The Queen of Unfinished Projects

We are excited to welcome Michelle to Find Your Sock Yarn today. Michelle is a self proclaimed Project-aholic! She has lots of great ideas but sometimes has a hard time finishing up all those ideas! She’s come up with a great idea though to help her get those projects finished-she started a blog where she shares all her projects as she finishes them! Be sure and visit Michelle at her very appropriately named blog – Confessions of a Project-aholic!

Hi. My name is Michelle and I am a project-aholic.

That’s right.

I am addicted to projects.

Actually, I guess I should clarify: I am addicted to starting projects. I have struggled with finishing them!

I’m not sure when this addiction started. Probably pretty young. My parents were not artistic themselves (my mom considered craft projects a form of torture), so when they saw this ability in me, they encouraged it. But, they only made me finish my homework and whatever was on my plate!

My art projects?… Well, it never bothered them if those never got done, they understood that creativity was always a work in progress.

I must have finished enough art projects because I earned a talent award scholarship to college from the Design Department at BYU. After one miserable year of deadline after deadline I decided that it wasn’t for me! (The deadlines that is, which are what designers are always up against!) So, I changed my major, and at least finished college!

Now fast forward a few years.

They say opposites attract, and I happened to marry- get this- a project finisher! (And since he builds roads, all us drivers out there are very happy about that!) He’s a get-er-done type of guy. So naturally, my piles of unfinished projects can really get under his skin.

But, I was still in denial.

Then, a few months ago, something woke me up.

I belong to our local quilters guild (because fabric is just another fun medium), and at the beginning of the year, we were all asked to count up our UFO’s (un-finished projects). We then numbered these, and every month they draw a number, and the idea is to finish the project with that number that month. But, just for fun, they also decided to see who had the most.

Guess. Who. Had. The. Most??

Ouch. We have around 85-100 members. When I fessed up, they presented this award to me:

I had to face my denial, and what’s more, I needed a plan to get my projects done!

Looking around at all my projects (including my non-quilting projects) I decided that first of all I needed some accountability. Secondly, I needed to be able to see my progress and pat myself of the back occasionally.

I remember that a few years back, I had decided on New Years Eve, that along with making my New Years Resolutions, I would also make a list of everything I had accomplished that year. This was far more motivating than I realized. Being able to look back at what we have done helps us take on what we still need to do with much more energy. I think we are invigorated by that sense of I’ve done it before, I can do it again!

Hence, my blog was born.

Here, I am accountable to my readers to be finishing things on a regular basis. But, the sense of accomplishment whenever I can post something really does keep me going.

This has probably been my most successful system to checking things off my to-do list. I would love for you to look around at my blog, and leave me your feedback and suggestions. I would also love to hear how you accomplish your to-do lists and finish up all those projects that you start!