I find myself at the beginning of a cycle with regards to managing my creative efforts.
It seems to happen a lot:
- I “fall off the wagon” and get behind with my regular writing efforts.
- I then, after taking one or two steps back in the right direction, I start focusing more on organization to list out all of what I need to do to truly get back in line.
- Overwhelmed by the list, I then proceed to get lost in the minutae as my list grows larger and larger.
It’s a tricky scenario to overcome because on one hand, it’s important to list out what needs to be done not only to serve as a checklist for making process, but also to ensure that I don’t end up forgetting something along the way. I think part of the downside, though, is that this also ends up quantifying just how much work needs to be done, which while it can be interesting to know, I think can also be detrimental because it also seems to psyche me out in knowing the daunting volume of work that lies ahead.
Also, part of it could be that I simply get too granular when I’m putting said list(s) together, which could again be for detail’s sake out of fear of overlooking something, but I think there’s also a bit of motivation to be found there because I do feel good about being able to cross off each item as I complete them, even if sometimes they’re a tad mundane.
So the question is, how should I proceed at this point to see the most productive results? The formation of the makeup list is right around the corner, which I still say doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, however maybe it’s the manner in which I interact with the list that’s the key. I already know from past experience that sometimes it’s best to just pick one thing and focus on that, so maybe I use the list to simply identify my next task, then put it away until I’m ready to cross that one off and choose another. That might actually end up helping two-fold because in addition to allowing me to focus on one thing, in theory it would also ease some of the pressure of the impending work to come.
Of course, I suppose the ultimate solution is don’t fall off track in the first place, but we’ll just have to work on that for next time… 🙂