Anticipating accomplishment

From Mary’s post “Discipline? What’s that?”:

I’m really very bad at following through with things.  I have lots of big ideas about all sorts of things, but most of them never make it past the idea stage.  Even some things that do, I don’t finish.

It’s not a trait I particularly like about myself.  It’s just not very nice to think about all the things I want to do, and remember all the things I haven’t done.  [...]  I sometimes half wonder if I have a very mild form of ADD that, because I can function in society without any external assistance, isn’t really a disorder.  Because the reason I don’t end up following through on ideas is that I just have so many of them, and the one I’m currently working on is always the least interesting of them all.

And the other part of the problem is that I just have so many interests.  It’s not exactly true that I’m interested in everything, but it’s not actually as much of an exaggeration as it might seem.  Still, there are only so many waking hours in each day, and I have to devote a whole lot of them to working.  I’d probably have more time to devote to useful pursuits if I didn’t genuinely enjoy goofing off, too.

That is exactly what I struggle with as well. And I don’t have the solution for myself yet, but believe me, I’m trying to find it. Because it’s embarrassing to go back to my alma mater 2 years after graduating and have no real answer to the question, “How’s the writing?”

(That said, I am SO glad I went to Carnegie Mellon’s Commencement this weekend! I had a great time with my family, and I got to meet up with several friends. As a former Resident Assistant, seeing my first group of residents graduating gave me a staggering mix of pride and excitement. They are amazing people, and I can’t wait to see what they accomplish!)