In the New Crone’s Complete-It Club this month we’re working on our Path to Fulfillment by listing and prioritising the unfinished projects we want to complete.
Prioritising is hard work. It take a lot of mental energy and self-realisation.
Listing projects – large and small – was easy enough. I struggled a bit at first, but then spilled coffee on my notebook and “ruined it.” That granted me permission to make a messy list, adding annotations and color coding, and disregarding any self-imposed rules.
I ended up with some “low hanging fruit” on the list . These projects will be easy to complete. I simply need to set aside some time to finish the tasks. They are partially complete and I already have the resources for them.
I decided to not prioritise these little projects, but to act on them when the mood strikes me. In fact, I already got to work on “finish binding the books from 2021”. I stitched 2 of them at the Handcraft Club meeting a couple weeks back and promptly gave them away to the ladies in the room. It felt so nice to have done that; I will let that feeling carry me though some of the other items on the list, like “Naomi’s necklace” and “Frame the paper art”
Alongside the little unfinished things, I also listed big projects. These are going to take time and/or money to complete. They are the effortful things I have put off because of reasons that range from budget to fear. These are the ones that need to be prioritised.
Prioritising
So of these bigger unfinished projects, which ones do I really want to do? The prioritising process was a lot for my brain. I made a spreadsheet using the six criteria we’d set up, and I color coded my responses. I thought this might make it more visual and less overwhelming.
It didn’t help as much as I hoped it would. I did get some clarity by studying it.
At first I was disappointed (and a touch ashamed) that none of my unfinished projects have global impact. Only a few fall into community impact or deepening bonds. Then the lightbulb went on.
I prioritise other people’s projects before my own. Even when I have resources to do my projects, I’ll always do client work or community activities before I take time to do my own art and “personal legacy” stuff.
Whether that insight leads to helping me complete my projects, I am not sure. At least I am aware of it. And I am no longer ashamed, as I was able to think of a bunch of COMPLETED projects that had global and community impact.
So of these larger projects, which ones am I going to prioritise? I have narrowed it to three:
- Renovate the barn
- Brick the driveway
- Compile Drawing Meditations
Renovating the barn and laying pavers in the driveway will both take a lot of physical effort and money. They are separate but related projects, with similar pros and cons:
Pros: Doing them sooner rather than later will make 555 a nicer and safer place to live. I have a solid image of the final results and rough plan for each in my head; I know the general steps to execute both of these projects.
Cons: I need to ask for help with heavy lifting, carting away debris and trash and other DIY tasks that I can’t do alone. It’s going to be expensive. The barn renovation is a multi-phase project over several years.
Compiling Drawing Meditations exercises, examples, and instructions into a book, app, or online class is something that satisfies my compulsion to share what I know.
Pros: I have plenty of resources to share. My classes always get positive feedback. I am enthusiastic to share this more broadly. I can do this project alone at the start, when I need to gather my drawings and notes into one place and organise them. The cost to do the project is initially low.
Cons: There are many similar books/apps/classes from other instructors (probably more skilled and qualified than I am) already out there. The world probably doesn’t need another one. Like many of my projects, it’s going to take a lot of time and probably won’t earn much money and I will be slightly annoyed by that cost-benefit gap.
Final Answer
I will do two in parallel.
Drawing Meditations is so different from the other two that I can fit it in between heavy lifting or on rainy days. It’s cerebral work.
The barn is hands-on physical labor. It needs to be done ahead of the driveway. So I am going to dive into that and start bagging up and burning debris. It will be a few months of destruction and drives to the dump. When I get to a point where I can’t do any more safely alone, I will cast around to friends and see who has time and interest in helping. When its time to call in professionals, I will be reaching out to my favorite teams.
I know that any decision I make this month isn’t set in stone and I can change my mind or shift priorities at any time. This is a personal list after all. And I will Complete It in my own way.
