Managing Different Projects Without Losing Your Mind
One minute I’m working on Available Doctor, then I’m fixing something for a client at Sentia, then I’m looking at Beautywerx, then I randomly open Cohabit and forget what I was even doing there in the first place.
I’ve realized the hardest part isn’t really the coding. It’s managing your focus.
Working at an agency changes how you think
One thing I’ve learned from working at Sentia is that every project moves differently.
Some clients need things done urgently.
Some projects are long-term builds.
Some are just maintenance and bug fixes.
Some suddenly become chaos overnight.
You can’t approach everything with the same mindset.
Agency work honestly helped me get better at adapting quickly and learning how to switch between completely different industries and systems without freezing up.
One day it’s healthcare stuff.
Next day it’s payments.
Next day it’s UI fixes.
Then API debugging.
Then client calls.
It forces you to become organised whether you want to or not.
Not every project needs the same energy
At first I treated every project like it was equally important. That just made everything messy.
Some projects are:
- live products
- making money
- have users waiting on features
Others are more experimental or long-term ideas.
You have to know what actually matters right now instead of trying to sprint on everything at once.
For example, if something critical breaks on Available Doctor, that obviously takes priority over me randomly redesigning something on another project at 11pm.
Context switching kills momentum
This is probably the biggest thing I’ve learned.
If I spend 20 minutes on one project, then jump to another, then check Slack, then reply to emails, then go back — my brain feels fried even if I was technically productive.
Now I try to stay locked into one thing for a few hours at a time.
Way less stressful and the work is way better.
Every project needs a clear next step
Worst feeling is opening a project and having no clue where to start.
So now I try to leave myself small notes like:
- fix onboarding bug
- clean up payment flow
- finish medication search UI
- reply to client feedback
- deploy production fix
- review API response issue
Makes it way easier to jump back in without wasting mental energy trying to remember everything.
Motivation comes and goes
Some days you’re super inspired.
Other days you stare at the screen wondering why you started any of this.
That’s normal.
I think discipline and structure matter more than motivation long term. Even small progress every day adds up fast.
Final thing
I used to think managing multiple projects meant doing more.
It’s actually more about simplifying:
- fewer distractions
- clearer priorities
- less overthinking
- more consistency
Still figuring it out myself, but working across projects at Sentia while also building my own stuff has taught me a lot about managing energy and focus properly.