Abandon a project

It's OK to let it go

Every year I make a long list of goals. I try to achieve all of them. I tend to have thought a lot about them, and how I would do them, so success is generally possible.

However, sometimes I realize that I just don’t want to do what I set out to do. When that is the case, I find it helpful to remember that I can just stop.

For instance, my main year-long goal this year is listening to all the works of Mozart. I am chugging along on that and quite enjoying it. I also set a secondary year-long goal to re-read some of Shakespeare’s plays. I read all of Shakespeare as a year-long project in 2022, and so in 2026 I thought I would choose one play a month to read at an even slower pace, along with some commentary.

My first hint that there would be trouble with this project should have been when I tried to list the 12 plays I would read and decide on an order. I easily came up with the first three I planned to do (As You Like It, Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream). Then I figured I’d come up with the rest when I came to it. But there turned out to be a reason I had some trouble figuring out the fourth play. Those three plays were the ones I really wanted to re-read!

And I did. I enjoyed reading them and really studying them. But as I started MacBeth in April, then decided halfway through that maybe I’d substitute Henry IV Part 1, I realized I was really forcing myself to do this. If I didn’t truly want to re-read through all the violence of MacBeth (for, in my case, at least the fourth time) as someone who was not currently pursuing a degree in British literature…I didn’t have to.

So I stopped.

The joy of quitting

Now I know that on some level, “Quit!” Is problematic advice. A lot of people in this world would do better to stick with things past some initial discomfort. But if you are reading a productivity newsletter, you may be more inclined to stick with random self-imposed things than the average person.

I obviously could come back to the Shakespeare re-reading project if I wanted to, or if, for instance, I wound up with tickets to a play at some point this year and wanted to re-read that play before I went. Projects can certainly exist in limbo, or in a pause, for a while.

But there is something to be said for formally abandoning them too. As Gretchen Rubin once noted, “One source of clutter in our homes and offices, and a significant drain on our energy, is the uncomfortable presence of unfinished projects. Whenever I see evidence of an unfinished project, I get a jolt of annoyance or guilt: ‘I should organize those shelves’ or ‘I need to finish alphabetizing those books.’” 

So, according to Gretchen, the quickest, easiest way to deal with that? “Abandon it! Decide you’re never going to knit that sweater, and get that stuff off your shelf—and off your conscience.”

Making peace with the truth

I’m sure we all have projects like these. If you have something that’s been sitting in the middle for a while, or that is not longer appealing, what would happen if you decided to just quit the project? You could decide that you will never get around to making your own ice cream, and you could donate, sell, or toss that ice cream maker that’s been taking up real estate in your small kitchen for years. What if you decided that you were never, in fact, going to learn calligraphy, so you could give the kit to the neighbor kid who enjoys that sort of thing?

The first thing you’d probably notice is that the world would not end. No one cares if you make your own ice cream, and it’s quite possible to live a rewarding life never having done so. You might feel like you can direct that energy to other things.

Of course, if the thought of abandoning a project feels more upsetting than anything else, then maybe it’s time to get real. Give yourself a deadline, and a time frame. I know there would be ways to hold myself accountable for more Shakespeare reading and it is, you know, pretty good stuff. But as I’ve thought about this, I realize I feel perfectly fine abandoning the project after re-reading my favorite three plays. I’ll have space for other reading, and I’m eagerly thinking about what that might be.

——-

Big Time, my newest book, is now available wherever books are sold! If you enjoy my writing here at Vanderhacks, you’ll enjoy this book about what happens when we move beyond a sense of time scarcity and truly embrace time abundance. You can pick up a copy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, Books-a-Million, Hudson, your local independent bookstore, or at your library. I appreciate the support.