It can be daunting picking up an old project. A lot of the time you finish your work (maybe even a blog post), you click submit and that feels like the end of it. But some projects stick around in your brain for a reason. Projects where you thought the work was good or it piqued your curiosity, are worth revisiting. You just might have been on to something great.

Before you toss, forget or simply pretend it doesn’t exist, here are my top reasons to give that project another crack.

1. Fresh eyes.

Suddenly, when you aren’t considering the grade or assessment, you can see true quality of your work. You will absolutely cringe at some old spelling mistakes, but it means now is the time to correct without pressure.

2. Change the scope.

You can now address the project with the scope that feels best. Perhaps it always needed an extra few hundred words to meet its full potential. When you don’t have a rubric to address, you might have greater freedom to create.

3. You’ve grown!

Your skills have most likely sharpened over time, whether creatively or editorially. Either way you will find yourself making alterations that at one point felt challenging and now feel natural to the process.

4. The hardest part is completed.

This is a rare opportunity to refine your work rather than starting from the beginning. This will save you time and energy and hopefully, you will still end up with a product you are proud of.

5. Re-inspire yourself.

Revisiting these old projects can be tricky mentally. It’s rare we look back and feel that we absolutely nailed something! However, it can also be inspiring and give you a self-esteem boost for future or current projects.

If you’ve been thinking about picking something back up again – consider this your sign! There are so many amazing works that took years for their creators to finish, and it is a testament to their determination that we still enjoy them today.

FYI here are a few incredible works that required years to complete:

• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien (12 years)
• Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (5 years)
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (6 years)
• Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (10 years).

There is so much good work that just needs a little fine tuning, you never know what you could learn from an old project. Furthermore, you never know what that old work could potentially become. The best thing to do is give it another look.

Stay tuned on our website and Instagram for monthly blog posts that tackle senior studying, managing life and school, rejection, our best creative writing tips and more!

Author: Tess, Marketing Coordinator – Insight Publications