- Anna Maria Junus
The Doer of Dreams: Part 2 - Making a List and Checking it Twice, and Thrice, and Until the End of
Last week I wrote a brilliant post about being a doer of dreams.
Quit laughing, it was too brilliant. I asked my psychic and she said so.
Anyway, the problem often with becoming a doer is that the thought of doing is initially exciting until you actually starting thinking.
And the problem with thinking is that you realize how overwhelming the doing is. All those things you have to do to get to where you want to be is enough to make you curl up on the couch with hot chocolate and I Love Lucy.
Now everyone deserves to spend time with hot chocolate and I Love Lucy, but unless you have some kind of amazing job that involves those two things, it doesn’t get you any closer to the doing of your dream. By the way, if anyone does know of such a job, then could you contact me?
So you have all these things swirling around in your head, all demanding attention right now like a room full of hungry toddlers. No matter which toddler you choose to take care of you feel guilty for neglecting all the other toddlers. This is why most babies come to mothers one at a time. However to the creative soul, ideas breed more ideas, and with those ideas come responsibilities, which is not a word that creative souls have a particular affinity for.
I found the best way to deal with all these tasks is to make a list. A great big list. The longer the better.
Then you take that list and put them into categories.
I’m going to use writing as an example, but this would work for any kind of dream you have. What are the tasks that are involved with your dream?
For instance, as a writer, your list may look something like this:
Write novels.
Write short stories.
Send out work to publishers.
Check out greeting card companies.
Learn about self-publishing.
Do research on 18th century England for next book.
What’s involved with glass blowing? Find out.
Design a book cover.
Look up agents.
Join writer’s group
Okay, so you get the idea. This is just a small example of what you could put in your list. Mine was much, much longer and therefore making me crazier. This is a brainstorm session so there’s no right or wrong here. Just make a list.
I also created six categories. You can certainly come up with your own.
Preparation
Writing
Editing/Publishing
Professional Development
Marketing
Other
Now you take all those tasks on your list and you place them under your categories.
For instance under Preparation you could put – research, create office space, do morning routine.
Under Professional Development you could have things like – go to writer’s group, listen to podcast, read a writing book, go on retreat.
Other could be things that might not be directly related to writing but are conducive to the creative process. It could be going to a place you haven’t been before, reading a book for pleasure, or trying something new.
The purpose of making the list is to get these swirling thoughts that are overwhelming you out of your head and in a place that you can find. You can now put it down. You don’t have to O.D. on chocolate. It’s in a safe place. Next week I’ll tell you what to do with this list and how to make it work for you. Now I think I’ll go watch I Love Lucy and drink hot chocolate.
