Idea work
(Pandemic Diary - day 303)
From my journal: 26 December 2020 (Saturday)
I have an incredible abundance of material to work with, probably more than I can ever use.
That is one of the realizations I’m coming to as I continue to develop my system for working with ideas and mining my journals and past work. In fact, I think that if I never had another idea, if nothing new ever came to me, I’d still be alright with what I’ve already got.
But that isn’t how it works. The new ideas, new observations and insights and opinions, they just keep on coming to me, flowing like a river, sometimes nearly drowning me because I can’t keep up with them.
The thing to learn is that I don’t have to hoard my ideas, or treat them as a finite resource, or as part of a zero-sum game. In fact it’s likely just the opposite of that. It’s likely that the more of them I capture and work with, the more of them will come to me.
Idea work begets ideas, creativity can have momentum, and if I’m a conduit for that and I don’t share, then I’m not doing my part or playing my role. I need to get on with things, stop hoarding and start sharing.
That part is still hard for me, though. And the abundance is part of the problem, as I find myself jumping from idea to idea, tearing through old journal entries like a child opening presents on Christmas morning, taking a quick look at what I’ve just opened, then quickly, greedily, moving on to the next gift, and the next.
I’ve got to settle down and have a good look at the presents I’ve already opened, and do something with at least some of them.