I need to find out how to finish anything I start. Help me. Please.

[kksm19820117]

I am a horrible finisher. I would consider myself reasonably smart (my IQ scores have generally kept between 125 to 148), I am considered a creative asset at the workplace, but the one thing holding me back is my ability to finish a project. And this is true of almost everything I undertake; I have a track record of unfinished projects that shame me into seeking help. My projects folder is full of projects I started but left incomplete and unfinished; at work I have not yet finished this project that should have been completed by now. This character flaw is undermining all my strengths and I have to combat it at any cost. Any advice would be appreciated.

[jhancock]

IMO, there is only one solution: Pick one "small" project and will yourself to take it to "completion". Define completion as something you know you can attain. In this context, complete can't be "I flip the project for $3mm" as this is outside your control. You must set yourself up for success. Do one project this way and then repeat.

EDIT: Your IQ is not relevant to your ability to complete projects. It is possible your feelings about your high intelligence is a problem in that it keeps you from being willing to experience failure. These fears should dissipate as you incrementally do complete projects.

[pg]

Yes. Taking on projects that are too big creates a situation like an airplane stalling because the angle of attack is too steep. Better only to take on projects so small that you know you can finish them, however humiliatingly small that may be initially. Then, with always finishing as a given, start to gradually crank up the ambition. But never so sharply that you stall.

[PostOnce]

Diligence > Intelligence.

A lot of people are going to have trouble admitting this, but a diligent person of average intellect is about a hundred times more likely to become successful than a lazy person with a titanic intellect.

I can provide examples if necessary.

[Timothee]

I have the same problem as the OP: I think about cool things to build, look around to see if the different parts are technically possible, build prototypes for some of the parts and never actually put everything together in a working package. Once I know that this is possible, I tend to lose interest.

So, recently, I've tried to change my mindset to what you describe and build something small, useful to me, and that I can finish fast enough that I don't have time to lose interest. And I have a few other bite-sized ideas to do once I'm done with that. (my current tiny project: http://logmeoutthx.com/ I'm not so much interested in the thing itself as in completing it)

[allbeta]

This. I recently had this epiphany and pretty much said the same thing http://blog.everythings-beta.com/?p=332.

Important things:

* start with small things and set a specific completion date/feature spec.

* stop at a point where you know exactly what you need to do next. It's much easier to come back when you do this.

* use org-mode to plan/track your project. I like checking things off. The feeling of meeting mini-goals will keep you going.

Go forth and finish :)

[zeynel1]

Good advice. And OP has started and finished this project, namely, this post, which proves that this is not a "character flaw" of his.

[rabidgnat]

I had a similar problem in the past. I did some soul-searching, and realized that the projects that I undertook were huge, and would take at least a month of work in order to "finish." During this time, it was completely unusable up until the very end. Not having anything to show for hard work was demotivational.

The solution for me was to partition my work into hilariously small pieces. When I start a project from scratch, my first few tasks are "create the directory hierarchy," "create a repository," "Hello World," and "create exception-throwing stubs for the basic functionality." The idea is to finish early and finish often. If you can't commit a working version every day or two, you may be working on chunks that are too large.

It'll even sound better to your boss! Instead of saying, "no, I am not done," you can say, "I finished X,Y,Z, and W, and I am having trouble with S and R."

[nostrademons]

We have daily stand-up meetings at work for this purpose. Oftentimes my only report is "I moved chunk of code from X to Y", which of course required touching 20 files (ah, legacy codebases). That's fine - the point is that you make some progress, not that you make huge amounts of progress.

Also, stand-ups are for your (the worker's) benefit, not your boss's. It's perfectly fine to say "I did nothing this past day" - your boss doesn't care (well, mine doesn't). But if you say "I did nothing this past day" for a week, you'll begin to feel like you're missing out on something, which is an incentive to look at what you're doing and bite off a smaller chunk of it.

[DEinspanjer]

If you need help coming up with a good plan for this, there are methodologies around it. Two that I like a lot are: The Pomodoro Technique - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique Getting Things Done - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done

[jdietrich]

From "The Cult of Done Manifesto":

1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.

2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.

3. There is no editing stage.

4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.

5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.

6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.

