So much time, so little to do.

Strike that. Reverse it.

Most creatives I know are rich in ideas yet poor in clarity. Including, at times, myself. Our inaction isn’t a result of lacking inspiration or vision, but rather in having too much.

Sometimes it’s the fear of sharing that stops us and keeps us frozen, but a lot of the time, it’s just not knowing where to make a start and being convinced that there is a right answer.

It’s like we’re stuck in the middle of a carousel, as all our ideas chase around: A dizzying whir of metallics, sparkle and colour. (Then there’s that creepy music coming from the middle.)

We freeze.

With this many options, there must be a wrong one and probably even one that’s totally going to get us laughed at, right?

We don’t move. We don’t choose. (Which is, in a way, choosing by default.) And actually we hope that someone will come along and make the choice for us or at least give us guidance. 

The carousel slows and eventually stops. Now’s our chance. But as the blur of movement takes shape in stillness, we can see there are even more options than we first suspected. Just like the rides, there are interesting forms and unique sizes: elephants with carriages, horses with weird open mouths, maybe a zebra, tiger or even a seahorse. (Which is fine, we won’t even question that one.) 

Competing thoughts swirl: What should I send to my email list? Should I write about this or that? Maybe that would be a better podcast episode instead?

Then there’s the ideas that never make it out of a notebook. How many half-filled journals do you have? How many post-it notes of scrawled ideas are littering your desk? How many screenshots sit in your ‘Ideas’ album?  

If you’re anything like me, they all feel so different, yet of equal priority and urgency at the same time?

It’s all very Willy Wonka: So little to do, so much time.

But when we look up, we see they’re all under the one, glittering carousel roof.

Each idea, although unique as the horses and their patterns, are in some way, connected.

They’re all ideas that come from within.

Even though each one may provide a different journey, perhaps they’re not so different after all?

Which leads me to my second point…

Does it matter?

As a kid, you might strategically want the one ahead of your big brother so you hold the illusion of ‘winning’. But outside of that, does it matter? They all go up and down and around and around.

They all “work”.

Most of our ideas are like that - even if they don’t progress the way we hoped, we can always try a new one, but this time with informed direction and momentum. Some are greater needle-movers than others, sure. But none of them are moving any needles at all if we’re not doing anything about them.

I am so often amazed by how much it genuinely does not make a scrap of difference which idea I run with first, as long as I run with something.

Ultimately, the ideas that work best are the ones we act on.

So, go on, grab your best guess at the “right” option and run with it. If it’s a rogue carousel horse that takes you backwards, then hop off and jump on a new one.

At least we’ll be on the ride, instead of watching it.