Not Stopping Until It’s Done
Some people have the ability to state “I’m going to do a thing (whatever great “thing” they decide they’re going to do) and then they put their nose to the grindstone and work on that thing until it’s completed, and they check it off their list and move on to the next great thing. I call these people linear thinkers. Their journey from A to Z is a process of continued focus on one goal and working towards it until they’ve done so. Their process is not unlike a marathon. They start at the starting line, and step by step they go without ceasing toward the finish line; as miles fall away, they get closer with each step.
Though I have completed three marathons and done so using much the same process as the linear thinkers, I am cut from a different cloth. I am not a linear thinker. When I explained my tendency towards thinking in a nonlinear fashion (otherwise known as being kind of all over the place) to a friend back in Sioux City, Iowa, she immediately responded, “That’s because you’re a bubble thinker.”
What is a “bubble thinker?”
I was grateful when Delaine, the secret guru was quick to explain the diagnosis she’d just given me. She explained that bubble thinkers have all sorts of thoughts popping up all around them that capture their interest and attention much like a three-year-old trying to grab bubbles out of the sky. As soon as she explained this, I knew she was on to something because I could immediately see a similarity of the vision in my head to basically my approach to just about everything.
But doctor, is there a cure?
It seems that in our society bubble thinkers are regarded as less capable than linear thinkers. There’s a certain worth and prestige awarded to the “go-getters” who accomplish so much while those of us who may also accomplish many things (often all at once) are thought to be flighty or flaky just because our path to the finish line is often circuitous and can appear at times totally random. Linear thinkers who cannot imagine what it must be like to have a thought process like ours wonder why we just can’t focus.
It’s not a bad thing – really!
While there’s times I do wish I could just be a linear thinker and go logically from one completed thing to the next, most of the time I’m grateful for my crazy brain and how it processes thoughts.
Much of who I am is because of the way my brain strings together seemingly random things to create a whole new reality I call my own. Occasionally (or more accurately – almost all the time) things do need to get done, so over the years I’ve amassed a few tactics that work for me.
Five strategies that help bubble thinkers get things done (in no particular order, of course!)
- Focus on how you’ll feel when you’ve accomplished your goal: Whether it’s losing weight, writing a book, or running a marathon, I’ve found that when I envision myself already celebrating my accomplishment at the finish line, it’s much easier to redirect thoughts that might lead down rabbit holes.
- Write things down! I cannot stress enough how important it is to do this! First of all, just writing things down is an accomplishment in itself worth celebrating. Follow that up with the feeling of being able to cross things off the list as they are achieved is a great recipe for focusing success.
- Eat the Frog! According to the Quote Investigator, this piece of advice comes all the way from French writer and revolutionary, Nicolas Chamfort (“Eat a Live Frog…,” 2013). In its original form Chamfort stated, “that we should swallow a toad every morning, in order to fortify ourselves against the disgust of the rest of the day, when we have to spend it in society.”(Chamfort, 335). Though it was originally directed at spending time amongst French society, the sentiment is still worth its weight in gold. If you tackle the thing(s) you dread the most first, the rest of what’s on your aforementioned list seems much more easily achievable and desirable.
- Embrace NOT finishing. Though this might seem counterintuitive, sometimes stepping away from a project offers the time to rethink and redirect thoughts, so that they’re more focused upon return.
- Listen. If you’re perpetually off on what appears to be a tangent – pay attention. If you find yourself continually distracted by the same thing, it may in reality be a new passion, interest or cause that’s calling you.
A Time and a Place
While lasers are great for removing tumors and upper lip hair, they’ve got their place.
If I need surgery, do I want my brain surgeon to be a linear thinker? Possibly…. but then again, what if he gets in my brain and discovers that things are not at all like he thought and quick and creative thinking is needed to take a new route toward recovery? Perhaps a bubble thinker wouldn’t be so bad after all.
Works Cited
Chamfort, Nicolas. L’an 3 de la République (Third year of the Republic overlapped 1794 and 1795), Oeuvres de Chamfort (Works of Chamfort), Recueillies et publiées par un de ses Amis (Collected and published by one of his friends), Tome IV (Volume 4), Quote Page 335, A PARIS Chez le Directeur de l’Imprimerie des Sciences et Arts, rue Thérèse (Published in Paris).
“Eat a Live Frog Every Morning, and Nothing Worse Will Happen to You the Rest of the Day.” Quote Investigator, 3 April, 2013. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/04/03/eat-frog/#return-note-5847-2 .