What’s Next? How Do You Choose?

News: The second edition of my handbook, FLOAT • Becoming Unstuck for Writers, is launching soon. (I’ll have all the details for you next time.) I’m excited to be releasing the updated version, and welcome your support. If you have found my book helpful and haven’t already done so, now is an excellent time to post a review at Bookshop, Amazon, or your favorite online bookseller. Thanks!

At the beginning of a session of creative time, how do you feel? Is your mind racing around? Are you calm and focused? Are you exhausted? Are you smiling? Do you want to rebel against authority? Have you had enough water? Are you near tears?

How do you decide what to do? Opinions vary. I’ve collected some of them here. Which ones land for you?

Do the hardest task first

This way, the rest feels easier by comparison. You’ll already have knocked down the biggest, gnarliest hurdle so the other tasks will feel like a walk in the park by comparison. How does that land for you? For me, I must admit an initial revulsion, followed by “meh.” Not for me. (No plans for ice baths in my future, either.) At this point in my life, I feel like I’ve used up most of that productivity-bro energy. To be honest, I’m not sure I ever had a lot of it. My energies show up in other forms. If, however, you respond well to the challenge, it’s a proven method that can assist you on your path. Go for it!

Do an easy thing first

That first sense of accomplishment will ease the way ahead and you’ll be able to tackle other tasks afterward with some accumulated momentum. Does that call to you? This approach can provide a gentle slope, giving you gradual access to the deep end. The hazard here, of course, is staying shallow. What do you think? Might it work for you?

Do the thing you want to do

It’s smoother that way. You don’t have to punish yourself, or even rank the tasks from easy to hard. As designer and writer Deanna Griffin Dove says, “What you feel like doing will get done.” A lot of it boils down to trusting yourself, doesn’t it? If you gravitate to a task because you feel like it, you’ll do the thing, and likely have energy left over to handle a few more, too.

Say what?
Photo by Anthony Intraversato on Unsplash

Speaking of energy

As a first step, before plunging ahead with your work, notice how much energy you have available. Resolve won’t take us very far if we don’t have the juice we need to be able to follow through. For those of us living with chronic health conditions, this is the threshold question, always. In any case, compassion is wise.

Who benefits?

Another useful question to ask concerns who the work is for. Is it for someone else, a group, or yourself? What is the timeframe? Deadlines do focus the mind, don’t they? So do a sense of obligation, and a desire not to let down the team. Along with your energy availability, the context of your task – including the people affected by your actions / inactions – is an important factor in your approach to work.

Shoulding yourself

I’m not a fan, generally. Like many of my creativity coaching clients, I respond better to support, and less well to flogging. Bludgeoning, shaming, guilting, shoulding – for many of us, they are ineffective. Worse, they are often counterproductive. Instead of goading us into tacking the icky project, they propel us farther away from it, and layer on another unpleasant surface for us to break past next time. In a recent newsletter, coach and writer LA Bourgeois identifies the “lie of shortcuts, of optimization, of productivity as the end goal.” I couldn’t agree more. Our work gets done, in its time, on its terms.

Plan ahead

Do you respond well to planning? If so, you might have a nice way to thread this needle. Make a routine out of ending each work session with a plan for the next one. In FLOAT, I quote two writers’ advice. Ernest Hemingway said, “[S]top when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day when you are writing a novel you will never be stuck.” Bryan Collins puts it this way: “When you’re finished writing for the day, take five minutes to clean your desk and workspace and to prepare your writing room for the following day’s work. This habit primes your subconscious to work on your project even when you’re resting.”

Set the squirrels free

Another, larger, form of planning ahead is an outline. It can serve as a map for the next steps of your project, saving you the trouble of figuring it out each time you get to work. Your outline can also serve in another way – as the liberator of squirrels whose tempting antics are luring you away toward complex tangents. It can save you tons of semi-squandered time when you are able to recall that outline, calmly ready to guide you back to the main event. Next time you’re tempted to holler “Squirrel!” and jump to it, consider the alternative. If it looks to have been a really exciting, worthwhile squirrel, you can jot down enough of the shiny new idea somewhere handy, for intentional exploration later.

It’s so exciting!
Image by Alastair Newton from Pixabay

Repose is your friend

Curiosity is great, but urgency can sometimes diffuse our focus and replace purpose with anxiety. Tackling an idea head-on can work, when the conditions are favorable. Remember, too, however, the value in tending an open space where ideas are welcome for consideration. No tackling required.

Check in with yourself

Is there one answer for all of this? Not in my experience. The closest I’ve come to an all-purpose approach is this: check in with yourself. As I mention in FLOAT in a slightly different context, starting with a check-in is smart and realistic. In fact, “writing, when your life has become chaotic or super-stressed, sometimes just isn’t in the cards. Consider giving yourself plenty of leeway, to go forward as you can, wherever possible, and not to fret when it isn’t possible.”

What works for you?

I start with an energy assessment and general check-in. Next, I meet deadlines, if any. Then, I really like the “do what you feel like” method, especially if it’s a low-energy day. It’s the creative equivalent of the old saying “you catch more flies with honey.” On a day when I have plenty of juice, I might tackle a hard project. This opportunity may not cycle back for a while, so I’ll take advantage of the opportunity. I also enjoy stopping intentionally at a place it will be easy to pick up from, next time. Being kind to myself is a winning strategy.

What about you? What have you figured out to support yourself while getting into your creative work in satisfying ways?

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Thanks for reading!