These are real ideas and many of them are super meaningful to you. Maybe they are posts for your blog, ideas of things to make for your kids, or an activity that you’ve always wanted to try.

So you have a lot of ideas for creative projects. Expressing yourself creatively or working in a creative practice is just one facet of who you are-you’ll find that employing this tactic when the overwhelm builds will get you from stuck to unstuck in a second. (As opposed to tons of overwhelm and stress.) The Strategy Behind Doing the Next Thingīy the way, before we start, this strategy can really be used in any and every area of your life. I’m going to share what doing the next thing looks like by giving you a practical workflow on how to push forward in your creative projects with joy. I know it sounds simple (it is), but it will really help you.

Wait, before you roll your eyes and go back to that other post you were reading, hear me out. My strategy is wrapped up in four little words. Those ideas might help you in the moment but I thought I’d share a strategy that has helped me incredibly in my creative life (especially in the last two years as a new mom.) You ready? So, what’s a creative to do? Ditch the to do list? Get a babysitter for the kids and work on your projects until you feel better? Go on a personal retreat? (That would be a good idea, but let’s stick to the point for now.) Something that should be giving you life and joy, not stressing you out. Except the “work” here is your creativity. It’s the old lying-in-bed-awake-because-you-can’t-stop-thinking-about-work problem. I’m in several Facebook groups for creative and bloggers and one of the things I read most often is, “I have too many ideas” or some sort of manifestation of that statement. It feels like a creative explosion going off in your head and though that can be exciting and fun (Look at all these ideas!), it can quickly turn into overwhelm. It comes disguised in a to do list that never ends, that morphs and stretches and begs you to add extra ideas to it. I’m not sure if you can be diagnosed by a medical doctor if you’re suffering from it, but it’s actually a real problem if you’re a creative person.

Creative todo list