I’ve been overthinking the way I overthink
That’s a lot of thinking
Let me rewind to the start of the year. Projects were flowing and my normally quiet work months had glimmers of hope. Yet something was lurking. It wasn’t burnout nor was it creative block. It was once friend and newly morphed foe. Something that once helped me develop, dive and remain curious has become a little overbearing. Overthinking.
The correlation between overthinking and achieving
noun
plural noun: achievements
a thing done successfully with effort, skill, or courage.
It fascinates me that we often define achievements through some form of quantification. Yet the literal definition doesn’t so much even mention metrics.
I can’t remember a time in my life where I didn’t use some sort of numerical value to measure my “success”. A run isn’t a “good run” unless I hit a certain pace time. The social post was worthless unless it got X amount of views. The A in an exam was meaningless unless I knew my marks were above 90%.
Whilst I think quantifying can help us attain our goals, in a creative career this is a slippery slope to never feeling fulfilled, purposeful or successful which, even though some will deny, are states we all want to find ourselves in at some point or another.
Until talking this topic out, I didn’t realise that overthinking and overanalysing metrics have been clouding this sense of accomplishment. Not only was I overthinking any past achievement but also overthinking my way out of reaching the next.
I think I’m overthinking overthinking
In an attempt to understand when and where overthinking has been tripping me up, I had to unravel the gobbledygook I’d built in my noggin.
To cut what could become a tangent into hopefully something for you to ponder or feel reassured by, I arrived at the following. Creative careers are in many ways like Sisyphean task. We can roll and roll that boulder up the hill but every time we have it “figured out”, down we go. Whilst at times it feels somewhat exhausting or you wonder how others roll their boulder at ease and speed, it’s a really beautiful task if you allow it to be. It’s such a fortunate position to work in a creative industry. We don’t have to but get to learn every day. Every day will differ. Our imagination, whether it’s at the gobbledygook stage or the pristine final stage, could have the ability to inspire, encourage and uplift…if we focus on the process and (over)think sufficiently.
Too little. Too much. Just right!
Much like Goldilocks and the Three Bears there’s a sweet spot to overthinking in creativity. Too little and you run the risk of producing mediocre work. Too much and you may fall into decision paralysis (speaking from experience). Just right and you go into enough depth to keep you engaged.
As for feeling a sense of accomplishment, it’s similar. Too small a goal and we become complacent. Too big and overwhelm might inhibit you. Just right and… well you get the idea. With this in mind I asked myself where I want to go and how am I going to get there. In and amongst bigger goals that I’m trying to reach, I’ve also been setting a variety of creative projects that are more in my control and attainable with consistency. I’m hoping this encourages me to focus on process over metrics. I plan on sharing BTS in upcoming posts, including new methods to produce products and large painting concepts that I’ve mulled over for too long.
They wanna see you rolling
Whilst I might not have the answer to your (or my own) burning questions like how to bag your biggest client or how to reach a gazillion followers, I can leave you with this…
Keep rolling, keep pushing at a pace you can manage, that you can sustain, that you feel simultaneously challenged and fulfilled by, because I can guarantee you’ll reach the peak, but you won’t stay up there forever. It often seems like people are most interested in the peak of the mountain but people relate to the work, the consistency and the roll. If like me you’re driven by unreliable metrics, at most measure every step forward rather than the peaks altitude. Each roll, each push, each step accumulate to more knowledge and resilience over time. So keep rolling.
Until next time lovely souls, sending much love
