In open source, I take the opposite approach. I tend to take on large, difficult projects and get burned out working on them for too long. Combine this with wan

In open source, I take the opposite approach. I tend to take on large, difficult projects and get burned out working on them for too long. Combine this with wanting to get a lot of cool projects done, and my approach is to have lots of things in progress and switch between projects often. When I start to get tired or bored of a particular project, I switch gears so I can continue working at my usual pace without getting burned out. I feel satisfied with the success of this approach so far. Among my large (with a scope of, say, 1000+ commits and/or 10000+ LoC), 2 are mature, 2 are WIP but suitable for practical use, and 2 are in their early stages. Among medium projects, maybe about 3 are mature and 5-10 are WIP. Dozens of smaller projects and experiments exist in various stages of completion as well. I haven't finished everything yet, but I have got a lot done and I'm happy with the results. Getting over the initial hump is also a great way of getting others interested in contributing to open source projects, which expands thoroughput significantly. My advice is not to be scared of taking on lots of projects :)