You may be fighting a losing battle.

The natural tendency of creative people is to carry the seeds of many ideas at the same time; the trick is keeping all ideas moving forward.

In my book, Secrets from a Creativity Coach, I have a chapter titled “The Care and Feeding of Leapfrogs.”  The chapter is about managing the flow of ideas without controlling the ideas.

Imagine a frog jumping in a race. The frog jumps, then sits, then jumps again in a different direction when it’s ready.

Creative ideas are like jumping frogs. An idea jumps, then sits to ponder, then jumps again when it’s ready.

Trying to stay focused on one idea at a time may not be possible or helpful. 

For most creative people, two or three ideas or projects aren’t too many to keep in play.

Let’s say you’re working on a painting, a preliminary drawing for another painting and a gallery proposal. Paint until you reach the point when you’re not sure what to do next.

Rather than trying to stay focused on that one idea and running the risk of forcing a solution, give your brain a time-out. Shift your attention to your drawing or your proposal.

By working on another creative project you’re allowing your brain to maintain its creative flow and you’re giving your subconscious time to work on the painting problem.

When your brain is in flow, answers will surface.  When the painting solution emerges, go back to the painting and paint with confidence.  Be willing to shift back and forth between a few projects and keep your creativity “on.”

Comments:

There is the natural leapfrogging & there is also lack of attention focus which is not exactly the same thing…Knowing which one is which is important…I have found that “casual collaborating” with other artists helps me to focus on projects that need more stick-to-it-iveness…Casual Collaborating means often just chatting about the project online to another artist, who may help me progress deeper…Sometimes other artists just push me harder than I push myself…I’d also like to add a plug here for the Art Biz Incubator- as a Silver member, I find the constant contact helps me to be less distracted creatively…I am pushing projects deeper, instead of dropping them when they get more complicated than I am able…Good leaping is good-but some leaping may be attention deficit masking as artistry…

I have often joked that I have art ADD…always jumping all over different projects, different styles, different mediums, etc. At one time it concerned me, but now I just go with it, realizing that is how my creativity works. If a painting isn’t working, I walk away and either clean the studio, sketch new ideas, or simply pick up something that wasn’t working last week and suddenly I see what it needs and off I go… Of course, locking the studio door and going thrift shopping works too  )

I totally agree both in theory and in my own creative life/work. To me the key is actually finishing projects. The only problem with jumping around a lot is when we don’t finish things.

Sure, some projects won’t be finished. But if we don’t finish the ones that mean the most to us, we lose trust in ourselves. (Wannabe) artists feel a lot of pain because they have trained themselves to start a lot of things but never finish them.

Thanks for this post that helps us know that multiple ideas aren’t bad!

Great works of Art are usually not accidents and require extreme amount of focus and implementation. What good is an idea if it cannot be shared? Being an Artist requires sacrifice and relentlessness of James Bond caliber of “Getting the job done”. I totally agree with your notion that if we don’t finish what matters to us most than we will lose our confidence and will find ourselves stuck in that Wannabe Limbo. I don’t want any part of that. Thank Goodness I can Hyper Focus!
P.S: I am finally blogging thanks to your blog post and tips on that. I am actually having fun doing it.

One of the things I’ve learned is that you must finish what you start. Too often, we get discouraged at the early start of a painting. But my experience is that if you push through those walls, you get to a new zone of creativity and enjoyment in a painting.

I also agree in not being limited in your focus. Play with different motifs, color schemes, ideas, and let your brain internalize and be your partner in exploration. Your creative brain is your partner and your buddy and needs encouragement and feeding.

Like I said…for me, getting a piece from concept to completion, pushing through those moments of doubt, and crossing the finish line are critical. Almost 100% of the time, the painting is much better than I ever would have thought.

I look at some of the past pieces I started and never completed because I didn’t push through versus those that I did, and I feel so said that I never helped those little paintings grow up and unveil themselves.

Robert.