Too many open loops

I have been on a run of starting projects and not finishing them. Now, that’s been true basically my whole life. But lately, I have more of what I’d call “open loops” than normal. I don’t really know where that phrase comes from, or what exactly it means, but it seems descriptive of a situation I often find myself in.

If you do a lot of projects, it’s a good idea to always leave any given project in a state where it’s easy to pick back up after a break. You might take notes about what you were trying to do, or take thorough recordings of your music, or make sure your code is in a working state. You want to keep it easy to come back and restore context.

Often, if I think I’ll be coming back to the project very soon, maybe the next day, I might put less effort into “closing the loop”, since I expect to reopen it very soon and I won’t forget what I’m doing.

A close shot of a large ship, with ropes wound intricately along a series of hooks on the side of the ship.
Photo credit: Aeastabrook33

Well, sometimes I get busy, and sometimes I get interested in starting a new project, but in any case, I’ve now gotten to that point where I’ve left too many loops open. At this point I’m not sure I know how many projects I’m leaving floating in the back of my mind. It might help to try and enumerate them here.

This list is mostly for myself, but it might be a fun sneak peak into the kinds of things I work on.

And then, of course, there is the daily open loop of trying to write a gomepost! Which naturally eats into my time for these other projects.

Realistically, I don’t expect to make progress on all of these anytime soon. I’d just like to get them all in a comfortable place where I can come back to them in three months and still know what I’m doing.

Do you start a lot of side projects? Do you keep the loops open or do you do a good job of closing them? Do you have a list of everything you’re working on currently? Let me know your thoughts at my Ctrl-C email: gome ​@ ​ctrl-c.club.