I kept writing down new sketch ideas and never finishing the one I already had, so this month I tried something different.
What worked, in order:
– wrote out every idea sitting in my sketchbook (7 of them)
– set a timer for 10 minutes and had to land on ONE before it went off, no more “let me think on it”
– put the other 6 cards in a drawer, not the trash, just out of sight
– committed to that one idea for a full week before deciding if it was “the one”
I did the picking on a day off from a regular shift, not after a night shift, since I’m pretty foggy those mornings and would’ve just second-guessed the list again.
Waiting room time at my dad’s last 2 appointments went to thumbnail sketches of that same idea instead of starting anything new.
3 weeks in and I’ve got an actual finished first page, which hasn’t happened since I started this project. Picking under a deadline mattered more than picking the “right” idea.