Productivity Paradox : Less is Better
I feel like a golden retriever at times, blissfully present yet somehow always distracted.
I experience deep focus on what is right in front of me until I inevitably begin to mentally construct 12 different ‘good’ ideas all at the same time.
Ideas that spark some fire inside, some passion that was unbeknownst to you before, seem like they would be life-giving, right?
Often times it’s more frustrating to bask in the glory of 10 different ideas simultaneously without taking action than it is to simply choose 1 idea, but radically.
The paradox for me is that I distract myself with the very ideas I deeply desire to create.
The so called ‘dream’ by some trick of the light becomes the very distraction in and of itself.
There’s too much ‘potential’ floating around in space that distracts me being grounded, bringing down one idea, and giving it my full attention.
Trying to give form to too many ideas at once is paralyzing.
Anyone who has experienced some turbulent relationship to their creative expression can attest to this.
I don’t believe in multi-tasking.
Talking on the phone, writing words that are separate from what you are hearing, curling your hair, preparing breakfast, and putting your shoes on all at the same time leaves you exhausted and not to mention left with a shitty breakfast, two different shoes on - maybe even reversed, jibberish on a scratch pad, and a conversation you can’t recall at all.
And your hair might be on fire…
I don’t curl my hair, but I certainly get anxious about those darn contraptions burning the house down.
This over-the-top analogy is an expression of how I creatively feel at times.
Completely dysregulated and certainly not in a position to actually create the type of work I desire to create that will actually have impact on people.
Not every good idea needs to happen now.
It’s okay to not grasp for every idea that is floated by your consciousness.
I know, it’s very counter-intuitive and strongly against our conditioned response…
It’s like a kid in a candy factory that can’t help but eating every piece of candy on the conveyor belt.
You have 60,000 thoughts a day, maybe even more.
It’s futile to believe that of those 60,000 thoughta the ones that involve an idea that you may have the capacity to fulfill must be fulfilled by you.
This is a classic creative block.
We get in the pattern of identifying good ideas and throwing them into the basket of potential projects, but we rarely take a good one out of the basket and radically commit to it.
We don’t allow ourselves to move forward because of all the potential ideas we could be missing out on.
Why?
Because it’s frightening to commit to one idea.
Some part of us knows that the commitment to one idea is the closing of many other doors of possibility, countless doors actually.
But here’s the thing…
The closing of those doors is necessary to experience new depths of creativity and an amplified impact in the world.
I’m willing to guess that this exactly what many of you desire, but it is precisely the thing you avoid the most.
We tend to put freedom and commitment against each other. Unconsciously we might believe that they cannot co-exist, but dissolving this narrative is a pre-requisite to whatever next steps you want to take in life.
Commitment to a project, a path, or a person is a singular doorway that comes with the implied acceptance that other doorways must be closed, atleast temporarily.
What we cannot see is what lay behind that door, and this is where 1 of 2 things happen.
1. It poses a threat to the current idea we have of ourselves. This creates fear and future based concerns that keep us separate from making the decisions we want to make in life.
2. It illustrates pure possibility. This makes a deeper of sense of freedom available to you, one that is intimate with uncertainty and sees it as an expansive ally on the path of your becoming.
So when you relate to making decisions of commitment, what comes up for you?
Avoidance or curiosity?
Fear or excitement?
Freedom or constraint?
There’s no wrong answer, in fact, being radically honest with your fears around uncertainty is a huge unlock for your creative potential.
Being stuck in the phase of gathering information, analyzing the hell out of every idea, and focusing on perfection rather than progress are the very mechanisms that help us avoid becoming more of who we know we can be.
There’s nothing wrong with staying stuck or in the same phase for some time, but I reckon there’s an inner voice inside of you that yearns for growth, curiosity, and expansion.
This is an invitation to focus of doing less, but better.
Not every good idea that comes to you is for you.
As difficult as it may be to accept, releasing the pressure we place upon ourselves to make good use out of every good idea is absolutely liberating.
There is no shortage of creative ideas, so relating to them from a position of scarcity isn’t aiding much in your journey.
To add a little harsh truth to the pot, ideas are worth nothing, the reward only belongs to those who radically pursue those ideas.
We can use that as an immediate filter for what you are realistically available to give form to.
Vertical regenerative farming is a trillion dollar idea, but I’m never going to do it.
Fun and brightly colored toilet paper roll holders is not a trillion dollar idea, but it’s realistic to me in my belief of eradicating shitty design (pun intended) from our everyday spaces AND the level of resources/resourcefulness I have to make an idea like this happen.
Doing less but better requires us to get radically honest about what we are available to commit to right here and right now.
It’s probably not the 1000’s of rogue ‘good ideas’ floating around in your consciousness, but rather a shortlist of ideas that light you up and those which you can commit yourself to now.
This requires us to change our relationship to time.
It’s no longer “one day” but rather “today.”
You can commit to one idea now, and commit to another idea later – just not at the same time.
It’s more fruitful to give as much of You as possible to a lesser amount of things.
If I only have 10 kev’s to give it make more sense to give most of me to the things that I want to see grow in my life.
There no use in giving my precious energy to things that I don’t value in this moment.
As it regards to creative expression, here is a great way to simplify your ideas in the contemporary marketplace.
Solve 1 problem for 1 specific person in 1 specific situation.
That can be the version of you that you were last year, or underwater basket weavers struggling to feel confident in weaving double handled baskets in extreme weather.
Giving creativity parameters is where all the magic happens.
This requires you to focus on less, commit radically, and actually find out if that path feels authentic to you.
Once you commit wholeheartedly to a process you can pivot at any moment, but it takes embracing the uncertainty that is all around and taking one step at a time without the need to figure it all out.
Doing less becomes the doorway to the “more” that you desire.
