely<\/li>\n<li>Salvage What You Can<\/li>\n<li>Decide to Finish It<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here\u2019s how to know which option to pick, and how to go about it.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>Ditch That Project \u2013 Completely<\/h2>\n<p>Sometimes, you start something and \u2013 for whatever reason \u2013 you lose interest. I\u2019ve started learning several programming languages, only to give up in the early stages. You might have begun knitting a sweater, learning a language or creating a website, only to find you\u2019re not enjoying it much.<\/p>\n<p>Momentum coach Charlie Gilkey characterises these projects as \u201cdead\u201d. That might sound brutal, but sometimes you need to be brutal with cutting down the amount that your brain is trying to cope with:<\/p>\n<p>Why have a dead category? Because some projects are neither completed, on hold, nor active. A perfect example is a project that you\u2019ve decided to abandon. It\u2019s important to know what\u2019s in your project graveyard so you don\u2019t keep trying to work on it. This category gives you hard edges; <em>hard edges can save your sanity<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>(Charlie Gilkey, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.productiveflourishing.com\/stop-shuffling-and-start-creating\/\">Stop Shuffling and Start Creating<\/a>, Productive Flourishing)<\/p>\n<p>If you realise that you simply have no interest left in a project, make your mind up and ditch it. You\u2019re not taking any action on it anyway \u2013 you might as well make that a conscious decision.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll probably want to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Give away, recycle or throw out materials related to the project<\/li>\n<li>Contact anyone else involved to let them know<\/li>\n<li>Resist the urge to take on anything extra to replace this dead project \u2013 you know you don\u2019t have the time for it!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Salvage What You Can<\/h2>\n<p>Sometimes, you\u2019ve lost enthusiasm for a project but you still want some sort of useful outcome. <strong>In many cases, it\u2019s possible to salvage something from the work, time and money that you\u2019ve already put in.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For example, if you started writing a 100-page ebook and only got 20 pages done, you might not want to ditch that project completely. How about using those 20 pages as a series of blog posts or newsletter articles?<\/p>\n<p>If your project involves academic or professional qualifications, it might be worth pressing on until you\u2019ve completed a particular stage or until you\u2019ve got the credits for your current module.<\/p>\n<p>When you\u2019re looking at salvaging a part-finished project, try:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Finding the next point at which you can have <em>something <\/em> complete (even if it\u2019s not what you originally intended)<\/li>\n<li>Selling back any materials involved<\/li>\n<li>Potentially handing over a part-finished project to someone else to complete<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Decide to Finish It<\/h2>\n<p><strong>If you can\u2019t bear to abandon your project and if you can\u2019t salvage it part way, then make up your mind to finish it \u2013 and really commit yourself to this.<\/strong> You\u2019ll want to:<\/p>\n<h3>Set a Deadline<\/h3>\n<p>In some cases, you\u2019ll have external reasons for a deadline. Often, you\u2019ll need to pick a somewhat arbitrary date. How about your next birthday, or a particular holiday? Tying your deadline to a calendar event can help you stay focused.<\/p>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve set a deadline, write it in your diary or on your calendar, and take it seriously. If your project involves other people, let them know the deadline \u2013 knowing that people are waiting for the finished project will help keep you on track!<\/p>\n<h3>Make a Checklist<\/h3>\n<p>One reason why we often put projects down and fail to pick them up again is because we\u2019re not sure what to do next. If projects have been lying untouched for a while, it can be tricky to remember where we got to.<\/p>\n<p>Make yourself a checklist that covers all the major steps that you\u2019ll need to complete in order to get from where you currently are to the finish line.<\/p>\n<h3>Set Milestones<\/h3>\n<p>Finally, combine your deadline and your checklist to make a series of milestones \u2013 interim dates where you want to reach a certain point on your checklist. This helps you stay on track, and shows you how a little bit of work on your project on a regular basis can get you a <em>very <\/em>long way in a year.<\/p>\n<p><em>How many half-finished projects do you currently have? Do you keep starting things without finishing others? What might you need to ditch? What can you salvage? What are you committing yourself to completing?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/pickthebrain\">Twitter<\/a>!<em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Related Articles:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/what-is-eq-and-why-should-you-care\/\">What is EQ and Why Should You Care?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/words-that-heal-and-empower\/\">Words That Heal And Empower<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you the sort of person who gets really fired up and excited by new ideas, who dives straight in &#8230; and who then loses enthusiasm and ends up with dozens of half-finished projects all on the go at the same time?<\/p>\n<p>If so, I can sympathize! In the past, I\u2019ve had all sorts of works-in-progress \u2013 like novels, craft projects, self-study courses, ebooks \u2013 on the go. I tend to jump on new things with lots of energy, only to find that I\u2019ve taken on too much to cope with. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/do-you-have-dozens-of-unfinished-projects-heres-what-to-do\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12163,"featured_media":12818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[6],"tags":[59,169,4631,66,4639,4629,168],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Do You Have Dozens of Half-Finished Projects? 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In the past, I\u2019ve had all sorts of works-in-progress \u2013 like novels, craft projects, self-study courses, ebooks \u2013 on the go. 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