If you’re like me, you most likely have too many projects.
I’m the person who struggles to commit to personal projects. I’ve started multiple side projects, and most of them have stranded because fun suddenly turned to work. I’ve always thought that I don’t have what it takes to finish the project. Made excuses that it’s because of time restraints or maybe the worse thought: I can’t deal with complexity over time.
I often resort to the question: this time, should I grind it out or rediscover “fun”?
Often, you’ll hear about individuals who grind it out, finish the job, dedicate themselves, and so on. Its the developer who has contributed to the same repo for 5 years. The entrepreneur who built a side business for 3 years. Not to mention the employee who is so dedicated that they’ve worked at the same place for 25 years. Kudos!
The adjectives used to describe these people are often: grit, dedication, locked in, perseverance, commitment, and success.
What if you don’t fit this description? Are you just not dedicated enough?
Yes, maybe if you optimize for what others think about you. Flapping around like a bird sure does not look good from the outside. The question is: Does the bird care about your opinion?
One hundred half finished projects do not look as good as one completed project that others can enjoy. Maybe it’s the latter part that does not belong — It’s not for others to enjoy.
Flow. As described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s is a state of consciousness that makes an experience genuinely satisfying.
What if the person who never “finishes” anything and is subpar in most endeavors achieves the same level of flow as the “successful” founder or athlete. We might measure them against each other on the spectrum of perceived success. However, what if the measurement isn’t success but the amount of flow achieved. Surely, these two categories will be on each side of the perceived success spectrum. But maybe on the same side of the achieved flow spectrum. Both categories, the extreme multitasker and the focused, don’t care and shouldn’t care about what others think about their performance. They likely don’t do it for others' acceptance. If they do, they would most likely experience burnout at some point in life.
So please detach yourself from the “grind” and instead go with flow. This is maybe the most obvious fact known to man but so easily forgotten.
