Over the years I’ve had many an idea that rattles about in my head but steadfastly refuses to develop beyond a daydream.
It can be fun to daydream though… there’s something very relaxing about allowing your mind to meander and drift. In this happy, creative state you may chance to think ‘what if…?’ and let those seemingly outlandish or impractical notions and thoughts, stretch out and occupy some valuable space in the old cranium.
Sadly, but inevitably, at some stage in the proceedings, a dull, monotone voice starts up in my head and begins to rain on the parade… well, that’s my experience anyway.
The ‘voice of reason’ that delights in telling me why I should stop daydreaming and why I should do something else… something practical… something more realistic… something smaller… more manageable. Give up those dreams, face reality, think rationally… that’s what the voice advises.
I expect the owner of this voice would look like this…
I’ll call him ‘Sir Gerry’ (pronounced ‘Sur-gery’ because he’ll cut those dreams down to size and remove anything vaguely risky).
There’s another head-occupying character to be aware of too. This one hoovers up all the fun and joy associated with your dream and makes it all about ‘work’… This one distracts you from all the reasons why you were excited about the thing in the first place. He means well, but he turns the joyful into a series of tasks, lists, targets and objectives… puts it all into a spreadsheet and nags you. This one leaves you deflated and drains out all the colour, fun and creativity. The owner of this voice, for me, would look like this…
I’ll call him ‘Kenneth Plumlee-Inglenook’, or ‘KPI’ for short. Let me tell you about the day he showed up while I was working on my book...
I did the majority of the illustrations for my book ‘Pheasant Dreams’ during lockdown. There was a point when I was furloughed for three weeks. Although I was alarmed by the prospect of not working, it did present a wonderful opportunity, which I didn’t want to waste. Now was my chance to finish all the illustrations for my book… what a gift! I was scared and excited… and that’s when Kenneth Plumlee-Inglenook made an appearance.
“Set yourself targets,” he whispered in my ear. “It would be a crime to waste the time you’ve been given… If we work out how many illustrations we need, we could do a calculation and work out how many pictures you need to do a day to get the book finished… I’ve worked it out,” he said. “You need to do three illustrations a day… and you need to do them sequentially… no jumping around and doing whatever takes your fancy! You need to treat this like your job. Just like a day at the office. Sit at your desk and WORK!”
… and that’s precisely what I did.
And the pictures I produced were universally… awful.
It was like I forgot how to draw… and the more I tried, the worse they became. Don’t believe me? Then take a look at this…
Just awful.
So, I stopped. Which is perhaps the best thing I could have done. I stopped. I reflected… and I brought myself back to purpose. Why did I want to write and illustrate a book? What did it all mean?
As I sat and thought it all through, I realised creating the book was really important to me. It was an expression of who I am. It was a love letter to all the things I love most in the world… ultimately, I was writing it for my children and my own ‘inner child’. It wasn’t work… it was a labour of love. It didn’t need targets. I wasn’t working on a factory assembly line churning out artwork… but that’s what it had become… and that’s why, no matter how hard I tried, the results were so disappointing.
I see a variant of this phenomena happen on occasion in the workplace. It’s when you get consumed by the ‘doing’ part of your job. Where you get a bit lost. There is some fear there. A fear things will go bad… so you work even harder… put in even more effort. People can easily lose themselves at times like these. They lose perspective – Kenneth Plumlee-Inglenook (or one of his cronies) has you in a tight embrace and he’s squeezing the breath out of you.
What to do?
Stop. Take a breath. Take it back to purpose. Why? What are you trying to achieve, and to what end? If you were free and being more you… what would you do? What would happen if you let your inner pheasant, with all its colour and energy, run free?
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying planning, writing objectives, having KPI’s is bad... far from it… but it’s never the why. In fact, sometimes, some of the stuff we spend time doing is totally unnecessary. Stuff that’s done out of habit. Stuff that adds no real value. That’s when you might need a cheeky pheasant to say, “Look at all this from a different angle! Add some colour! Be creative! Don’t be afraid to play and make a mess!”
That’s where all the best ideas come from.
Once I'd taken some time and reconnected with purpose, as if by magic, my ability to illustrate was restored. It wasn't a chore any more. It wasn't 'a job' to be done. It was an expression of love. A passion fulfilled. This was the first illustration I did after that...
I look at the image now and realise it says much more than I at first intended. It speaks of the simple beauty of finding light in the darkness. A moon beam in the darkness is often all you need to light the way.
So, if there's a lesson from all this I'd say it's to try not to try so hard. Acknowledge when things are getting overwhelming. Take some time. Reflect, and then, just let things flow. Be more you and accept all that that brings.
Set your pheasant free and see where it takes you!
Written by Paul Williamson, Executive Coach and author of 'Pheasant Dreams'