7. Once you're done you can throw it away.

8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.

9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.

10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.

11. Destruction is a variant of done.

12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.

13. Done is the engine of more.

http://www.brepettis.com/blog/2009/3/3/the-cult-of-done-mani...

[ilovecomputers]

I remember Joe Peacock of Mentally Incontinent fame lambasting this manifesto: http://blog.joethepeacock.com/2009/03/cult-of-done-can-kiss-...

[jasonlbaptiste]

a) find something very very SMALL to start with. remember: facebook had one photo, one school, and no groups on feb 4, 2004. zuck built that shit in 2 weeks. could you imagine if he tried to build what fb is now (feature wise)? Zuck actually was a lot like this from what I can gather - making lots of small random things, not always finishing them, and seeing them stick. He got through fb fairly quickly and it stuck.

b) find something that people can pay you for ie- your first dollar. Without making money, youre running a nonprofit, not a company. even if it's just ad space, put the ads up from the beginning. Money is a hell of a motivator.

c) have a targeted customer/user. you can get feedback from them and it will keep you going. seeing someone enjoy your work is a big motivator. you will feel you cant let them down.

d) try to have it be something that you yourself would use. it will force you to finish the project.

You can do this. I've been in similar spots. Forget potential failure or potential success. Just focus on finishing. Hope this helps and good luck!

[daleharvey]

Agreed, I would also add to put it live the second you have "anything", nothing forces you to fix things more than being embarrassed about its current state

[DeusExMachina]

Have you ever thought to undertake a psychotherapy?

Don't get me wrong, a lot of people consider this to be something only for "mad" people, but this is not true. When your belly hurts, you go to a doctor. Why not ask to a doctor when something in your head hurts?

Good psychotherapists can work miracles. I have some good friends that got some great benefits from this. They are very smart and absolutely cannot be classified as mad or even disturbed. Just normal people with some personal problems that a good "doctor of the mind" helped untangle and solve.

[Eliezer]

> When your belly hurts, you go to a doctor. Why not ask to a doctor when something in your head hurts?

Because when your belly hurts, science understands what the possible causes are. Your real medical doctor may be able to diagnose one of those causes and treat it.

When your mind hurts, the existing base of installed psychotherapists belong to a wide variety of non-evidence-based "schools" where "non-evidence-based" means "some guy made up some convincing crap and some other people believed him".

[carterschonwald]

this is a very good suggestion, and for all you know, it might turn out (for example) that the crux of the issue is something like mild adhd, and half the challenge with such issues is being aware of them so that they can be managed

[DEinspanjer]

I have to agree here. I'll project some of my own history which seems likely to be similar to your situation.

You might have some insecurities regarding your skills or abilities that cause you to avoid getting a project far enough along to prove those fears right (or wrong). If this is the case, the fears conflict with your passion for creating things and cause you stress and unhappiness. Reaching out on this forum for help is a start, but a good psychotherapist can help you figure out how to see these fears when they are hiding in your psyche and give you tools to overcome them.

[cpr]

Yes, in many cases it's just a matter of discovering and learning to turn around bad mental habits, not a matter of mad or disturbed.

(Though "madness" can be seen as the limiting condition of bad mental habits.)

We're all clearly disturbed in some way or other, some worse than others, and it's a matter of finding help in functioning in spite of bad mental structures, and learning how to work with/around them, eventually perhaps overcoming them.

[mrj]

As somebody who works on months-long and frequently years-long projects, I have some advice.

Firstly, I prefer not to solve /all/ of the hard problems at the start. I try to somewhat polish and test each feature before moving to the next. Otherwise the tail end of your project will become a long slog while you have to force yourself to address all the little things you've put off. It's a massive demotivator.

Also, you really need to break large projects down into smaller pieces. The large project quickly becomes overwhelming and despair can set in. Instead, set out to accomplish a small piece every day. The important thing is to feel like you've done something worthwhile every day, and to have something new to look forward to tomorrow. You'll get used to feeling good about yourself at the end of the day and programming will become addictive.

Usually I think about what I'm going to do that day between hitting snooze or driving to work. I map out what I want to get done in my head. That'll motivate me for the day. Of course, the problem with this approach is I tend to get upset when the day's plan changes. But that's kind of a personal intensity I have to keep in check sometimes.

