[Normally I write posts one at a time, jumping one to the next. These last 4 posts, however, have been a continual series. Perhaps too much espresso ripping through my viens.]

In Externalize, Ripple, & specifically Justify to a root cause I ended by saying:

This isn’t to say all that conceptual work I did before was a waste. … at this point, stating something story significant isn’t something I need to think about, because of the countless hours thinking about the story problem and figuring out the concepts and pondering the central issue.

This also applies to my characters, and being able to trust where my mind goes. It allows me to ask, what’s going on with them right now. I can be confident that I won’t go off saying, well Russia just launched a nuclear warhead at the US. So, he’s thinking about how to spend his last days on earth. Instead, because of all that pre-work, I stay within the story.

And this got me thinking how it’s the same with getting things done and organizing your life. We don’t need to wonder, how should I spend my life, what goals should I set. Instead our own thoughts, emotions, and life in general will point out what to work on. That doesn’t mean ignore any dreamy ambitions. On the contrary. Ambitions are beckoning you somewhere. What can you do in this moment for that ambition? Once you start to get a handle on everything going on in your life right now, then you can start cutting things out and you can start exploring the purpose of these ambitions.

It’s all ground up.