A Simple Trick to Get Your Project Back on Track

Get it out of your head by putting it in physical space.

Print it off.
Map it.
Draw a picture.
Do some automatic writing.
Lay it all out.

Take a step back. Ponder the patterns.

Do anything but sit and anxiously let it bounce around in your skull.

When we’re working on something, we load key information into our working memory and call on it as needed, but when a project starts to feel too large, overwhelming, exhausting, rage-inducing, etc. it’s because either our working memory is being taxed from the stress or we’re just trying to load in too much at the same time. Our focus starts to distort. We grasp for whatever details or ideas come along and end up with a shaky, inadequate picture that speaks volumes about everything it’s failing to say. If you try to force things ahead at that point, you inevitably end up with work that is less-than satisfying. Often it just has to be thrown out and redone.

By experiencing your work as something outside yourself, you start to be able to see the relationships between its parts again. You can see the forest through the trees. You’re able to organize it – a word with its roots in music. Once you can do that, your project can once again sing, as it was meant to.