Sequential creating

They all went marching one by one, hurrah... hurrah!

A little while ago, as is usually the case, a conversation in my Insta DMs sparked a whole new line of thinking about creative living. It was unexpected and likely on the tail of a story I posted about living so nomadically this past year.

The wonderfully talented Noelle and I were waxing poetic about how lovely Melbourne’s bay is when she shared something quite profound with me, virtually off the cuff.

This is when sequential living entered the chat.

I was telling Noelle that one of the things I’ve struggled to reconcile as an adult is my multi-passionate tendency to try and do ALL the things at once. I want to live everywhere, collaborate with everyone and do every thing, ideally at the same time! Sound familiar?

Sequential living is the idea of doing things in a sequence based on your energy levels. It’s using your energy to help you decide what is the main priority, for everything from where you live to who you hang out with.

As an example, if I want to live in both New York and Bali, perhaps it’s more about what season of my life I’m in now… and less about moving for the sake of moving (or trying to live in both places simultaneously). So for where I’m at, maybe New York makes more sense considering I have lots of energy, whereas Bali is waaay more relaxed, so perhaps that comes after the energy of a city.

Naturally this got my brain cogs turning – and I couldn’t help but apply the same principle to creativity.

What if there was a way to create sequentially?

Of course there is and no, it’s not a new thing, but I feel like there’s something here worth pulling apart.

Instead of working on multiple projects all at once – which can be beneficial to give each one time to incubate while you work on the others – what if you only worked on one thing until it was done?

BUT (and it’s a big but) how you choose what to work on is a result of putting your energy levels front and centre. If you know that you’ve got a lot of commitments coming up, then you choose to work on a creation that’s less demanding on your time, energy and brain.

Equally, if life is a little more spacious, go for the jugular. Grab hold of the meatiest project you’ve wanted to do and dig in. Get unhinged, weird and voracious about it until people start to question your sanity!

Let your energy guide you, not what other people are working on

This is what it boils down to: don’t let the world, other people or even your own past plans tell you what to work on. Only present you gets to make that choice.

And who knows, maybe you’ll actually get shit done this time.

Creatively yours,

Dr Maz xoxo

PS: I’ve got a handful of my journal prompt card decks left, The Expression Deck. Once they’re gone, that’s it for this deck. I adore this deck so much and use it just about every day for my own journaling practice, but it’s time to make room for new creations. So grab yours before it’s too late!