Now that I’ve been done with school for several months, I’ve been in the process of trying to determine what, exactly, will come “next” for me in professional, academic and personal terms.  I’ve been doing a significant amount of work for my clients as a freelancer, but I’ve also picked up a number of small personal projects, including:

• A weekly collage/mixed media class at Cooper Union, since I’ve largely worked in digital media and have kind of neglected physical media over the years
• A modified version of my friend Ray’s “365 Days” photo project, in which I use my point-and-shoot camera to capture a picture of myself or something significant every day for a year
• An ongoing “micro-blog” via Twitter
• Establishing a collaborative story writing site (Room506.org)

I’m particularly proud of myself for sticking with these new projects, but I believe the reason that I’ve maintained interest in all of these endeavors is twofold.

1. None of these projects require a very large time commitment.
   With the exception of the collage class, which is a three-hour class on Wednesday nights and requires getting to and from the school every week, everything else can be done in a few spare minutes at work or at home.  Snapping a picture can be done in 30 seconds; sending a text message to Twitter can take just a minute or so; adding to a story can take just a few minutes over a lunch break.
2. These projects are not mandatory.
   No one is imposing a deadline or a requirement on me to get any of these things done; the world won’t end and no one will die if I fail to snap a photo of myself one day.  Almost all of them are outlets for creativity and “spare” thoughts that might otherwise just be forgotten or discarded summarily.

If I were to construct another list of projects that I’ve started but have yet to successfully complete, though, it would be far longer than the first list above, and would contain any of a number of items that I started with every intention of finishing… but failed to do so.  They basically fell off my mental list of priorities.

As I think about these unfinished tasks (which include everything from creating an updated design portfolio for myself to doing a will to getting rid of extra books from the shelves in my living room),  I think the reasons that they’ve idled for so long are the inverse of the reasons I’m getting new projects done:

1. Most of these incomplete projects require a large time commitment, or must be done in multiple stages.
2. These projects are, in some ways, mandatory (or, if not mandatory, are conceived as means to advance my career, secure my life, etc.).

In short, because I have a short attention span and probably some form of ADD, it’s exceedingly easy for me to procrastinate when a project feels like it’ll take a long time, will be difficult, or if I’m not sure where to start.  I’m wondering how I can beat this habit of procrastination since I’ve been able to specifically pinpoint things that will likely trigger it.  Any suggestions?