Air in the Jar

Moving ideas through from conception to completion is an act that either needs tender care or brute force, depending on the project or the mood we’re in.

I find that it’s very hard to move projects along that have a lot of starting and stopping involved. I like to think of it as letting “air into the jar”.

The more we take the food out of the fridge and open and close it, the more air that’s going to get in and cause it to decay with mould.

One way to work around this is to single-focus on the project as much as possible. That doesn’t mean it becomes the only project in your life, but in that bucket of work (say “writing”, for example).

Often it’s inevitable that some time will pass before you get to look at your work again. This can be an unsettling experience that brings up shame or just disappointment in yourself.

In this moment try to think about the work as being created by someone else, and you’re being asked to jam with it.

Give it a gentle critique to see what could be done next to get it to completion. And please, get going before the air gets in.