digital sarah art joy

three mini-retrospectives

~ 5 minutes to read

I woke up feeling very introspective and planny today.

I whipped together this projects table; I made a Google spreadsheet calendar to try and schedule the work for those projects throughout the rest of the year; and now I'm feeling compelled to write a project philosophy and also a mini-retro about my collage worklogs from the past 5 weeks.

I could do separate posts (or perhaps the project philosophy will live on the projects page?), but a little voice said no, just do one big one, there are no rules here. Ooooh, wait, I'd also like to write a lil bit about this release list, too.

1. on being too inspired with ideas

This, I fear, is my biggest asset and my biggest hurdle. I am ripe and overfuckingflowing with ideas to chase. (I sat outside this morning with the blackberries and asked them what drives them to overtake my yard and they told me their raison d'etre is to bear fruit and then they had the audacity to say it's mine, too.) When I made that projects table, I had to make a secondary one to hold captive the ideas that I've had that I still want to pursue.

How many is too many?

I distinguished my projects by if they're "finishable" or "ongoing". I think the key for me to not do too much, is to only pursue a certain number of each of those. For now, I'm starting with trying to pursue 2 finishables and upkeep 3 ongoings. I think if the ongoing projects become established, through systems or ease of habit, then I can consider introducing more of either type. There probably is a limit to how many overall projects I can juggle, and I'm hoping it's 7. My brain is asking for an energy meter that would help track and evaluate how things are going over time.

finishable vs ongoing

A finishable project is a project with a clearly defined end and projected timeline: a video series, a development sprint. An ongoing project is a long-term series that does not currently have a planned end. It's made up of multiple mini-finishable projects. If needed, an individual instance of an ongoing project can be treated and thought of as a larger finishable project, for example, an individual Reel Report.

transitioning between projects

Another significant hurdle for me. I'm very much a person who struggles to start. The ideating is the most fun for me, and then the transition to doing the work, ugh. I think having a central document for what the "next task" is for each project will be helpful. I think listening to and leaning into what kind of work I'm feeling primed for is also key. I've learned that I can't force myself to do work, but I can always try to ease myself into it with super detailed task lists, trying different work environments to see what's conducive to focus, trying different playlists, and a practice of close being: where I sit with the work without the pressure to do anything for 10-15 minutes, then walk away and come back later to actually start.

random thought

Maybe one day I'll learn the lesson of finding collaborators and sharing workload (maybe this is a lesson I'm currently in progress of learning??? (I think this is definitely a lesson I'm in progress of learning!!)).

energy meter

I'm picturing a spider graph, of what exactly, I'm not sure. But it would be a snapshot of how I'm feeling, maybe its points are different energies that lend themselves to different types of work. Oh look, a brainstorm:

A high level of mental energy and focus, would lend itself to dev work. A high level of visual and idea generating, would lend itself to art. High visual and focused and mental energy, great time for video editing. High physical energy? Idk what that's for, maybe moreso to evaluate work set up and use a standing desk situation. Oh, nevermind, of course, it's for recording video and audio.

At first, I was thinking I could use a Google sheet, but now I'm thinking I'd rather this be a print out. It could be part of a little work starting ritual.

2. I fucking love worklog collages

My favorite thing about them is scrolling through my worklog page and seeing proof that I'm taking steps on this path that I've chosen. Even small ones. Even slightly distracted ones. I saw a Reel recently that shared the message: you don't need to start, you already started, you need to realize that you're on the damn path you want to be on, and what you need to do is tap into the energy that's around you. Or something like that. These have been so great for seeing that I'm on the path I chose two years ago.

Creating them on a week delay has also been surprisingly nice. It creates a little more distance, which does make it slightly harder to remember details, but it also means that any shame or embarrassment I had about not doing enough that week has dwindled. Instead, I feel appreciative about the work I did accomplish. I only include work that I'm doing for myself, so it does look bare sometimes, but it's incredibly affirming to prioritize recognizing myself.

I'm planning to take a two week break every six weeks, because I really don't like the idea of doing something endlessly on a schedule. I'm not a robot. I also think a mandatory break is great because often times, great ideas come after spending some time away.

I also appreciate that they've broken my avoidance of posting on Instagram. I still don't plan on putting a lot of effort into posting on it more, but it feels nice to not feel resistant towards it anymore.

3. the power of the release list

Listen, I've been waxing on about how much I love coming up with ideas. It's the novelty of them that gets me excited. What's the opposite of that? Ending a project.

I started Impulse Bye in the summer of 2023, got an MVP on to the Apple App store in the fall of 2024, and have been stalled on getting it on to Google Play or continuing developing it. I know it'll likely never be done done, but this sprint of getting MVP out on Google Play has continued on for far too long. What's the issue? Partly being distracted by an armful of shiny new projects. Partly the (perceived) long journey it'll take to get back into it after not working on it in a while. I want to finish this MVP launch this year. I'm slating it for work starting in September, until it's finished. And when it's time to jump back into it, I will be making a release list and a post to chronicle working through it (or maybe a series of posts?).

I created this release list for wrapping up my first Reel Report, and it was so helpful for getting started on the work. I think the format of a blog post was also weirdly helpful? I liked that I was documenting things as they were unfolding, and in a place that was shared so that other people could see the process. I felt compelled to finish the work, so that I could update the post and add to the task log and ultimately finish the post. I think Impulse Bye will feel more complicated to wrap up, with many steps and possibly layers of steps? But now that I think about it, I think the single post was really compelling for me, even if it gets long, I think it'll be okay.

I think I want to build in more small celebratory steps, more self high-fives or treats for getting through certain work or hitting certain milestones. Or maybe even more process reflection throughout? Instead of saving it for the total end. Total guess, I think it'll take me about 10 weeks to get it wrapped up. Doing reflections every couple of weeks could be helpful.

I think intentionally procrastinating on it and planning to start in a month is good, too. It'll build anticipation and if I can spend some time practicing close being, just sitting and looking at the app in FlutterFlow, I think that will help with getting started up again even more.

#creating