Project Mentality
On the now-defunct worldview-discussion wiki "AndStuff.org", there was a post by Scott Moonen which I quote with his permission:
A tendency, it seems, amongst those of a geekish flavor, to pursue life in terms of projects. This is beyond the people-oriented vs. thing-oriented dichotomy of personality.
While this attitude may not reach into one's personal life, it generally entails an intense devotion to one or several projects in which one has invested oneself. Usually these are personal choices, rather than job assignments; often they are extracurricular activities pursued entirely apart from one's job. Random thoughts in free time center around such projects (which, for the computer type, are more often than not software projects).
Life without a project can be frustrating. It may be characterized by intense brainstorming, with the feel that the "perfect" project is somehow just eluding one's mental grasp. Or it may be characterized by a more depressive attitude, a sort of languishing until the next project magically presents its face.
I suffer from this ProjectMentality. It can be great, especially when it intersects with my job. :-) On the other hand, it causes my personal life to suffer somewhat, since sometimes I must compel myself not to dwell on a particularly exciting project. My only other struggle is to finish up the unglamorous final 10% of any project -- by which time I have often come up with a newer, more exciting project. Generally, though, this approach to my hobbies has served me quite well.
-- ScottMoonen
My response at the time was as follows:
The first 90% of the project takes 90% of the time. The last 10% takes the other 90% of the time.
-- Tim Nelson
I've never had the problem he mentions above, of not having a project. I always suffer from having so many projects that I can't even start them all. When adopting polyphasic sleep, thought, that's an advantage.
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