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This flippant commitment has proved to be seriously interesting. I need to think it through and take it seriously.
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Ok I’m not starting any more projects. At least not top-level projects. From now on I’m only finishing projects or killing them.
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Not arguing for closing off your brain or becoming hidebound with age, which of course is a risk this strategy can exacerbate. Just arguing that the “new projects” area should perhaps be off limits by default. Things with commitment to produce long-term outcomes.
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You can still do zero-commitment dabbling and pursue open-ended curiosities so long as they don’t get on your to-do list. The bar for getting into your project brain is that a commitment must fit within an existing commitment structure.
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One litmus test: if you can give it an independent name (or worse, buy a domain name) it’s a new project. If it only has a dependent name or subdomains, it fits existing commitment structure. So a proxy commitment is: I’m not buying any more domain names.
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So for eg, if I get curious about say quantum computing, I’m allowed to write blog posts about it on ribbonfarm but trying to do a serious research project and publish a paper at a conference is off limits.
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New definition of a life project/terminal project, which makes the cut with the freeze: 1. Has a name 2. Has an end-date (possibly your death) 3. Has output (possibly negative/destructive) compounding towards a terminal outcome
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The name can be commodity like “stay healthy” (that one will have negative output compounding to death). The terminal date need not be death date but will likely be at least a year. The compounding is what makes it a project as opposed to just a series of unrelated events.
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By middle age, hidden connections and progressive consequences become apparent in many activity streams that have no apparent compounding outcome when young. Physical exercise is a project by middle age because compounding losses are evident even at the scale of a week.
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Almost everything becomes a project. Like brushing your teeth (you’re in a progressively harder battle that will likely end in dentures) or just using your eyes (hey, look, reading glasses getting worse, cataracts and other compounding things coming your way).
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Taking on new things while also being a finisher means everything gradually slows to a crawl. That’s why I’ve decided I’m basically not taking new top-level projects from now on.
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