Lastly, I find I'm pretty motivated by feedback. I want the users to like what I've done, so if I'm having motivation problems it can help to get my programs in front of users. I like to get prototypes in the hands of the right users, ones who'll understand not to expect everything to be done, as much as possible. It'll keep me on the right track.

Of course, there's still those days I have to turn off the bookmarks toolbar and force myself to work on something. Usually that's caused by a roadblock or a decision I haven't yet figured out. Sometimes I have to put my feet up on the desk and just noodle for a while.

Anyway, a lot of this will come with more experience. (Just a guess from your post.) When I started I was overwhelmed with the possibilities and new stuff to learn that I experimented with a lot of stuff, too. Somewhere I still have a project folder filled with just "messing around" projects.

It doesn't matter if those are ever finished, it's an important part of learning. But that was personal stuff... You should finish the work project. :-)

[_srobertson]

At the risk of being accused of "cheating", I recommend attention medication. I am very smart, and did exceptionally well in school, but found myself unable to take even "start small" tasks to completion when not faced with an absolute, completely immutable deadline (and even then, I still handed in papers days late). I tried methods found in books, tried adjusting diet and routine, tried altering workplaces, went as far as trying to do work without an internet connection (!) -- nothing.

This had nothing to do with motivation. I believed strongly in open source software, and loved to code small projects, but never finished anything. I enjoyed writing, and tried no less than 5 times to start a blog. I started building electronic circuits like headphone amplifiers but abandoned them halfway through soldering. No matter how much I wanted or tried to get stuff done, it just wouldn't happen.

A year and a half ago I started taking Vyvanse, which is essentially a slow-release amphetamine salt compound. Since then, I've completed an excellent and productive internship at Apple, shipped two major releases of Quod Libet (an open-source music library application), and am actually making progress on a sprawling thesis, three things I would never have imagined being able to do before. I've even seen a difference socially (I can have conversations that are important to others but meaningless to me without getting bored) and emotionally (I no longer feel like a failure or a waste of potential).

Other people have posted many great suggestions, and by all means, try them. But also talk to a qualified psychiatrist that you trust.

[lsc]

I agree; ADD meds help /a lot/ - they won't solve all your problems by themselves, but man, they help a lot.

[shill]

OP, have you taken the myers-brigs test?

I'm guessing that you are an INTP like me. I am battling the same demon. :(

Here is a description of INTP's that I found...

"Many INTPs are a lot like the stereotypical absentminded professor -- dawdling, distracted, and forgetful of mundane chores, late for obligations, losing homework or library books, and generally disconnected from the business of life in the external world...A big problem for INTPs is that they are so quickly bored, and once their attention wanders, they will rarely finish the many interesting projects they start."

http://borntoexplore.org/tempquotes.htm

[z8000]

FWIW I am an INFP and I could have written the same comment as the OP. Last I looked I have over 50 unfinished projects in my personal repository. I tend to be ever watchful of new technologies that might help me finish any one of the projects but all I end up with is a pile of bookmarks and 600+ notes in EverNote. sigh

I have been working on my latest project for over a year, part-time. I tend to fall into the research trap as mentioned by some other posters. That is, once I learn how some giant puzzle of a project would come together I lose interest in the project. I suppose I like figuring out things instead of doing things. I am tired of this.

[puffythefish]

I'm not sure how productive it is to lump yourself into social categories like this. I tested as an INTP as well, but I would venture to say that I am generally a "finisher" (at least, when it comes to my projects). When I am really drawn into a project, I lose myself: nothing else matters, and I meticulously perfect each and every detail until it is "finished". Then I drop it and move onto something else.

I empathize with the other characteristics you mentioned: "dawdling, distracted, and forgetful of mundane chores, late for obligations, losing homework or library books, and generally disconnected from the external world". But I make a point to finish my projects, or else I feel dissatisfied with myself.

I think part of how I do this is that, although my attention does wander, when I am working on a project it only wanders across little details, rather than large concepts; rather than getting bored with the project itself and moving onto another, I merely get bored of a detail and focus on another (usually completely unrelated, but still within the realms of the vision that is the finished project). After doing this for a while, eventually the entire project is finished, because that is really all it is — a collection of little details. (Of course, this only works if you are perfectionist as I am.)

