Now Is the Right Time to Declare Bankruptcy on Your Projects
Put your half-dead ideas out of their misery
I don’t know about you, but I want to enter 2020 with an empty brain — no half-finished tasks to stress over, no sense of guilt over lingering to-dos that have been perpetually pushed back.
Of course, I know that’s not possible. Obligations are ever-changing, and opportunities arise all the time. But what I really want to drain are the many fledgling projects that pop back into my head while I’m on my commute, reading a long-form article, or right before I drift off to sleep. These are writing or creative or personal projects I haven’t started, but have followed me around for years.
But instead of letting things continue to roll around in your brain through another year, there’s a solution: Declare project bankruptcy. Right now. This means you’re done, finito, unwilling to engage with this idea any more. You’re back to zero.
“As you go into the New Year, give yourself the freedom of focusing on your true priorities by declaring bankruptcy on those that do not fit your lifestyle, your goals, or your true self,” says the professional organizer Julie Bestry, whose tweet about this very topic inspired my newfound obsession with going bankrupt in the best way. As she says, “There’s now, and…
