How To Stay Focused When You Have Too Many Ideas!

Writer's block is a common feature in most of our nightmares. The inability to weave that punch into a sentence or to spew ideas that click, we all have survived (even if barely) the infamous creative block! This writer's or creative block is often followed or interspersed with what we call the "Too Many Ideas Syndrome". Or simply put TMIS i.e. having too many ideas at a single point in time. Or when ideas keep crashing onto each other, wave after wave, making it difficult to concentrate and accomplish any task.

If this happens to you, we are sure it leads to frustration and anxiety. And that you spend a lot of your time in a procrastinative state of mind, rather than taking action. Don’t worry you can overcome the effects of TMIS with the help of the tips listed ahead. But first, let’s understand why this happens to people in the first place.

The Logical Explanation

Some may say that having too many ideas is better than having none at all. However, those who experience TMIS often end up losing focus leading to indecisiveness. And that’s not a good place to be in. They are plagued with what psychologists and economists refer to as the “The Paradox of Choice”. This means, that when someone has too many choices, they often end up in a state of decision paralysis.

The paradox originated from a book titled “The Paradox Of Choice- Why More Is Less”, by psychologist Barry Shwartz. In the book, he emphasizes that eliminating consumer choices can reduce stress and anxiety amongst shoppers. Let us consider online streaming services Netflix for instance. We all binge-watch shoes on these platforms. But when deciding what to watch from amongst more than 5,000 options, we often end up being confused. This is a typical example of- ‘over choice’. Consequently, most of us waste too much time browsing through the options and either end up watching nothing or watching a show we have already seen. 

So the Paradox of Choice is- “More choice often leads to less action”. Similarly, the more ideas and goals a person has, the less likely they are to follow through on any single one of them. This is why people with Too Many Ideas Syndrome are not able to meet deadlines, and ultimately fail to execute much of anything.

Ways To Overcome Too Many Ideas Syndrome

People with TMIS often worry about a lack of focus, discipline, and the mountain of stress that keeps piling on as a result. Suffering from chronic procrastination, self-disappointment, and failure to complete, are a few things they experience. Do you face similar issues, and want to know how to get rid of them?

Well, here are a few tips and tricks that’ll help you tackle TMIS and become more productive: 

• Making deadlines and other fun things!

For people with TMIS, having too much time for a project often leads to a decline in productivity. It might be a good idea then, to set self-assigned deadlines even if a project doesn't have one. Once you set a deadline, it limits the amount of time you have to complete the task which will further push you to not waste time on unproductive ideas. 

This practice originates from what is known as ‘Parkinson’s Law’. The law states- "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". Think of this for example, ‘If something needs to be done in a year, it will be done in a year. If it must be done in six months, then it will.’

Therefore, the best way to combat this problem is to create mini-deadlines that push you to finish tasks within a short time frame. This helps eliminate distractions and focus your attention on one task at a time.

• What does your gut say?

A lot of times, when someone is scared of taking the leap, they end up having too many ideas, and just ideas. They often spend hours brainstorming, but when it's time to take action, they fall victims to fear of failure and self-doubt. 

In this case, it is extremely important to listen to your intuition as it comes from your immediate understanding of the task at hand. Such quick judgments play a crucial role in helping you make quick decisions. If you have difficulty with this exercise, try clearing your mind by doing things that relax you. 

• Its time for some introspection

A common characteristic that many people with TMIS have is that they aren’t realists. They are often over-ambitious and aim to do everything all at once to tackle the burden of multiple ideas. This results in inefficiency and tasks never reaching completion. 

There is hence a need to introspect and try to induce realism in one's approach. 

Take time to self-examine yourself, your abilities, your approach to work, and what relaxes and frustrates you. Use all this information and be realistic when setting goals. Then pick one idea at a time, establish a milestone and commit to that.

• Maybe you need to call it quits

‘Quitting’ isn’t always a bad thing, sometimes it just might be your saving grace. That is, it's better to call it quits rather than wasting all your time and energy on an unfruitful idea or unrealistic goal. So you have time to move on to the next idea or adventure. Many successful people claim that knowing when to quit is what helped them ultimately attain success.

But how would you know when to quit? Well, the idea is simple, just analyze if the cost of pursuing an idea outweighs the benefits you reap, over a period of time. If not, then it’s time to cut your losses. 

• Make a note of it, quick!

It can be super irritating to have too many ideas running amok in your head. Add onto that, the fact that you are unable to pin down even one of them and make it productive. Well, there is an easy way out of this. And that is to jot down your thoughts or ideas in a notebook or anywhere that’s convenient. 

Once you have cleared your thoughts by penning them down, you can separate useful ideas from the ones that aren’t. It helps you not only stay focused but also in setting a vision for what you want to achieve, by eliminating irrelevant ideas. 

• Talk your way out of TMIS

Sometimes the only way to overcome the Too Many Ideas Syndrome is by talking it out with family, friends, or colleagues. This helps untangle the ideas that are intertwined inside your head. Go to people whom you are comfortable with and share your thoughts on whatever is going on. 

Sometimes just merely saying your thoughts out loud to someone can do you a lot of good. Other times, the people you talk with might help you overcome stress and anxiety. They may give you a fresh perspective, which will consequently help you understand what you need to prioritize. How they go about solving your problems, can be something extremely unique or something you never thought of.

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