Dear Sam: I Have So Many Ideas

Dear Sam,

I have a million ideas in my head and I get excited every time I think of another one. I want to act on that idea right away and then I have half-finished projects.

A lot of them do come to fruition and that’s exciting and I’d like to make more of them a reality. I’m loving the mind – mapping. I’m only on Session 2.

Every time I touch into in your work, I get energized and inspired, so maybe some of these tools will help.

Blessings & Love,

Beth

Beth McKinnon, CPCC
NowBeth Empowerment Coaching
www.nowbeth.com

Dear Beth,

Thank you so much for writing! I think this issue of FOCUS is huge for people – it’s been coming up a lot lately – so I think you speak for many with this question. Thanks for letting me adapt it for this post.

OK, first of all – make sure you’re writing all your good ideas down as soon as they come to you. Keep them in a file or notebook labeled “Pure Fabulousness” or “Genius!” or “Beth’s Brilliant Ideas” or something fun like that.

Writing them down will help keep them from just bonging around your head taking up valuable real estate and will also lessen any anxiety you may have around them.

Also, I would start to revel in your plethora of ideas. Rather than categorize yourself as someone who’s often distracting herself, think of yourself as a non-stop genius idea factory. Of COURSE you have a million ideas – that’s just how you roll.

And you can feel confident that not every single idea needs to be acted upon. Certainly not right away, anyway. And certainly not by you alone.

We’ll be working with some more prioritizing tools in the coming weeks of Get It Done Workshop, but for now, maybe creating a short list of questions to ask yourself before embarking on a new project might be useful.

You’ll come up with your own, of course, but here are a few I thought of:

1) How much time do I estimate this project might take?
2) What’s the budget for this project?
3) What do I expect to get from accomplishing this project?
4) Am I the right person to execute this project?
5) Is now the right time for this project?

I’m so glad the course is benefiting you – please stay in touch and let me know what happens!

Yours,
Sam.

Are You Juggling Boulders?

Here’s an email I got recently that I thought might speak to you:

Hello Dear Samantha,

I listened to the recording of the Procrastination tele-seminar last night, woke up this morning and walked straight to the bathroom to pee, but before I brushed my teeth or put clothes on or anything, I went to the cold downstairs and worked on my original music for 15 minutes and really got something good accomplished! (run-on sentence intended)

Here’s my question – I actually have not just original music, but also music for hire, taxes, and de-cluttering all weighing on me.

The idea of spending 15 minutes on each shuts me down. How do I choose what to do? How do I juggle these different boulders? The music for hire is what I need to LIVE off of so I can do my original music, and I haven’t done it since June, when I got the project. Now my head is spinning.

Do you have an idea?

I love your attitude and perspective,

Nedi
NEDIsings.com.

And here’s what I wrote back:

Hi Nedi –

Hooray! Hooray for you! Great work jumping into your original music – fuzzy teeth and all 🙂 Feels so good, doesn’t it?

I can think of a number of suggestions for you –

1) Just stick with working on your original music every day for a month or two until you reach a natural stopping point, then transition to another “daily” project.

2) Make a few lists of a bunch of different 15-minute tasks for each of your projects and each morning just pick one task that feels good (it’s crazy how much progress you can make with this technique).

3) Assign each project a day: Monday for original music, Tuesday for taxes, Wednesday can be a “free choice” day, then Thursday for music for hire, etc.

Experiment until you find a system that really works for you – remember, there’s no right way to succeed, there’s just YOUR way. You’ve got some great momentum going, so stick with it, OK? And don’t forget to reward yourself for doing such good work.

And please let me know how it goes.

Yours,
Sam.

The Get It Done Teleclass
(it’s like a big weekly conference call and it’s recorded so you can listen anytime) starts this Thursday, Jan. 27th and if you want to:

– finish your project
– use your deep creativity
– share and get support from a like-minded community and ME!

Then go here to learn more about The Get It Done Teleclass
: www.GetItDoneTeleclass.com/winter

By the way — The free Procrastination Is Genius In Disguise call was so much fun for me and the demand for this material has been so great that I’m offering it AGAIN on Wed. 1/26 at 9:45am (PT). You can register for the free call here: www.GetItDoneTeleclass.com – Tell your friends!

P.S. The Get It Done Teleclass comes with a money-back guarantee: if you don’t love it, I’ll cheerfully give you 100% of your money back, no questions asked. So if you’re thinking about it, go ahead and DO it! You know I’d love to work with you. Learn more here: www.GetItDoneTeleclass.com/winter xoxoxo SSB.

You’re Just Spending Your Time On Something Else

You do have time to work on your projects. You’re just spending it on something else.

Which is fine.

Be aware that you are making the choice and be clear about your decision. No one is victimizing you. No one else is in charge of your time.

“But I have a boss! And kids! And a spouse!” I know. Me, too. And there’s the animals and the paperwork and the garden and the basement and the church and the family and the car repair and the dinner party and the charity event and the choir concert and the business to run. And that’s just this weekend.

But still – there are snatches of time that are your own. You can wake up 15 minutes earlier. You can ask someone else in the house to prepare supper so you might work for 15 minutes. You can turn off the TV for one sitcom. Even grabbing five-minute increments at work is better than nothing.

I know it’s not easy to ask other people to change their routine to accommodate your need to be an artist. But it is worth the discomfort.

And if you feel that you truly can’t, then you can’t, so quit giving yourself such a hard time about it.

Admit to yourself with a full and humble heart that now is not a good time for you to be working on your project. Mentally set your project in a file folder labeled, “Next Summer” or “After the First of the Year” or whatever and seal it with a kiss.

You are doing an excellent job of living your life. No one could possibly do a better job.

Be proud of your decisions.