The I-D-E-A framework for serial over-committers
Like most creative occupations, writers are prone to overcommitment. Not because they can’t say ‘no’, but because they say ‘yes’ to too many exciting projects. Saying no to stuff you actually want to do is hard, but there are only so many hours in the day, and our energy is finite. Nothing is fun and exciting when you are juggling multiple demands, still up at 3am pushing a deadline, and wishing you’d never started the thing in the first place!
If this sounds like you, then you’re in the right place.
In this post I will introduce you to my ‘I-D-E-A’ framework: a tried and tested tool to help you sift through your ideas to find the ones you actually have time and energy to pursue, and park the others until you do. Saying yes to things is easy to do when you’re in the first throes of excitement, and especially if it’s something you’re dreaming up with a friend or a group of co-workers. You riff off one another, hatching plans for The Next Big Thing and seem to forget all about whether you actually have time to follow through once the novelty has worn off. The French philosopher Emile Durkeim called this ‘collective effervescence’ and modern psychologists call it ‘emotional contagion’ and it's a key driver for over-committing.
I … is for Interrupt
The first step in preventing overcommitment is to give yourself some cooling off time. Make some detailed notes and come back to them in a week. Are you still as excited about it? Have you been thinking about the idea in the meantime? Are you still keen to pursue it? If the answers to one or all of these are yes, then proceed to the next step. If your answer is no – then you’ve made your decision and your interruption just successfully protected your precious time.
D … is for Dream
OK, so you’re still wanting to Do The Thing. Great. That’s good to know. But do you actually need to do it in real life? Scientists have known for a while that the biggest hit of pleasure in addiction arises from the anticipation of the event, rather than the event itself. This is great news for the serial over-committer because it means you can get a lot of pleasure just by dreaming about your new shiny project, rather than actually going through with it. So give this a go. Imagine your idea playing out in glorious detail – how does it look, feel, sound? For many ideas this is enough to satisfy our craving for newness – but if not, then head to stage three.
E … is for evaluate
If you’re at this stage, you’re really serious about this project so here’s where we get real. Before committing to anything irreversible, make a realistic assessment of the resources you have available. This probably means a combination of the following questions – and this is not an exhaustive list.
How much time do I have to devote to this project? What will I stop doing in order to do this new thing?
Hint: To appraise your available time properly, you need to add in all the meals, rest, family, hobbies, and exercise time that you plan to keep. Once you’ve added these to your schedule you might find there’s very little left… but at least you can now make an informed decision.
Can I afford to do this? What can I economise on, to free up funds for it? What is the return (if any) on this project?
Note: this might be non-financial, but the key thing is that it should be valuable to you in some way.
Do I have the skills, resources and support to do this project? Am I willing to invest the time and energy it might take to acquire them?
What is the opportunity cost of this new idea? What could I be doing instead, and would I really prefer to be doing this instead of that?
A … is for Act!
If you’ve given yourself some time to reflect on your idea, tried dreaming about it for a while, it’s passed the evaluation phase and you’ve been honest about all those stages, then congratulations! Your project is probably a go-er. Something that you not only want to do but is also likely to be realistic for you to do. So go ahead and do it!
Can’t finish what you’re on? Struggling with perfectionism? Read this next: Taming the Inner Critic: A therapist’s guide to authentic writing and self-compassion