Overwhelmed? Read This.

There will be times when everything you write sucks. There will be times when you won’t have any ideas. There will be times when you really won’t want to do whatever it is you have been assigned to do. When those moments come along I want you to remember this:

Work works.

Just sit down, start your timer, and do your best. The words will come. They always come. The ideas will present themselves. You will sift through the grainy bottom of a river of self doubt and find the glittering gold buried inside. You will shift through a river of shit and find the glittering gold buried inside. And it will be fun. And people will think you’re some kind of genius.

sometimes I just make work goals w my creative writing. like, take this crap sorry I wrote and work on it one hour this week. twenty minutes at a time or whatever. cut parts out, add stuff in, play around and figure what it’s all about. something always happens. there’s a little bit of gold in there.

so how do you work? what is the work of making something from nothing? here’s the first step: gather information. squirrel it away, stuffing your chipmunk cheeks, some other rodent thing. focus on what you know. sweep the mess into piles and let form reveal itself. it’s in there, the glittering gold your sifting for at the river bank. it reveals itself. it just requires some attention.

the writing is getting a huge shovel full of river bed and dumping it onto your sifter. editing is the finding gold part.

when in doubt, KEEP WORKING. When I was writing this site, many times it went easy. but other times, i’d have trouble determining how to include something in the table of contents, if doubt myself, i’d say why am I doing this—no one’s going to use it. no one cares. etc. but now it lives and that feels good. you can have that satisfaction, too. i’m too old, I should have done this when I was 15. I have too much coming up, this is a waste of time. there are real problems in the world, I should apply myself to those. but you know what? fuck all that. grind through and finish the project.

What to Do When Overwhelmed#

I work for 3, 4, maybe 5 power sessions in a row. After that, I’m usually toast.

Exercise (for your mind and body).

CLEAN YOUR DESK.

When you start to feel overwhelmed and lost, finish your power session and then walk the fuck away. also the clean desk. This helps a lot. And clear your desktop and close tabs. This is the creative mind stuff. I think it has to be clear. Silence. Do something mindless like that.

It helps if you can take breaks before editing.

“when nothing works, work works.”

i’ve since shortened it to work works and make it your motto for overcoming fear.

it means that if you sit your ass down and take it one step at a time (those steps revealed here in a moment) focus on your task (more on that later) the words will come. the ideas will present themselves. you will sift through the grainy river bottom a river of self doubt shit and find the filtering gold buried inside. and it will be fun. and people will think you’re some kind of genius.

sometimes I just make work goals w my creative writing. like, take this crap sorry I wrote and work on it one hour this week. twenty minutes at a time or whatever. cut parts out, add stuff in, play around and figure what it’s all about. something always happens. there’s a little bit of gold in there.

so how do you work? what is the work of making something from nothing? here’s the first step: gather information. squirrel it away, stuffing your chipmunk cheeks, some other rodent thing. focus on what you know. sweep the mess into piles and let form reveal itself. it’s in there, the glittering gold your sifting for at the river bank. it reveals itself. it just requires some attention.

the writing is getting a huge shovel full of river bed and dumping it onto your sifter. editing is the finding gold part.

when in doubt, KEEP WORKING. When I was writing this site, many times it went easy. but other times, i’d have trouble determining how to include something in the table of contents, if doubt myself, i’d say why am I doing this—no one’s going to use it. no one cares. etc. but now it lives and that feels good. you can have that satisfaction, too. i’m too old, I should have done this when I was 15. I have too much coming up, this is a waste of time. there are real problems in the world, I should apply myself to those. but you know what? fuck all that. grind through and finish the project.