Mentally I need to be able to ditch projects and free the space in my mind to think about other things. I’m coming around to this idea, but previously I would never abandon a project and they would languish in my head forever. I didn’t accept that my values or interests could change, so whatever is started must be finished. Most of these were personal projects for fun, they shouldn’t make me miserable.

The skill comes in distinguishing what I want to do and what I no longer want to do, which is difficult some times.

I also think I have a tendency to stretch out projects. I have a set of tabletop miniatures. I painted 12 and was marginally pleased. I printed 36 more and now felt bad because I’ll never paint them. I have 6 half finished blender models because I wanted custom miniatures for a game I was playing in. I had to conciously set it down and declare it done before it outpaced me. I’m completed what I originally intended to and I’m contented with what I accomplished.

Letting go of old projects became easier when my mindset changed. I don’t see them as dead branches on a tree, but instead as another pebble in my pile. It helped to zoom out and not fixate on individual works but instead the whole body of my work. Small and jagged pebbles still make the pile grow taller; maybe my pile will reach the moon one day.

Some of my recent projects that are done or dead:

  • “covid mask”

    covid

  • mahjong tile prototype

    mahjong

  • minecraft dimension datapack (i might make a youtube video about this, lots to learn)

    moon

  • ikea backpack (this took me three years and i actually finished it after procrastinating for so long)

    ikea