Happy 2022!
I had a recent bout of identity crisis sometime back in Dec 2021. It opened up a pandora’s box that took a lot of time and effort to grapple with. With the help of many kind individuals that I’m surrounded with (and very grateful for), I’ve managed to have a bit more understanding about what I am now and what I will work towards. It’s not much and I still feel too vulnerable to share it with the world, but I hope it’ll appear here someday.
Amongst a set of themes that I’ve set for 2022, one of them is Growth 🌱. A lot of things change every year, but this theme has stayed consistent through my life (which I’m also grateful for). That being said, of course it’s easier said than done. :p Which brings me to introduce Sunbits Project!
Sunbits Project
This is the name. I haven’t thought much about it, I don’t think I will.
It’s inspired by Ben Stokes who created Tiny Projects. To be honest, I don’t know much about Ben’s real job work but I’ve been following his tiny project adventures ever since Mailoji (~ sometime in Mar 2021).
His words perfectly summarises how I feel around this so I’ll just leave it here.
Probably like you, I’m that person who is constantly coming up with lots of little project ideas. Whether that be ideas for apps, websites, games, businesses; whatever. I have them all stored on a list in my phone, and I know you probably have one of those lists too.
The problem is I never seem to get round to completing them, or even starting them for that matter. The list just grows bigger and bigger.
Not completing any of these ideas comes with a few problems: The list grows bigger and more daunting. I feel like a failure because I’m not completing anything. Missing out on exploring cool ideas with massive potential.
Tiny Projects is a way for Ben to explore his ideas quickly at low stakes. It initially started out as a weekly thing, but time proved to be a major factor so the projects come out a lot slower now.
I don’t have an exact 1-1 problem fit to this. But here’s a quick thing I wanted to share with you that led me to think about starting Sunbits Project.
Have I told you about Rain Light?
I started a mini personal project sometime in Oct 2021. I’ve always loved the rain. There’s something about it that makes me feel a certain jolly way. Except I work in a room with frosted windows and I’m often in calls with my headsets on so I always miss the rain.
I’ll make a desk lamp that lights up when it’s raining so I know it’s time to open the windows ~ Famous last words by Yours Truly
TLDR; it kind of worked, but it also mostly didn’t. Most importantly, I got tired of working on it so I stopped.
I found an API for my location’s realtime rainfall. The mini program makes a call to the API every 5 minutes to check if there’s any rain recorded at the weather stations near where I lived. I bought random parts on the internet, mistook a bluetooth controller for a wifi module, and made all sorts of mistakes in between. I cobbled up a simple Arduino device and tested it and all that shit.
The final concoction was a mini mushroom light that lit up when it rained. Which also sometimes lit up when it didn’t. and at some point I believe it has made up its own mind to light up whenever it feels like it.
I have a video of it somewhere in my old phone which fell to its death when I went cycling in the rain (hah). I’ll add it here if I ever recover it.
{placeholder of mushy by the window}
It was fun, then it wasn’t.
I wasn’t able to put this project to an end. When I attempted to fix something, something else happened. Each problem was huge to me, every single thing was new. It was a huge step - followed by a huge step - followed by another huge step.
I’ve had tons of fun exploring and building it. But towards the end, I was simply exhausted.
I felt like a failure.
Then the (unrelated) identity crisis came.
And I was eventually forced to stop when I simply couldn’t bring myself to continue anymore.
Why I think Sunbits Project would help
Sunbits Project serves as a set of rules and boundaries that will help me pace my personal project interests. I’d like to create an environment and mindset for myself to learn and create while leaning in to the failures and unforeseen outcomes that come along with it.
I’d like to share my vulnerabilities and discomforts more openly.
Ideally, the time specificity lets my projects be a form of catharsis which stops itself the moment it stops being cathartic to work on.
Sunbit Project Rules
This is mostly for personal accountability. But here’s the following rules to the Sunbits Project:
- I start a new project every month. The first one being in February.
- I’ll write a post at the end of the month as a form of completion.
- Completion is simply defined as the final documentation of a project regardless of its state.
- I’m free to give up and fail. I’ll report as such and move on.
- Projects cannot extend past the month. When the month is over, I essentially stop-drop-roll and start a new one.
- (I do foresee a situation of wanting to further continue a project, I’ll think about that situation and optimise for it only when it comes.)
I think I’ll stop right here before anxiety catches up to me and I decide against posting this! For the record, I’m extremely excited to start on my new projects.
Toodles and Happy 2022!
27/01/22 Update:
I watched a video that was very in-line with this blog post and thought I’d share it. It’s about Mark and his journey towards creating a fully-functioning MVP game in 30 days. Spoiler: He made it! And it’s such an inspiration of what a properly planned project can actually look like.