Do you start projects only to abandon them soon after? You might be fleeing.

Don’t get me wrong, trying and failing is absolutely acceptable. How else could you learn, unless you make mistakes. But you have to allow yourself to make them.

Sometimes it is difficult to decide, but a project that clearly is going nowhere is fine to abort. Don’t push through if it makes no sense. As long as a project will teach you something useful, it is probably worth pursuing. What is useful? That is a decision only you can make. Listen to others, but don’t let someone else make that decision for you.

Abandoning a Project

If you are about to abandon a project, you need to reflect on the reasons. Is there some new thing you are more interested in? If you follow that path, the next shiny idea will make you abandon that one next. An endless spiral of broken projects. You will never see their potential. Unless you finish something, everything will be a guaranteed failure.

Flight

What if your novel idea is just coping, or you have no new idea, but are just bored? The real reason might be fear. Whatever you create:

• Will it be good enough?
• What will people think of it?
• Will I disappoint myself?
• Will anyone use it?
• Are you wasting your time?

That is the trap of vanity. A harmful trait that will prevent you from developing further. You cannot make progress without stumbling along the way.

Regarding the topic of no one using your result:

A few is enough for me; so is one; and so is none

— Seneca

If it is a waste of time, why did you start it in the first place? There must have been a reason. Learning something at the very least. Producing something of value as a bonus.

But avoiding adversity by chasing new projects will never show you what you are capable of, or what you are not yet capable of. Maybe, that was why you diverted yourself in the first place, wasn’t it?

Volatility

Let’s assume you really found something new and so it’s not fear that drives you. If you jump ship, you only proved that you get distracted by the tiniest of things. Instead, write the idea down. Let it simmer for three days. If it is still hot, you may try it out. If not, pursue it at a later point — after finishing your current project.

Learning to Learn

Abandoning a project will waste a great opportunity: Learning what doesn’t work — and why. Not finishing means you don’t have to think about failure. If you endure, not only will you hone your skills. You can analyze your flaws reflecting on a finished project. It could be a success, but you will never know.

Summary

You are not finishing projects because you fear that it is not perfect. You fear that others’ opinions — and your own — will cast it as a failure.

So if you want to start finishing projects:

• Accept that you lack the skills, but are willing to learn them.
• When being distracted by a new shiny idea, write it down — but tell yourself: “I understand that this diversion is an exit provided by my mind to protect my ego”. Don’t even consider it until some time has passed.
• Think of what your project could be. If you don’t do it, nobody will. Does it really deserve to be abandoned, or does it deserve a chance to succeed?
• Think of what you could learn by continuing. All those skills learned will make every further step better.

The only real failure is never to finish.