What to do, what to do

[outsidetheparty]

Two work projects have wrapped up much earlier than expected, and the guy running the third keeps talking about all the great things he wants me to do just as soon as he has the budget for it -- which leaves me with absolutely nothing to do, work-wise, for the time being. This is a state of affairs which I usually find exciting and even liberating, and I make all sorts of plans for the various self-directed projects I'm constantly wishing I had time and brain space to devote to, and now finally can actually sit down and do.

This state of affairs generally lasts about a week, after which I sink into a sluggish, bored torpor in which even rebooting the computer into Windows so I can play a videogame literally seems like too much effort to be worthwhile, and simple tasks like successfully navigating a hardware store and then screwing some shelf brackets to the wall count as a major accomplishment for the day.

I'm not sure if it's
a) left to my own devices I come up with too many different ideas of things to do, and dither so much between which one to get started on that I end up doing none of them; or
b) client requests act as creative constraints, getting me past the what-do-I-do-with-this-blank-page by giving me some parameters to work with; or
c) I'm intrinsically lazy, and need an externally-imposed deadline to force me to get off my ass and do something already.

Probably some combination of the three.

Does anybody else do this? How do you get past it? (My usual strategy is to become progressively more sluggish and self-critical until somebody offers me some work, at which point I start wishing I had free time to devote to my own projects again. Not ideal.)

Comments

[jszmajda.livejournal.com]

I handle it exactly as you do. I haven't found a good solution yet. Let me know if you come up with one ;)

[magdalene1.livejournal.com]

We're the same! Surprise! If you figure out a way out of this, let me know.

[cybersattva.livejournal.com]

Um. Hmm. Yeah. Reaffirming to see someone else has the same problem? I guess? I think this might be why Paul Graham wrote in one of his essays a couple years ago that venture capitalists like to see a core group of 3-5 folks working on an idea before funding it. Probably just so that they'll keep kicking each others' asses and maybe get some real work done.

[sylvantechie.livejournal.com]

I usually devolve into reading junk novels and playing video games for a while (couple of weeks to couple of months), but then, eventually, do some work on some stuff. The latter typically happens because I get bored of being useless and get inspired to do something by talking to/with someone - I'm really bad at breaking out of that pattern on my own.

I find it's a problem of isolation (mental and physical - one or the other slows me down, but put them together and all useful production grinds to a halt). I need to spend at least some time working on pretty much anything with pretty much anyone, which puts/keeps me in a do stuff mode. The trick is having that baseline work at a low enough level that it leaves one with the time and energy, not just the inclination, to do one's own work (currently, not so much teh case for me - I can get a bit done here and there, but I'd prefer my 'real' job be, say, 3 days a week).

Alternatively, I find that just feedback can do the trick some of the time even if I'm not actually working with someone.

[sylvantechie.livejournal.com]

And along these lines, would this then be a good time to try to recruit you to one of a couple of projects...?

[outsidetheparty.livejournal.com]

Heh, well I've blown the "can't, too busy" excuse, haven't I? :)

[sen-no-ongaku.livejournal.com]

For composing projects, I do my best to line things up such that once I'm done with a piece, there's a new one to work on...optimally, with a deadline imposed by somebody else. I don't write anything anymore that someone hasn't asked me to, so that I have a sense of obligation driving me -- and the standing invitation I have to write for thomascantor and/or wavyarms is handy in that regard.

That's not to say there isn't music I want to write of my own volition; but my plan is not to actually execute those ideas until there's somebody who wants them.

Also, I usually enlist someone with more energy and drive than I do to spearhead personal projects -- for example, wavyarms was my XO for a recent recording of some choral music, and without her I'm not sure anything would have gotten done...