I have a lot of projects. Let me count them
- PENELOPE – exploring weaving as a technical mode of existence
- Spicule – trying to get an ultra-complicated and overdue crowdfunded album project finished
- TidalCycles – free/open source project for live coding of pattern – lots of coding + documentation to do
- Dorkbotsheffield – electronic art meetings in Sheffield
- Eulerroom – streamed algorithmic music events
- Tidalbot – Currently a twitter bot but with expansive ideas behind it feeding into patternlib
- Feedforward – New text editor for tidal (also a dependency of spicule)
- Bands, loads of bands – slub, ccai, and many more on the back burner and without names yet, as well as performing solo as Yaxu. Doing a lot of performances
- AlgoMech – Growing annual(ish) festival around algorithmic and mechanical movement, third edition May 2019
- Access Space – on the board of trustees, research director (on a volunteer basis)
- Code Access – work-in-progress project working with people with sensory impairment and live coding, currently working with Childrens’ Media Conference towards an exhibition in July
- Lurk.org – project with Aymeric Mansoux building alternative internet services like talk.lurk.org and we.lurk.org
- Algorave and TOPLAP, quite amorphous collectives but I still do a fair amount of coordination despite actively trying to share the keys.. Plus helping with the steering committee of the ICLC and ICLI conferences I started.
- A book on live coding with some great people – I owe them a lot of writing!
- An international exchange between live coders in Tokyo and Yorkshire this summer/autumn
- A remix + tidalcycles samplepack project with Blood Sport
+ probably a fair few more I can’t think of right now… Plus a lot half-started and half-finished projects I’d really like to work on. Visual programming, being part of FoAM, etc. Plus being a father. I could just about imagine doing any single one of the these as a full time occupation, really, but only the first one actually pays me money (it’s a part-time position, 50%). I can’t really imagine dropping any of them. What to do? It doesn’t help that I’m terrible with time management.
I’m not sure what the point of this post is, apart from to stare at this problem in the face, and to explain why I’m sometimes a bit slow with finishing projects or replying to email. Any advice warmly received.
Sometimes you have to learn to say “no” to yourself.
I have finally started to realize how all my projects suffer badly if I do things like you have above – I actually cannot work on more than a couple of projects at the same time. And I doubt anyone can, really (ok, there are exceptions) And I watched those projects, crammed into tights time-space of 18-20h of a day, crumble at my feet. Too many failures forced and continue to force me to prioritise every single day. And it’s very painful to do it. I’m a dreamer, brainstormer, but if I do 4 projects at the same time all 4 are done badly. If I do one, I actually have a chance at finishing it, actually have a chance and finalize it exceptionally well, and that’s a reward for that suffering when I had to make compromise and decide on one project at a time.
What is you most most important think that you want to do, and what are you at the same time already good at? If you have an answer, then focus on that and only that and cancel the rest. Actually say no to those projects in near future.
Otherwise you are truly wasting your talent and intelligence and energy. And life. Not to mention that you will be able to have a real quality time with your children.