So… remember this blog?
Yeah, me neither. 😅

I started ADHD-Coder in May 2024, wrote two posts, and then ghosted my own damn website. No dramatic reason. No "big life event" (okay fine, maybe a few). Just ADHD being ADHD. I was excited, I had ideas, and then I… didn’t follow through.

Typical.

This post isn’t about beating myself up, though. It’s about the truth so many of us live with: finishing things feels impossible sometimes.

Especially when your brain is buzzing with new ideas, guilt, pressure to be consistent, perfectionism, executive dysfunction, and… you get it.

But recently, something shifted for me. I started figuring out why finishing has always been so hard, and what actually helps me move things to the finish line. Slowly. Imperfectly. But finally.

This post is part confession, part pep talk, and part toolbox.

If you’ve got your own graveyard of half-finished projects, this one’s for you.

Why We Ghost Our Own Projects

I’m a chronic project starter.

It’s kind of my superpower. I get excited, obsessed, full of ideas. I hyperfixate. I stay up all night wireframing a new app or crocheting a cat bed or planning a productivity system that I swear will solve everything.

And then… I stop.

Maybe I get bored. Maybe life hits. Maybe I open Instagram and see someone else doing it better. Or maybe my brain just goes, “Next!”

The problem isn’t starting. Starting is fun. Starting gives you dopamine.
The problem is finishing.

Finishing takes consistency. Boredom tolerance. Emotional regulation. Working on something even when it’s not shiny anymore. And when your brain is allergic to routine or defaults to “avoid anything that feels like failure,” that’s brutal.

So we ghost our own projects.
And the longer we’re away from them, the harder it is to come back.

The Shame Spiral (And How I’m Unpacking It)

Here’s what used to happen every time I thought about coming back to this blog:

  • Ugh, it’s been too long
  • I should’ve stayed consistent
  • I probably need to write a whole content calendar now
  • It won’t matter anyway
  • I suck

Sound familiar?
(or is it just me? 👀)

That internal voice... the one that says you’re flaky, unreliable, a failure for not finishing... it’s the real blocker. Not your ability. Not your motivation. Just the shame.

What’s helped me break out of that loop?

  • Self-compassion. Instead of “I failed again,” I say, “I paused. I can pick it back up now.”
  • Neutralizing the gap. I don’t need to explain the gap or justify it. I just start again.
  • Letting ‘done’ be messy. This post isn’t perfect. But it’s here. You’re reading it. That’s what matters.

My Experiments in Actually Finishing Things

Somewhere along the way, I realized I was drowning in ideas but starving for completion.

I wanted to finish things, actually launch things, not just start and abandon them. So I started building a tool called Ideally to help me manage my ideas. Because honestly? I needed a system that worked like my brain does.

Screenshot of the “Ideas” dashboard from Ideally, showing a grid of 16 idea cards, each with a title, status label (e.g., New, Queued, In Progress, Launched, On Hold), description, and action icons for viewing, editing, or deleting. Cards include projects like Serenity Online, Anime Astrologer, The Loop List, Portfolio, ADHD Coder, Ideally (Launched), and more.
The Ideas dashboard in Ideally, where multi-passionate creatives can organize, prioritize, and track all their projects, from game dev and SaaS tools to blogs and creative brands, in one central place.

It’s not done yet (lol, the irony), but it’s launched and out there. It's published. It's finished enough for now. And it's doing what I intended it to do: helping me figure out what to focus on and what to pause without guilt. Here’s what I’ve been trying:

1. Micro-goals

Instead of “revive the blog,” I said: write one post. That’s it.

2. Idea parking lot

New ideas don’t have to derail the current one. I dump them in Ideally and keep going.

3. Permission to pause or quit

Not every project deserves to be finished. That’s not failure. That’s resource management. Let go sooner instead of guilt tripping a forced finish.

4. MVP mindset

Minimum Viable Progress. What’s the smallest version of this that I can finish and feel proud of? And how can I have fun making progress?

5. “Done for now”

Sometimes the goal isn’t permanent maintenance. It’s just to finish it once. Like this post. Once there's dopamine, we can figure out the next step.

Why This Matters (For Me and You)

Finishing things isn’t just about productivity.
It’s about self-trust.

When I finish something, even something small, I prove to myself that I can. That I don’t always have to abandon what I start. That I’m capable. That I’m allowed to return to something after a break and still make it meaningful.

For ADHD creatives like us, that matters. Because we’ve spent our lives hearing that we’re lazy, inconsistent, disorganized, bad at follow-through. And honestly? That messaging sticks.

But it’s not true.

We’re not broken. We’re just wired differently. And when we work with our brains instead of against them, we can finish the things that matter to us.

If You’re Stuck in Your Own Graveyard of Projects…

You don’t need to fix everything right now.
You don’t need to catch up on a year’s worth of missed work or opportunities.
You don’t need to build the perfect system or organize your whole Trello board or relaunch your business or finish that massive course you abandoned two months ago.

You just need to start again, in the smallest, kindest way possible.

Try asking yourself:

  • What’s one tiny action I can take on this project today?
  • What’s something I can let go of, without guilt?
  • What would “done for now” look like?
  • What would it feel like to finish something, even if it’s not perfect?
  • How can it be easy and fun?

It's hard to feel shame and guilt when you're enjoying yourself, feeling curious, and having fun.

And if you’re into idea organization tools, you might like what I’ve built with Ideally. It’s live now, super minimal, and made for brains like ours. You can braindump ideas, break them into tasks (I call them “posts”) within each idea, and keep them all in one place without the pressure to act on everything at once. Eventually, you’ll be able to share your ideas, get feedback, and prioritize what to work on next. Because we don’t need another to-do list, we need a system that lets us explore, park, and actually finish our creative ideas.

Final Thoughts (aka Proof I Finished This Post)

So here it is. A blog post. On my blog.
After a year of nothing.

I could’ve waited until I had a whole content strategy.
I could’ve made it prettier, longer, smarter, better.
But instead, I just… wrote. And now you’re reading it.

If you’ve got a project whispering to you from the back of your mind, maybe today’s the day you whisper back:
“Okay. Let’s try again.”

And if you try and stop again? Cool. You’re still allowed to start again later.

You’re not failing. You’re just figuring it out.

Me too. 💜

—

Want more honest stories like this? I’ll probably write another post soon. Or not. But if I do, you can subscribe below.

Or say hi and tell me what project you’re restarting 😄

Let’s finish some stuff. Or at least… not ghost it forever.

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FUs & Fixes