Which unfinished personal projects are worth keeping?
Sort by future use, storage burden and genuine interest rather than treating every unfinished piece as a task. Check ownership, shared commitments and retention needs before removing materials.
Give each project a destination
- Identify work you still want to continue with a specific next step.
- Move reference-only material into a labelled archive.
- For unused personal material, decide whether a photograph or learning note is needed before recycling or removal.
Keep learning without keeping everything
Lettering drafts might be represented by a few different attempts and a short note instead of a whole stack of repeats. Collaborative work requires discussing disposal with the people involved; your wish to tidy does not authorise discarding their material.
What to do with your observation
| Observation | Next action |
|---|---|
| Interest remains and the next step is clear | Keep it among a limited set of active projects. |
| Only obligation remains and retention is unnecessary | Preserve useful learning before deciding on removal. |
A worksheet you can use
Project: __. Next step: __. Reference value: __. Storage burden: __. Others' rights: __. Decision and date: __.
Does discarding work mean the time was wasted?
Not necessarily. Preserve what you learned while acknowledging that you no longer intend to continue.
Evidence and scope
This concerns personal creative organisation, not formal retention requirements or material belonging to others.
The public introduction discusses creative life. Not a full-book reading. Austin Kleon — Keep Going: public book introduction
Sources and further reading
This collection in Chinese and English · Life possibilities library
