I’m sure you’ve been there: Staring at your screen, not knowing where to begin. In situations like this, I often tell myself that I should just grab a beverage and a snack to get the creative juices flowing. So, I get up, walk to the kitchen, open the fridge… and wait for inspiration to strike. Naturally, it usually doesn’t.
The other day, I read an article about the approach a renowned film director takes when he’s stuck on a scene. Instead of wrestling with how the scene should work in his head, perhaps whiteboarding it with his team, or—God forbid—brainstorming a possible solution, he instructs his actors to “Just do something. Anything. Just get going and make it up.”
You see, the truth is, it’s far easier to fix something in motion, to course-correct, to cultivate new (and better) ideas once something is already moving, than it is to will things into existence. Next time you find yourself stuck, just do something—anything—to get going, and course-correct as you go along.
A long time ago, while still competing in ultramarathons, I used to sign off The Heretic with: Always run, never walk.