Posted on

Make Cool Things

Have you ever had option paralysis?

Like you’re between projects, or just starting something new – but you have a horrible, awful conundrum.

You have no idea what to do.

There’s all sorts of possible reasons for this.  For example, writer’s block, where you seem to have no ideas.

You also might be putting a load of pressure on yourself because you want someone to think your work is awesome, but there’s no guarantee of that.

So what do you do in this situation?

I find there’s two steps.

  1. Do something cool.
  2. Get started.

“Well shit Adam, that’s radically oversimplifying it – isn’t it?” you say.

Well, no, not exactly.  It’s much easier than you think.

Do something cool

Let’s tackle the two examples from earlier.  First, you might “have no ideas”.

I’d argue, you’re probably too overwhelmed with ideas to the point that you can’t solidly bring just one to mind that you want to execute on.  You’re probably run amok with the possibilities and paralyzed because you don’t know where to start.  There’s no clear path!

There’s a really simple, one sentence explanation to fix this:

Pick one.

“But Adam,” you sigh in exasperation, “I don’t even know how to do that!”

Don’t panic.  I can walk you through how to do this too.

  • Step one: Make a list
    First, make a list of at least 5 ideas that sound fun to you to start creating.  Nothing matters other than the “fun” part – difficulty, external perception, pride – get rid of all of that.  Sit down by yourself with no distractions and don’t quit until you have at least 5 ideas.
  • Step two: Pick one
    This is what it all boils down to, right?  You need to pick one and execute on it.

But what if you’re putting so much pressure on yourself that you’re having a hard time choosing?

We have two options for this – we can either explore why it’s so hard and “fix it”, or follow my favorite solution:

Just pick one.

You’re probably paralyzed because you don’t know what would be the best.  You don’t know what would be the most fun, or too difficult.  You don’t know if one option would get you more recognition than another.

None of those things matter, the only thing that matters is that you start.

Later in the week I’ll be explaining the why behind the importance of doing something cool.  For now, you just need to start.

You’re also in luck, I already wrote a post on exactly how to get started..

So go, you’re done reading this blog – get back to the important things.  Take your first step in creating your awesome next project right now.

Then tell me all about it.


Copyright 2016-2021, NIR LLC, all rights reserved.