To be honest, I think that these arbitrary measurements like IQ tests and personality descriptions are irrelevant (and maybe even procrastinations) to solving your real problem. If you want to be able to finish projects, just work on them — you won't know what motivated you in theory until you discover it in practice.

[kksm19820117]

Actually, I am an INTJ.

[devin]

ENTP here. I share your pain, brothers.

[jey]

A lot of people on the P side of the P/J continuum can probably relate to this problem.

[sunir]

I don't know enough about the OP to talk directly to your problem, so I can only share a few interesting frames of mind that I have picked up along the way that help push me along.

There is a phenomenon from child psychiatry that has shown that parents that say to a successful child, "Wow, you're so smart" undermine that child's ability to muscle through tougher challenges later on in life. These kids believe they are intrinsically better than their peers, so they don't keep putting effort into themselves. Eventually they encounter a challenge that exceeds their initial abilities and they give up since they don't understand their performance is in their control, not baked into their God-given make-up.

Parents who instead say, "Wow, you put in a lot of effort," teach their children that the success is based on factors that you can control, like how much effort you put in and how prepared you are and what you do. These kids do a lot better in life.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-...

Your problem description (high IQ, creative asset, character flaw) is in the wrong frame. Since we're talking about action, it's not about who you are, but what you do.

Anyway, getting things done is surprisingly simple (not easy). You look at the goal, work backwards thinking of all the things that have to get done to get to that goal, and then start doing them.

Another key part of being successful is to delay gratification. People who need constant positive feedback to keep moving forward don't get very far in real situations since most of life is a slog on the way to a better destination.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/18/090518fa_fact_...

The final thing that helps motivate action is to know where you want your life to lead. It helps give each smaller project a sense of purpose: does this move my life forward or not? If it does, it's easy to step through things.

Once you have a vision, it's important to continuously repeat in your head all the positive aspects of success. A lot of people focus on the failure or ever the fear of success. As I mentioned above, most real life projects are a grind on your energy and your emotional state. You have to be your own emotional support system.

I liked Steve Jobs commencement speech at Stanford where he acknowledged how death is a motivator. Life is short. It takes a long time to accomplish anything (5 years or more). So, you only get so many chances (maybe 10) to do something meaningful. You have to always ask yourself, "Am I living this day as if it's my last?"

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

I will say none of these approaches to life are intrinsic to a person. I suspect all successful people have to teach themselves these strategies along the way and they struggle with them the whole way along.

[GHFigs]

...parents that say to a successful child, "Wow, you're so smart" undermine that child's ability to muscle through tougher challenges later on in life.

This bears repeating. This kind of thinking (the "self-esteem movement") was extremely popular in school systems in the late 80s and much of the 90s, when someone born in 1982[1] would have been in school. This kind of "I'm not living up to my abilities" panic is common as a result. It conditioned smart kids into thinking they succeeded because they had a special power, so when that power fails to deliver the results they desire, many have problems.[2]

I say "they", but I myself spent some of my early 20s thinking I had somehow damaged my brain at some point, and did a lot of fretting about how I needed to find out the "trick" to getting back to the level of success I felt a person of my talents was capable of. And I know I'm not the only one here.

The truth is there is no trick. You just do stuff. You get more of it done if you actually care[3] and if it's stuff worth doing, but beyond that it's just tactics and micro-optimizations. You learn what works for you, and more importantly what doesn't, but it always comes back to actually cranking whatever widget needs cranking. Only then do you get to exercise your talent and intelligence.

[1]: I assume the date in "kksm19820117" is a birthdate. [2]: These days they call that power "Adderall", but that's another story. [3]: We all have projects that we start because we think we should care, but that don't get done because we don't actually care. Drop them when you spot them. There's no shame in that. You'll free up your attention for the stuff you do care about.

[sangaya]

"People who need constant positive feedback to keep moving forward don't get very far in real situations"

As to this statement... I'm a person that strives when receiving constant positive feedback. My way of addressing this, since the real world doesn't often provide it, is to provide it for myself. For instance, I had to read 2 chapters in my Number Theory book today. I told myself that after each chapter I would let myself read HN for 15 minutes. Now there is positive reinforcement.

