I’ve been playing around with this idea of mapping projects as a dependency graph. Every active competency on connects out into projects, books, courses, goals, etc. It’s not just a list of accomplishments — it shows how things link together, and how progress in one area supports another.
What I like about this is that it makes progress easier to see over time. A project isn’t just a box to tick off. It sits on top of the skills and smaller steps that went into it. When I look back, I can actually see the chain of how I got there.
Another benefit to the approach revolves around boundaries. It's enabled the blocking off of periods, so when something is finished, that skill can rest for a while. I don’t feel the need to keep hammering away at Spanish or Python non-stop. I can rotate my focus, let some things go quiet, and pick them up again later. The visibility of progress over time creates a bit of balance instead of trying to push on every front at once in the hope of maintaing whatever progress was previoiusly made.
And maybe the biggest benefit: it provides visibility into what I’m actually focusing on. With the graph, I can see the active lines, but also the ones I’m putting aside for now. It keeps me moving forward without getting too hooked on one thing.
It promotes something similar to the Slow Productivity idea from Cal Newport. When you see this kind of progression where the scale is over months and years, rather than the days and weeks of typical productivity systems, it gives an opportunity to breathe, to rest.