
A Drought in the Sausage Factory. – By @oliverdfinel
A Drought in the Sausage Factory.
Coming up with fresh new strategies, ideas ad executions every single day is tough work.
Sometimes, it comes easy. Ideas come in a flash. Everything flows and seems to come together quite nicely.
It’s one hell of a high.
However, these moments are few and far between.
Most of the time, I find myself chasing that high. Begging for it to come back so I can escape the hellish territory I call ‘The Drought’.
But there’s no pill I can take, or spell I can cast, to bring me back into this dreamland of productivity and out of ‘The Drought’.
So what is ‘The Drought’ exactly?
‘The Drought’ is a place I find myself in quite often.
It usually starts when I’m sitting in front of a blank page. Thinking of a new proposition. A poster idea.
And nothing comes to mind.
Absolutely nothing.
I go from my living bedroom to the bedroom. Take a bathroom break. Hoping inspiration will strike.
Alas, nothing.
Zilch.
Nada.
That’s when I start to worry.
Am I even good enough for this?
Were all my previous ideas just pure luck?
How did I even get so far?
I’ll never have another idea in my entire life.
That’s it. I had a good run.
The machine-gun of self-doubt is on full-throttle.
I can try to chill myself out by telling me it’s just impostor syndrome. But then I start doubting that impostor syndrome isn’t an actual thing. Or at least a thing reserved to REAL creatives.
I start stressing out big time.
Trying to SCAMP or write stuff down.
Still, nothing of value comes.
Every single idea is basic at best.
I go to bedroom.
Put my head against the pillow to limit my airflow.
This usually helps me have a flash of brilliance,
But when choking myself into having ideas doesn’t work…
I fall into a despair nap.
I wallow in self-pity until I feel so sorry for myself that I make a decisive move to the living room.
I fire up my computer and tell myself’
‘This time I’ll get it right’
‘You’re not a piece of shit’
‘We’ll think of something sick.’
Yet again, ZILCH. ZILCH ZILCH.
The cycle will go on until a deadline approaches.
As I inch ever closer to the cut-off date, I know I have to come up with something. Or they’ll find out I’m a hack. God knows, I can’t let that happen.
And so… I drag myself out of ‘The Drought’. Anxiety subsides.
I start crafting and thinking properly.
A bit later, I’ll turn into an absolute work horse.
Churning out work like an absolute madman.
I’m in the sausage factory and nothing can stop me.
I hit the deadline with flying colors.
And then… I slightly sink back into ‘The Drought’.
It’s hell all over again.
Now, if I could only stay in the sausage factory for longer…