Little progress is better than nothing. (Moving forward at a slow pace)
Making progress on a self-given project and achieveing dreams. (+I'm working on something new).
Hello there!
Lately, I have been working on something and I’m planning to share it here once it’s completed.
Although I won’t reveal what I’m creating in this post, I do want to talk about the main aspect of creating something: making progress.
When you start a new and exciting project, It’ll seem to go smoothly in the early stages.
“Man, This is so fun! At this pace, I might be able to finish it in a few weeks!”
But, that thought process is an illusion. (Believe it. I speak from experience).
This way of thinking will definitely spur you into action and motivate you to finally work on the thing that you’ve been wanting to do for ages.
But then, you’ll notice the change of pace. After a few days, it doesn’t seem as happy-bubbly-sunshiny as when you first started.
It feels as though the pace of your progress has slowed down. After a while, it’ll feel as though it got faster again. It’s all an illusion. Your brain thinks that making progress is a linear process. And gets surprised every time it realizes that's not the case.
It’s a mental roller coaster of motivation, boredom, excitement, and fatigue. You might even experience creative blocks. Even so, you have to keep going (if it won’t cause burnout).
I’ll tell you why:
During the process, at times, it gets as much fun as when you started.
When you realize what you’re creating is in its final stages, you’ll feel so happy and proud that you’ll start dancing while blasting your favorite music whenever you take a break.
And it’s super-duper-ultra satisfying to see the final piece. Words can’t describe how happy you will feel after it’s done. That feeling is worth all the effort.
My motivation suddenly gets a temporary boost whenever I find a hobby or skill that piques my interest. Like a burst of energy that makes me tremble with excitement and nervousness. It’s like going on an adventure or a treasure hunt. It’ll be fun, I don’t know what issues I’ll come across or when I’ll get stuck but, it’ll be rewarding at the end.
When I have enough materials to make what I’m craving to create, I use the burst of energy and motivation to start doing it as soon as I get some free time.
There are a lot of skills that I would love to learn if I can get the essential materials needed. (Someday, I believe I will be able to enjoy creating them to my heart’s content).
Fortunately, a few months ago, I found myself having the necessary tools to finally do something that I’ve been wanting to do for a very long time.
For that, I needed a computer, a free digital art software, and a drawing tablet. The only thing that was missing was the drawing tablet. Now that my cousin gave it to me as a birthday gift, I could finally start creating and make one of my small dreams come true.
My motivation shot up when I saw video documentaries of artists sharing their beautiful creative process. They inspired me a lot and I started to create.
What I got myself into, is something like a silly project that requires a lot of energy and it would take days to complete.
(Hey! Future / editor Harshini here. I had this article as a draft for quite a while, so, these were past assumptions. I knew it would take a lot of time. But it ended up taking not days, not weeks, but months to create! I’ve completed most of it. It will be out in a few weeks. So, stay tuned!)
Months of observing my approach to managing my hobbies have taught me that this ‘project’ would be added to my list of unfinished works if I don’t hold onto it.
I’m desperate to finish this project because it would be cool to see what I’ve created, I can look at it for years to come, and I can be rest assured that my future self won’t have much trouble leaving things incomplete.
When I’m older and get very good at art like the artists I admire, I bet my future self will think, “Gosh, what a cringy thing I made when I was younger”.
…But, let’s focus on the present for now. I can be happy that I made something bigger than my usual creations. Heck, I would be proud even if it turns out to be crappy.
Right now, the progress has been slow. You know that tortoise that won the race against the hare, right? I’ve decided to be like that tortoise until my project is complete. I’m progressing slowly and steadily. And focusing on the quality, trying not to fall on my back. (‘cause it’ll be troublesome if a tortoise falls on its back. Anyway-)
I’m not spending all my time on this project. I’m still writing and posting articles and doing other real-life things. So, I’m okay with spending as little as 1 hour each day. (It’s a self-given project so I’m mostly taking it easy).
Usually, I take a lot of short breaks when I’m creating something. But, when I take a break for a whole day or two, that breaks the momentum and I start to procrastinate a lot until I lose interest in the thing that I’m working on. And I would have trouble getting back to continuing it. It’s called “creative burnout”. Getting the gears moving and being patient with yourself is the way to prevent it from happening.
There are times when it’s necessary to slow down and take your time. If you are restless and can’t stay still like me, it’s better to make little progress and slowly inch toward the finish line. (Instead of forcing yourself to take a long break or rushing like that hare).
This time, I decided that I would not rush, I would not burn out quickly and I would not give up halfway.
Little progress each day is better than nothing.
Before you go, check out a few posts that I enjoyed reading this week:
Balancing Creativity and Business on Substack by Alyssa Bloom
How To Cleanse Your Life With Unemployed Holy Water by Kristi Keller
That’s it for today. If you liked this post, you can let me know by leaving a quick like, comment, restack, or share this letter with others.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading this post and I hope it was helpful. Come again next week on Friday for a ✨new post✨
- Harshini
Interested in reading more of my articles?
Yes! The satisfaction of watching our project almost finished is...priceless. Like there's no more tension. This is what keeps me going, even though I feel like a tortoise.
Because of my slow pace, I often have doubts that my work will never be finished, but even with small steps you're going to get omewhere. So basically, trust is the keyword.
Thank you for this insightful piece :)
I'm learning to work on my various projects at my own pace instead of following some standard. And little but consistent progress is very important for creating momentum as you've said. Something is always better than nothing. Hope you're having fun working on self-given projects and thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!