When to Start a New Project?

Especially after 2020, that horrible, horrible year (for many, many people) you may be a little wary of starting an ambitious project in 2021. Maybe you’ve been wanting to start writing a novel. Maybe you’ve been wanting to start learning a new skill, like speaking a foreign language or playing the guitar. Maybe you’ve been wanting to start a new job or maybe even jump to a new career. Or maybe you’ve been wanting to start your own company. The possibilities are endless, but for many of us we had to put our lives, goals, and dreams on hold, or maybe even take a step back or two, to deal with our family or our job or maybe even our own health during the past year. And now, well into 2021, we may be looking around, exhausted, wondering where all the time went, wondering about our lives, goals, and dreams. Wondering about what might have been.

OK, let’s get this out of the way, right up front: don’t beat yourself up over feeling behind because of 2020. That was a dumpster fire year–we are all burned out. So get some rest. Keep hold of your goals and dreams though because things will get better. Do however give yourself permission to recover.

But even after you recover, even in a “normal” year, starting anything new can give us pause. There are a lot of reasons why we might hesitate or even procrastinate before taking that first step. Is our idea good enough to succeed? Are we good enough to carry out the project? Might the project take a lot of time and effort? And perhaps the biggest concern, might we fail?

Those are all good, commonsense questions–everyone has these doubts, or maybe I should say everyone should at least consider them. Of course there’s no obvious or easy answer–there’s no simple series of bullet points or steps you can follow to ensure that everything you try to do will always succeed.

I can control my thoughts as necessary; then how can I be troubled? What is outside my mind means nothing to it. Absorb that lesson and your feet stand firm. ― Marcus Aurelius¹

Over on TechnoSlipstream we’ve been discussing topics motivated, in part, by the Philosophy of Technology, but Philosophy in general is much broader. Stoicism, for example, is said to have originated around 300 BCE in Athens. One of the tenets of Stoicism, as expressed by Philosopher King Marcus Aurelius, is the ability to be more accepting of events done to us–by others or by nature–events beyond our own control. In other words, we can control what we do, but not what others do nor what nature does. This means we should certainly do the best we can with what we have, but we should also be more accepting of what happens to us. If we encounter an obstacle, certainly do everything you can to overcome it, but also realize that if you fail in that case it will be through no fault of your own. So rather than waste energy on what is outside our control, we should instead focus our energies onto things that are under our control. Getting started on a project you’ve wanted to undertake is one thing under your control.

Just as one recent example, for some time I’ve wanted to start a podcast but for various reasons–probably similar to the reasons you’ve had for putting off doing something–I never did quite get going, certainly not in 2020. But when I blinked and realized it was already June 2021, I concluded I really needed to sit down, do the work, and just start the podcast already.

It wasn’t easy, of course. Putting together a podcast takes a lot of planning, creative and technical work, as well as time and effort to craft the idea, write the episode scripts, record and edit the audio, then publish the actual episodes.

But at least the TechnoSlipstream Podcast is now live, with five episodes out so far. If you’d like you can listen to an episode on technoslipstream.com or you can subscribe via one of the buttons below.

Circling back to those questions of doubt we discussed earlier, here is how I answered them for my case using the above framework:

Is the idea good enough to succeed? Whether or not others judge the podcast well is outside my control. (Though so far I’ve received positive ratings on Apple podcasts–thank you!) Either way, I’ll certainly do my best to help make sure the podcast is a success. Part of that is doing due diligence to assess the merits of the idea, making a plan, and implementing the plan, but also part is the energy, ideas, and work ethic I bring to the table.

Am I good enough to carry out the project? I don’t know, but I do know that I will at least put in the work to learn the skills needed to host and engineer a podcast, learn from others, practice, and improve when I make mistakes.

Might the project take a lot of time and effort? Sure, though it is also true that probably (most) anything worth doing takes a lot of time and effort.

And perhaps the biggest concern: might I fail? Sure, the podcast might fail. However, I know that what is under my control is that I can put in the work to make the podcast the best I can. Hopefully others will get something out of listening, but at least I’m getting a lot out of the journey of research, writing, recording, editing, and publishing each episode.

In 2005 Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple and Pixar Animation Studios, gave the Stanford University Commencement address² and many people favor his words regarding the importance of “doing what you love”:

I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love.

I tend to disagree with that sentiment–I think it is dangerous to imply you won’t be happy or successful unless you find the one perfect job or career, but maybe we’ll save that discussion for another article. What I did like from his speech however is the following:

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.

I’m not saying starting a podcast is on par with starting Apple Computer–don’t get me wrong. But I do appreciate his reminder that we should be respectful of the (limited) time we are here together on the planet, whatever it is we are working on. If there’s something you’ve really wanted to do, if you don’t start now, then when? Unfortunately at some point you won’t have the option.

So, for my podcast, when I realized time was slipping by, when I started getting tired of saying the same excuses to myself over and over, when yet another day came and went without me pressing that record button, I determined that now is the time. Like the saying goes about the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago…the second best time is right now–if there is a project you wanted to get started this year, my suggestion is that now is the best time.