Sixty Days Late

The hard lesson that proved every project has to start with a system — not the other way around

Sixty days late — that's when it hit me. I should have set up a system long before now—another task to add to my growing list of unfinished ones.

Full of energy and visions of the finished product, I saw things made so simple and easy.

Then reality hit, and it hit hard. It was an overwhelming task—one I should've started over 60 days ago.

Organizing my articles into files, moving published pieces into another folder, and categorizing topics—all of this now feels so much to handle.

Breaking the Cycle of Overload

Why do I wait until I'm knee-deep into a project before getting things in order?

I realized I should have set up a system before I started. In reality, I wasn't sure this writing pursuit would work out, if I'm honest with myself.

Not always the case with my other brilliant ideas.

But the more I do it, the more I realize I'm decent at it. Is there room for improvement? Definitely.

Building Momentum the Right Way

It doesn't matter why you start a task.

Do you forget to review all the working pieces that come with the project before beginning?

Or do you become laser-focused on the main goal? Putting blinders on and ignoring what else this work in progress will require to be fully accomplished.

In this case, I did exactly that.

I hadn't even considered all the files and articles I would be creating.

Now, the hard part, only because I made it hard for myself. I wasn't adequately prepared before I started.

I jumped in with both feet, not thinking about the accumulating workload ahead.

And here I am, looking at the mess I made.

Each day I avoid tackling this mess, the stack gets higher — a constant reminder of my procrastination.

So, today I took a step back to re-assess the task at hand, realizing that accomplishing it in one or two days was unlikely.

I'm breaking the project into manageable parts, working on 2-3 days' worth at a time and organizing it.

For me, that means taking simple steps—such as having one folder for drafts, one for published pieces, and one for ideas still in progress, along with a basic naming system: using dates for drafts and topic tags for published work.

Balancing Cleanup with Creation

We live in a society that craves instant gratification.

We expect too much from ourselves.

Sure, it would be nice to fix years of buildup in a day — but that's how we set ourselves up for frustration.

The problem didn't start yesterday.

Some of these issues have persisted for months, even years.

So I'm now approaching the problem from a different perspective.

Consider all the components involved in the task. Set achievable goals that I can actually observe progress on.

Next time I start a project, I want to see the whole picture — every working part — and establish a system from the beginning. The next project begins with the system — not the other way around.

And perhaps, just perhaps, you'll keep that promise to yourself as well.