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I am overwhelmed with tasks and get flustered going from meeting to meeting

Centering

All Tools
CENTERING@2x

The Context

Unless you massage your ideas into reality, they evaporate. You can brainstorm ideas until you are red in the face. But eventually, the time comes to stop creating and start judging. This is one habit that separates prolific creators from professional researchers. The ability to stop gathering data, think about what has been gathered and figure out how to make it useful, that’s where all the leverage is. It’s the priceless capacity to shift neural gears in a hurry and click into a different zone at a moment’s notice.

The Tool

two color

Centering

CENTERING — Punctuating routine activities with a line of demarcation or microstructure that sets a boundary between peripheral and principle creative work

If you need to transition from conceptual, freestyle brainstorming to more technical, structured outlining, you might try a centering sequence including a deep breathing and positive affirmations. Inhale, say that you feel proud of your work so far; and exhale, say that you trust your judgment of it going forward. Or if you’re more motivated by images and sounds, play your favorite pump up song as if you were a baseball player walking from the on deck circle to home plate in front of forty thousand screaming fans. Frankly, centering is less about what you say or do and more about the fact that you do or say something. You can implement just any subroutine that jives with your unique personality, value system and life situation, as long as it helps you transition from on state into another.

Scott's Take

Scott's Take

The goal of centering is to recite specific language or execute certain behaviors that supports your intention to move in a specific creative direction. Treat the ritual as a full body announcement that you’re entering into a different relationship with your innovative powers. Doing so will help to create the necessary space to find the organizing principle of your idea, which moves the idea from word to flesh, from concept to reality. I do it multiple times a day, and my work is more prolific because of it. What’s more, by taking a few minutes or even just a few seconds to center, it also keeps me from doing impulsive or unproductive things that I regret, things that come from the shadowy parts of my personality.

The Rest

Ultimately, this tool works wonders to center, calm, and motivate you creatively. Particularly when work starts getting overwhelming, your navigate the space between the notes, so to speak, is the gateway to prolificacy. How do you transition from ide mode to execution mode?

The Benefits

Transition between tasks smoothly, calmly and quickly
Create the necessary mental space to access your best ideas
Stay motivated and mindful when you have a busy work schedule
Bring high quality, focused energy to all creative tasks regardless of mood, circumstance of time of day or

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