Someone posed the question on a writer’s forum today about whether they have got a few too many unfinished projects on the go. She has about eight different things that she is working on at the moment. She likes “ diversity” she says – I am not sure if this is a deadly serious comment or not - but finishing things can soon become a problem, if we let it.
Some people only do one thing at a time (men, I usually find – but that’s a sexist remark which has no place on a piece of writing of mine !)
It’s got to be good to have a variety of things to be thinking about, lots of ideas to work on, lots of things on the go. You can then take a break from one and return to it refreshed and ready to move on with it, That’s the theory anyway, I suppose.
Some people write lists - on a short, medium & long-term basis. Prioritising things. Some may not happen, depending on circumstances; some may get completed before their allocated time. I think the idea is to stop your mind from jumping from one thing to another and to be able to focus more. When I attempt this I find that I spend most of the time thinking that instead of writing this list I could have been doing something more useful – like one of the tasks I have ON the list !
Perhaps the simple answer to the question is that most people have too many tasks to do. But then what is too many for one person is too few for another etc etc.
I am being told that I am doing too much - "thinking" too much. I can't get my head round this one. Sometimes I think it would be nice to not think about anything at all and just "chill" as they say. I have even tried it on many occasions. But what do you do while you are not thinking? Seems a physical (and mental) impossibility to me. Descartes said it about four hundred years ago , and for me his philosophy still stands.
Anyone got an updated version which involves less multi-tasking ?
