Sometimes it is really hard to start something because we have so many ideas that need attention right away. It’s like being the carpenter who has an idea about building a stool, a table, a swing and a dog kennel all at once. Now if he were to start and stop one project and start and stop another, by the end of the day he would have done a lot of work but accomplished nothing.
This situation is familiar to most creative people. The only difference being serious designers, artists, writers and musicians have found a way to control the urge to keep starting something new, and not finishing a project. The problem with starting a lot of projects and finishing nothing is that you will never be able to prove how creative you are to the people around you, and in the end since you don’t get the confirmation you need from another person, you would have failed to prove your own creativity to yourself too. On top of that, your work area will be full of materials and references which will continue to encroach into your living space. That is not a good place to be if you believe in yourself.
So what do you do when you are this type of person? How do you streamline your projects? There are two methods that I have used successfully.
I usually use the first method for smaller projects, like a group of codes, a list of drills or an article for my website. However when I work on a project something within that project may give me a new idea. The notebook is extremely important here because it helps me control my urge to start a new project. I write the idea down on the top row of a foolscap book and leave two pages empty for it. Now this works for me because I like to fill empty pages. In fact, if a page is filled with rows of ideas, I become overwhelmed and nothing will get started. That is just how my mind works. So get reacquainted with yourself, and find the best method for you. I mean, if you think best in the toilet take the notebook with you, not the newspaper, the next time you have to go.
The second method is used for my longer stories. I have a tendency to get bored if I focused too long on one thing, so I tend to work on a project until I hit writer’s block, then move on to the next one. Blocks sometimes occur because we have an idea but we don’t know how to express it. I find that moving along to another work-in-progress actually helps because when I return, I will have a fresh perspective on the problem.
Is motivation alone enough to get you to finish a project? No it is not, because most of the time what we want to do and what we need to do does not align. This is especially so when you are going through a learning curve. When you reach a point where you must learn something new to get to the next level, the experience can be highly frustrating. And it is this frustration that oftentimes kills motivation. I know because I have been through it. This is usually the time when you begin to believe that you don’t have the skill to achieve your life-long dreams. Three things has helped me plough on through the dark moments, and maybe you will find them useful too.
So remember make promises, form a habit and see everything from the point of view of your skill. If you fail in any one of these three, keep trying then try some more until you get it. If we give toddlers only one chance to get their walking skills right, none of us would be walking today. So each time you ‘fall’, pick yourself up and before you know it, you will be ‘walking’ too.
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