Was I Trying to Set My Brain on Fire?

I was feeling like this guy but I wasn’t smiling.

Beware of the open ended project. The one with no deadline. The one that you think about for weeks on end. The one that you throw up in the air and create strategies around it to keep it alive and well. The one you KNOW you’re going to ace once you finally sit at your desk and start working.

Except that you don’t. You leave it….like I did…until the client introduces a deadline.

That was 3 days ago. And even with the deadline, I was so weighed down by my own inertia that I didn’t get cracking until Sunday sometime in the late afternoon.

And I worked…and worked…and worked…until I completed that sucker at 5 am this morning!

Was I trying to set my brain on fire?

What’s interesting is that under pressure, I had to make choices and decisions quickly. I HAD to get it done. No more luxury of tomorrow or the next day. It was NOW and so I did my best, hammered it out and delivered as promised. I was creative on demand. I demanded it of myself and I created. I could have done the same thing weeks ago. But I chose to let the ends fly carelessly in the wind instead of immediately taking them and deciding on a “start and finish” knot.

Hugh MacLeod says

Everybody wants to pay their bills and feed their families. But as gapingvoid has been saying for years, that’s simply not enough. We also want our work to inspire us, somehow. Take our existence to the next level, somehow. Set our brains on fire, somehow.

I like how Hugh thinks. He delivers short injections of wisdom, and ideas that get me thinking.

I want to set my brain on fire again but this time I want to not be stressed out. I want the good stress. I want to stretch myself beyond what I think is possible for me and use my brain up to that inspiring burning level.

How do you feel about pushing beyond what you know to be possible right now for you?

What would your life look like if you could power your own success, never feel confused about what you need to do and never hesitate to do it?

1. Do you have clarity around WHO YOU REALLY ARE?
2. Are you being noticed for your contribution in your current role?
3. Do you know WHAT you need to do to get the results you want?

Find out how much you really know about yourself…