Maintaining a gentle sense of momentum

I’m making chicken stock. I love having the stock pot gently simmering on the stove. Once I’ve popped in all the ingredients there is nothing much to do apart from occasionally stirring it, or perhaps adding a splash more water. When the stock is finished I’m going to put it in the fridge and return to it tomorrow to make some soup.

Keeping something simmering

I’m trying to approach my work in a similar way at the moment by keeping something gently simmering, having something bubbling away quietly in the corner of my brain.

My more usual pattern of working is to work at something (albeit in short bursts of activity) with my mind always on the finish line. I generally write to get something finished, using the energy I have whenever I can, to reach that finish line. It’s the same with drawing. Whilst I do love the process of drawing I usually have my mind of the finished piece, not the work in progress.

Being focused on the finish line is good, but…

This working pattern has served me well. I get stuff done. I’m focused and proud of how I can concentrate what energy I have on the finished product. I keep my projects ticking over. Because I’m focused I also have plenty of time for rest (and drinking tea).

Glimpsing a gentler possibility

Recently though, I’ve been having glimpses of the possibility of doing things differently.

Keeping the focus of course, but also taking my eyes of the finish line. Letting myself just enjoy the process and letting the finished products just be a bonus. This is more of a shift of emphasis than really doing things very differently (and doesn’t involve trying to do more work), but it is a shift in emphasis that is helping to make life feel a little more pleasant.

An experiment

So, I’m trying an experiment. I’m working on a couple of things at a time making sure I have at least one simmering on the back burner while I work on the other. When one thing is finished I start another so I always have two things on the go.

If you’d like to join me in my experiment then here’s how:

1. Start one small project today but leave it unfinished. For me this might be a drawing or a short blog post.

2. Start another project and leave that unfinished (now you have two small projects simmering).

3. Now go back to the first project and finish it (this could be tomorrow, in a couple of days, next week, or whenever fits in with your work patterns).

4. Remember to celebrate finishing your work!

5. Now, start another small project (now you have two projects simmering again).

6. In your next working session go back to the second project and finish it.

7. Repeat the process so that you keep a gentle routine of starting, simmering and finishing projects.

Possible adaptions

I generally like to keep my projects very small, things I can usually finish in a day if I can, so this shift to splitting two small projects over two days works well for me.

If your projects are larger then just split them into manageable steps and work on these steps in a similar way (start a step but don’t finish it, start a different step, go back to the first step and finish it, start another, and so on).

Alternatively you could also increase the time you spend working on an individual projects if they don’t break down well to a small step. Simply go back and forth between the two projects over a number of sessions. Just make sure that once one is finished you start another so that you have two projects simmering away all the time.

Let me know how you get on.