I have a pathological problem with starting projects and then never finishing them. I buy fabric and patterns that sit in a pile in my craft room. I have a dozen blog posts with the expository paragraphs typed out and nothing else. A journal of story ideas from my 100 days of working towards writing a children's book but very little else. A craft room and a basement halfway organized, halfway covered in boxes and junk. A million plans and good intentions and so little to show for them. I guess that's where the saying comes from - I know I'm not alone, but that offers little solace.
I remember reading that the creator of the show New Girl was really great at writing about starting relationships but terrible about figuring out how to keep characters in them once the newness wears off, so he writes sudden breakups into his shows to end things before it gets to the tricky part. I think that's pretty true in the realm of pop culture generally: the beginning of something is always sexy and exciting, and we have little interest in what happens once the newness wears off.
There's something so gratifying, though, about bringing something fully to fruition, which is why I can't figure out getting past my stumbling block when it comes to all this unfinished business. I need a way out and through the plateau of the sticky, yucky middle part in between that sexy beginning and the glory of the finish line. I need to find a way to embrace the Tuesday and Wednesday of my project and stop falling victim to the siren song of Monday fresh starts or I'm never going to get to the weekend.
To those of you working on 100 day projects right now - you're at the halfway point. If you've made it this far, bravo! I'm still hammering away at my "15 minutes of creativity" a day. So far, so good. Next time, though, I'm going to make myself pick one small, specific project and see it through to the end in the hopes it gives me some momentum for the other 17 things I have yet to finish.
This is exactly why I picked the 100 day themes that I did last year and this year. Last year, wrap up all the stationery products I had started. This year, get as many designs as I could up on pod sites, like I've been talking about doing for years and years.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me think of something I remember learning in Art & Fear. I used to be so confident in my creativity and ability to come up with new ideas, but the author suggests that anyone can do that. The thing that sets apart the successful with the rest of the population is that follow through. It's so fun and easy to have ideas it's and exciting to start something new. It is HARD and not pretty to push through and do the work after that first romance is over.