Something I’m always grappling with in my creative environment is distraction. There are so many funny things to do and only so much time to do them. So, how do I / you make sure that the projects I select are the best uses of my time?
I have a few ways to test this. One is, I talk to a small corral of creative friends I know and bounce ideas off of them. If they get excited about the idea, that often helps let me know, maybe there is something to this.
Another approach is, I ask myself honestly, can / how can this idea make me money? I know that’s not the end all be all of everything, and honestly, sometimes the answer might be, “It probably can’t, you’ll just have to do it because you want to.” Now that I have kids, I have to be a little more sparing about which ideas I spend my time on, because my free time is so much more limited than it was B.C. (before children.)
My final consideration is, will this project bring me joy? Even if it pays and my friends are excited about it, if it something that is going to frustrate me, move too slowly, end up stressing me out or I’ll have to work with difficult people to accomplish it, I know it’s not going to work for me. It’s taken me a long time to be able to be honest about this with myself.
What are deal breakers for you? How do you know when you have gone off the rails? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Today’s comedy inspo:
New Yorker Cartoonist Bob Eckstein is always so funny and fun. He has a Substack newsletter, too!
Need some joke writing motivation? Check out this daily weekday writer’s prompt from the fantastic satire writer, Janine Annett…
What do you think about my new website?
See you on Monday, buddies.