Share: Too Many Projects
Last fall my friend asked me about my current creative projects, and it took me about a half-hour to list them all. She is probably right that the number of projects I have started (and not completed) is overwhelming; that’s likely why I tend not to finish things.
In his book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, one of the principles Oliver Burkeman puts forth is to limit works in progress (WIPs). Having a lot of “irons in the fire” (like I do) might make it seem like I’m doing a lot, but in reality, I’m not really making progress toward completing anything. “Because each time a project starts to feel difficult or frightening or boring,” describes Burkeman, “you can bounce off to a different one instead. You get to preserve your sense of being in control of things but at the cost of never finishing anything important.” Burkeman highlights the Personal Kanban suggestion that focusing on just three projects is optimal.
Over the past few weeks since I’ve read this advice, I’ve been pondering how to approach my mountain of projects. While I don’t have a solid strategy, I have tip-toed into the idea of limiting my WIPs. In fact, as I’m writing this, I realize that if I were pressured into naming my three projects right now, they would be as follows:
Sewing a pair of pillowcases for my daughter who’s moving back to college this coming weekend. (She bought fabric last spring—winter?—and made this simple request of me. Months ago, I cut the fabric, and it’s been sitting on the ironing board all summer. My goal is to complete this project before move-in day.)
Painting the border of a barn quilt I started in a class I took at a local folk school early this summer. (I have already decided on the paint colors, so this project just requires me to spend time with a paintbrush in my hand.)
Stitching a quilt top together. (This is the looooonnnngggeeeest project on my list. I bought the fabric when I was pregnant with the daughter who’s moving back to college. I finished sewing the quilt blocks last December—or was it the prior December? Perfectionism has been my obstacle with this project, and I have vowed to my coach that the quilt top will be complete before our appointment in early October.)
In my mind, the project in line behind these three is finishing a watercolor project from a class I took this past spring. (No wonder my writing project is on the back burner.)
One of my struggles with this principle of limiting WIPs is the question of what qualifies as a project. Is my full-time job a project? Is quality time with my family a project? Is my voracious reading habit a project? What do you think? How do you manage your projects in order to make progress toward completion?