Writing a novel or painting a landscape requires discipline. Or at least resilience.
These are long-term projects, requiring daily work for years.
Sometimes, that is. I’ve written the equivalent of a novel – hundreds of thousands of words on the one topic – in less time and with less effort.
That wasn’t hard for me. I didn’t even realise I’d written so much until I checked my stats out of curiosity.
Now, I could write a novel. I’ve written plenty of books before – non-fiction, sure, and all the length of novellas. Stick a few of those together and you get a novel’s worth.
Or take all the emails and sales letters I’ve written. So far, in a little over two months, I’ve published about 50,000 words on antipater.page. I wrote every one – zero outsourcing, zero AI, zero borrowing from the public domain. And that doesn’t include the products I’ve published through the site – those are just the words on the publicly accessible pages.
My point is that I create a lot. Creation is like breathing for me.
Which is weird, given how unproductive my brain would be if I let it.
I’m a scatterbrain. Even before global social media addiction made it normal, I like to multiscreen my way through life. I sometimes like to unwind with a video game on one monitor, a TV show on another and my phone nearby.
My desktop is full of projects I started and then abandoned.
What can I say? I grow bored easily, especially with creative projects.
So how have I been able to write so much – easily publishing hundreds of words a day, every day?
Part of it is from leaning into my strengths. Being so scattered can be a superpower. I can get an idea, whip up a draft while the enthusiasm burns hot and be ready for my next project with lightning speed.
Emails are perfect for this – nice and short. But I can do it with longer projects too.
Another part of it is offsetting my weaknesses. Sure, I might struggle to focus on boring tasks for long but – and my fellow scatterbrains can relate – it’s easy to focus for hours on something fun, like a great video game or TV show.
Or just a hike through nature.
That comes from offsetting our weaknesses – compensating for areas of underdevelopment.
Well, one of the creative styles in Every Creative Way is called the Gymnast. They’re fast, agile and flexible – and the style that comes most habitually to me.
That’s how I know how to play to its strengths and grow its weaknesses.
And that’s how I’m able to be so prolific because of – not in spite of – being so easily distracted.
You can learn this too.
And how to leverage the strengths and offset the weaknesses, easier than you think, with your own creative styles.
But only if you read and follow the lessons in Every Creative Way.
Buy it here: