One of the toughest lessons I’m (still) learning is how to pass on an idea or opportunity. Having such a wide net of interests, ideas and opportunities come fast and frequently. Narrowing down, staying committed to, and implementing just one at a time seems almost impossible.
As an example:
One of my long-standing projects is to re-create the Yardage Book Tutorial series which is available here on my site. Over 50% of the traffic to this site is to watch those videos. There’s obviously a niche there, and one I think can be better served. After reaching out to my fellow hackers on Reddit’s r/golf sub, it became obvious that I should make that a priority.
Fast forward a mere week and I found myself research Python game libraries for a game idea. Why? Because my son had asked about getting into game programming and that reignited a long-standing dream of writing a commercial video game. Let’s not forget, I’m also currently running the marketing for Swivel-Snaps and there’s a full-time job that also has my complete attention during the day.
One of the ways that has helped me learn to pass on an idea is to actually go through a rudimentary design phase. Take a few days to go through and design a project. Go through the details of what needs to be created on both a technical and artistic side. Think hard about how long it would take and seriously consider if it will reach completion before lack of interest would kick in (which will inevitably occur).
Last year’s 365 photography project was fantastic in that it required a fixed amount of time each day. Software projects are a little more difficult in that the time requirement is variable (unless a hard-deadline is set). Perhaps an “hour a day” coding project might be a better approach so that a fixed time investment is committed to. Something to consider for a future project…