vex
Ljubljana
A story about this — 8 weeks ago
I didn’t really find the “you’re a scanner and it’s ok” talk very helpful. My Reward is finding out how something is done and if I can do it – usually, as soon as I know that I’m capable of doing something, I lose interest. That leads to very few finished projects and when I do finish them, it’s through ‘blood, sweat and tears’. The book tells me to accept this, to accept that I won’t finish many projects (or that I’ll do a “Scanner’s Finish”), but I can’t! I want to have something to show for my interests, to be good at all those things, it’s just so bloody hard to follow through and actually do things that I know I can do.
Meh. Maybe it’s just my current state of mind and I’d feel better about this if I’d read it at some other time.
OTOH, at least it gave me a name for my life strategy (having a “Good Enough Job”) and told me it’s ok not to find a perfect job. :)
PS. For further reference, I’m probably a “Sybil”-type, with some “Jack-of-all-trades” sprinkled on top.
Comments
calypte
Edinburgh
sounds like me
It’s the not finishing anything that drives me crazy, too. Urm… and the not starting things. Ah!
CrunchyBread
Bremerton
the good and the bad of finishing projects
I’m almost halfway through that book myself. Just got to the part about the “scanner’s finish”. It sounds pretty organized to me, and would give me a sense of completion, if I knew I was quite unlikely to ever do that project again. It would give a sense of purpose to all the half-finished projects around my house.
I can’t imagine having that much organization.
When I first read her idea of the “ideas binder” I got very excited. Except then I realized it would probably just become another project for me, which I would spend money on and never finish.
I’m wondering if I can just use OneNote on my computer to capture and organize my ideas. If I could figure out how to put papers onto my computer using my new printer/scanner, I might be able to do that.
I’m to the place in Barbara’a book where she asks you to think about how it feels to continue a project past the point where you actually want to do it anymore. How does that feel for you? For me at first I feel just bored, then frustrated, then actually mad at the project for forcing me to continue! I really resent having to do what I’m not interested in. Is it weird for me to feel so strongly?
I’m facing the challenge in November of making a quilt. I know shopping for the fabric will be fun. Designing the layout and piecing the top will be fun. Even creating the ‘quilt sandwich’ and basting the layers together won’t be too bad. But when it comes time to actually QUILT that baby I know I’m going to get really pissy about it. I’ve muscled myself past that resentment twice, for small projects, but my challenge this month is a big project.
My only hope is to keep my mind on how very much I want the outcome. I want that finished quilt very much. I know the intense joy it will give me every time I see it. I know how proud I’ll be when I enter it in the fair next year and it wins a prize. I know how much love it will hold from my family, as the years pass and it lasts as a testament to my creativity and skill and taste and becomes a beloved heirloom that lasts even after I’m gone. I think that thinking about such things will keep me focused even when the project gets nasty and boring.
But if I cared any less about the project I know I would never make it.
vex
Ljubljana
Good strategy
I think it would help me, too, to focus on the outcome!
.
“I really resent having to do what I’m not interested in.”
Heh, if it were ok, we wouldn’t have revolutions and uprisings. ;)
CrunchyBread
Bremerton
intended outcomes
So when you say you “want to have something to show for your interests”, what sort of projects, exactly, are you thinking you want to finish? Surely not every single thing you feel a twinkle of interest in.
What would be your “intended outcome” in finishing a project?
For me, it’s the knowledge that I highly value the quilt I’m going to be making. I have a serious passion for quilts, and think of them as a form of immortality for women like myself who may not have anything else to leave behind. Quilts tell stories, and are treasured by future generations. So I’m investing in a payback of potentially lifetimes.
I don’t get the same charge when I consider picking up my old jewelrymaking hobby. I doubt any jewelry I make will be treasured more than a couple of years at the most.
Housekeeping is the worst. Finish that all sparkly nice, and you’ll bask in glory for all of what…a couple of hours? Hard to get very excited about that.
vex
Ljubljana
outcomes
Yes, I think I have to give more thought to the outcomes than the shiny-sparkle of a new thing I know nothing about (yet). :)
And yes, housekeeping is awful. I spend a whole week cleaning and at the end of the week, I can simply start from point one again!