I have a problem: I try to work on too many projects at once. As I’ve told my wife, if I had a thousand lifetimes, I could happily devote each one to mastering a different pursuit. I end up trying to cram it all into one lifetime. It doesn’t always work.
Here are the projects I’m working on right now:
- This blog
- Developing a Strong Artificial Intelligence
- Writing stories
- Keeping a journal (which I’ve done regularly since 2003)
- Pen twirling
- Learning about a new topic every week (last two weeks were Mozambique, this week is the U.S. armed forces)
- Maintaining some semblance of regular exercise
This actually isn’t too crowded, by my standards. The journal only takes a few minutes each night, the pen twirling I do in my spare time, and the exercise is pretty quick because I’m not, like, hardcore. The blog has its own built-in mechanism for not wasting too much time, and the “new topic each week” thing isn’t bad either.
Story-writing and AI development are the only major time sinks, which generally means I have to focus on only one at a time. For the past week or so, it’s been AI.
To give you a sense of how much worse this project-hoarding can get, here’s a partial list of projects I’ve given up (or at least put on long-term hold) in the past year or two. I say “partial” because I’m sure there are lots more I’m forgetting.
- Go
- Zen
- Learning Italian
- Learning Chinese
- Improving my Spanish
- Juggling
- Karate
- Rubik’s Cube
- Dvorak typing
- Tennis
- A previous blog, Coffee With Sargeras
- Writing articles for the now-defunct website Insulin Funk
- An idea on how to raise money for charity using video games
Letting go of a project is always hard for me. A lot of these efforts had gotten pretty far before I stopped. I could solve a Rubik’s cube in about three minutes (though I’ve since forgotten the patterns). I could touch-type in Dvorak at a pretty decent speed. I could juggle three balls, and two in one hand, and do all sorts of tricks. Coffee With Sargeras was pretty successful – and a lot of fun – before I finally decided to end it. And Zen…well, Zen was Zen.
Karate was particularly hard to give up. I had done it for over three years, reached black belt, got to really like a lot of people in the class. But I had to stop.
Why?
Projects compete for many different kinds of resources. Sometimes lack of time is the deciding factor. Sometimes it’s mental energy. And sometimes it’s sanity.
I know there are people who can thrive on being nonstop busy, scheduling every waking moment. I am not one of those people. I need peace, simplicity, quiet.
Karate was a good thing, but I had too many good things.
What have you let go lately?
Brian D. Buckley 
“I know there are people who can thrive on being nonstop busy, scheduling every waking moment. I am not one of those people. I need peace, simplicity, quiet.”
That’s a great reminder to me, especially since I just read Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and was overcome by a sense of how much that author and her kids get done in one day, versus how little I sometimes do. I suppose the key for me now is to make sure I walk the right line between peace/simplicity and pushing myself to work harder.
One of the big things I “let go” of, honestly, was my job. I took a chance about 10 months ago and quit, wanting to pursue writing full time. (And I’m incredibly lucky that I could do that.) It was a scary move, but it also felt right. As you say, my resources were being competed for, and I/my writing couldn’t thrive that way.
Peace of mind vs. productivity is always a tough balance. Although, you shouldn’t beat yourself up too much for not living up to the Tiger Mother. I haven’t read the book, but from what I’ve heard…well, let’s just say I’m glad my mom is somebody else.
I’m sort of trying to both simplify and complicate my life at the same time. I need to simplify or I’m not gonna get anything done, but I also have so many ideas that could prove useful. It’s hard to balance it all and know what to give up.
Things I’ve given up…for now.
Music (violin and piano).
Art (though I’m gonna take it back up).
Basketball (good riddance)
Learning Japanese
Filmmaking/Scriptwriting
Going to the Movies (sigh, okay I know not really a project, but i really miss it).
Kung-Fu (didn’t get really far though…but LOVED it)
Exercise
Working on one of my novels (Eternals).
I know there should be more…just can’t think of them right now…
The projects I am working on now are…
My Blog
Secret 2nd Blog project
Learning how to increase my Income via Internet
Stock Photography
Writing Course(s)/Books
Learning how to draw
Writing stories/novels (Savior Collection, Beasts)
Learning how to write scripts for comics
And of course…
Pets
Cooking
My brother
House Maintenance
Christmas
Part-time Job
Which are also projects, though I suppose projects I can’t exactly give up. But you add those with the side projects above and you can see how a life can get really busy.
Oh and I also forgot Daily Meditation (which takes an hour out of my day, but very important).
Really busy…no doubt! I’m impressed you have the self-discipline to cut out movies. I would have a hard time giving that up.
I studied Japanese too, back in the day. It sucks you in with easy pronunciation, then murders you with kanji. 😦
Sigh. It’s easier when most movies nowadays are dissapointing and I don’t have T.V. so I don’t catch trailers. If it weren’t for Wal-Mart’s giant T.V.s playing the latest blockbuster that came to DVD, I would probably not have much desire to watch new movies at all.
I love Japanese and still plan to study it. A future project of mine shall be visiting Japan, but that’s a long ways off now.
I started writing in high school, so I basically gave up the typical high school experience, including extracurricular activities. (In the end, this is probably okay.) More recently, I gave up being a musician after graduating with a degree in music. I still miss it, and sometimes I’m overwhelmed by the thought of the skills I’ve lost in the last couple of years, but ultimately it was the right choice. Writing comes first, and there are only so many hours in a day.
Giving up music must have been tough. Actually, learning piano is yet another project I gave up years ago. I’d still love to learn…just not sure when I’ll ever have the time. Thanks for commenting, Lura!