Dear Creative Loves,
I’m writing to you with currently about six files open on one computer and six on the other that I’m typing on. Pretty much the same way I feel my brain is at any given moment. I’m constantly thinking about different projects, ideas, and a mental to-do list. No matter how many ideas I come up with, a new day brings more. If you give me a business I could give you ten marketing tips and a laundry list of other ideas to turn your passion into profit.
As a creative community, we understand one another and the effects of having an overactive mind. The benefits are awesome, including access to an unlimited amount of creativity. It can’t get any better, right? Until you find yourself distracted by the constant ideas or projects you want to work on. You find yourself frustrated with not being able to stay focused and see one project to the end, because you’re excited to begin the next. You want ideas to turn into fruition overnight. Your brain becomes one big box of clutter. Just like a messy office, you’re unable to find anything when it’s time. Thoughts are scattered and ideas are floating around.
All joking aside, Creative Attention Deficit Disorder (CADD) is very real. How many of you are currently working on more than three projects? You find yourself with a pattern when you get an idea. You are overly excited to work on it, you spend countless hours planning and researching, only to be distracted midway by the next project. I’m totally guilty of this! You are constantly defending yourself to people that you can work on more than one thing at a time and stay focused. Once again, I’m sitting here guilty as charged!
Let’s treat ourselves to a brain clean and get organized. Always, and I mean always, have a journal or notepad (on your phone) handy to write down those ideas. Your ideas are valuable; just because you don’t use them now doesn’t mean you can’t use them in the future. Minimize your time to three projects or fewer each month. Since you are able to create quicker than the norm, work on projects with short-term deadlines (30–60 days). Outsource your creativity by not only working on your projects, but also giving the extra work to freelancers.
Allow yourself time to have a break between projects. Focus on your accomplishments, as well as the next fun project coming down the pipe. If your brain becomes too overactive, just hit the brakes and relax, breathe, and focus. Repeat.
xoxo,
Missy B. Salick