Bounce, bounce, bounce. Flash! Crash! Boing, boing, bump.
Does that sound like anything familiar. A bouncy ball? Yep. The kind that light up when you drop them and bounce all over the place.
Anything else? Did someone say your brain? If so, you know the feeling because that’s what my brain has been feeling like for a while. 😛 I just get settled into a nice rhythm and things are going well, and then suddenly
Boing! Flash!
Oh, no, here we go again!
What makes it do that? Usually I find it’s when I’m overloaded. I have more things to do and then add something else or, usually more than one something. Then I start to panic. What do I do first? This, no that! But this other thing won’t take long. But . . . But . . . And the reasoning and pleading for priority go on.
So, what do I do?
Well, after I take a deep breath and buckle my seat belt, I grab a piece of paper. Preferably a full sheet. None of those little lists, thank you very much! Get a pen and then I start writing. I write down every single thing I can think of that I need to do, be it long, short, hard or easy. From hanging up a skirt, to editing my next book. From quoting the the Bible chapter I just memorized to cleaning off my computer desktop. Everything and anything I can think of gets written down. *sighs with relief*
Now, even if my thoughts keep bouncing around in my head, I have them someplace still and manageable. 🙂
Next I pray and analyze. What things can I do quickly (like hanging up a skirt) so I can cross them off? What things do I need to do as soon as possible? What things can wait a few days, really don’t need done because it was just an idea and I don’t have to do it, or can be worked on here and there?
I have to say “No” sometimes. I can’t do everything. I’m not superwoman! 😉
Then it’s time to get busy. But just the simple act of writing everything down and looking it over helps clear my brain. Now I don’t feel quite like that bouncy ball. Though looking at my list, I know it wouldn’t take much to set my brain in a wild bouncing spree again. 🙂
Yes! Lists are so helpful. Sometimes I can get overwhelmed with the enormity of an editing project, so it really helps me to break that project down into steps of what I need to do to accomplish what I need to get done. I find it really puts everything into perspective. I’ll make lists like that for other projects outside of writing, as well.
Thanks for sharing!
-Bekah
Oh, yes, breaking up a large project into smaller, more manageable ones can work wonders for your brain! 😀 And suddenly the project seems actually do-able.
Thanks for coming by, Bekah!