Get bored or stuck? Do something else. There’s so many things to do. You’re still working on the same metaproject.
Find something cool online that you want to experiment with? Find a way to frame it as an experiment or project under the umbrella of the metaproject.
For example, my overarching project is to develop my own computer system, from the custom CPU, up to the operating system and applications, as completely from scratch as possible. This has led me to learn more about Verilog, electronics, soldering, computer architecture, RISC-V, emulators, you name it.
At one point, I decided I needed to design my own high-level language for this thing. The compiler has itself become a metaproject where there’s always something to work on: parsing, lexing, optimization passes, experiments in syntax, garbage collectors, writing a debugger, etc.
Someday soon, I hope to be able to start a project to build video hardware with a sprite engine, like in those old 8-bit and 16-bit game systems. I’ll mentally bill this under the umbrella of “working on my computer project.”
I’ve been thinking of “that computer project” as a kind of life project that I’ll plug away on here and there until the day I die.
I wonder if this is how those old men who build boats feel about their boat. Hey, there’s my own catchy phrase right there: “Build your boat”
> You've been wanting to take cooking classes, but you've also been wanting to join an improv group. If you don't have time/resources for both of these projects, you might choose a metaproject like "weekly dinner party with funny friends" -- it doesn't strictly meet the requirements from either project, but it might fulfill some deeper desire.
So the idea is to extrapolate a new project that satisfies some core aspects of multiple projects you dont have time for.
How long do you estimate is going to take you to complete?
With that being said, I have so many projects, so little time, but I’m prioritizing the ones that both fulfill me and have a decent chance at replacing my $DAYJOB.
Also, having a schedule so I don’t burn myself out. It’s been working well for about a month so far.
It doesn’t really say much else, though - just a bunch of commonplace realizations that most of ideas never get done, and then some jump to “metaprojects”, possibly to reframe the frustrations so they feel less stressful, but I don’t get that part.
The part about disabling conscience feels like a huge stretch (I don’t see it there, not explicitly for sure), given how the article is just some personal rant about task and goal management.
This is just sociopathic. More more more. Turn off my loss aversion with stocism, etc.
I often wonder what draws me to pick up so many interests and goals. I used to think its leading me towards something but after so many years I have started to wonder if that is really whats going on. Maybe there is something more essential I can tease out of all my side projects that reveals what I am really after..
Seem to be a lot of complaints about this post, I'm enjoying it. Interesting flow of thoughts and share similar frustration with all my ideas and trying to channel them, and get to something. If I get to something close to my thoughts that's a huge win for me.