False starts
How many false starts are we allowed before we are out of the race?
Good news. It’s not a race.
Yet we often treat work, and life, like a race. Worse still, we then disqualify ourselves when we have a false start.
Take writing this blog post as an example.
Some weeks I can sit down and punch out 1000 words without looking up. The ideas are flowing and I know exactly what I want to say. Within an hour, I can write a draft, give it a first round edit and send it off to my blogger’s group for some feedback.
Then there are times, like this week, when I am not sure what I want to write. I sit down to write and there’s nothing. Having been there before, staring at the blank screen, I turn to my sources of inspiration. I keep a log of idea starters — stories, quotes, research findings and topics that I can use to spark a post. I pick one, open up my new draft and start typing. About 3 sentences in, I stop. Look up at the screen. Read, and re-read, the 3 sentences. The ideas aren’t flowing. I ask myself some questions: where could I go with this idea? who is this post for? what is this post for? how can I reframe the title/idea/opening sentences to spark a different angle on the same topic? I delete or change the opening. I start typing but, again, I stop a few sentences in.
