The hard truth I’m currently ignoring is the fact that I’m spreading myself too thin across too many of my interests, and I need to commit to going deep with fewer paths for me to find the success I’m looking for (TBD what that actually is).
I have a lot of curiosity and talent in design, illustration, product, 3D modeling, web development, mechanical keyboards, creative coding, community building, mentorship, and so many more things — my breadth is both my strength and my weakness. I say a lot in Building a creative business and Productive Procrastination that are signs of my overwhelm and opting for periphery rather than focus. I have to remind myself that embracing focus doesn’t mean abandoning my multifaceted identity—it means giving my talents enough concentrated attention to truly flourish in specific areas.
I also realize that my patterns are consistent with how ADHD manifests in creatives — lots of moving between interests, starting new projects, having a hard time seeing things through, hyperfixation. Lately my strategies to overcome this have been:
- Interest-based productivity: structuring my life around what I’m currently interested in, while creating systems that help me meet client commitments (aka hard stop at 5pm, hard reset, 7pm do an interest-related thing to hyperfixate on for the rest of the night)
- Body doubling: co-working (spending time at the studio on Mondays)
- Time-blocking with flexibility: setting aside chunks of time for specific work but being willing to shift between projects within your professional boundaries (mornings is project 1, afternoons is project 2, repeat every weekday)
- External accountability: deadlines, commitments to others, On Building in Public (I check in with clients on Mondays and deliver on Thursdays)
Something that recently came to thought was also embracing seasons: I have to accept that some months are going to be a hyperfixation on Interest A, then shift gears to B, C, Z, M, etc. Instead of fighting my natural tendencies or feeling bad about not being able to focus, I can just go with the flow and accept that this is how I am (with the added guilt/shame of external accountability to keep me in check to deliver client projects on time).
Embracing seasons is an interesting strategy because it requires a shift in perspective, rather than taking immediate action, like time-blocking or body doubling. The question is no longer about how do I focus on fewer things? but rather, how do I structure my professional life to accommodate my diverse interests while still meeting my financial and personal goals? This lets go of the perception of “sacrificing” interests and honours my goal of reframing life as my core, not work (as it’s been that way my whole life). As with any mental restructuring/unlearning my internal language, accepting this for myself will take time and patience but will be rewarding in the end.
All that said, I think I need to be real with myself and start going deeper on fewer paths, rather than priding myself as a generalist. In theory, it’s served me for this long, but she’s getting tired. I’ll be starting a family soon, and I know that’ll be the next thing I hyperfixate soon, so I really need to double down on focusing my career path so I can have more room to enjoy my interests without guilt.