I like podcasts and books. The problem is that I like podcasts and books that recommend other books. Another problem is that a few years ago I discovered you can buy used books on the internet for very little money.
Combine those things with a bit of impulsiveness and what you end up with is a large bookshelf filled with books I have either never started or read maybe 100 pages of before unknowingly closing for the last time and putting back on the shelf.
Strangely, this has created an environment I actually enjoy. I can graze. I pick up whatever seems interesting that week, absorb a bit of it, and move on. I can daisy-chain moments of indulged curiosity. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad way to read, but it’s probably better to finish books more often.
It's almost offensive to keep it on your shelf to collect dust with a page folded somewhere in the middle. What's even worse is to do this and consider it actually complete — my shelf has so many wounded warriors that my intuitive sense for the end of a book is when I put it down rather than the last page. I need to recalibrate.
I’ve realized I have a similar landscape to navigate when it comes to ideas and projects.
As an engineer, I’m proud of my ability to generate ideas. I also can’t bear letting them be forgotten, so I write them all down. I’ve been doing this for years. I have notes in my phone dating as far back as 6th grade, including but not limited to “air conditioned shoes” and “mini pancake chips.”
I still think they would make for successful products, although sadly there has been no progress on those particular line items.
When I feel like spending an afternoon working on something, I flip through my list and start on whatever seems right. Like grazing through books, it’s a pretty enjoyable way to move forward.
But I’ve realized that several years have passed, and the number of personal projects I’ve actually completed is embarrassingly low. I’ve been “working” this whole time but effectively have done nothing, the same way I’ve been “reading” but have reached the end of very few books.
There’s a certain level of respect you owe a book once you’ve opened it. Eventually you have to decide: read it or give it to someone who will. Gift it to a friend or donate it.
If you start working on an idea, you owe it similar respect. Either finish it or cross it off the list. Wipe it off the whiteboard. Tear it out of the notebook.
I decided to start occasionally finishing a book — to grow a spine and suffer through the experience of a few boring pages. I have moved the finish line from where it gets hard to when the story ends. Sometimes you have to keep reading not because you want to but because stories deserve to be finished.
Similarly, I’ve decided to start finishing projects. I have moved the finish line from where it gets hard to when it's available here, purchasable on newrevisions.com.
New Revisions is a platform for me to share the projects that I’ve finished. This website is the last page for the ideas that have an ending to their story.