Finish your damn WIPs challenge !

Hey you ! Do you have crazy WIP piles? Do you feel guilty every time you start a new project thinking about all the one you “should be” finishing first? Does spring inspire you to declutter your home but you don’t know what to do with all those WIPs hidden all around the place? Do you need a bit of extra motivation? Well, this challenge might be for you (and if not, you’re my hero ?)! It will take place in April and will consist in 6 steps leading you to complete FREEDOM (nothing less :p)
You can participate on Instagram, where you can share your progress with the hashtag #finishyourdamnwips (that I would recommend following to see others progress too. It might help not feeling all alone in this great adventure :p) and follow my account @ahooka_crochet so you don’t miss any of the steps ! BUT, you absolutely don’t have to be on Instagram to participate as this article will serve as a step by step guide too !

So, if you’re not really into Instagram, or if you dive in this challenge after us, no worries ! You can participate from here !

Let’s go !

Step 1 (introduction) : 

For this first introduction step, I suggest that we all face the truth ! It’s time you went through your drawers, shelves, under the bed, behind the couch, inside the box in the back of the closet, in the plastic bag behind the door to find ALL your WIPs ! Yes, I said ALL. Even that small fish missing only one eye, that little blanket of which you forgot to weave the ends in and that doll who has been waiting for her sweater for 3 and a half years. You can then gather them all in one and only place and take a “BEFORE” picture that will be our starting point for the next step, which will be published here on Monday, 5pm CET (11AM EST). Bonus : if you’re on Instagram, you can share your secret hiding place in your story and tag me. I will share the oddest ones ^^

Step 2 : 

Now that you’ve gathered everything in a beautiful big pile of WIPs, I suggest you download these little WIP cards (4 per page here, or 2 per page here if 4 is too small for you) which will help you organize them and, above all, to give honest answers to the “Do I…?” questions which will be needed next week… *suspense*

I’d then recommend to put each project with its WIP card in a basket or a bag, displayed prominently so you don’t forget about them :p And…Now is the time to… COUNT !! So, how many WIPs do you honestly have? :D If you’re on Instagram, you can share your answer and your sorting in a post or a story tagging me @ahooka_crochet if you’d like, I’ll share them in my stories too. But if you’re not you can tell us in the comments down below ^^

PS : of course, if the sight of this pile motivated you, don’t feel like you’re cheating if you feel like going on/finishing a WIP already ! This challenges’ aim is to get motivated, no matter when :p

Step 3 : 

This week for the #finishyourdamnswips challenge, I bring you a little game. You probably figured where I was going with the WIP cards questions : sometimes we tend to keep things for no good reason at all. It’s true for the ugly gift from auntie Rose that we don’t dare throwing away AND for our WIPs because “we have to finish what we started ”. But NO. Thanks to Marie Kondo and her sorting and tidying up techniques we are now free from this by asking ourselves the right questions. Does it spark joy? Is it useful? Is it functional? And if not, why do I clutter my home and my mind? I suggest you gather all your WIP cards (or simply answer the questions for each WIP) and say farewell to each project that ends in pile A. You can make a video, a photo, an altar, a pyre, anything, be creative, it doesn’t matter but… It’s time to frog it !

Step 4 :

We’ve procrastinated enouh, haven’t we? This week it’s time to… Finish your damn WIPs !! ? So, if you did your homework, you have a nice “pile C” full of nearly done WIPs. Let’s get them done this week ! So, how many WIPs can you finish in one week? 3, 2, 1… go !! :p

Step 5 :

It’s time to work on that pile D now ! Yes, even if you’re not done with pile C ! You’re going to choose one drag project from the pile and work on it 15 minutes a day. 15 minutes is not a very big commitment, but it’s a little something that can make all the difference ! If it’s a drudgery, well, it will only last 15 minutes, and if it happens to be a pleasure, well, you can continue a bit longer. If possible, try and set a regular time each day dedicated to it, it will be easier to stick with it (and after those 15 minutes, you can, of course, go back to your dear pile C :p). If you’d like, you can tell us when you’ve started that project, why you’re making it and why you didn’t progress on it  as much as you’d like to :p 

Step 6 

Let’s enjoy it !! And let me thank you all for having been a part of this with me ! Ok, we might not all be completely done with our WIPs but, at our own pace, we walked on the path to freedom, we supported each other and we had a lot of fun (at least, I did :D) If possible, I’d like to do a little recap to see what we collectively achieved ! So, if you’d tell me in the comments how many WIPs you frogged, how many you got rid of, how many you finished and how many you worked on a little bit during the challenge, I’d be happy to total them up ! And if you hear anyone struggling with the amount of WIPs they have, feel free to share the blog article I wrote with all the challenge steps, it can be done anytime, really ^^

So?  Are you in?