Decluttering. How do I get through all of the things I started but never finished?

2026 Day 171. #PersonalDays.

So many ideas are always floating around and I have learned to pen them down at the instant they barge into my headspace. Over the few months that I have been writing, I have managed to collect a lot of unfinished drafts, some with just the title, others with some of my initial thoughts on it.

Why do we have unfinished work?

Often times I come across an interesting thought but I am with friends, or just about to go bed, in any case I am unable to pen down an elaborate blog that I would be happy to publish.

So I start the draft, write down the basic ideas or just the title and move on hoping to come back. That blog is not an immediate priority and it is treated as so.

Life goes on and before I get a chance to get back to the original blog I have something more interesting, only because it is more recent and the ideas are still freshly brewing. Sometimes I do get back and I do not feel the same kind of inspiration as when I started the blog, the most interesting idea of the moment now seems backward. Other times I find myself at a loss for thoughts and plans for the draft so it just stays abandoned.

Slowly the collection of such drafts build and suddenly there is this mountain of ideas that seems insurmountable. While the medium blogs did not give me much anxiety, when things from real life pile up then I do get really anxious.

How do I identify what is worth keeping and what is not?

Everyone reaches a tipping point. I reached one recently and decided to declutter the drafts. They looked like a bookshelf raided by bookworms. Some could be saved but some really had to go.

I started from the blog that had not been edited in the longest time. I sat with it for a few minutes and realised I had already written something similar so I moved on.

The next one had a title I probably wrote when I was upset, I tried to remember what led me to begin writing this and the memory gave me a little anxiety. In the books that I have read this year, I found a little advice, it said that anxiety only exists because you do not understand something. Anxiety about the past should not exist because hindsight can help you grab a better understanding of the situation. I made my peace with the past situation and got rid of the blog.

The process continued for about 2 days. Some blogs were rewritten because inspiration struck the moment I saw it. Others were finished, revised, and then thrown out because I had learned more so I did not necessarily have the same ideas.

If you do not look back at the past and find at least some embarrassing things, you probably have not learned enough or so I like to think.

I kept the more technical blogs, and the ideas that I believed in still. I will be uploading them mixed in with the fresh work that I try to turn in everyday.

I think it is important to not look back at everything as a failure of the moment. A lot of our decisions are the product of our then feelings and we probably would not make the same decisions if only we felt differently at the same instant. Those moments led to a version of us we do not normally see, so it is best to evaluate how you could have done better.

How I choose things that I am less likely to abandon unfinished?

Looking back at all the decluttering efforts I have made, it would be nice if I never wrote an unfinished draft again. It is better to abandon the ones I know will never see the light of day so that I can give more time to the ones that I am unsure about.

Choosing better is not easy answer. You are constantly evolving (hopefully) and so is your life. To choose better in the future you must look to the past.

Long term interests that have not faded away are more likely to stick around. The past is not a great indicator of the future subjectively speaking, but statistics show that past performance can help predict your future outcomes.

When you get started with something try to ask yourself,

Why am I doing this? Do I believe in this? Is this something that I have to or is this something I am really excited for?

When you question yourself you might fill yourself with doubts. These doubts can lead to more unfinished work and drafts if not dealt with correctly. Try removing the doubts in a calm logical manner. If you can overcome these doubts you will have a greater sense of confidence compared to when you started your task.

Doubts about the future and success will always linger, they are best left to be answered by time itself.

I have begun to take a little control of my life. I am doing things that I want to more over things that I have to. This is obviously leading to some issues professionally and monetarily speaking, but I hope it will work out.

If it does not, I know I will come out maybe a poorer man than I am today, but I will be happy enjoying life the way I want, and a win for mental health is alright for me, or I will make it be.

Hoping for stronger, structured days.

See you tomorrow.