The Spark in You by Finishing That Passion Project of Yours
A strategy to finish with a new and improved you waiting at the end of the tunnel
Jan 2, 2020
Greetings Readers, it’s a bright, spanking new year! 2020, here we are in the future with no transporting cars as we previously imagined with Back to The Future. Do not fear, the year is still young and I, for one, am looking forward to the technological breakthroughs and the social trends as I cling onto my fading twenties.
Looking aging boldly in the face, I press on by looking to crush my goals to show how far I have come. Personal goals helps one to grow because embedded into them are many lessons and new experiences help people to bond like the infamous red string of fate often depicted in anime.
I must confess that I have a problem with finality. This is probably because of the many of the TV series that I enjoyed and watched. Imagine a movie reel of an entertaining story-line, believable and lovable characters and then bam! Someone cut the parts with all of the answers you were looking for. Some ended at one season (i.e. Knight Rider, The Catch), some went on infinite hiatus and the lucky few have a good run and made a definitive end as the creators probably envisioned. I understand that there are many factors that may cause a show run to become incomplete: marketing, funding, creative direction, difference in generations (especially when remakes are involved) time crunches for writing and lurking in the darkness: politics. This is just the tip of the iceberg but this is not the post for this discussion. Regardless the level of personal and emotional investment is constantly shifting at least for me. It all goes back to fear of failure and I will illustrate.
When I first started writing here on Medium in June of 2019, as a creator I was plagued with doubts and thoughts of failure:
- What if people don’t like what I post?
- What if I don’t get any new followers?
- What if I couldn’t write story after story?
- What if this story not as good as the last?
- What if I get writer’s block??
I turn most of the questions by re-framing the questions. Instead of what if, turn it into an if (blah, blah), what.
- If people like what you posted, what are you going to do?
- If I get new followers, what are you going to do to keep them and grow?
- If I am able to crank out stories one after the other, what to do next?
What next? The answer was simple.
Identity the passion project and its benefits
Hopefully you are not like me and have a lengthy list of 20 things that I am trying to accomplish before Dec 31. More often than not, the hardest thing is to know. You clicked on this post and you may know what you need to do: the first thing that came to your mind. Pick one and stick with it.
Why did you pick it?
What are you afraid of?
Does it require a lot of time, money and resources?
I research particular topics that I am interested in for about a month or two before I create a project outline. The outline is made up of the following: project codename (everything is better with codenames), one liner of the goal and the why. At this particular point, I am not interested with the how and how long.
The why is built on a need.
Why do I need to work out? For a piece of mind or safety that I will be healthy. The more needs that you satisfy, the less likely that you become distracted and procrastinate.
Set realistic goals (and breaks); re-adjust if necessary
To use my writing example earlier, I know my schedule and it’s not possible for me personally to write everyday. My first follower Dean Rocheleau is doing a 1000 posts in 1000 days challenge where he writes pretty much everyday and I admire his dedication every time the notification pops up on my phone. Best of luck to you Dean and you can do it!
From since my first post I have changed twice so far in frustration: twice a week and 2 posts for every first and last weeks of every month. Currently I am trying to post every Thursday.
I am scheduling breaks in between whenever I need to take them so I do not burn out. Serious about that mental health, enough said.
Visualize the progress
How do you know what has been done? You can have an amazing memory and a superb recall strategy by using a mind palace. Seeing is believing holds a lot of water when it comes to this. For the past few months, I read up on how to plan content month after month. Many of the articles mentioned the use of a calendar or used planning apps like Trello and Asana. Forgive me though, I prefer my sticky notes and kanban boards, moving them from one place to the another. Using this visualization method, I can have a better gauge of what’s going on and what is needed to get me where I am going.
Celebrate the success (or failure)
It’s important to celebrate your efforts no matter how great or small. You did the most difficult task of starting your project where some people just dream of doing it. I have a few projects where I started and they ended up blowing up in my face but the most valuable takeaways were what not to do for when I try again make my comeback. If at first you don’t succeed, keep trying until you crush it!
God, grant me the serenity to accept the [TV and anime endings including bad ones] I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
My addendum: Eat chocolate, be happy and keep writing on!
Thank you for reading. As always, I would like to hear from you. You can email me at jordan.alyss@gmail.com, comment below and follow me here on Medium or on Instagram: @becomingobsidian. Have a prosperous and healthy 2020. See you next time!
