Empty Space Blog

Have you ever had a really good idea for something but talked yourself out of it, or let yourself get talked out of it?  Maybe it was an idea for a screenplay, a business idea, a painting, or inventing a new type of career or artistic medium.  

Maybe somebody else helped convince you why you shouldn’t do it, maybe you did it yourself.  Either way, you had to bargain yourself out of it.  

The One That Got Away

Here is a true story.  No kidding.  When I was 27 and working in the nonprofit sector in San Francisco, I had what seemed to me at the time to be a bold and ‘out-there’ idea: start a citywide video store that would allow customers to order videos over the Internet and then be able to pick these videos up locally or have them delivered. 

I told somebody I knew about my idea a week or two afterwards— somebody I knew who was in business school.  But I picked the wrong person: he wasn’t somebody who was particularly supportive of ideas of mine that involved unconventional thinking.  He told me the many reasons why he didn’t think this idea would work.  I listened to him and let myself be convinced by his point of view.  So, I dropped it and never pursued it further, even though I always suspected an online video rental business that delivered to people’s homes or local video stores might very well still work. 

Years later, I heard about Netflix in the U.S. and zip.ca in Canada.  I had a mix of feelings: pride for being right years before, but also anger– anger at my friend for dissuading me, yes, but most of all, anger at myself for letting myself be dissuaded from pursuing it and for not having the self-confidence and self-conviction to explore the idea any further.

So, what lesson did I take out of this story? 

I let myself get talked out of– or talked myself out of– following my dreams, because I failed to practice the courage of conviction to follow through on my ideas and see them through to the end.

Time to Work on Ideas
But now imagine another scenario: I have two story ideas that I have decided to work on (since– in case you have forgotten, gentle reader– I write fiction).  

One of them is very well planned and all that remains for me to do is to tell this story within the framework and rules that I have set for it.  The other story is an almost completely opposite process: based on an image I saw, I just started writing and improvising, letting the story develop spontaneously and organically.  I get the sense that it threatens to be ‘big,’ if I see it all the way through.  

When I sit down to write, I usually progress on one of these two stories, 90% of the time.  There’s just one problem.  

I rarely can find the time to sit down and write them.  

That’s not because I don’t believe in myself or my ideas.  And it’s not because of lacking a plan to do so, or a lack of motivation or will.  I dearly wish to write these stories– I’m so close to being done with one of them, I can almost taste it–  in fact, I do fully intend to write them.  I have even figured out how much time I need to set aside to write them.  

But it never really pans out.  

Sure, I have a lot of things on my plate: I just moved and am setting up my new house; I have a new job and have to do reading for it; I have coaching clients; I want to spend quality time with my wife; and I want to take care of myself.  But there is not much that would make me feel happier than finishing these two stories and not a lot of things that seem more important to me, in the grand scheme of things (besides hanging out with my wife).  

And yet, I rarely have time to spend on them– even though few other things in my life seem as important to me.  What is the reason, then?

Organization
It’s that I can’t quite seem to get organized enough to make my writing happen on a consistent basis.  

Let me clarify: while I am still operating at a relatively high level of functioning, overall, I am constantly trying to make sure that things don’t fall though the cracks (usually- but not always- successfully).  That takes considerable brain power and effort on my part.  After all, my work and personal responsibilities are important and unavoidable priorities.  

But I have a distinct sense that if I was just a little better organized, if I had a few better systems for tackling all of the obligations in my week, I’d be more productive in my work and in my life– and, as a result, I would have more time and space to become a more productive writer. 

[Re]frame
This has led me to reconsider accessing a resource that’s been under my nose  for several months: the [Re]frame Productivity System.

[Re]frame was developed by my extraordinary wife, Heather Jassy, and her collaborator, Jody Carter.  Heather is a counselor and personal coach while Jody is a professional organizer.  Together, they have pooled their considerable experience and expertise into creating a system that is geared toward artists, writers, musicians, designers, and other creative types (however they define themselves).  

I have witnessed first-hand how [Re]frame has benefitted the the many creative people who have followed it.  However, I never thought that I would need it, myself— after all, I’m a personal coach!— until now.  

For not only does [Re]frame help creative types get their desk and email under control, for example, so that they have some semblance of organization by its end, it also helps them figure out how to use the extra time they now have toward integrating the practice of their creativity in their daily life.

That is exactly the sort of thing, I admit, I am going to need in order to get those two stories written and finished.

[Re]frame is delivered by email in bite-size, one-day chunks over about a month.  That, too, works perfectly for me, since I don’t have hours and hours to devote to it every day.  

Can you visualize what I now can visualize?  What if you did have the organizational tools and sense of purpose you needed to finally complete that project or start living life the way you want it, on your terms?

[Re]frame can do that for you.  

Although [Re]frame can’t force you to believe in your ideas and follow your dreams, it cangive you the organization and productivity, and the time and space to make them real.