indebted

How do you know when it’s time to kill a project or simplify it?

I’ve been struggling to engage Postman and the work on this second pathway for months now. I’m not sure how to move past it to the work on the third pathway & beyond. I still see its purpose and love its central conceit. But the toll its first section, mired in the ache and problems we’re facing, takes makes me reticent to push through to its hopeful end.

Simplification is both an experience and current consideration.

The first pathway had more sections that became appendices as the freedom to focus on the core few took hold. I had to trim all that was not essential to shine a light on what could be added back in post. Vitally, I needed permission from outside myself. Someone to tell me it was okay to downsize the dream reinvigorated my passion for it.

Unfortunately, not all projects encounter this issue at the same point in the process.

If enough momentum has not been built, the question leans towards killing or totally retooling what the project will become. This can be incredibly beneficial and instructive because we have to remember, bad ideas are not fatal. The idea itself may be a good one. It could have simply been a bad idea for your season of life, current focus in your domain, or for the medium you’re most excited to use. This realization and practice, killing your darlings, can pull you out of a funk and launch you on a new path where your newfound learnings can prevent you from falling at the same spot.

…But what about when you’re indebted to a work and feel you have to get it out of your system before you’re able to do anything else? Is there an exemption from killing your darlings when you’ve got years of sunk cost invested in a project’s idea-spring & life-source? Does the spiritual connection to an author and the need to pin their work down within a specific era of your life supplant any suggestion to move on? If a debt is owed, must it be repaid?