What a week this has been! As I finish up the remaining two chapters last book of the young adult series on American Indians that I’ve worked on for the last year and a half, my mind has been spinning about my next projects. A few days ago I started cleaning my office, tossing out papers and old magazines I no longer needed, all the while daydreaming about writing a serious book of essays or a novel or doing some travel writing. Maybe I could do all three. After all, I’ve always been a multi-tasker.
I began working on the accounting for the photos for the book that I needed to send to my publisher. While I was doing that, I thought about revising the last YA book and entertained fantasies about the places I want to travel. I surfed the web and ordered tourist brochures. A writing residency sounded like a good idea, too, so when I finished the accounts, I started working on applications. As I searched for a critical clip of an article I’d done, I envisioned myself the magazine into the trash several days before. So much for undisciplined multi-tasking.
After some deep breathing, I found my clip filed in the wrong folder.
Times like these are always a sign that I’m venturing into creative overload. Whether I misplace something or forget to return an important call, the scattered panic of overwhem signals me to drop everything and focus my attention in the moment. If I don’t, I continue to make mistakes, and eventually I become so overwhelmed, I shut down and don’t accomplish anything for days and weeks at a time.
Writing demands that writers have the willingness to open themselves to an abundance of ideas in the hope that they can nurture a handful of them into viable writing projects. That nurturing process forces writers to wear many hats – we’re writers, marketers, promoters, and even accountants. These roles are varied and each one of them requires focus.
If you are a multi-tasker and find yourself overwhelmed by too many good ideas or projects, try the following:
Slow down. Even though your ideas may be wonderful, there’s no law that says you need to finish them by tomorrow. You are only human.
Set reasonable goals. Pick a maximum of two or three of the most important projects to concentrate on each day.
Write it down and focus elsewhere. Make notes on the projects that call to you, but that you can’t get to right away, then close your notebook and focus on the tasks at hand.
Build serendipity into your schedule. Alternate tasks that require a high level of concentration and discipline with time to daydream, window shop or take a field trip.
Establish separate work centers for different projects. When you are in one space, focus on the task at hand. When you want to change focus, move to another area of your office or house.
Organize your resource materials and tools. Keep information related to one project or idea contained in its own box or file folder. (I love clear plastic tubs with lids. They hold file folders, art supplies, and even tax receipts.)
Schedule your time. Effective multi-taskers don’t really do three or four things at the same instant. They learn to shift back and forth between projects and focus on what they are doing in the here and now. Instead of trying to read a book, write an article, and plot your novel all at once, try devoting separate chunks of time for each thing that you are doing.
Write about a time you felt overwhelmed by too much of a good thing. What was it that overwhelmed you? What did the experience feel like? How did or didn’t you cope? Depending on how we were raised, many of us play old tapes about too much of a good thing. Write about how your childhood beliefs about abundance and work affect your writing life today.