Looking at a blank page, trying to figure out what to write on it has to be one of the most frustrating experiences in the world. When I can do anything at all, the most likely result is doing nothing. A dozen possibilities stream through my head, and none of them makes it onto the page. Trying to pick the best, I'm paralyzed and close the notebook.
Start Arbitrarily
I take a sip of my cappuccino, reopen the notebook, and write down a topic at random. A few words, a line or two... the pen picks up speed, and I'm off.
For many creative tasks, trying to optimize too much up front is not just doing more work than needed, it's actually inhibitory. Instead of trying to come up with the perfect idea ahead of time, I remind myself to just get started and get the thoughts moving. Don't worry about the quality of the writing; that comes later. Just go!
There's an activation energy to any activity, even one I enjoy. No matter how excited I am about writing, until the pen hits the paper there's still resistance. Once I've started, keeping going takes much less energy, and usually before long the ideas start pouring out.
Edit Relentlessly
Once I've got a lot of things written, now it's time to worry about quality. I try to not be afraid to change around something I've written, rewrite it completely, or even throw it away. As I work on something, I get more and more comfortable with it as I go. This is actually one of the reasons starting is hard: when I'm deciding what to write, I usually don't feel very confident about any of my possible subjects. By the time I've thrown away my first draft, I'm halfway to feeling like an expert.
This method for creative work is actually one of the core insights behind a programming methodology known as Agile Development. By planning less and focusing instead on making it easy to continually revise and iterate code, Agile developers not only end writing software faster but the result is often higher quality.
So the next time you've got a project where you don't know where to begin, try flipping a coin, or otherwise starting arbitrarily. Let me know how it goes!
Liked this? Looking for more like this? You might like
Or subscribe by RSS using the links on the right.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
On Taking Notes
After reading Pragmatic Thinking and Learning, I've recently started keeping a notebook with me at all times, and writing down any interesting thoughts I have.
The underlying idea is that our mental processes have two distinct modes, one that is immediate and controllable, but limited and logical, and another that is asynchronous and unpredictable but extremely creative and good at nonlinear problem-solving and pattern recognition. Often these are referred to as left-brain and right-brain, though Pragmatic Thinking and Learning refers to them as L-mode (linear mode) and R-mode (rich mode). One of the biggest problems with R-mode though, is that the insights it generates can come at any time, and if you don't write them down you won't remember them, or be able to aggregate them.
At first, writing down interesting thoughts seemed like a bit of a stretch. I wasn't sure what qualified as 'interesting enough', and was a little hesitant to write things down. Once I got started, things started to improve.
First, writing a few things down about a thought seems to lead naturally into more details about that thought and more things to write about. I sort of knew this might happen; lots of activities have an activation energy where once you get started, they go a lot more smoothly.
The next effect was a complete surprise to me, though looking back, it was mentioned in the book. Once I started writing down the thoughts that the R-mode part of my brain was giving me, it started giving them to me a lot more! Its as if something has said, 'You're interested? Here you go!'. Thoughts about stuff for work, thoughts about philosophy, thoughts about thinking. They're all coming up more and more, and as patterns develop I learn both about myself and the world.
I had been feeling as though my general life learning curve had dropped off somewhat... but taking notes seems to have gotten me back in gear.
The underlying idea is that our mental processes have two distinct modes, one that is immediate and controllable, but limited and logical, and another that is asynchronous and unpredictable but extremely creative and good at nonlinear problem-solving and pattern recognition. Often these are referred to as left-brain and right-brain, though Pragmatic Thinking and Learning refers to them as L-mode (linear mode) and R-mode (rich mode). One of the biggest problems with R-mode though, is that the insights it generates can come at any time, and if you don't write them down you won't remember them, or be able to aggregate them.
At first, writing down interesting thoughts seemed like a bit of a stretch. I wasn't sure what qualified as 'interesting enough', and was a little hesitant to write things down. Once I got started, things started to improve.
First, writing a few things down about a thought seems to lead naturally into more details about that thought and more things to write about. I sort of knew this might happen; lots of activities have an activation energy where once you get started, they go a lot more smoothly.
The next effect was a complete surprise to me, though looking back, it was mentioned in the book. Once I started writing down the thoughts that the R-mode part of my brain was giving me, it started giving them to me a lot more! Its as if something has said, 'You're interested? Here you go!'. Thoughts about stuff for work, thoughts about philosophy, thoughts about thinking. They're all coming up more and more, and as patterns develop I learn both about myself and the world.
I had been feeling as though my general life learning curve had dropped off somewhat... but taking notes seems to have gotten me back in gear.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
