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LM: #359: What I learned finishing a 10-year project I shouldn’t have
As I’ve gotten close to finishing my book, I’ve noticed something ironic: I probably shouldn’t have finished this book.
If I count the time I spent on a now-unrecognizable book proposal, the Getting Art Done trilogy I’ve almost finished has taken ten years, and I can’t help but think of all the other things I might have done instead.
Yet there’s a Catch-22 here: I don’t think I could have learned there were other things I could have done instead of writing these books, without first writing these books.
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When I started working on the series, I had finished things here and there – an entire other book, in fact. But part of the reason I took on the project was merely to prove to myself I could set out to do something, and then do it.
But with all I’ve learned about how to sort through, plant, and nurture ideas, I would approach things differently today. I would make smaller bets with my limited resources and be more careful about which projects I did and did not take on.
Alas, things couldn’t have turned out any different, because early on, less important than what you finish is that you finish – what project you take on isn’t as important as learning to finish any project.
You have to get pretty good at finishing what you start before it’s a better idea to put effort not into that you finish, but deciding what you finish.
Aphorism: “It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.” —André Gide
Cool: Table for Two’ish is Saya Hillman’s interview-ish series (I’ll be a guest in September).
Best,
David
