I hate the feeling that comes over me when it feels like someone cares more about my “stuff” than I do.
The reality is, it is usually not true, but often the pace we run creates opportunity for our attention to get thin.
When we have thin attention we are forced to count on the status quo…which is never a good idea. As artists and creative people our job should be to war with the status quo not to make it our co-worker. However, at times, we allow this to happen and it is usually when our “to do” list has over taken our “to create” list and the dreaded thinning of our attention has gotten to code red levels.
Here are 12 ways to prevent thinning?
- Seek Wisdom & Insight- Pray for it, ask questions, quiz people, study…while we feel we may not have the time to do this, if we don’t we wont be able to create.
- Don’t make promises for someone else – Only make promises based on what you can control. One of the most powerful ways to thin our attention is to have to cover promises we made for others. Managing expectations is vital because it forces honest conversations.
- Delegate – Bottlenecks thin attention quickly. Diversity enhances creativity.
- Pick The Team – Surround yourself with high capacity people who carry the vision. When we see vision link address it immediately.
- Remain Skeptical – Being skeptical, without being negative, is a trait that forces us into reality while living in a creative world.
- Fight for what matters. – And let the stuff that does not matter go. Its not worth it.
- Control What You Can Control – When we worry about stuff that is outside of our control it only breeds frustation.
- Find a system that works, then use it – Systems can help us carry the heavy lifting.
- Embrace failing. The feeling of failure sucks, but if we fail by being audacious it is worth failing to get things right.
- Always be looking for a new or better way. Fall in love with the message not the method.
- Protect your team but be honest with them even if it hurts.