Another trick that helps me stay focused is to make lists. I find joy in the simple act of crossing an item off a list.

So to finish a project break it down into simple concrete tasks, and come up with some sort of simple reward for each task finished. Make sure though that your definition of success is actually achievable and dependent on factors you control. After this, get to it, and finish that project!

[jules]

> Parents who instead say, "Wow, you put in a lot of effort," teach their children that the success is based on factors that you can control, like how much effort you put in and how prepared you are and what you do. These kids do a lot better in life.

This is doing the same thing these parents are doing: "I was brought up this way, it's not my fault/I can't do anything about it" ;)

[spazmaster]

Your comment deserves an upvote. Thanks, thats great stuff.

[jey]

First ask yourself: why is finishing so important? You only need to "finish" if there's positive utility from finishing. If you're just working on some project for fun, and you've already learned a lot from it and have no real gain from finishing it, why bother? The important thing is to not let yourself quit when there is more utility in finishing than stopping. That would be a problem, but don't berate yourself to finish things for the sake of finishing. Just be constantly self-critical/introspective and aware of the possible outcomes and their expected utility, and be honest with yourself about your reasons for "quitting" or "finishing".

[Retric]

I up voted you because I think that way, but there is often more utility in finishing a project than it might look like 90% of the way there. I find projects that are almost completed tend to get stuck on the same goal. But, with a "finished" project I can go back and add a new piece without the overhead of finishing my previous idea. Basically, when the project already does X you can build Y, but when the project can't do X it's hard to think of or about Y.

[mpk]

Find a partner to work with.

Another comment mentions finding a partner who can finish your work, but personally I think that's horrible advice.

The main things are sharing workload and working as peers. Review each others code, do some pair-programming even if it seems a waste of time to you (or the other person). Feedback and collaboration create action which moves your project forward.

Explain to your partner that finishing is not exactly one of your strengths. They're bound to have weaknesses too, ask them about that and find a way to help them with theirs. For yours, when you find yourself zoning out, getting bored, reading HN, etc, get your partner to do some pair-programming (or testing, documenting, researching, whatever) to get you back on track.

Forget about personality tests, medication and whatnot. Working with a partner will teach you the behavioral patterns you need and a lot more besides.

[nico]

I fully identify with the OP and some others commenting here. I've tried partnering with someone and it works great, the bad thing is that you end up always depending on someone else. If you don't have a partner to do something, then you don't do it... or don't finish it :(

[qjz]

I could have written your post a year ago. I realized I needed to tackle this issue because it was affecting me both personally and professionally. The first thing to realize is that not all projects warrant finishing. I think a project is worth doing if it falls into one or more of these three categories:

1. It pays the bills.

2. It's fun.

3. It's essential to your health and well-being.

You need to make a living and have fun, but even those should not interfere with your personal welfare. Don't be afraid to let your interests lead you to a more satisfying career path, even if that means leaving the work behind for someone else to finish (or not). And no matter what you do, don't neglect your physical health, because you'll need it to truly enjoy any of your long-term gains.

Also learn to say "No" to others and yourself. Some people accumulate projects like three-legged chairs on trash day. Is it really worth the time and effort? You can't solve everyone's problems and you've discovered that hoarding just clutters up your life. If you're going to dumpster-dive for projects, stick to bright shiny things, stuff that tastes good, or anything that brings easy cash at the pawn shop (metaphorically speaking). Most of the other junk in there is just that: ideas not worth keeping.

[kaffeinecoma]

I find it helpful to make lists for myself. Checking things off of a list always feels like progress, which itself is a motivator.

To take a real life example- when I was doing iPhone apps, I noticed that a common pattern for me was to lose interest/motivation when all of the ugly details began to emerge from what initially seemed like a simple weekend project.

My way of dealing with this was to always keep a prioritized list of the absolute minimum features I needed in order to ship it. It's always easy to get a little off-track while investigating ideas, so I tried to focus on what the absolute most important aspects were. You can always work on a 2.0 after you ship 1.0, so try to focus on the most important aspects without getting side-tracked by non-essentials.

