One fine, autumn day, my friends and I decided to go hiking on the North Country Trail up by Manistee, Michigan. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and the trail was nice and sandy.
“Great!” I thought to myself. “I’ll hike barefoot for a bit. Get back to nature.” We hiked and hiked. About 7 miles in, the trail wasn’t so sandy. The sun had given way to ominous clouds and I could hear vultures cawing overhead.
I opened up my pack and saw that I’d forgotten my boots in the trunk of our car.
Crap.
If I had taken quick stock of what I was supposed to be doing when I started what turned out to be a 26 mile barefoot adventure, I would have noticed that I didn’t have my boots.
Improvisation is great, but do a gut check before you get too deep. If you’re in the middle of writing your novel, a screenplay or making a painting and you get this wild, wacky idea - take a quick moment to think after you’ve chased the idea down for a few minutes.
- How does this affect the overall impression of my idea?
- Does this eliminate any possibilities I really want to include in my work?
- Does this create any opportunities I hadn’t thought of?
- What happens if it doesn’t work out? Am I just creating more work for myself?
- Does this change the story I’m trying to tell?
If you check your progress 5 minutes down the trail, you’ll be less likely to get stranded with no solution to your problem.
