What if you go happen to things?

Rather than staring at the blank page, waiting around for inspiration to grace us with its presence, we tune into our feelings instead.

We reflect on what’s been happening in our lives, and how those events have impacted us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Or, if there hasn’t been much going on from which to draw, then we go out and happen to things. We operate against the pull of inertia and give ourselves permission to get out there and do more rather than less, trusting that action will refill our reservoir.

Because most of us aren’t actually blocked, we’re just empty.

One of my mentors comes to mind, who was giving a presentation about creativity in business. Somebody in the audience asked him, when your company’s sales are in the toilet, what should you do?

His answer was, go for a motorcycle ride.

Tom’s philosophy was, staring harder isn’t going to get the money from their pocket into yours, so you may as well displace yourself, feel the wind in your face and get some perspective.

Even if you’re terrified of motorcycles like me, that’s still good advice. Life is subordinate to work, not the other way around.

When things get overwhelming or despairing, taking a triple shot of espresso and doubling down on our grit isn’t going to help. It might actually hurt. Ignoring the warning signs and plowing through might reward us externally, but it’s also going to hurt us internally.

Harvard published an article including several studies that showed when the going gets tough, having too much perseverance can actually be costly. Creative people can gang their resilience to a fault and waste time and effort, ignore better alternatives, and negatively impact their mental and physical health.

Spicer, the lead researcher and professor of organization behavior, wrote that when you ask yourself whether to stick with a task or goal, or to let it go, weigh the potential to continue learning and developing incrementally against the costs, dangers, and myopia which can come with stubborn perseverance.

Indeed, sometimes you need to power through, but sometimes you just need to go for a motorcycle ride and let life make you happen.

This strategy will feel counterintuitive. And it will be difficult, as any kind of surrender will always feel like dying.

But it’s actually quite the opposite. When you break away and go perpendicular to the task at hand, you’re very much alive.

And that’s precisely the fuel you need to refill the reservoir and get back to work.

Where are you ineffectually staring harder?