[csmeder]

This is a coincidence :), today I started thinking about writing a essay on this subject (I have the same problem). The idea for the solution I am going to try came directly from Paul Graham's recent interview on Mixergy. In it he said we look for athletes and not Wimps.

  PG: ... We say "how do we recognize more people like that?" And, there are 
  start ups that we were fooled by and we think "how do we stop being fooled 
  in the future?", you know? ...

  Andrew: Okay, what about the bad ones? What have you noticed that is 
  disastrous? What kind of people?

  PG: Wimps.

  Andrew: Wimps?

  PG: Yea.

Okay so the problem is I'm a wimp when it comes to finishing stuff, how do I change this? In another part of the interview PG mentions he looks for athletes when taking applicants for YC. (I cant find this in the transcript? but I'm almost positive he said this.)

So my solution is to run/hike http://z.about.com/d/geology/1/0/U/A/bishoppeak.jpg this hill on a daily basis, in hopes of making my self not a wimp. I started today and hope to continue this. My plan is to make it to the top on even days and on odd days I'll do it half way.

[pbhjpbhj]

I used to be into cross country running. I only ever managed a half marathon though, not serious distance. I don't think this will help you personally. But getting/staying fit is always a good thing.

At the same time I'm not a finisher either - the interest for me is in finding the solution. The thrill of the chase. Once I've captured my quarry I'm not bothered with it, I'll chase something else.

Unfortunately this means I have problems starting real world tasks where I've already solved them mentally. I also have anxiety about starting before I've completed a mental solution, a sort of perfectionism.

[joshu]

Things that seem to work for me:

A) try to get the projects to be as minimal as possible. perhaps you are avoiding finishing them because they don't need the finishing work? relentlessly try to remove as much as possible in order to ship.

B) get things shipped. social feedback and pressure work wonders for motivation.

C) write things to do with a given project on cards, and put the cards out in front of you. as you do the thing, you retire the card to the retired pile. watch it stack up.

D) draw a 2 x 4 grid on a piece of paper and write things that have to be done in the grid squares. as you finish each one, cross it out and put a new item underneath it. when the sheet gets too messy, rewrite it.

[volomike]

Just a hunch, but you wouldn't happen to have ADD, would you? You might want to get that checked.

Also, the Internet kind of amplifies the ADD-like tendencies in us all because there are just so many opportunities it can provide for us all.

But second to these would be that you might just be wanting to get things a little too perfect. This is very, very good, but also sometimes you just need to cut the cord, open up your support channel, mark it as beta in an extended period, and just work out the bugs as they go. Oh, and unlike Microsoft -- actually read those bug and problem reports and take them seriously.

[xpaulbettsx]

We read the bug reports, I promise.

[keefe]

You must be merciless with yourself. Select the most important project, get a piece of paper and write down everything that needs to be done in bullet points. Write down the minimum and maximum time you believe each should take. Figure out the maximum amount of time you can work each day (10 hours is long term, every day sustainable rate for me, doing more imho leads to diminishing returns). Do the same time evaluation for every other important project and then reevaluate which is truly the most critical. Work on that critical project only until it is done, mercilessly without deviation.

[CedriK]

When starting a project find a GOOD partner. Give yourself milestones to achieve and share tasks. Use a bottom-up methodology.

No project is actually done. Each milestone must be usable. Keep this in mind.

Don't feel bad if you don't terminate a projet. Failure is ok but don't stop there, start a new project, again and again... until success!

[j_baker]

I'm proud to say that I've never finished a project. If you're looking for the point in time when you'll say "there, now that project has everything finished", it won't come. Instead, I recommend learning to be satisfied with incompletion, because that's all anything you'll ever do will be.

[cookiecaper]

You seem to mean that your projects are never complete because you are always iterating on them and considering improvements.

I think when OP says incomplete, he means that his projects never acquire adequate functionality to be useful within the necessary context, which is kind of the opposite of your problem; you can't stop working on things, and he can't get himself to work on things long enough.

[billswift]

I have the same problem. The only thing I have found that actually works is to not let myself start another project until I finish the current one. When I need a change I can do general maintenance or read in something, but no new projects. When I can keep to this it works.