A boat adrift moves but never goes anywhere interesting.

I am still battling productivity in my home projects. It probably is not solvable but I want to make some incremental improvements.

This year is is all about doing things a little differently. You might say a mindset shift. It has been working great for both my physical and mental health. I feel more resilient and have less fear of things. Not a fearless attitude just much more stoic in my outlook.

Why not apply it to my, at home, tech life. Well I could apply it to work but that would not end up on this blog.

I rarely lack a plan or vision of what I would like to explore, create or learn. I have pages in notebooks detailing this. Yet I often find myself not heading in the direction of the target but moving really fast.

It is not exactly hard to figure out the the answer to this. It is before doing something check it is inline with goals and vision, if not don't do it.

What is perhaps not quite so obvious is there may be a global/local optimisation happening here. To move fast my brain enters a head down fast iteration loop where it doesn't want to come up for air, just keep producing code. That productive right?

To not loose site of the target I can't let myself enter that mode too much. My velocity may drop but the needle will be pointing in the right direction. I lose some velocity but gain as globally I am taking a more direct route.

Another factor is pain points cause me to bail on a project. Better statement of goals/vision may help but the thing I want to try is doing the painful first.

A classic example is I often bail on small game projects when it comes time to sort out graphics for it. If I make the first task to produce the graphics then this should increase the probability of finishing the project. It may be by the end of the project none of that artwork is left but having it ready before I code will be motivating and remove a known give up point. If I give up at the start then time is not lost.

Unlike other changes I have done this year the results of this will take a while to materialise. There is not much I can do about that.

My mind a awash with ideas at the moment so any hope of working on a single project has been abandoned. I flip so much on whether one or more than one project is my preferred way to work. I have just decided to go with flow on this.