Getting out of the work (or non-work) rut
Oh, hi friends!!
How do we prevent ourselves from falling into a work rut?
It’s easy to ask “why.”
Why do we write pages that can’t be performed?
Why do we search for jobs that don’t want to be found?
Why do we network when everyone is struggling?
But maybe the question is actually, Why do we keep doing the same things, the things that have always been done?
Maybe that’s the cause of the rut: not allowing ourselves to simply blow it up.
Here are three ways I’m trying to innovate/tweak/work on my projects (and life?) right now.
Start from the end.
Think about the culmination of the project itself — what do you want to have created? Who do you want to connect with? What’s your intention? Finding that helps you re-approach your beginning.
Work shorter or longer.
But never the same. For example, I know how many pages I can write in a half hour. But what if I only gave myself 15 minutes? Or three hours? Instead of job searching for three hours today, what if instead you took one hour to contact 15 people you already know from previous jobs? Something new, different, unexpected, and hopefully weird will come from constraints.
Scare your deadline.
Don’t let it scare you. I have three deadlines next week (presenting a Maisel song over Zoom, submitting another new musical idea, and a 15-minute play competition). Every day that passes, I think, ‘Oh no. I’m running out of time.’ FORGET THAT. What if I was so ready these deadlines ran away from me? Run toward the deadline. Scare the pants off it.
Blow it all up. See what happens. You can always go back to the normal way tomorrow.
Do Your Kids (or You!) Need an Audio Escape?
I highly recommend this book, The Flying Flamingo Sisters, written by my friend Carrie Seim. It’s got the bona fides (the New York Times said it was one of the best audiobooks for road trips for kids!) and most importantly, it's got a lot of wit and heart.
Styled like a 1930s radio drama, it’s about three Flamingo Sisters who join a flying circus and become a sensation. Adventure! Comedy! Sound effects! And it’s based on her grandfather’s real-life flying circus in the 1930s, plus Carrie even voices a character herself. (She can do it all — once upon a time, we climbed the Great Wall of China together!)
The Flying Flamingo Sisters is a featured title on Audible this May, which means its free for Audible members — or you can also join for a 30-day free trial and give it a listen! Enjoy your time in the sky.
PS — If you'd like some low-pressure accountability in the morning, please join me and my brother Eric for the 10:11 Club — every weekday at 10:11am ET, we're starting our day together and working toward one goal until noon. Join us anytime with #1011club on Instagram or hit reply and share what you'll be working on!
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Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara