I like to be seen as a dude that can keep his poop in a group. My crap is almost always collated. The shit that I have control over? Together.
Organized scatology aside, I’m a pretty organized person. I rarely stress deadlines, or worry about things getting missed. The bills get paid. The important things get done. I remember Valentine’s day.
This can kill my creative output.
Example: While walking for my Sunday morning coffee, I was hit with this fabulous vision for a space opera RPG story arc. Like a good organized lad, I texted the idea to myself for later processing. Later that day, caffeinated and fed, I process my notes, put “Create Space Opera Campaign” on my to-do list, and went about my day. This morning, before heading off to work, I look at my to-do list, see that, and realize I need to move forward. I change the next action to “make plan”. I make a plan, which starts with “brainstorm”.
That’s an entire paragraph of shit that did nothing to move this campaign toward reality. I’m so proud of being this well organized, high output worker bee, that I bury my own creative desires in a bureaucratic decision tree. Sure, it’s an efficient bureaucratic decision tree, but that doesn’t always get the project where it needs to go.
Sometimes, I need to give myself permission to just GO. I need to do an end run around the systems I’ve created and just say, “Here’s a thing I want to make. I’ve got two hours to get as far as I can. Go!” Then I need to shut down the bureaucracy, and let the pencil scrape against paper, fingers punch the keyboard, brush slide across plastic, or whatever. Just force something to get made, and let the poo fly where it will. Then, when the time is up, the bureaucracy can reopen for business, and they can worry about putting what I made into neat piles. They can create the action lists and start the long process of polishing.