If you are a trusted reader of my website, I'm almost sure you have a similar passion for anything web-related.
Now imagine you have to pick a topic every day to write about. It's not hard, but sometimes you get inspiration overload.
I might be writing a series on Next, but I get so inspired by articles I read during the process that Ind want to write down everything I learn, which distracts from the initial task at hand.
And to be honest, I think it's okay.
Inspiration overload is one of those "nice" things to have. Imagine you had zero inspiration. Now that would be a problem, right?
Dealing with inspiration overload in 5 steps
I'm jotting down this article as a reminder to myself. It's intended to calm me down from my overload and keep focus.
So I've written down these simple steps to deal with my inspiration overload.
- Take a deep breath
- Write down your inspirations *(because you will forget them)
- Take 5 minutes to determine what should have priority
- Do the #1 priority task
- Go offline for some time
This might sound too simple to be true, but for me, it works. It forces me to let go and not overload my brain.
Don't forget step five. This is the key element to the approach. By walking away from things, you give your brain some breathing space.
If you continued to work on the rest of your list, you would most definitely get a burn-out sooner than later.
Disclaimer: This article is the result of having another inspiration overload.
Why writing it down is so important
I can't tell you how often I had a great article idea, but because my brain was doing too much at once. The ideas just disappear.
You have no way of getting that idea back, and no, this doesn't mean it was a shit idea.
It just means your brain decided that other ideas had priority. This often happens when you mix personal ideas during working hours. Since you will force working ideas to be more important.
I always have a notepad open while working, and even when we go hiking, I tend to bring my phone to record quick voice notes to myself.
Not all ideas are amazing anyway
When you come up with these amazing ideas, they sound crazy good, and hey, they might be.
But sometimes, it also helps to step away and reconsider the idea after taking some time off.
You might find the idea already exists, or the implementation has some downsides.
I'll be honest, any current idealist is 107 ideas long, and I would say maybe 10 of those will eventually get an article.
Still, never remove these ideas as they might have a place and time in the future. Or be sparked by another idea you have.
Conclusion
Follow these five simple steps whenever you have ideas. It doesn't matter if you are going through an overload or not. These steps will help you relax and not be stressed out about it.
If you decide to give this approach a try, let me know how you experienced it. And if it changes anything in your way of working.
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