What Is This?
The Project Cemetery is an ADHD-friendly system for auditing unfinished projects, deciding what to finish vs. let go, and discharging abandoned work without guilt — using structured audit questions and project 'obituaries' that honour the learning without requiring completion.
Why It Exists
Unfinished projects accumulate cognitive and emotional weight. Every unfinished project is a background process consuming working memory — a nagging reminder of failure. Letting go of projects that no longer serve you is not giving up: it's deliberate focus. This tool makes that process structured and shame-free.
Who It's For
- ▸People with ADHD who start many projects and finish few
- ▸Individuals who feel guilt and shame about abandoned work
- ▸Anyone whose creative or professional progress is blocked by the weight of incomplete things
How It Works
You audit each unfinished project against four questions: when was it last touched, why was it started, what blocked it, and do you still care. Based on your answers, projects are classified as Active (keep going), Archive (pause with review date), or Cemetery (write the obituary and release it).
You get:
- ▸A structured audit worksheet for all unfinished projects
- ▸A three-category classification system
- ▸Project obituary templates that close projects with dignity
- ▸A maximum active project limit recommendation (3)
What Makes It Different
The obituary format is deliberate. Acknowledging what you learned from a project — even an unfinished one — closes the cognitive loop and allows genuine release, which a simple deletion cannot.
