If you are anything like me, you have lots of things you’d like to do with your time. It took quite some time to learn to say no to these ambitions, as there is definitely a limit to how much I can achieve in a given period. But we should still aim to challenge ourselves, and to say no is by no means to say never. Today I wanted to explain how I manage picking up and putting down projects.
The Daodejing of Lao Zi tells us that to attain knowledge we must add things everyday, yet to attain wisdom we must remove things everyday. It is in this removing in life that we make the room to improve and grow ourselves to new heights. Everything you can make habitual, effortless and mindless is one less thing to worry about, giving us time and energy to focus on new things that excite us.
Normally, people assume that you need to scratch whole segments of your life to carve out the time to do new things, but I advocate for a more granular method of emptying and filling. Every day, be mindful of what you are unlearning and wanting to learn, and let this guide your time and effort throughout the day. Then, we can add to our life by subtracting from it.
Granular addition is the act of staying mindful of the things you want to improve in life, and to slowly find more and more time in your life to work on these projects. It is important to go slowly, as this gives yourself time to find out if this is actually something you want to work on and to get accustomed to the new project.
One important part of this method is realising that even time spent waiting can be used to work on projects that excite you, and that you don’t really need much time in a day to improve something. Some people feel they need to be perfect at something from the get-go, or that they need to work on something in the most efficient way right away. I argue that it is better to take the granular approach, and to slowly find the time and learn to also improve when working in slow bursts.
If you want to go running for example, you don’t need to take an hour out of your day every time. A short burst of 10 minutes can be plenty if you are short on time, and you may gradually be able to find more time (or motivation) to go for longer runs.
My methods of organising my life and working on projects should never be too convoluted, as this will only deter me from working on myself. Luckily, this method of granular addition is far from complicated.
When I want to work on a project, I first write it down in a backlog. I need some time to think through if this is just a fleeting fascination or an actual deeper interest, as I must safeguard my time with how busy I can be sometimes. This blog was on my backlog in the first few months of 2024, and only a few months later did I actually get around to it as it just kept floating in my mind. The body and soul will always tell you what it is that truly inspires you, so take some time to listen.
After I have decided that I want to work on a project, I create a fun codename for the project. This is purely childish, as I like creating names for things to make them sound cooler. It does, however, make such a project more final for yourself, and it makes it easier to talk about it with yourself. It can also have the added benefit that you can be secretive about such a project if you don’t want people to know exactly what you are working on.
Next, I create some rudimentary tasks that I would be able to reasonably fit into my current schedule. For project phoenix for example (my project of becoming at least HSK 3 at Chinese, at which point I will expand this project if I want to go further), I started by studying flashcards whenever I had to commute. This was doable and ensured that I got a foot in the door with this project. After this, I could gradually add more work on this project into my life, until I could do flashcards nearly every day, with some extra speaking practice in the weekends. I am still adding to it, but it has made it easier for me to stick with this project.
Finally, once you feel like your life is in balance with the projects you are doing now, you can start looking for new ways in which you can add to your growth. This cycle continues, and as projects finish, new ones can be picked up. It should be fun, so try not to be harsh on yourself, and create your own fun and games in doing these projects (with, for example, dorky codenames).
Doing projects should be about a love for yourself and the world around you. You should add to your life because you have a passion for all of the things you want to learn about the world, not because you feel like you are falling behind if you don’t. Keep it light and fun to do projects, they should add to your life, not subtract ;)