For a long time, I had a problem that, from the outside, could almost look like a strength: I have a lot of ideas.

One idea leads to another. One project opens up a possibility. That possibility reveals three more.

So the problem was never figuring out what to do.

It was figuring out what not to do right now.

When Every Idea Becomes a Project

The pattern is fairly simple. I have an interesting idea, so I start developing it.

While working on it, I discover a second one that seems equally worth exploring. Then a third. I start several things because they all seem interesting, and I don’t want to lose any of them.

Before long, I end up with a lot of work in progress and very little finished.

And then something strange happens: I’ve done a huge amount of work, yet I feel as though I’m getting nowhere.

Eventually, that feeling turns into fatigue, then discouragement. It isn’t necessarily a matter of motivation or discipline. Sometimes, there are simply too many doors open at once.

An Idea Is Not a Task

This is probably one of the most useful distinctions I’ve learned over the past few months.

I can write down an idea without immediately starting to work on it. It doesn’t need to be developed straight away in order to keep existing.

It can wait for weeks or even months. By the time I come back to it, it may have changed. My experience may have changed. Another idea may have added something to it. It may even have become irrelevant.

And that’s fine.

An idea I decide not to pursue isn’t necessarily wasted work, because it never needed to become work in the first place.

Starting with What I Actually Need

These days, I try to start with what I genuinely need.

What project am I working on? What do I need to finish? What deliverable do I need in order to move forward?

From there, I can look through all the ideas I’ve accumulated and pick out the ones that are actually relevant. This approach doesn’t make me less creative. It simply gives my creativity a framework.

The ideas keep coming.

The difference is that I no longer automatically give each one a place in my schedule.

Finishing So I Can Move Forward

For a long time, I associated creativity with multiplying possibilities.

I’m now learning that creativity also means closing some of them.

Not forever.

Just for today.

Finishing something frees up the mental space taken up by all those unresolved decisions. And when I move on to the next project, I’m no longer dragging a trail of unfinished work behind me, silently waiting for me to come back.

I can still explore. I can still change my mind. I can still keep a hundred and fifty thousand ideas somewhere. But they don’t all need to exist at the same time. And sometimes, moving forward doesn’t require a new idea.

It simply means finishing the one that’s already in front of me.

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