I used to implicitly believe that when I have a new idea for a creative(/creative-adjacent) project, all else being equal, I should add it to the end of my to-do list (FIFO). I now explicitly believe the opposite: that the fresher an idea is, the sooner I should get started making it a reality (LIFO). This way:
I get to use the burst of inspired-by-a-new-idea energy on the project in question.
I spend more time working on projects conceived by a me with whom I have a lot in common.
The downsides are:
Some old ideas will end up near the bottom of the pile until I die or the Singularity happens. (But concepts are cheaper than execution, and time is finite.)
I get less time to polish ideas in my head before committing pen to paper. (But maybe that’s good?)
Personally I use a mix of heuristics based on how important the new idea is, how rapid it is and how painful it will be to execute it in the future once the excitement dies down.
The more ADHD you are and the more the “burst of inspired-by-a-new-idea energy” effect is strong, so that should count.
I used to implicitly believe that when I have a new idea for a creative(/creative-adjacent) project, all else being equal, I should add it to the end of my to-do list (FIFO). I now explicitly believe the opposite: that the fresher an idea is, the sooner I should get started making it a reality (LIFO). This way:
I get to use the burst of inspired-by-a-new-idea energy on the project in question.
I spend more time working on projects conceived by a me with whom I have a lot in common.
The downsides are:
Some old ideas will end up near the bottom of the pile until I die or the Singularity happens. (But concepts are cheaper than execution, and time is finite.)
I get less time to polish ideas in my head before committing pen to paper. (But maybe that’s good?)
Thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Personally I use a mix of heuristics based on how important the new idea is, how rapid it is and how painful it will be to execute it in the future once the excitement dies down.
The more ADHD you are and the more the “burst of inspired-by-a-new-idea energy” effect is strong, so that should count.