Are you like me? when there’s an issue I’m unsure of, I drift. I don’t stop and define the challenge or consider options. I’m not being indecisive. I’m being adecisive. I am not trying to decide. I’ve disengaged.
I have to override by natural tendencies if I want progress. I have to reengage and clarify the challenges so I can decide my next step, and TAKE IT.
Drifting is not so bad. I kinda like MSNBC in the middle of the day. Or to run an errand when the stores are less crowded. It’s all good until I start to get down on myself for “procrastinating.” Or I get into a downward spiral about what’s getting done – or not getting done.
Why the big mea culpa? This is a creative process problem, the kind I help solve for my clients.
I’m not a big fan of clarifying. It is not my strongest thinking skill within the creative process. So when clarifying is called for, I have to push myself back in there. I have the tools to make it easier for resistant clarifiers like myself. I’m just being a baby – I don’t wanna. In fact, in my life, I’m hardly even aware that I’m pushing back. From the outside, it might just look like I’m idly looking in the fridge, or refilling my coffee. (And there’s nothing wrong with that.) But by the time I get back, I might play solitaire, and TADA – I’ve forgotten the need to clarify something, so I can decide something, so I can move on.
I’m adrift.
I wonder if this happens to you – and maybe it’s at a different phase of the process.
- You drift rather than define or clarify
- You wait for an idea to come to you, rather than sit down and seek ideas
- You put off starting your writing work, or don’t sustain the discipline and focus to finish it
- You go to Target when it’s time to market your work
This type of procrastinating is directly linked to shifting phases within the creative process, and how you personally feel about the next phase. If you’re not sure where you fizzle in the process, I highly recommend you take the Creative Selfie Assessment and learn more about how you create (and sometimes fail to.)