Who are you?
Do you embrace the mess, dive in, and see where it takes you?
Or are you the exact opposite: setting goals, ticking off the steps along the way, and marching towards progress with a gleam in your eye?
Dividing all people into two camps is a teensy bit of oversimplification (and heavens, lil’ ol’ me would never suggest oversimplifying things) but it’s not much of a stretch to say that most people approach things somewhere on the spectrum between these two styles.
But you’re not doing anything important just this second, right? Let’s have some fun and play the “there are two kinds of people in the world” game!
Which type are you? Are you the Creative Type?
Then let’s wade around a bit in the other pond, the “objective mindset”. Set a goal, lay out the steps and milestones required to get there, and take your first steps.
[The details of goal-setting are beyond the scope of this post, but there are tons of great resources out there if you’re feeling Googley. Get some.]
Are you that other animal, the Objective Type? Do you constantly find yourself setting goals and working towards them? So let’s flip it. Find something that interests you, set yourself a frequency and a time limit, and follow it wherever it goes until something emerges. Some examples:
- Grab some colorful paints and work for 20 minutes a day for a week on that weird-looking water stain on your living room wall
- Open up your laptop and spend an hour every day for a month exploring that strange idea you have for a play
- Sit down with a couple of like-minded friends twice a week for a couple of hours to flesh out that off-the-wall product idea you have
Wherever you normally live, step out of your comfort zone and soak the other side of your brain for awhile. Start small and finish.
Surprise yourself with what you can do.