I spent about ten minutes staring at a blank document before writing this.
That’s unusual. Normally I find writing these emails easy. I get an idea, hammer it out and then fire it off.
My writing process is so smooth I wrote a book about how to write faster – and I wrote that in a single day.
Today, though, my brain has lurched between three different states.
Chilling out,
Design,
And writing.
So when I sat down to write this, I couldn’t get my brain into the right gear. First I couldn’t think of an idea for today’s email, then I couldn’t write it.
That is, until I could.
Sometimes you’re at the mercy of the whims of your brain. You might be slow and sluggish because you’re tired. It might be hard to focus because you have too many distractions.
Often, the wise thing is to work with your brain, not against it.
If you’re tired, rest.
Oh, if only it were always so easy…
Because sometimes, yes, you need to change gears.
You need to make yourself focus because that’s the only way you’ll get things done.
You need to shape your own mind, not just go with its flows.
When that’s the case, having the right tool for shaping your thinking helps: