From Idea (to Detour) to Fruition
How a detour from your current project can actually prove helpful
Hey friends,
Are you the type of person who would always finish a project first before starting with any other, or do you easily abandon an existing project to move on to a new one?
Perhaps it’s not such a black-and-white matter as it was phrased.
This question just came to me as I sat down intending to write this issue of the newsletter. Just a few hours before I was doing the MBTI personality test again because I thought about sending this test to another person whose personality type I was curious about. (I’m quite surprised every now and then when the questions change slightly but remain so subtle that I really can’t manipulate my test outcome, yet I still get the same answer ENFJ, which I think is pretty accurate.) And well, one of the test statements was along the lines of “Once you got interrupted in a project, your top priority is to get back on track as soon as possible.”
I’d like to think that disciplined people stick with their endeavors until the end, that they see them through to the end. And I think there is some truth to it (which we will come to later). However, perhaps, taking your mind off a project in exchange for a fresh one that excites you might just be the boost in energy and inspiration you need to finish your original work with greatness.
For me, the first project was this kind of “cinematic short film”-esque video I was trying to create, which final result I am proud to present to you today at the end of this post. Truth is that this took me a long while to finish because I simply de-facto abandoned the project subtly but surely over time. I mean I sketched out the first ideas for the scenes September 11, 2023 (…oh wait). Listed some music options for the video September 30 and started editing like the next day. And in the span of almost two months I only edited in like 3 active days which I just realized now checking the hours I worked on it. (I use the tracking tool Toggl which I highly recommend.) I mean that’s crazy, I could have finished this video project in like 3 days. Instead, I only finished the video 2 months later.
What was I doing the whole time? And what triggered me to actually work on my project on those specific days?
While I’m not certain about a special trigger moment, I believe that my detour into another project might be the reason that got me back on track and allowed me to pull through in pretty much a single day. The “detour” was another idea I had for a video that got me more excited at the time. When a friend told me about the idea to use my “side projects” for the “main project”. I think this is a topic I will deep-dive into at some point. But in this case it was basically about using my writing as a base for my videos. So that’s what I did! (Can you guess which newsletter issue I used?) As I thought more about it, it all made more sense, and the inspiration for the scenes came flowing.
So I had a bit of fun playing around with this new project, scripting and planning the scenes. Eventually I even started filming for this exact video. Took me some time to actually do it, but when I did, it took a long time but was satisfying to get them all right.
I believe that it’s through this event though that I could get recharged with a new energy to come back to my original video project and finish it up. In a way, I was supplementing myself with new inspiration, knowledge and tools by having watched different videos on YouTube from filmmakers like tutorials or cinematic short films for my “detour” project.
So, perhaps the moral of the story here is that whenever you feel stuck with a current project, like you don’t seem to be able to advance because of you lacking something, be it inspiration or energy, just go take a break and do something else that caught your attention or might be fun yet goes in a similar direction.
On another note though, as mentioned shortly in the beginning, it is important to be able to stick to a project or activity for a prolonged time period. Because seeing things through to the end, once you have committed yourself to them, even when it gets tough, is critical to building “grit”.
What is grit? Grit is defined as "perseverance and passion for long-term goals" by psychologist Angela Duckworth who both held a famous TED Talk and wrote a best-selling book (which I actually read and liked a lot more than I thought) on said topic.
If you told yourself to pursue something, then it is important to not give up too easily without having given it your all. Because all too often the real magic happens after the struggle.
But more on that in a future post ;)
For now, enjoy my 3-min piece of art (if I do say so myself). Thank you!
Let me know what you think when you watched it!! 🙏
Life Progress Update
Work:
When the going gets tough, stick to the principles. Keep doing your best. As long as you do all that you can, luck will be on your side.
Friends & Co.:
Cooking time with colleagues, first time Horseriding, dating hopes and disillusionments
Spanish:
Got a new app called MakesYouFluent where you can speak with an AI Chatbot to practice speaking. Also spoke with more natives again, though again I feel the gap I need to close
Creation:
I published a YouTube video again after 3 months, yay! You know it’s always tough when you are proud to publish something, and it doesn’t get seen as much. With this one I initially screwed up the link I shared online, so people couldn’t check it out I guess. But there’s always something not going smoothly, you just gotta expect it. Still, when the outcome or reception is not as bountiful as you expected, it does hurt a bit. But at least there are always the few people who show support, and those mean all the more to me. Thank you to you-know-who! 🥹
Fitness:
3 workouts and 1 run since the last post, oof.
3 Favorite Things
Tool - Toggl. I have been using this time tracking tool for a few years already. And honestly, it’s become a staple tool on my PC and phone. It’s just kinda nice to know how much time you spent on different projects and activities. But it also has a psychological effect that keeps you accountable at least to some extent.
Tool - Shade Inc. I discovered this desktop app only recently through a sponsored video by Megan Tan on Instagram. I have to say it’s a really cool tool for filmmakers as it basically allows you to do a visual search of the footage you have. It’s something I thought about myself. It was always a pain to sift through all the footage and select the right ones, but with this tool you can search for keywords like “city night” or something, and you’ll get the footage related to those keywords. Funny story, I even had a nice spontaneous chat with the founder of Shade on Linkedin at like 1AM my time lol, seems like a cool guy.
Video - barcelona times. Shameless plug of my own video hehe. It’s replaying the Barcelona memories I have in a 3-min cinematic show with some epic music.
Quote of the Day
"You won't always get what you strive for, but you will definitely get what you settle for. You won't magically outperform your standards.”
- James Clear