Why you should limit what you are working on?
So little time, so many ambitions. Once again, I've fallen into the trap of trying to do too much.
The problem with doing passion projects in the evenings is that they are not the most important part of your life.
You can disagree, but the reality is that there are more important things that can throw you out of your flow.
In the evening, you might be tired, fed up with the world, or need to learn something work-related. Not to mention all those new things that show up almost daily that you just need to learn more about (trying to be competitive meets shiny object syndrome). I'm so happy I'm not into politics; keeping up with that would be even worse (the tragedy of people that have to have their own opinion on everything).
There are many skills I want to learn (I don't have to, but I'd like to) that are hanging above me like to sword of Damocles.
Programming languages I want to learn.
Skills that can help me become a better developer at work.
Projects that might just provide my family with a side-income.
Intentionally, I don't count therapy gaming sessions. 😉
Every side-project starts out innocent. I have a list of things. I break them down into actionable tasks. I try to do them. It works... for a week, maybe.
Then, life reminds everyone of itself.
Priorities shift. And tasks set for today are delayed.
What to do? How can I solve this problem?
When I do one thing, I won't do the other.
The next day, I had one task for today and one task delayed since yesterday. When you don't do something on time, you will have to "keep up" with two things now. And since you already failed with your deadlines once, this leads to delays in pretty much everything.
You might say: "Why don't you just do them on separate days?". I tried. And I observed that it only makes things worse. When it comes to doing task A, I just feel unprepared and overwhelmed. I need to do them daily. When a task does not get done, I can't just wait for the next day to restart my habit. That just led to more delays. All this leads me to problems with prioritizing the things I'm doing. Which is more important? What should I focus on?
Sometimes, the sword of Damocles comes in the form of a book. Or rather books. Books I need to read to improve my competencies1. And... they serve as a tower of books. Will I read them soon? Not likely. I will read maybe one book I'm reading right now. Should I keep the books I should read next (or soon, because I won't read them all at once)? Probably not.
But the books visualize a problem. There's this old anecdote from the great alegorist Albert Einstein: "If a messy desk represents a messy brain, what does an empty desk represent?". And I think I know the answer: a focused brain.
The lesson I learned is - plan long-term, but do not keep that long-term plan before your eyes all the time. Only the thing you're doing right now.
And don't do everything at once.
e.g., I bought a "Game design patterns" book recently, so you understand - VERY IMPORTANT STUFF!
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. It sounds like you need help determining how big of a bite you can take.
"Read x book" is NOT a bite unless your reading speed is super high. "Read 1 chapter is x book" is something you can fit in anywhere. Many book chapters target a 15-30 minute read time. Before cellphones, we read books in the bathroom.
My dad had several books open and ready to read all over the house. He had 2 or 3 preferred reading spots w a different bookS at each spot. Each book was on a different interest. At his desk, it was Bible or business related. By the TV, it was sports or comedy or the newspaper. In bed, he had a stack of Reader's Digests. He'd pick up one book at a given spot. If he couldn't get into it, he'd try the other book. Sitting in that location helped to get his mind oriented for that topic.
It's better to take small nibbles and make progress than fail at the full meal.
I have a system, but you might not like it. It requires getting up at 4:30... However, the morning hours are much better for creative passion projects than trying to make it work in the evenings.