i’ve got 99 problems and running out ideas ain’t one
You ever walk into the grocery store and get a wave of inspiration?
Or wake up and the ideas are flowing in at 100 mph?
If there’s one thing to know about me is that I’m a dreamer, an ideator, and a visionary in every sense of the word.
And I love it, it's one of my favorite qualities about myself.
At the same time it can get me in trouble.
When I feel the inspiration strike, I want to drop everything and start working on my idea ASAP. I want to cancel all my plans, hole myself up and do nothing but work on the idea. Whether it’s a new offer, an event I’m planning or even an Instagram post, it can feel like I need to work on whatever the idea is in that exact second.
For the longest time I was mistaking this inspiration for something that needed to be acted on immediately or else I would lose the idea. It would make it hard to organize when I was already on a time crunch. When inspiration struck before it was time to get ready for work, my morning timeline looked something like this:
7:00a - Inspiration strikes as soon as I opened my eyes, as if the idea came to me in a dream
7:15a - jump out of bed, grab my laptop and write down as much as I can remember, excited, a little anxious about making sure I didn’t forget any of the details, and starting to feel the crunch as the countdown until I had to get ready for work counted down.
8:55a - I’d scramble to get ready for my first Zoom call, rushing through notes I had taken the day before
12:30p - I’d take a short break to capture any of the ideas that flowed through during the work day that I scratched down in my notes app
3:00p - I’d take a little notes break again, the inspiration wouldn’t stop once the work day started so I had to try my best to keep up
5:30-9:00p - Once the work day ended I would keep working on my new idea until my eyes physically couldn’t stay open anymore. Somewhere along the line I’d eat dinner while still remaining immersed in my work.
And this cycle repeated itself until I felt like I was “at a good stopping place.” What started as inspiration took a slow dissent into burnout as I kept telling myself “just one more sentence and I’ll close my laptop.”
While I don’t regret anything –– this was almost entirely how I developed my offers while balancing a 9-5 job. The funny thing was that I knew better. I was working as a project manager and resources manager at the time so I spent 32 hours/ week:
Organizing projects in a way that my team could complete everything without burning out
Breaking projects into smaller pieces so they could be completed over time
Checking in with my team regularly to make sure that everything that was on their plate felt doable
So why wasn’t I able to do this for myself?
I was so full of ideas that I had convinced myself I didn’t need a plan or have time to make one. So I was winging it, riding on vibes and ultimately running on fumes. It wasn’t because I didn’t think I wasn’t worthy of rest, but I did feel like I had to earn it.
My to-do list was king and I wouldn’t stop until I felt like I had checked off enough to pause. While I admire my ambition, that same drive is what drove me straight into burnout.
Behind the feeling wasn’t one of motivation, rather it was the feeling that I always had to be creating, always producing, always coming up with the next new thing. Not only was that the recipe for exhaustion, it caused me to:
Constantly jump between ideas
Throw spaghetti at the wall to see what would stick instead of developing a solid strategy
Push myself to burnout every time I started exploring a new idea
I used to think I had a problem finishing my ideas, but it turns out I was trying to judge them against timelines that weren’t my own. After working in eCommerce for almost a decade, I was used to the constant copywriting production line. There were always new products going live online and I was immersed in the world of constant production –– honestly we all are.
Unraveling this belief that I always needed to be producing started with learning to prioritize rest. Prioritize rest when I got everything done and prioritize rest when I don’t. Prioritize rest when my to-do list feels never-ending. Prioritize rest when I have a deadline that’s fast approaching and trust that I’ll do my best work when I’ve had time to recharge.
From there I learned to start letting the timeline for my reveal itself (even if it’s years). I can feel impatient when I want and idea to be ready as soon as I have it; but every time –– and I mean every single time –– I let an idea simmer for awhile, it comes out better than I could’ve ever imagined.
Here are two ways to start shifting out of the constant production mode:
Create a place to collect ideas
And no your notes app doesn’t count (although it is a good place to start). Have a folder on your Google Drive or laptop where you can gather all the ideas that flow through your head. Knowing that they’re somewhere helps your mind shift out of the fear that if you don’t act on it now something will be forgotten.
Trust the process
Sometimes we have an idea that’s going to take years to bring to fruition. But because there’s no roadmap, there’s no way of knowing that it’ll take that long until you develop a plan. As you sit with your idea, visualize the things that need to happen before you get to the first milestone. And then the next and the one after that. Starting to outline your plan will help your idea feel more attainable.