By: Stella Orange
As the crocuses push up through the soil and the robins find their songs again, there’s a new energy rising.
Don’t know about you, but my head is full of visions, plans, projects, and desires.
I want All Of The Things – and I want them NOW!
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This is not unlike the state many people who work for themselves are in, perpetually.
Visionary by nature, we can see, feel, and almost taste all of what we want to build, long before other people can.
This is both a blessing and a curse.
A blessing, because it is a skill to discern possibilities before they come into being.
A curse, because it often makes us crap at sequential thinking and planning.
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Our imaginations are a timeless, simultaneous field.
There, All Of The Things really are happening all at once!
Meanwhile, back on earth—you know, the place where actions and work makes stuff actually happen?—things come into being sequentially.
We need to take certain actions first, so that our next set of actions will be effective.
Bungle the order, and you don’t get traction.
You’re just doing stuff in no particular order.
Busy, but not effective.
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Listen, to those of you with sequential brains, I get that this seems obvious.
But for us it’s-all-happening-now folks, this is a revelation!
So if you are someone who sees All Of The Possibilities, All At The Same Time, I have a message for you, my brother or my sister:
You probably need support mapping the steps to your desired destination, sequentially.
I know I do.
I know many of our clients (visionary, simultaneous types) do.
Don’t sweat this; call for reinforcements. This is work that Sarah and Rebecca do. For each of the people we serve, they answer questions like:
Of all the things this person could be doing, what needs to be done first to set them up beautifully for everything that’s to come?
Of all the opportunities around this person, what’s the priority and why?
Of all the possibilities this person sees for their work, which will give them the biggest bang for their proverbial buck?
Curiously, the answers are different for each person. There’s no one correct way to do it. But every time I hear the two of them clarify what the sequence of events is for someone, it makes total sense.
I just couldn’t have done it without them.
Stella is cofounder and copywriter at Las Peregrinas, a creative and consulting agency. As our resident word nerd, she writes copy and points out the stories everyone is living and telling through their work. She is also fun at parties.
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