It's easy to lose track of your passion projects, and start feeling guilty because you're not working on them enough. However, as creativity site 99u points out, sometimes a project can take a long time to finish when it's not a top priority, and that's not a bad thing.
When you start focusing on a new project—whether it's writing a book, building a table, or anything else—it's not uncommon to find you've underestimated the amount of time required. In turn you progress through it slowly because you don't have a lot of time to dedicate to it. Then, after a couple months, you start feeling guilty about the whole thing because of your diminishing returns. To fix this this guilt, start logging your work more closely, and showing it off in small chunks. 99u explains:
Instead of getting discouraged, record what actions you do on a daily and weekly basis and celebrate what you did accomplish. Also, try to find ways to get a sense of completion faster, such as publishing an excerpt of your book as an article, exhibiting the first painting in something that will become a series, or giving a presentation on your findings so far.
Tracking everything closely can give you a better idea of what you're really accomplishing, and sharing your progress adds that much needed sense of accomplishment throughout. This is especially handy when you don't have a lot of time to dedicate to your projects and it feels like they're taking forever to complete.
Guilt-Free Creativity: Stop Kicking Yourself & Start Producing | 99u
Photo by Geek Calendar.