The 90-Day Rule
If you have not touched a project in 90 days, it is dead. Accept it.
I used to keep a list of "active" side projects. At one point it had eleven items. I was lying to myself. Most of those projects had not been touched in months.
Now I follow the 90-day rule. If I have not opened the codebase, written a word, or thought about it with any seriousness in 90 days, I move it to the archive. Not deleted. Archived. I can always bring it back.
This sounds harsh but it is actually freeing. Instead of feeling guilty about eleven projects, I feel focused on two. The rest are honestly labeled as what they are: things I tried that did not stick.
My archive folder is large. I am at peace with that.
- Mohan
- Mohan