Remabulous

Ask Remabulous: How do I stay motivated at the END of a project?

This week, a reader sent in a question on a topic that we haven't covered as much on the site: what to do when you reach the end of a project. I am so glad to get this question, since finishing is the whole part of starting a project, and being able to finish in a way you are pleased with is every bit as important as finding the motivation to start.

"Dear Ask Remabulous,

I made a goal to finish the first draft of my novel on November 4th. Now that the date is coming up, I realize that it won't happen--but I know the book will be finished sometime in the next month.  I'm guessing I'm about 30 pages away from the end, which is so close, and yet, I am feeling lazy as ever. I am also teaching three classes and working a part-time job I recently got to pay the bills.  It seems like you work with a lot of clients who are just starting out with new projects and a new career, but I wonder what you might to say to someone like me, who's neck deep in something.  How can I make the most of this home stretch so that finishing the first draft energizes me for the long phase of revision?  And what's with my utter lack of productivity?

Thanks,
Nearly-there Novelist"

image: "Typewriter of Capricorn" by emdot.

Celebrate now: it's the ultimate way to say yes to remabulous living!

In this week's newsletter (sign up if you don't get it in the left-hand column of the blog) I talked about the chaos we are all sitting in at the moment. Many of us have lost money in the market or are scared about what times are going to look like in the near and not-so-near future as the world stage seems to be more of a yo-yo show than anything else.

How can we keep ourselves moving towards our goals when the circumstances in which these goals exist keep changing every time we look? The solution I offered in the newsletter, and the one I think is really going to help is this: find something to celebrate.

image: bfick.

Don't let yourself get overtaken by the Nothing.

  This weekend, I participated in what has become the way to celebrate your birthday on the east side: screening a movie on a sheet in my friend's yard with my brother's projector. There is something delightful about this event: the selection of the person's favorite movie, getting to meet friends and see the strange overlap of who knows who from where in LA, and the pure fun of seeing a movie that isn't out in theaters. In fact,  this week's selection hadn't been in theaters since most of us were too young to even remember much of the story. That's right. A group of adults got together to watch the children's classic, The Neverending Story.

Ask Remabulous: How to move ahead when you're afraid.

Last week, we talked about procrastination, and in the comments, Kristen was kind enough to ask another question as a followup to the discussion. Here are her thoughts and my answers as the response to this week's Ask Remabulous:

"There have been many times I've put something off for ages -- months even -- only to discover that there was a good reason I was doing so. For example, avoiding certain initiatives and assignments I'd given myself to grow my business, then realizing months later that I don't really *want* the business to go in that direction. Sometimes avoiding a task for too long means you really don't like what you're doing, and you need to find something you do.

Of course, other times it just means you're afraid or have a mental block. So that's my Ask Remabulous question: do you have any advice on overcoming fear in moving a big project forward?"

Thanks, Kristen! Here's my list of tips for dealing with this situation:

image: la7mad via flickr.

Just keep swimming. That's all you have to do.

When I was in photo school, I worked 100+ hour weeks in the darkroom. I got to class Monday through Friday at 8am and then stayed after class to print until about midnight. On weekends I shot Saturday morning, processed film Sunday and made contact sheets that night to start over Monday morning. It was a long week. And I felt a little crazy a lot of the time.

What kept me sane? The fact that I loved (and still love) photography. And my requirement that I let myself see a movie every Friday night. Somehow, this ritual helped me feel that my time was still my own in some way and that I still had a little bit of a life. That and constantly singing the little song from Finding Nemo above.

I'm finding myself singing that same little song again lately. It's a crazy world out there, but I am so touched by how many people responded to what I wrote yesterday. We do need to keep swimming. Here's how I'm trying to do it.

Get your heads out of the sand everybody. I promise this is what we've been waiting for.

OK. I think I have come up with the real question: when it comes to your dreams, the ones you've been holding onto and working on, are you in or are you out?

I've been struggling with this one the past week or so, nauseated by fear, and feeling like the current conditions in the world around me were going to result in the death of this little business I've worked so hard to build. I've thought about getting a "real job" (as if I'm not really working now), I've wondered if I am too old to strip, or if I am capable of being a hooker. Visions of sleeping in my mini cooper with my two cats- and their litter box- have been bouncing around as well. Do I move my office out of the house to the garage and get a roommate?

I've watched my investments, the ones in Wall street that have let me build this business in a way I believe in, swing up and down 20% three times in the last few weeks. I've been terrified of what's next.

But then I realized that all of this is really beside the point. I realized that the question I've been asking myself over and over was the wrong one as I've been glued to the stock ticker and the debates and all that other madeness-inducing press. "What's going to happen to me?" was getting me nowhere.

What I should have been asking myself is th question I love so much that Rilke asked a young student who had the guts to send him a letter about his poems.

"There is only one thing you should do.  Go into yourself.  Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.  This most of all:  ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night:  must I write?  Dig into yourself for a deep answer.  And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple "I must," then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your while life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse.  -Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet.

Maybe we're not all writers, but if we substitute our dream for "write" in this quote, I think it comes much closer to what we need to ask ourselves now.

Time to pull the plug.

As my trip east is winding down, I realized this morning that I have been working every bit as hard as I do at home, just in a different location. In order to make sure I get the full rest I was shooting for, this week's adventure is to pry my desperate fingers off the damn computer until I get home Sunday night. I still get to work on the novel, but no twitter, no facebook, no socialthing, no kirtsy, and no blogging. I am starting to sweat a little just thinking about it. But it is good for morale and good for character. Have a beautiful weekend and see if you can pry yourself away, just for an hour. And we'll see how long I go before I start cheating by checking for updates on my phone. Don't tempt me with fun links to articles. Be kind.

image: dennis gerbeckx

Can you make a business out of what you love? Seth Godin weighs in.

Many thanks to Gwen Bell, who sent this article link along to me last night. The question of whether or not to make your most delightful passion take on the burden of earning you all your money is a tricky one. Especially now, with the economy all over the map and people more fearful to spend on new and exciting artwork and other creative options than they were even a few weeks ago.

I think the crucial question here is: why do we love the creative pursuits we throw ourselves into so much? Why do we keep at them until after midnight and not feel at all tired? Perhaps this is actually because they take us AWAY from work we are doing, and to put the burden of primary earner on these pursuits actually not only sucks the joy out of them, it even defeats their entire purpose.  What actually happens when business meets art, as it does in the image above?

I'm not sure that the answer is simple or clearly cut, but I do think it brings up issue we need to consider as creative people...

image: deadlyicon via flickr.

Ask Remabulous: Good procrastination vs bad procrastination, a primer.

This week's question is one I get quite often, so I was grateful for the opportunity to answer it on here. Read on for notes on procrastination, perfectionism, and learning to stay flexible.

Dear Ask Remabulous,

Sometimes I find that when I'm not getting everything done on my to do list, I am actually avoiding some of the items- gasp! Sometimes I figure out later that it was exactly the right thing not to have done those avoided items, but other times I think I might just be procrastinating something I really do want to do. Help! How can I tell the difference between the necessary evil and the now outdated?

Thank you,
Possibly procrastinating

Why luxury- yes luxury (!)- is your best friend right now.

What we all need now is a little luxury, and as Dorothy Parker says above, the rest can take care of itself. Here's how luxury is already moving me forward in a good way.

image: Caroline Donahue for Remabulous.